MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Dark Knight]

Three of the four MIAA games ended in "upsets." With the kind of parity we're seeing this year, it's going to be important to defend home court. Maybe a good year to keep track of +/- on home court victories.

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Is that the first really complete game the Knights have put in? There were a couple of small lulls in Knight intensity, but nothing like the DePauw game, going from 17 up to 7 down, for example.

So far this team has played really well at its best but suffered from inconsistency. This is a step in the right direction. And getting Salo back will help with one of their biggest weaknesses--ball control.

[pointlem]

Hmmm . . . with Calvin having a 46 to 21 rebounding advantage, hitting 11 of 16 3's, and twice as many free throws as Hope, it's surprising they only won by 14, which I guess is explained by the turnover difference.  (Even with Krombeen on the bench for 18 mins--not where he should be if Hope is to win games--he has another 5 steals.)

Calvin folks . . . please tell me that's as well as Calvin can play.  Very impressive.  I tip my hat. . . . and look forward to the rematch.

[maroonandgold]

Although it is never a surprise whatever happens in a Hope-Calvin game, it comes as a big surprise that Alma won after Trine had such a strong record before the league season.  I think many of us expected a stronger start from Olivet, too, after they had played such tough competition even though we know that Albion is always competitive.   I have to agree that the league games will be a dogfight all the way, and the league champion may have more losses than we are used to seeing.  It would not surprise me to see the champion with three losses or more.

[AndersDY]

It sure would have been nice to have Venema in there so someone taller than 6'5" was going after rebounds.

Could Calvin please have a below average night from behind the arc against Hope someday? They will have Hope games with average shooting, but I don't recall many 15% outside shooting nights to balance out the occasional blowups like tonight, which they seem to store up for Hope. I suppose a few Hope hands in their faces would be needed before we can expect that to happen.

Of course, if Calvin had missed 4 or 5 more of their 3's, I suppose those would have just been replaced with rebounds and putbacks the way things were going.

[maroonandgold]

It sure would have been nice to have Venema in there so someone taller than 6'5" was going after rebounds.

Could Calvin please have a below average night from behind the arc against Hope someday? They will have Hope games with average shooting, but I don't recall many 15% outside shooting nights to balance out the occasional blowups like tonight, which they seem to store up for Hope. I suppose a few Hope hands in their faces would be needed before we can expect that to happen.

Anders comments about height are an extremely valid point.  It was not just a matter of rebounds, though that is important.  But it was also a matter of blocked shots and intimidated shots close to the basket.  I did not see that stats on blocks, but there sure seemed to be a lot of them.   Who would have believed that Snikkers would have his poorest showing of the season and Calvin would still win by 14 points?

[oldknight]

Well, in the end it was the seniors leading the way, scoring 58 points. My fear that Calvin would hurt themselves with turnovers came true but the stat became irrelevant because of good shooting and an unbelievable performance on the boards. Schuster and Kruis were dominating inside. I think the young freshmen from Calvin Christian HS is going to a thorn in Hope's flesh several more times before he hangs it up. If the Knights had taken better care of the ball they would have scored 110. It's nice to know Calvin can win despite limited contributions from Snikkers and Powell.

A couple of things I learned from the radio and TV guys (not fact checked): This is the biggest Calvin win in the Rivalry since 1995 and the biggest ever loss by Hope at DeVos. Also, VandeStreek's record in MIAA openers remains perfect--he's now 15-0.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Sorry but I don't agree with several of the comments here. Size was not a factor in the rebounding battle imho. Rebounding is about position and desire. I also don't think this game was in anyway an example of one coach outcoaching the other. This game came down to Hope not playing with the defensive intensity and rebounding desire needed.   Calvin simply outplayed the Dutchmen.

[oldknight]

Sorry but I don't agree with several of the comments here. Size was not a factor in the rebounding battle imho. Rebounding is about position and desire. I also don't think this game was in anyway an example of one coach outcoaching the other. This game came down to Hope not playing with the defensive intensity and rebounding desire needed.   Calvin simply outplayed the Dutchmen.

I agree and so does Matt Neil as evidenced by his post game comments. Rebounding is primarily a matter of desire and Calvin just wanted the ball more.

[KnightSlappy]

Well, in the end it was the seniors leading the way, scoring 58 points. My fear that Calvin would hurt themselves with turnovers came true but the stat became irrelevant because of good shooting and an unbelievable performance on the boards. Schuster and Kruis were dominating inside. I think the young freshmen from Calvin Christian HS is going to a thorn in Hope's flesh several more times before he hangs it up. If the Knights had taken better care of the ball they would have scored 110. It's nice to know Calvin can win despite limited contributions from Snikkers and Powell.

A couple of things I learned from the radio and TV guys (not fact checked): This is the biggest Calvin win in the Rivalry since 1995 and the biggest ever loss by Hope at DeVos. Also, VandeStreek's record in MIAA openers remains perfect--he's now 15-0.

My favorite "senior moment" came with 1:02 remaining in the game. Calvin was up 8 with Jordan Brink at the line for two shots. Danny Rodts stepped into the lane from his spot behind the arc to get his team's attention to make sure that everyone in maroon was on the same page as to who they were matching up with on defense. He wasn't going to let the team relax before the buzzer went off.

[hoopdreams]

As a few Calvin posters can attest via pm's, I was concerned about this Knight squad- an even more impressive team than the one that left me really impressed at the HOF tourney.  Not sure what happened for a couple weeks but I'm afraid that display may become the norm rather than a fluke.  They played well, very well and with the exception of 1 take to the hole, i thought Snikkers played within himself, and allowed his other teammates to ride their hot hands

Left the game feeling perplexed.  Were the Dutch outplayed....yes, definitely.  I find it hard to believe they collectively decided to not try hard, were they physically flat?  Diet? Dehydrated? Completely shell shocked by Calvin's athletic ability and hustle, or has krombeen's contribution and experience been vastly undervalued thus far?

I commented a few weeks back that the MIAA champ may have as many as 4 losses, or something like that, and it was dismissed. No one is going to run the table, obviously, and 2 or 3 losses no longer seems safe, even after 1 night of action.

[Knight2Day]

A couple of things I learned from the radio and TV guys (not fact checked): This is the biggest Calvin win in the Rivalry since 1995 and the biggest ever loss by Hope at DeVos. Also, VandeStreek's record in MIAA openers remains perfect--he's now 15-0.

1994 to be precise and also the first time the Knights have scored 90+ since 2001. After watching this game, I think that yes, Calvin played extremely well but there were definitely some areas which are going to need some improvement (i.e. turnovers) but for the most part the Knights played well. For as much as people are saying Hope played poorly, I have to say that shooting  50% from the field is not a bad night shooting and shootin 30% from behind the arc isn't knightmarishly awful either. Each team had their faults, and yes, for Hope, one glaring problem was a lack of size. But I don't think the introduction of Venema into the lineup would cause much fear the hearts of Knights players going to the rim as Venema is known for his...ahem..lax defensive efforts. I would say that the lose of Venema and turnovers that need to go away for the Knights which will go away once we get a true PG back are a wash in the department of overall contribution to the game. After watching this game, Krombeen won't play that poorly again, but also, I think Brink actually did quite well guarding Krombeen and it helps that he's a bigger guard. Tanis won't have another shooting performance like he did in the first half of this ball game, although I do tip my hat to Bowser as he played hard the whole way for the Dutch. At the end of the day, the lose of Bunn I think is going to play a bigger factor than anyone would care to admit and I just think this year the Knights are legitimately a 10 pt favorite over the Dutch, especially on home court.

[sac]

Calvin 95 Hope 81

Calvin:  Danny Rodts 30, Brent Schuster 17, Brad Schnyders 11
Hope:  Ty Tanis 24, Will Bowser 16, Nate Snugeruud 10

Calvin played awfully well tonight, and Hope wasn't all that far behind them......the difference as mentioned was Calvin's hot 3 point shooting and the rebounding.  I've seen Hope 3 times now and twice they were completely non-competitive on the boards.   Defensively Hope seemed to lack the higher intensity button, and they didn't make things very difficult for Calvin most of the night.  For 2 years Hope's watched both Rodts and Schuster make long shots and tonight there was almost no recognition that those guys can shoot and make those shots.  Those two were 17-23, the rest of the Calvin team a more avg 40%.  Maybe an overemphasis on Snikkers and Powell?  I don't know but I really just couldn't believe given the history those 2 were left so open, so often.

Great nights for those two but also for Ty Tanis, easily I think his best game in a Hope uniform.  He did a few things tonight we've seen very little in his time in Holland.  And to that point, a tip of the hat to Ty for sticking with Hope basketball and for working himself into the rotation.  I'm sure things haven't gone exactly how Ty expected since back in 9th grade or whenever it was he started having eyes on Hope......but years down the road I think he'll be happy he stuck things out.

Otherwise an enjoyable game and well played all around.   At least for a couple hours it pumped a little energy into this tired soul.


As for Hope...

I'm not sure there are any easy answers for their rebounding woes, no one's going to grow taller between now and the end of February and MIAA Tournament time, but the desire has got to be stronger....sometimes it looked like the guys thought the ball was hot and they shouldn't touch it.  Coming into tonight Hope was actually slightly positive in rebounding margin despite being on the short end of a couple real dominant nights by some foes.  Maybe it is just simply not being as tall as they'd like, Davenport and Calvin were certainly taller teams and they both handled Hope on the glass with ease.  But in the games I've seen they sure need to compete harder for rebounds.

Defensively they've been uninspiring in the 3 games I've seen(by the way, in all 3 I've seen the opponent score 50 in a half), I mentioned the lack of a higher level of intensity but they also just seem to give ground up too easily.  Again maybe size is a factor or a lack of size.  They also appear to be maybe a touch slower in some areas than past Hope teams, perhaps this explains the easy and wide open shots for Rodts and Schuster so often.

All I know is, if Hope puts these kinds of defensive and rebounding efforts together frequently in the MIAA they'll find a lot of losses in the L column.



On the other hand, it was a little sobering to look out on the floor and realize that Hope is competing with only 5 of the top 8 players they thought they'd have at the beginning of the fall.  To see them be this competitive with a Calvin team that played very well is at least encouraging, yet at the same time discouraging knowing things could have been a lot different for this team with some better luck.  Long way to go and much will happen between now and the end, at least for tonight this Hope team that feels like its hanging together with duct tape and chicken wire impressed me enough to think they can keep themselves in the race and with some hard work and added confidence can be close to the team they want to be at the end of the season.

[GoKnights68]

A couple of things I learned from the radio and TV guys (not fact checked): This is the biggest Calvin win in the Rivalry since 1995 and the biggest ever loss by Hope at DeVos. Also, VandeStreek's record in MIAA openers remains perfect--he's now 15-0.

Actually Calvin beat Hope in the 2005 MIAA tourney semi finals by 21 points.

I guess maybe they met this was the largest margin of victory for Calvin for a regular season Calvin/Hope game, which, of course, isn't including pre-conference match-ups, conference tourney, or national tourney match-ups in this case.   

[sac]

Haven't seen Brad Schnyders name mentioned, but I thought his play was key.  If my memory isn't mistaken he was responsible for fouls #3 and #4 on Krombeen.....for sure #3.

Hope's a much better team when Krombeen is out there, and it felt like he was doing everything for them early in the game.  I was absolutely, completely shocked to see he had zero points when he stepped to the line in the 2nd half for his first points.  I'm sure being on the bench a lot kept him from getting in the flow a little offensively, but whoever picked him up on defense deserves some credit for slowing a very important part of Hope's offense.

I have it 50-48 with Krombeen on the floor, 7 assists and 5 steals in just 22 minutes.

31-47 when Krombeen was out.  

[GoKnights68]

I will just quickly add that it looked like Calvin definitely had the advantage over Hope tonight in the fast breaks category.  Calvin really looked good at finding the open man when pushing the ball up the court.  They just looked more comfortable than Hope when pushing the ball up the court.

I also think sometimes people take for granted what a good all-around shooter Rodts is.