MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Question of the night


Does anybody know the last time Adrian swept Calvin in the regular season?

Adrian last swept Calvin in the 87-88 season while being led by senior point guard Mark White

Thanks AHF, I suspected it had been awhile.  The fact that it was Mark White's Sr. season is pretty incredible.

[Gregory Sager]

I too, have been very impressed with the turnaround at Adrian in such a short time. His boys play hard, they play to their strengths and they play the right way. The question is.... does a young coach who experienced immense success at the high school level, one that has turned around a D3 program almost instantly, stick around Adrian, or does he take the next step up the coaching ladder?

It's not a hard-and-fast rule, but when a coach gets the head position at his alma mater, he usually stays for good. All other things being equal, coaches are as prone to loyalty and sentiment as the rest of us.

How true.  

It's been my experience that this general rule does not always apply to faculty though.

Reason often wins out.   

HopeConvert, what's it like to be an open wound on two legs?

[Knight81]

Wow, congrats to Coach White and Adrian tonight.  They put on a clinic at Van Noord.  They were patient for the right shot, hit the open shots, and make you work for EVERYTHING.  Snikkers earned his 18 tonight.  KVS seemed strangely subdued tonight during the game, and even got called to the carpet a bit by Wentworth on the post game show.  After KVS said he was happy with the effort, Doug told him that he was sugarcoating it, and told him that he got beat a team that's not that great, Adrian at 6-5.  I think KVS was taken aback by the question.

As was I. That exchange was as frosty as the crisp evening air outside Van Noord. I also think Doug was quite wrong and showed disrespect to an Adrian team that is far better than his comment suggested. The game Adrian brought to Knollcrest campus would have probably beaten anyone in the MIAA tonight.

This appears to be Doug's last season covering Calvin basketball, so bear with it a little while longer.

Maybe it's just my imagination, but Wentworth seems more critical and is showing his frustration more during the broadcasts this year than any other I can remember.

[NW Hope Fan]

Some of your fans are showing their frustrations as well... and maybe with good reason. You have a point though, announcers should be as unbiased as possible, but you get what you get.

[monsoon]

The geography of things dosen't help, but I think a road trip may be in order for Saturday.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

The geography of things dosen't help, but I think a road trip may be in order for Saturday.

If you are talking about going to Adrian, I vote YES!! 

[monsoon]

The geography of things dosen't help, but I think a road trip may be in order for Saturday.

If you are talking about going to Adrian, I vote YES!! 

Yep - that's what I'm talking about.  Nothing definitive yet, but it looks likely.

[arena]

Some of your fans are showing their frustrations as well... and maybe with good reason. You have a point though, announcers should be as unbiased as possible, but you get what you get.

Why?  And what defines "unbiased?"  If an announcer is making valid points about a team's play is he being biased? 

[Civic Minded]

The geography of things dosen't help, but I think a road trip may be in order for Saturday.

If you are talking about going to Adrian, I vote YES!! 

Yep - that's what I'm talking about.  Nothing definitive yet, but it looks likely.

Couldn't be a better time, or maybe even place.  Hope to see you there Monsoon!

[realist]

From the MIAA page:

2000  Calvin (14-0)
2001 Calvin (10-2)
2002 Calvin (9-3)
2003 Albion, Hope (10-2)
2004 Hope (10-2)
2005 Albion (12-2)
2006 Calvin (13-1)
2007 Hope (13-1)
2008 Hope (13-1)
2009 Calvin (12-2)
2010 Calvin (12-2)

2011 Hope

fixed it 

Thanks.  Figured I would float you out an easy one.

[AlwaysHope]

Haven't seen much posted about the play of Hope's Colton Overway, a sophmore.

Frankly, I never heard of him before this year.  Then I discovered that he played at West Ottawa, and is the grandson of former Hope President Gordon VanWylen.  I assume he played on last year's JV team.

At the beginning of this season he played "very average."  He looked like he was afraid of making a mistake, and so he seemed to play "carefully."  In my opinion he now is a candidate for "most improved" on Hope's team.

Now he is in the game at "crunch time", especially at the end of the game (i.e., Calvin and Olivet); Coach Neil is obviously very confident with Overway at point guard. The pace quickens with him in the lineup.  He is also not afraid to challenge the "big guys" when he drives to the hoop, something he did not do early in the season.  When Krombeen moves to shooting guard, Hope seems to play much better.  He even seems to shoot free throws with more confidence.  Also I was impressed with his defense on Olivet's Joe Post, including a clean block when Post attemped a three pointer just before the buzzer.

Statistically he is shooting .492% from the field with his minutes now averaging 17.8 per game.  His FT % is now up to 81.5%, he is third on the team with 32 steals (behind Krombeen's 72 and Bowser's 34), and, perhaps most telling, his Assist/Turnover ratio is almost 2:1 (76 vs. 40).  I do wonder why he sometimes turns down open shots, especially from beyond the arc.

Anyone know anything else about him?  Was he a star at West Ottawa?  Anyone else recruit him?  How was his performance on the JV team? 

[NW Hope Fan]

Some of your fans are showing their frustrations as well... and maybe with good reason. You have a point though, announcers should be as unbiased as possible, but you get what you get.

Why?  And what defines "unbiased?"  If an announcer is making valid points about a team's play is he being biased? 

Maybe "unbiased" was the wrong term. And I didn't listen to his call... Valid points are valid points, but I think calls should be straight, without homerism one one side, or disparaging comments on the other. Just my opinion.

[hoopdreams]

Colton played on a high school team where great high school players  fade into oblivion.  West Ottawa is one of the most underachieving programs in West Michigan, ever.  Is it: never winning a conference championship or a district title, or both in the history of their school? This is a rant for another day.

Back to Overway... If memory serves me correct, he played a lot of minutes on varsity as a sophomore and obviously as a junior.  As his senior year began, he was "bumped" to an off guard position in favor of a grossly over-hyped underclassman (at the time).  He did not put up "big numbers" in high school but then again, few do in the OK Red Conference.  THIS IS NOT A KNOCK AGAINST COLTON.  It has become painfully apparent that some coaches don't know how to take advantage of the players on their roster.  As far as personal accolades, I believe he made all-conference his senior year.

As far as recruiting goes, I don't believe he was heavily recruited although I'm sure someone can correct me.  I know that Northwood was somewhat intrigued but that's about all I know.  It could be save to assume that Hope was the choice all along-  his proximity to Hope, the fact that he practically grew up in the Dow and DeVos, had deep family connections there, and one of his best buds happens to have a father who coaches there.

He started off shaky but has finished with a flourish.  Slow start was due to Hope's lack of competition in the preseason, the transition from JV to varsity, and finding time to learn his role and how vitally important he is.

I would love to know who is more athletic, quicker from point A to B, and possibly more explosive off the floor than Mr. Overway.  His lack of range is due to the fact that he has rarely ever needed to shoot from behind the arc and he doesn't have the confidence, nor the repetitions for it yet.  When he becomes more comfortable out there, he will be tough(er) to defend.

He's no EE, JH or PB but he's pretty damn good

[almcguirejr]

Some of your fans are showing their frustrations as well... and maybe with good reason. You have a point though, announcers should be as unbiased as possible, but you get what you get.

Why?  And what defines "unbiased?"  If an announcer is making valid points about a team's play is he being biased?  

Maybe "unbiased" was the wrong term. And I didn't listen to his call... Valid points are valid points, but I think calls should be straight, without homerism one one side, or disparaging comments on the other. Just my opinion.

The man has done Calvin games for 40+ years. It is sometimes hard to follow the action on his broadcast but, he consistently tells you the score and the time remaining.  It's a simple thing but it seems to be overlooked by some radio people.  

[oldknight]

Some of your fans are showing their frustrations as well... and maybe with good reason. You have a point though, announcers should be as unbiased as possible, but you get what you get.

Why?  And what defines "unbiased?"  If an announcer is making valid points about a team's play is he being biased? 

My problem with Wentworth's comments was primarily due to my belief that he wasn't making a valid point. I had just watched a worthy opponent play 40 minutes of terrific basketball and the premise of his question was that Calvin had just faced mediocrity. Even if you could make the case that Adrian is a mediocre team, they weren't mediocre last night. I was alone in my car when Doug asked his question with a statement so blatantly false that I swear I heard someone say out loud "What game were you watching?" It wasn't the "bias" of the question, it Doug Wentworth's the inability to recognize and credit a great performance. I thought Doug treated the Bulldogs like so much navel lint and should correct it.