MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[RuleBritannia]

In my opinion Albion plays a farce of the game of basketball.  They bully their way and dare the refs to call a foul every 10 seconds.  What's more, last night's victory will somehow justify this approach in their mind.  Hey, we came out to play like thugs, and we beat Hope on their floor, this works!  I didn't see the Albion-Hope game last night, but I've seen enough Albion basketball and I put credibility in the comments I see here from respected Hope posters.  Is there any doubt the Brits will come to play the same way on Saturday when the Knights visit (historic!) Kresge?  KVS better get the boys ready for a dogfight and mentally girded to not get dragged into the chippiness that Albion tries to incite.  As for the MIAA officials, they need to take a stand and call Albion's bluff.  Go ahead and foul out their whole team in the first half, sacrifice one game and make a joke out of it, but send a message once and for all that thuggery is not a strategy that will fly in the MIAA.  

Fouls on Albion in 2011: 477
Fouls on Albion's opponents: 499

Now, there's a couple of provisios here. Albion tends to play much more physically against Hope and Calvin than they do against anyone else. After really getting outworked in tehir first matchuop with Hope this year and playing in a hostile environment, I'm sure coach May told his players to be physical, and not let themselves get intimidated. Perhaps in the heat of the moment and they took that message a little out of hand.

However, based on the fact that Albion's opponents are getting called 5% more fouls than the Brits, and even after adjusting for officiating variance (which you figure has to be fairly equal after 24 games, 10 home, and 14 away) I think it would be an overstatement to to say that the Britons style of play is to foul everyone on defense.

[knights2000]

Realizing I haven't made many trips to Angola, let alone on a Wednesday night, but does the attendance number for the game last night (993) seem kinda high for Trine?

[ziggy]

Realizing I haven't made many trips to Angola, let alone on a Wednesday night, but does the attendance number for the game last night (993) seem kinda high for Trine?

Judging by my two trips to Angola in the past, yes. Judging by their attendance numbers on the season, yes.

[Happy Calvin Guy]

Realizing I haven't made many trips to Angola, let alone on a Wednesday night, but does the attendance number for the game last night (993) seem kinda high for Trine?

Judging by my two trips to Angola in the past, yes. Judging by their attendance numbers on the season, yes.

Judging by how full the stands appeared on the streaming video, I would say there is no reason to doubt its accuracy. 

[ziggy]

Realizing I haven't made many trips to Angola, let alone on a Wednesday night, but does the attendance number for the game last night (993) seem kinda high for Trine?

Judging by my two trips to Angola in the past, yes. Judging by their attendance numbers on the season, yes.

Judging by how full the stands appeared on the streaming video, I would say there is no reason to doubt its accuracy. 

Is there some sort of explanation for why a sudden jump in attendance? I don't believe a modest winning streak would have that kind of impact.

Trine's home game with Hope drew 261, why would this Calvin team draw nearly four times as many people?
Perhaps our resident Trine poster could comment, oh wait...

[sac]

It was possibly Senior night, but then Trine only has 3 Seniors.  Also it was Trine's last home game for sure.

[ziggy]

It was possibly Senior night, but then Trine only has 2 Seniors.  Also it was Trine's last home game for sure.

Those guys must have pretty big families

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Realizing I haven't made many trips to Angola, let alone on a Wednesday night, but does the attendance number for the game last night (993) seem kinda high for Trine?

Judging by my two trips to Angola in the past, yes. Judging by their attendance numbers on the season, yes.

Judging by how full the stands appeared on the streaming video, I would say there is no reason to doubt its accuracy. 

Is there some sort of explanation for why a sudden jump in attendance? I don't believe a modest winning streak would have that kind of impact.

Trine's home game with Hope drew 261, why would this Calvin team draw nearly four times as many people?
Perhaps our resident Trine poster could comment, oh wait...

I think the Hope game at Trine was during Christmas break - so that may have had something to do with the low attendance for that game.

[Civic Minded]

It still kind of amazes me that despite Albion playing this way for......forever, people still get upset when they see it.

Sac, good post, I totally agree.

Haven't missed a Hope/Albion game in years.  This particular evening was above and beyond anything I've seen from them before.  If it was same old, same old, it wouldn't be worth the mention.   

[ziggy]

MIAA stats page also says that Olivet at Hope drew 4430.  
Isn't that 120% capacity?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

MIAA stats page also says that Olivet at Hope drew 4430.  
Isn't that 120% capacity?

MM is quite a draw   

Guessing that's a simple typo

[ziggy]

MIAA stats page also says that Olivet at Hope drew 4430.  
Isn't that 120% capacity?

MM is quite a draw   

Guessing that's a simple typo

Bird vs. Magic, Bowser vs. McClary

[jspiii]

What upset me was a gentlemen in the Albion visitor section wearing a JCSizzle jacket (JC Cruse's dad?) turning around after Kazen made the basket with 2 secons left and trash talking the grey hairs in Section 2. I guess he was caught up in the moment but still totally classless.

[Civic Minded]

Rest assured I will be cheering for Calvin, and anyone else who has to play Albion, for a very very long time.

Yikes. Can the Second Coming be far behind?

Must be close.     If I could be in two places at once, I'd be at Kzoo for the Hope game, and sitting next to you, wearing maroon, at Albion.       (Honestly, I would!)

[hoopdreams]

As overwhelmed or underwhelmed as I was of the game last night, I am equally overwhelmed after attempting to speed read the last 5 pages of posts to catch up.  Much of my comments will be rehashed and there were so many solid points by all of you.
1.  If you are going to make 61 calls during the course of the game, you HAVE to make that call on the in bounds play.  As someone possibly eluded to, an official will never bail you out of a desperate situation with 1 second left.  If wasn't a desperate situation, rather a perfectly executed in bounds play, pass, screens, catch, etc... but it shouldn't have come down to that 1 second.

2.  I lost a lot of respect for the officiating of JS by the way he handled the call/no call.  He stood and posed in his position for 3-5 seconds following the contact, either attempting to show 3000+ that he was in perfect position, or he had made a huge mistake.  Only he knows....Perfect ending to a game that was completely dominated by people not wearing their school jerseys.  I would love to know if the guy who made seemingly 40 of the calls, was on the baseline for that last play

3.  Hope did not deserve to win this game and the officials are not to blame.  Poor shot selection at times by all except Seiler ( I will give credit to Albion's D for much of this), poor decision making, poor defense, poor FT shooting.  Most telling to me....1 team came out to send a message (an ugly one), 1 team came out and thought they'd weather the storm (again), wear their opponent down and win down the stretch.

4.  In response to the 3's taken- it was all Albion was allowing and they were "good looks" from the right people.  After you get the piss beat out of you for an entire game, an open perimeter shot looks pretty appealing.  Open 3, or take it to the basket and get hammered, not get a call and probably turn the ball over??? Those missed FT's may have had something to do with this as well.  One's confidence level is a powerful thing.

5.  I am so tired (rant) of officials balancing out the # of fouls during the course of a game.  If 1 team fouls 50 times, make 50 calls.  If their opponent fouls 20 times, call 20, not 40 to make sure you don't seem biased.  I often cannot tell if this is done consciously or subconsciously.  After a 1st half that was painful to watch, I hoped that the officials would regroup, talk about what was happening, points of emphasis, etc... and hopefully get some flow back on the floor. Nope, 4 foul calls in the first minute of the 2nd half.

6. The weakest calls of the night IMO, actually went against Albion, two on Cruse and one on a post defender guarding Snuggs.  As Nate was backing into the post, there were to school girl taps between the two and the kid got called for a hand check, even though both hands were above his head.

7.  I agree that the style of play being encouraged by many programs, at all levels, is neither pretty or good for the game of basketball.  Until officials take a stand, and send a message that it won't be tolerated for an entire game, not 1/3 or 1/2 of game time, things will continue to get worse.   Albion was fine with a tightly officiated game at times

Even after a loss, K-zoo now smells blood

Yes, that would be JC's father, a real piece of work when things are going well