MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Augustana 88 Hope 80 OT

Great second half comeback by the Dutchmen and one heck of a ballgame, painful way to go out of the tournament.

Great season for the guys.  Great Senior season's for Will Bowser, Ty Tanis and Adam Dickerson.  Enjoyed it all.

[HopeConvert]

So. Close.

[HopeConvert]

In all my years of following Hope basketball, I have never been more proud of a team than I was tonight. They played with tremendous guts and heart. 

[pointlem]

In all my years of following Hope basketball, I have never been more proud of a team than I was tonight. They played with tremendous guts and heart. 

Well said, HopeConvert.  To have lost half your top six players, to regroup, to win the league with one loss, to win the league tournament, to begin the NCAA tournament with a win, and to come back from 10 down at half time and to be within seconds of defeating one of the top DIII teams on its own home floor, is an amazing achievement.

All but one team in the tournament finishes the season in defeat.  But this Hope team also finishes having done themselves, and those of us who have cheered them on, proud.  Congrats and thanks, especially, to the seniors for four great years of pleasure for your fans, and hopefully of wonderful memories and friendships for you.  And congrats to Coach Neil and his colleagues for a successful and class act first year.

[AndersDY]

Ugh, it'd be so much easier to lose handily. I was calm and accepting at half before we showed it could be done. Not one bit of shame for them, the MIAA was represented well, and coach Neil's first year has to be classified a success. I really wish there was going to be another game to watch with this team.

[dutchwatcher]

Well said by HopeConvert and pointlem!  This team faced a great deal of adversity and I've  been incredibly proud to watch this group of young men come together and succeed.  This is a group of kids  that kept working and put together a great season.   They lost to one of the better teams in D-3 in overtime with a huge height advantage and a 10 point deficit at halftime.  To come back and have that game decided in the last 5 seconds is reflective of this teams abilty to come back in the second half all season.

Coach Neil and his staff did a great job in getting this team ready to play throughout the season.  Great year by all but cudo's go out to the seniors playing their last game at Hope:  Bowser, Tanis, Dickerson & Venema.  These gentleman are a great tribute to Hope College and it was great to see them develop into fine leaders and basketball players over the years.  There is a great nucleous of players coming back and no reason to think Hope shouldn't continue to make their presence felt both in the MIAA but the NCAA tournament.  I'm ready for November to come and start the season again!

[Pat Coleman]

+1 dutchwatcher and welcome to the board.

[scottiedawg]

When a team that has no business talent wise competing with Augustana does that--yeah, it was pretty awesome to watch.  Guttiest performance I've witnessed from a Hope team.

[hope1]

a great seasson hope be proud

[Hopester]

Last night was exactly the reason I religiously follow college basketball, especially at the d3 level. Players play for the love of the game. Everyone knows that at some point those four quick years are going to end someday, and to watch three seniors try to extend that to one more weekend is truly just a joy to watch. The aforementioned heart and guts of this team, to play like that, against a team that was fairly superior in all major basketball attributes, was nothing short of amazing to watch. I just truly respect it when guys put everything they have, into one game, (to not complain about being tired), and to put forth an effort that did the team, the fans, and the school proud. This team was truly a winning team. And if one inch had changed on the ball flight of those last three shots of regulation, this team would have been the true definition of bi-winning.

[almcguirejr]

Holland Sentinel article on the Hope - Augustana game: http://www.hollandsentinel.com/sports/x256218363/Will-Bowser-Hope-mens-basketball-falls-in-OT-in-NCAA-Tournament

Quad City Times article: http://qctimes.com/sports/college/augustana/article_3e1ad41e-47a9-11e0-8de7-001cc4c002e0.html

[HopeConvert]

Well, where to start with last night's game. It's cliché, I suppose, but I regard Hope's effort as "Herculean." Augie is a big, athletic team that can shoot the ball. They're flat good. They play tenacious defense, often forcing Hope to start its offense 35 feet from the hoop, which resulted in a lot of shot-clock issues, and move the ball around well on offense. They're deep as well as big. If one buys the dictum that basketball success largely depends on matchups (and I do), I think most observers quickly concluded that Hope didn't match up well with the Vikings.

And it showed in the first half of the game. The Dutchmen looked as if they could never get in any offensive rhythm and had difficulty protecting the rim from Augie's aggressive attacking of the basket. The resultant 10-point halftime deficit was no fluke, and this Hope fan was not sanguine about the team's chances.

But the Dutchmen came out and played a second half that, I suspect, will never be forgotten by those of us who witnessed it. They played so hard, and fought with so much determination and desire, that one almost didn't care what the outcome was. Still, with under a minute to go, I found myself shaking my head in disbelief over the prospect they might actually win the game. It just didn't seem possible. And it was - oh, so close. Will's free throw looked pure. Augie's game tie-er was well-executed but no gimme, Krombeen's shot at the buzzer looked as if it had a very good chance of going in. It didn't miss by much.

In OT, once the wheels came off, there was no way to put them back on. Our collective heart broke for those young men as they walked off the floor after having played so valiantly. Will Bowser, in particular, deserves special recognition. He sat out for only a brief minute-and-a-half in the second half last night. Augie was rotating defenders on him all night, and each of these bigger than Will - long,lean athletic guys of superior height and weight. He fought through screens, shook off defenders, and worked worked worked to get the ball and put himself in a position to score. By the end of the game he had to have been thoroughly gassed, and yet he battled on. I can honestly say I have never respected the effort of a player more than I did Will's last night. That block he had with about 2.5 minutes left was just ... well ... true grit.

March brings with it the final lacing of the sneakers, the last shot, the last hug of a teammate, and the last look around an auditorium of thousands of young men and women. In truth, only about 5 seniors a year are going to walk off the floor with a smile on their face. The rest will taste bitter disappointment. But that disappointment can and ought to be mitigated by the knowledge that they gave the last full measure of their gifts, and showed their devotion to their teammates, their coaches, their parents, their schools and - maybe most importantly of all - their God-given talent. It was an honor to be able to watch it.

Finally, a word about Hope's coaches. As Will and Ty and Adam left the floor Coach Neil broke into tears. From my vantage point, he was not crying because they lost the game, nor because he couldn't pad his resume, nor because he was disappointed in his team. He simply empathized very profoundly with his players, and he was hurting for them and not because of them. I think he has shown this year that he is (another cliché) a real "player's coach," and that he demanded and received their very best, and they love him for it. And he them. It was touching watching him with his players after the game. Furthermore, I am consistently impressed by the comments I hear him make. He praises his players publicly and doesn't tear them down. In today's Sentinel article, when noting the foul disparity, he doesn't blame the refs, but simply notes it as a result of Augie's offensive aggressiveness and Hope's defensive aggressiveness; under those circumstances, the smaller team is likely to get whistled against more. Neil didn't even offer it as a possible explanation, but as a causal one. That shows some character, I think. I'll just say that he won me over this year, and I feel good about the future of the program with Neil in charge.

To my fellow posters at the game - FDF, CM, Hopetix, S-dawg, D-M, Hopester, and the others - you were all terrific as well. What fun we had this year.

[formerd3db]

While I rarely post on these basketball boards (I am a football guy a heart, sorry ), I do follow Hope and MIAA basketball during the season as well as reading the posts here.  Regarding last evening's posts here for both Hope's men's and women's basketball teams, I think you have all captured the essence of what this is all about and it couldn't have been said any better.  Certainly, no one likes to lose, especially at this point in the season after reaching the national tournament rounds.  However, the experience of even getting to this point just adds to that of the four years of these student-athletes careers with memories that will last their lifetimes and, later on, the losses will not matter, but rather what will is the important "stuff".  Yet, all of you know that already.  Anyway, I join everyone here in congratulating both the Hope men's and women's basketball team and coaching staffs (and Calvin's too) for a great season.

[pointlem]

HopeConvert, your synopsis is a wonderful piece of writing (a Mitch Albom-like essay that merits wider distribution), and makes me reflect not only on my enjoyment of following Hope's teams and my respect for the commitment and values of its coaches (as other fans no doubt feel for their teams and coaches), but also my appreciation for the enjoyment I gain from reading you, OldKnight, Sac, FDF, Civic Minded and the many other splendid contributors to this board.  Keep it coming, all. 

[sac]

HopeConvert, your synopsis is a wonderful piece of writing (a Mitch Albom-like essay that merits wider distribution), .......

I agree, I thought his post was one of the best I've read on this board anywhere.