MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

I was dreaming when I wrote this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnuijDieOvY

Very clever, even for a Calvin grad.

[sac]

Albion grad Michael Thomas has now taken what to many people was a perennial underachieving K-Central team to 3 straight Class A state Championship games.  This one probably not as good as the last two, I think his coaching probably has a lot to do with that.

I have no idea what his coaching ambitions are but he seems like he should apply for the assistants vacancy in East Lansing.  Not sure he'd get it but it would be a good experience for him just to interview.

I think Detroit Southeastern is the better team but I wouldn't put it past KC to beat them this afternoon. 

FWIW, Class B's Lansing Sexton and Detroit Country Day are probably better than both.

[oldknight]

Schoolcraft--the team that ousted the late Wes Leonard's Fennville Blackhawks--defeated McBain this afternoon and completed a perfect season to capture the Class C crown.

Kevin Kooiker is scheduled to officiate in tonight's Class B final.

[HopeConvert]

Tonight's games were clinics in two of my pet peeves:

• Coaches not working the clocks properly toward the end of a half to insure they'll get two possessions. They get the ball with 1:07 left and end up shooting with 32 seconds left. I don't get it.
• Benching a guy because he has three fouls on him. Sean Miller benched Derrick Williams for 13 minutes after he picked up his third foul, precipitating a 22-7 UConn run.  Williams ended the game with ... 3 fouls, having played 26 minutes of the game. Put him on the floor for five more minutes and you could very well have had a different outcome.

I just think this is inexcusable decision-making on the part of a coach. If they would approach the game a little more analytically and a little less by hidebound thinking, they'd have more success.

[pointlem]

Tonight's games were clinics in two of my pet peeves:

• Coaches not working the clocks properly toward the end of a half to insure they'll get two possessions. They get the ball with 1:07 left and end up shooting with 32 seconds left. I don't get it.
• Benching a guy because he has three fouls on him. Sean Miller benched Derrick Williams for 13 minutes after he picked up his third foul, precipitating a 22-7 UConn run.  Williams ended the game with ... 3 fouls, having played 26 minutes of the game. Put him on the floor for five more minutes and you could very well have had a different outcome.

I just think this is inexcusable decision-making on the part of a coach. If they would approach the game a little more analytically and a little less by hidebound thinking, they'd have more success.

Amen, HopeConvert!  Get a shot off by 42 seconds or so and you're almost guaranteed another decent possession.  Why not at least make the effort, rather than run the clock down to a point that enables the other team to deny you another possession?

The save-your-player-for-the-game's-end mentality reflects a seeming illusion that points scored at the end of a game matter more.  In the laboratory and in life, people tend to connect adjacent ("temporally contiguous") events.  In a close game, we associate the last basket made with the game's outcome.  In reality, it counts no more than a basket made at any other time.  But cognitively the game's final moments seem more determinative of the outcome. 

   Cognitive researchers have asked people to imagine that "Ned and Joel each flip a coin.  If they land the same, each gets $10; if they land differently, each gets zero.  Ned goes first and gets heads.  Joel goes second and gets tails.  Who is to blame?"  Nearly everyone blames Joel, and intuits that he'd feel more guilt.  Reflecting on this almost irresistible phenomenon, another researcher noted (when Shaq was playing for the Lakers) that if Shaq makes 10 of 20 free throws and teammate Kobe Bryant is 9 for 10-–but his one miss is at the end of the game and the Lakers lose by one–-Kobe, not Shaq, is considered to have lost the game.  Thus, as your example illustrates, most coaches would rather have their star play 25 minutes and be available at the game's end than to play who knows how many minutes and risk fouling out before the end.

[almcguirejr]

Mike Thomas doing the right thing: http://www.freep.com/article/20110327/HSS1201/103270590/Mick-McCabe-Kalamazoo-Central-benches-three-still-wins-Class-A?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Sports

[almcguirejr]

Albion grad Michael Thomas has now taken what to many people was a perennial underachieving K-Central team to 3 straight Class A state Championship games.  This one probably not as good as the last two, I think his coaching probably has a lot to do with that.

I have no idea what his coaching ambitions are but he seems like he should apply for the assistants vacancy in East Lansing.  Not sure he'd get it but it would be a good experience for him just to interview.

I think Detroit Southeastern is the better team but I wouldn't put it past KC to beat them this afternoon. 

FWIW, Class B's Lansing Sexton and Detroit Country Day are probably better than both.

I think Lou Dawkins is the front runner.

[wiz]

"...most coaches would rather have their star play 25 minutes and be available at the game's end than to play who knows how many minutes and risk fouling out before the end."

But, what if he's not the one with the "hot hand"?

[sac]

Tonight's games were clinics in two of my pet peeves:

• Coaches not working the clocks properly toward the end of a half to insure they'll get two possessions. They get the ball with 1:07 left and end up shooting with 32 seconds left. I don't get it.
• Benching a guy because he has three fouls on him. Sean Miller benched Derrick Williams for 13 minutes after he picked up his third foul, precipitating a 22-7 UConn run.  Williams ended the game with ... 3 fouls, having played 26 minutes of the game. Put him on the floor for five more minutes and you could very well have had a different outcome.

I just think this is inexcusable decision-making on the part of a coach. If they would approach the game a little more analytically and a little less by hidebound thinking, they'd have more success.

I noticed this too....

FWIW I thought Butler tried to run a quick play but when it wasn't there they backed it out and reset their offense.

I couldn't understand or see a reason why Arizona quit going inside the last half dozen possessions in their game.  UConn has saved the big bad Big East's reputation, pretty amazing run they've been on.

[sac]

Albion grad Michael Thomas has now taken what to many people was a perennial underachieving K-Central team to 3 straight Class A state Championship games.  This one probably not as good as the last two, I think his coaching probably has a lot to do with that.

I have no idea what his coaching ambitions are but he seems like he should apply for the assistants vacancy in East Lansing.  Not sure he'd get it but it would be a good experience for him just to interview.

I think Detroit Southeastern is the better team but I wouldn't put it past KC to beat them this afternoon. 

FWIW, Class B's Lansing Sexton and Detroit Country Day are probably better than both.

I think Lou Dawkins is the front runner.

That's the rumblings around these parts.  Couldn't hurt Michael to put his name in the hat if college coaching is what he wants to do some day.

Has Saginaw hired a new coach, if not, Thomas might be at the top of that list.

[Gregory Sager]

I enjoyed that story about Michael Thomas and Kalamazoo Central to which Al linked. The sobering thought is that there are way too many head coaches on both the high school and college levels who would not do the right thing in that situation.

[sflzman]

Fulton was down by 2 at the end of the third, got outscored 27-12 in the fourth. Anybody happen to be attending the game?

[oldknight]

Fulton was down by 2 at the end of the third, got outscored 27-12 in the fourth. Anybody happen to be attending the game?

I usually go but didn't make it this year. Mrs. Oldknight had other plans. You can watch the archived video of the game at:

http://www.mhsaa.tv/events/17675

The 4th quarter begins at the 1:20 mark.

[knights2000]

Albion grad Michael Thomas has now taken what to many people was a perennial underachieving K-Central team to 3 straight Class A state Championship games.  This one probably not as good as the last two, I think his coaching probably has a lot to do with that.

I have no idea what his coaching ambitions are but he seems like he should apply for the assistants vacancy in East Lansing.  Not sure he'd get it but it would be a good experience for him just to interview.

I think Detroit Southeastern is the better team but I wouldn't put it past KC to beat them this afternoon. 

FWIW, Class B's Lansing Sexton and Detroit Country Day are probably better than both.

I think Lou Dawkins is the front runner.

Dawkins is headed to Northern Illinois as an assistant under former MSU assistant Mark Montgomery, according to Great Lakes Hoops:

http://greatlakeshoops.com/2011/03/24/former-saginaw-high-head-coach-lou-dawkins-to-northern-illinois/

[BogeyMan]

I find it interesting that Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart have something in common with the MIAA.  They both lost to Albion in the great Kresge while playing for DePauw and Kenyon.  Brad lost by 20 and Shaka lost by 35.