MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[oldknight]

While Calvin did win and--for the second straight night--did execute well down the stretch, I have some concerns. This team's shooting has been miserable both from the perimeter and in finishing near the hoop. As a team, the Knights are shooting under 40% and that's not very good at the college level. For all he does well, Snikkers is only making one of every three shots he is taking. As long as their best player is struggling from the floor the Knights will find it difficult to maintain offensive momentum. Better decision making and shot selection would help.

Having said that, Calvin certainly has some advantages they can exploit over opponents. Calvin teams typically rebound well and this year's version seems to be especially aggressive and capable in that regard. The Knights hammered both Grace and Willamette on the boards. It was nice to see Tyler Kruis get his first career double/double and his ability to score from the post will help take the pressure off Calvin's other scorers. When Tyler gets the ball in the low post he needs to be just a little more selfish--more apt to shoot the ball first and less apt to look to pass. He shot the ball 10 times this afternoon and that should be his minumum per game.

Calvin really isn't in a position to play both Powell and Rietema at the same time because basically the Knights are playing with only two true guards who split all the minutes at point. Nadeau is on the bench only for emergency duty and at this stage of his career you won't see him playing important minutes unless injury or foul trouble force Calvin's hand. The absence of Jordan Brink really has put the Knights in a bind and Calvin simply can't afford another backcourt injury. 

[oldknight]

Hope comfortably dispatches Spring Arbor 73-56. Snuggerrud with 18, Bunn 13, Seiler 11.

[oldknight]

Trine loses to North Central 70-65 with NCC scoring the last 5 points to win. Ian Jackson led Trine with 22 but made a couple of late turnovers to doom Trine's chances of winning.

[goodknight]

Calvin's men's soccer team is moving on to the Final Four with a 3-2 OT win over University of Texas-Tyler.  The Knights scored the tying goal late in regulation and the deciding goal early in the second OT period while playing a man down.  Sadly, Hope will not be joining Calvin in the Final Four in San Antonio.  The Flying Dutchmen dropped a 2-1 decision to host Ohio Wesleyan in a national quarterfinal match.  We were thisclose to a Calvin-Hope national championship matchup.

[oldknight]

Calvin's men's soccer team is moving on to the Final Four with a 3-2 OT win over University of Texas-Tyler.  The Knights scored the tying goal late in regulation and the deciding goal early in the second OT period while playing a man down.  Sadly, Hope will not be joining Calvin in the Final Four in San Antonio.  The Flying Dutchmen dropped a 2-1 decision to host Ohio Wesleyan in a national quarterfinal match.  We were thisclose to a Calvin-Hope national championship matchup.

Sure would have been nice of the camera guy if he hadn't packed his bags and gone home at the end of regulation. Would have liked to have an opportunity to see the game winner.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Calvin's men's soccer team is moving on to the Final Four with a 3-2 OT win over University of Texas-Tyler.  The Knights scored the tying goal late in regulation and the deciding goal early in the second OT period while playing a man down.  Sadly, Hope will not be joining Calvin in the Final Four in San Antonio.  The Flying Dutchmen dropped a 2-1 decision to host Ohio Wesleyan in a national quarterfinal match.  We were thisclose to a Calvin-Hope national championship matchup.

Well, since Hope didn't win, and you would both still have to win semi-finals games, perhaps:

    this                        close

But I fully understand (and applaud) the sentiment.  What a final that could have been!

[sac]

Saw the Dutchmen for the first time......I approve. 

The D appears to be ahead of the offense for now, seemed like SAU had to really work to score most of the time.   Hope's length inside seemed to give them trouble at time, particularly Matt Howe.   Hard fought win to be honest and Hope was finally able to get the margin to what they had probably earned with their effort.

Overall a pretty well played game, only 8 turnovers for Hope, 11 for SAU.  For an early season contest, that seems excellent.

[13wapiti]

Synopsis from SAU web site on Hope game;

SPRING ARBOR, MI - Spring Arbor ran up against a bigger, faster, stronger, and at times, louder opponent tonight on the campus of Spring Arbor University. The Cougars tipped off against Hope College out of the MIAA Conference and just couldn't find the firepower to keep up with NCAA team.

"They're a really good team," said Coach Ryan Cottingham after the game. "We could keep up with them for spurts, but we kind of got over run for a good part of the game."

[Knight2Day]

I enjoyed an afternoon of Knight basketball at Van Noord very much today.  I'm much more excited about the '11-'12 Knights after seeing them in person.  I came away impressed with Calvin's two-headed monster at point guard.  40 min on the floor for Powell/Rietema and we see 13 assists, 11 points, and 5 steals.  Powell's 2 turnovers are deceiving too, since they came on successive (questionable) charging calls.  I am now firmly in KnightSlappy's camp regarding Powell as a legitimate PG (great decision making and passing today), and wonder if we might be better off starting both these guys and bringing Havs off the bench.  They create so much for others, big improvement in this area over Salo.  It seems like Powell spent a few hours in the weight room too, he looks like he's in the strongest and best shape of his life right now, and Rietema is a fantastic athlete.  With all due respect to Krombeen/Overway/Bunn/Neil, etc, I will need to retract my earlier comments that I think Hope will dominate Calvin in the backcourt.  I'd still give the edge to the Dutchmen, but not by as wide of a margin.  DeBoer and Vallie have grown into solid MIAA starter-level talents, and Kruis just seems to keep growing--he looks huge this year. 

I agree with the earlier post about these types of games being losses a year ago.  Yes, we should have put away Willamette earlier in the game, but the fact that we faced adversity down the stretch and prevailed says something about this team's character.  Go Knights!

I know that the problem for THIS Knight fan isn't Powell's ballhandling ability as much as it is his ball STOPPING ability....I still see him as a liability on the defensive end...

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Two questions for anyone who has watched Hope play:

1) Where and how will the Logan brothers fit into the current rotation?

2) How does Nate VanA look? His numbers haven't been great, I was expecting more on the boards particularly. Is this what to expect all year or is he just warming up?

[Happy Calvin Guy]

I know that the problem for THIS Knight fan isn't Powell's ballhandling ability as much as it is his ball STOPPING ability....I still see him as a liability on the defensive end...

I disagree, but that's merely based on the "eye test".  I think Bryan is very quick, gives good hustle/effort on D, and is physically stronger that he has been in the past.  He's aggressive enough to pick up a few steals.  But he's not tall, so won't force bad shots or be a defensive game changer down low, and may be suceptible to being posted up by taller guards if they can isolate, but I think he generally plays good defense at the guard position.  KS, any metrics to support/debunk?

[KnightSlappy]

I know that the problem for THIS Knight fan isn't Powell's ballhandling ability as much as it is his ball STOPPING ability....I still see him as a liability on the defensive end...

I disagree, but that's merely based on the "eye test".  I think Bryan is very quick, gives good hustle/effort on D, and is physically stronger that he has been in the past.  He's aggressive enough to pick up a few steals.  But he's not tall, so won't force bad shots or be a defensive game changer down low, and may be suceptible to being posted up by taller guards if they can isolate, but I think he generally plays good defense at the guard position.  KS, any metrics to support/debunk?

The season numbers say that Calvin's defense is better with Reitema in the game (defensive efficiency of 96.4) than when Powell's in the game (DEff of 100.8), but I thought that a lot of that might be due to Rietema getting more time with the starters, so I actually performed a sort of WOWY (with-or-without-you) experiment to test this earlier today.

I looked at all of the lineups in which Powell and Rietema played with the same four players, and excluded any lineup that didn't have a 'match'. The result was that, so far this year, there has been zero difference in defensive efficiency between the two players (the DEff ratings were like 95.0 and 95.1). There was actually a big difference in offensive efficiency though, with Rietema holding a strong advantage (something like 107 to 89). Still early though, and we're dealing with relative few possessions.

*Important to remember that these numbers are what the TEAM did WHILE the player was on the floor, not what the TEAM did BECAUSE the player was on the floor.

[realist]

KS:  In looking at the stats for the 3 games so far I notice that Haverdink has the most minutes played (mpg).  He is shooting something like 5/21 or .238, and is 2/13 .154 for 3's.  I would like to be generous, and gracious, but I am having a hard time justifying either his pt.or his starting role. 
Do you have some numbers to support Haverdink?

[KnightSlappy]

KS:  In looking at the stats for the 3 games so far I notice that Haverdink has the most minutes played (mpg).  He is shooting something like 5/21 or .238, and is 2/13 .154 for 3's.  I would like to be generous, and gracious, but I am having a hard time justifying either his pt.or his starting role. 
Do you have some numbers to support Haverdink?

When Brian Haverdink is on the floor, Calvin has put up on OEff of 105.2 and a DEff of 98.2 (for an efficiency margin of 7.0). That OEff and margin are higher than any other single player. (I'm reporting all of these numbers on the blog after each game in the "Stats-And-More" posts).

Again, we can't attribute all of that to Haverdink, but it is interesting to note. I definitely agree, though, that his scoring/shooting numbers need to drastically improve.

And Havs hasn't been shooting that much. Of the regular rotation players, only Mast and Rietema have been less likely to shoot the ball.

[13wapiti]

Have seen Hope twice.

Nate VanArendonk is a load and takes up a lot of room and influences a number of shots near the hole.  He seems to be a better than average passer, shoots free throws well, but is a little awkward with his foot work.  He realy doesn't seem to look to shoot but that may change when he plays some shorter centers.  Also, he looks like he may still need some conditioning but he will prove to be a match-up problem for a lot of teams.   

Josh Holwerda is a nice compliment.  He is long, active on defense, hits the glass, and runs very well.  Snuggerud looks like a determined player and has some pretty moves around the basket, he looks to be a difference maker.

Not sure how the brothers will fit in but obviously the coach will find a way.  Some of the guys on the far end of the bench will no doubt suffer for playing time.