MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[hoopdreams]

Hope plays, Hope Wins!!!!  Not really, it's 11-4 but my phone is dying......Standing by preseason predic....Hope will walk through MIAA and will probably only suffer 2 losses the rest of the season (no injury or illness infestation).  Only question is..when will the 2nd one occur?

May have spoken too soon, Hope falls asleep (a couple subs sent flow of game to a screeching halt) and we have ourselves a game!!!!

Sitting in car, phone charging....From complete control, house a rockin.....to......library-like, stunned silence.  Up 16 to down 1 at half.  From aggressor to complete complacency.  Hope threw a slew of punches, Marietta survived the knockout blow and now Hope is sitting on (possibly in) their stool stunned.  I would love to be in the visitor lockerroom right now!!!   Hope will regroup and I'm guessing we will see a much shorter bench the second half, unless the bigs continue to pick up silly fouls.

Hope plays, Hope wins???

[goodknight]

The guest radio announcer calling the Calvin game tonight said Vallie dislocated his elbow "at minimum" during a shoot around this morning, and will be out for "at least" a few games. 

[wiz]

The guest radio announcer calling the Calvin game tonight said Vallie dislocated his elbow "at minimum" during a shoot around this morning, and will be out for "at least" a few games.

That announcer is a piece of work.  I'm falling asleep.

[goodknight]

The guest radio announcer calling the Calvin game tonight said Vallie dislocated his elbow "at minimum" during a shoot around this morning, and will be out for "at least" a few games.

That announcer is a piece of work.  I'm falling asleep.

He's keeping his emotions under control.

[wiz]

The guest radio announcer calling the Calvin game tonight said Vallie dislocated his elbow "at minimum" during a shoot around this morning, and will be out for "at least" a few games.

That announcer is a piece of work.  I'm falling asleep.

He's keeping his emotions under control.

Don't seem to be all that many to control.

Kruis has been in fould trouble all night and what a difference it is making.  He picked up 3 fouls in 5 minutes of play, got a rebound and a block.  Whitworth is controlling the boards and Kruis is going to need many more minutes in the second half to turn this thing around.

[AlwaysHope]

Hope wins, 84 - 73!

Another incredible all-around game by Dave Krombeen:  15 points on 6 for 11 shooting, 7 assists vs. only 1 turnover, 3 steals, and 6 rebounds, the latter second only to Nate Van who had 7.  His spin move on a layup got the crowd of over 3,200 very excited.  Peter Bunn also had a solid game, and led the team with 18 points.  We need to savor the play of these two seniors, who will be impossible to replace next year.

Snuggs had another solid game with 15 points before fouling out.  Overway had 11 points, all in the last 7 minutes.  Bench came though with 24 points tonight.

Also happy to see the improved performance of Nate Van, who got 9 points on only 6 shots.  However, his time was again limited (21 minutes) due to his foul troubles.

Another good game tomorrow night!

[sac]

Full rundown...


Wis.-Platteville 73, Albion 61
Adrian 71, Millikin, Ill. 61
Marian, Ind. 68, Olivet 62
Lakeland, Wis. 88, Trine 75
Wis.-LaCrosse 73, Kalamazoo 44
Hope 84, Marietta, Ohio 73
Whitworth, Wash. 76, Calvin 51

The league falls to 41-40 after today's 2-5 performance, after playing with house money for the last few weeks, the pit boss is smiling. 

[sac]

Hope plays Indiana Wesleyan tomorrow, if my memory serves me correctly they were the pre-season favorite to win the Mid Central Conference, and were ranked #1 in NAIA II for a couple polls this year.

roster: http://www.iwuwildcats.com/roster/0/6.php
schedule:  http://www.iwuwildcats.com/schedule/0/6.php

IWU is NAIA II, 2 of their 3 losses came out of the division to NAIA I's St. Xavier and Shawnee State the 3rd to NAIA II #8 IU-East

3 common opponents with Hope

IWU 91 Cornerstone 89 OT
IWU 74 Aquinas 63
IWU 60 Mt. Vernon Nazarene 55

Hope 84 Cornerstone 80
Hope 67 Aquinas 65
Hope 101 Mt. Vernon Nazarene 67

[Mr. Ypsi]

Good luck to Hope.  As we all know, Illinois Wesleyan is the only real IWU!  Indiana is an imposter, Iowa is IWC (I believe), and Idaho seems to be virtually the only state without a Wesleyan!

[KnightSlappy]

The guest radio announcer calling the Calvin game tonight said Vallie dislocated his elbow "at minimum" during a shoot around this morning, and will be out for "at least" a few games.

It's a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder. Ouch.

[Dark Knight]

The guest radio announcer calling the Calvin game tonight said Vallie dislocated his elbow "at minimum" during a shoot around this morning, and will be out for "at least" a few games.

It's a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder. Ouch.

I think the knights' best shot at that game involved holding Friedt in check and holding their own on the glass. However, with Kruis picking up three quick fouls, with Van Eck picking up four fouls, the knights lost any chance to be competitive.

I think it would be really interesting to see Whitworth (with their strong inside game and rebounding) play Hope.

[goscots]

I was in town (Holland) yesterday and saw that Marietta was Hope's opponent. Being from Ohio I decided to go watch. First let me state the obvious - The DeVos Fieldhouse is a tremendous facility. The community support is very much like what I see at Wooster. It's a great atmosphere to watch a game.

As for the game itself - Hope is a very good team. They have a very disciplined offense and many good shooters. The obvious weakness is the lack of an inside game. If the outside shooters have an off night against a good team - Hope will struggle.

For Marietta - I was most impressed by all round game of #44 Kevin Knab and the energy of #4 Tyler Worstell. I thought their defense was good but they simply cannot shoot the ball consistently from outside of 5 feet.

It was a good game to watch and I enjoyed the experiance.

[sac]

Some better match-ups today for the MIAA for sure.  The only decided underdog is probably Alma against a Baldwin-Wallace team that has looked pretty good to this point.  Still might have to pull out a couple of today's 50-50 ish games to finish with a winning record.

Here's what we're measuring against.  This year looks a lot like last year......which might become a theme as the weeks roll bye.

2005  46-38  .548
2006  52-34  .605
2007  27-51  .346
2008  34-44  .386
2009  35-46  .432
2010  38-50  .432
2011  43-43  .500
2012  41-40  .506


This morning I'm trying to wrap my head around the thought of being able to watch Kalamazoo/Northland and Olivet/Monmouth .......but not Hope/Indiana Wesleyan. 

[KnightSlappy]

Six more games today. All times eastern.

Olivet vs. Monmouth at Wittenberg, 2:15 PM
Both teams come into the game with just two wins. Olivet's wins come over Anderson and Finlandia, and Monmouth's come against Illinois College and Blackburn. Both teams have suffered five double-digit losses. It's a battle to find out who's less bad.

Stats: http://www4.wittenberg.edu/news/athletics/mbasketball/livestats/xlive.htm
Video: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wit.portal#

Trine vs. Knox at Defiance, 5 PM
I don't really know much about Knox. They're 2-7, but their schedule appears to have been pretty tough. They got blown out by Ripon, St. Norbert, and Grinnell early in the year, but they lost to Augustana by just 2 points before Christmas. But, if Trine hopes to challenge for a top-four MIAA spot this year, then they need to beat a team like Knox.

Stats: http://defianceathletics.com/media/2011-12/LiveStats/MensBasketball/xlive.htm

Kalamazoo vs. Northland at St. Norbert, 6 PM
Northland is awful, so this is a game that Kalamazoo has to win. The Jacks come into the contest with a 1-6 record that includes a 22 point loss to Finlandia. Five of their six losses have come by 17 points or more.

Stats: http://www.snc.edu/athletics/teamfiles/livestats/xlive.htm
Video: http://sncknights.nmtvsports.com/

Alma at Baldwin-Wallace, 7 PM
The Scots are just looking to stay within 20 points. Baldwin-Wallace's only "good win" was a 19 point victory over Marietta, but they've handled their cupcakes pretty well (five wins come by 13 points or more). Their losses were by 7 at Bethany (10-1), by 2 on a neutral floor against Wabash (9-1), and by 3 on the road against a good-but-not-great Wilmington (5-5).

Indiana Wesleyan (NAIA-II) at Hope, 8 PM
Indiana Wesleyan comes into the game 11-3. They reached this tournament championship game with an 8 point win over Grace Bible College. It was their second win over the Bible Tigers this season. According to Massey, IWU is a better team than Marietta.

Stats: http://www.hope.edu/pr/athletics/livestats

Calvin vs. Whitman at Lynden, Wash., 10 PM
Whitman doesn't have a signature win to go with their 7-3 record, but victories over Chapman and Lewis and Clark look decent right now. Losing to George Fox, however, doesn't look so good. Should be a fairly even game (hopefully), but a blowout would probably go in favor of the Missionaries (and that would put Calvin in a very tough position).

Additional preview: http://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/2011/12/whitman-preview.html

Doesn't look like we get stats for this one.
Audio: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/calvin.portal#

[Gregory Sager]

Good luck to Hope.  As we all know, Illinois Wesleyan is the only real IWU!  Indiana is an imposter, Iowa is IWC (I believe), and Idaho seems to be virtually the only state without a Wesleyan!

Indiana Wesleyan is actually Wesleyan in the literal sense, Chuck. It's one of the four American colleges operated by The Wesleyan Church (the other three being Houghton, Southern Wesleyan, and Oklahoma Wesleyan). I think Indiana Wesleyan therefore wins the nod as the real IWU, since, unlike your alma mater, the "Wesleyan" in its name is more than just filler.

Interesting note: Although Indiana Wesleyan is now known as the Wildcats, it used to be the Titans back when it was still called Marion College.

Calvin vs. Whitman at Lynden, Wash., 10 PM
Whitman doesn't have a signature win to go with their 7-3 record, but victories over Chapman and Lewis and Clark look decent right now. Losing to George Fox, however, doesn't look so good. Should be a fairly even game (hopefully), but a blowout would probably go in favor of the Missionaries (and that would put Calvin in a very tough position).