MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[wiz]

And Alan Babbitt (no relation to Irving) weighs in on Hope:

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/sports/sports_hope/x1672347677/Alan-Babbitt-Hope-College-mens-basketball-has-willed-itself-to-become-national-title-contender

If a fair observation on his part, it would square with my own: that this Hope team has very good chemistry.

I'll have to wait a few days to read it, I've gone past my allotment of 15 free online articles for the month.   

Sac, for those of us who are all too familiar with the Sentinal journalism, 15 free articles should be more than enough for one month.

[northb]

And Alan Babbitt (no relation to Irving) weighs in on Hope:

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/sports/sports_hope/x1672347677/Alan-Babbitt-Hope-College-mens-basketball-has-willed-itself-to-become-national-title-contender

If a fair observation on his part, it would square with my own: that this Hope team has very good chemistry.

I'll have to wait a few days to read it, I've gone past my allotment of 15 free online articles for the month.   

Sac, for those of us who are all too familiar with the Sentinal journalism, 15 free articles should be more than enough for one month.

And worth every penny

[Dutchmen 4 Life]

Wasn't exactly what I was expecting from you HCG!    Iced tea nearly sprayed all over my monitor.  +k! 

Did you have the blue sugar?

Great...twice in one day!  <wipes monitor off again>   

I heard it was a million.......

This whole sequence of post made me lol! Although it probably was pretty close to a million!

[Gregory Sager]

I would defer to the veterans of this board as to whether a 7 or 8 seed as ever won the tournament championship, or had ever even been there.

If you plan on becoming a long term poster you should become acquainted with this site:
www.miaa.org   In fact every poster here should make this one of your regular stops.  The answer to your question is located there.
When you get to the site in the left column click on winter sports basketball M
On the next page you will have access to the archives, and one of the items is all time records.
click on MIAA tournament results.  This will give you your answer, and serve as a good learning experience.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he can beat a dead horse with his fishing rod.

[Adrianguy55]

Bulldogs going for 4 straight wins against Calvin.  Basketball is a game of match ups and for reason Adrian is a tough match for Calvin of late.  I see Adrian winning by 6 on the road today.

Also the 2000-2001 bulldogs were a 6 seed in the MIAA tournament and beat Albion in the 1st round and then beat Hope in the semi's and then lost to the defending national champs in the finals in a 10 point game. Let all the teams make the tourney.

[northb]

Bulldogs going for 4 straight wins against Calvin.  Basketball is a game of match ups and for reason Adrian is a tough match for Calvin of late.  I see Adrian winning by 6 on the road today.

AG55 has it right so far.  Adrian ahead by 5 at the half.  Adrian has more offensive rebounds than Calvin has total rebounds. 

[sac]

I think Nate Snuggerud might be this weeks player of the week.

[sac]

Trine 66 Kzoo 58 --Close game all the way, final margin was the biggest lead for either team.

Trine:  Rogers 24, Jackson 14, Knight 10
Kzoo:  Prepolec 17, Ghafari 13



Albion 79  Olivet 67  ---Big 2nd half for the Britons.

Albion:  Hurth 17, Harville 14, Kazan 14, Walker 13
Olivet:  Ashley 18, Lambard 16, Childers 15



Hope 104  Alma 77 -- Hope might have had a little bit of an advantage in the interior today. (free tacos)

Hope:  Snuggerud 30, Van Arendonk 20, Bunn 10
Alma: Erickson 18, Schneider 12

[sac]

standings with +/-........+1 for road wins/-1 for home losses

Hope          8-0       +3
Adrian        6-2        +3
Trine          5-3       +1
Calvin         4-4       -1
Albion         4-4        0
Alma          2-6       -1
Kzoo          2-6        -2
Olivet         1-7       -3

Adrian with the big win of the day, sets up their game with Hope on Wednesday nicely.  Albion battles back from the brink of a crushing loss and are now tied with Calvin.  Its hard to see Alma or Kzoo getting enough W's to make the tournament but they technically still in this.



Next week......  Adrian's schedule sets up nicely for them if they were to beat Hope Wed. night.  Obviously they need to win that one to have a chance at the MIAA title, and that game just became huge for Hope.   Calvin and Albion also meet in a appropriately timed game, with the winner having the upper hand in the chase to make the tournament. 

Wednesday, February 1
Hope at Adrian, 8 p.m.
Calvin at Albion, 8 p.m.
Olivet at Kalamazoo, 7:30 p.m.
Trine at Alma, 8 p.m.

Saturday, February 4
Hope at Albion, 3 p.m.
Calvin at Kalamazoo, 3 p.m.
Olivet at Alma, 3 p.m.
Trine at Adrian, 7:30 p.m



What's left

Adrian:  HOPE, TRINE, @Olivet, ALMA, KZOO, @Albion
Albion:  CALVIN, HOPE, @Trine, @Kzoo, @Alma, ADRIAN
Alma:    TRINE, OLIVET, @Calvin, @Adrian, ALBION, KZOO
Calvin:   @Albion, @Kzoo, ALMA, HOPE, @Trine, @Olivet
Hope:    @Adrian, @Albion, KZOO, @Calvin, @Olivet, TRINE
Kzoo:    OLIVET, CALVIN, @Hope, ALBION, @Adrian, @Alma
Olivet:   @Kzoo, @Alma, ADRIAN, @Trine, HOPE, CALVIN
Trine:    @Alma, @Adrian, ALBION, OLIVET, CALVIN, @Hope

[wiz]

I think Nate Snuggerud might be this weeks player of the week.

Would be well deserved.  In my mind, Snuggerud is Hope's best big man and often an unsung hero.

[oldknight]

If you wandered into Van Noord today to watch the Adrian/Calvin game, and had no dog in the fight, you would have come away saying "What a great game." Adrian is hardworking, competitive, talented, hardnosed, confident, and athletic. The Bulldogs contest everything and give an opponent no breathing room. Coming off the bench, Pack is a very nice boost to any team's offense and his D1 skills are very evident on a D3 floor. Calvin only scored 19 in the first half but that's hardly a surprise since they only took a ridiculous 13 shots in the first 20 minutes. Calvin got killed on the boards the first half, losing that battle 21-9, and that is the single biggest reason the Knights lost. Calvin's half court defense was as good as I have ever seen it and that accounts for the fact that they were only down five at the break. I was surprised to learn that Calvin had only two more turnovers than Adrian (14-12) but it seemed like Calvin's hurt more because several led to easy Bulldog layups in the first half. It was a great effort by the Knights but not enough to win. Adrian is very good.

[wiz]

Adrian 60 Calvin 57

Quote of the day:  "We need to be a little bit better"  Yes, like not getting out rebounded 21 -9 in the first half.  Yes,  like scoring during the last 8+ minutes of the first half.   This game featured just about all the problems that Calvin has had all year.
Adrian played exactly the game they needed to play to win, and really controlled the game right from the opening tip.

Reading these comments, I suspect you were not in attendance today. 

Calvin's overall talent and eperience puts them, at best, a third place team in the MIAA this year.  They played hard throughout, made a game of it against a team that last year's senior laden team couldnt' handle either, and scrambled to be in position for a shot to send it in to overtime.  Both teams were unable to score for a large portion of the last part of the first half.  The game was won in the first ten minutes of the first half and was a dog fight the rest of the way.

The Knights are so much better than they were during the first half of the year and positive adjustments have been made.  Their defense has improved substantially, the offensive flow is much better, their shot selection has improved, and they play as a team now rather than individuals trying to do it on their own.  But, for those who love to take pot shots after a loss, they may never be good enough.  In the MIAA pick'em, you expected Adrian to win, so I'm not quite sure why you are now so shocked that the Knights lost by a bucket.  This race is far from over and I don't think any of the currently leading teams will want to see Calvin in the MIAA tournament.

Adrian is solid, talented, well coached, and deserved to win. 

[goodknight]

Adrian 60 Calvin 57

Quote of the day:  "We need to be a little bit better"  Yes, like not getting out rebounded 21 -9 in the first half.  Yes,  like scoring during the last 8+ minutes of the first half.   This game featured just about all the problems that Calvin has had all year.
Adrian played exactly the game they needed to play to win, and really controlled the game right from the opening tip.

Adrian 60 Calvin 57

New quote of the day
"Adrian...really controlled the game right from the opening tip."

[Flying Dutch Fan]

I think Nate Snuggerud might be this weeks player of the week.

Really going out on a limb there sac   

For the week, Nate was 20-31, 1-2 from 3, 18-20 from the FT line, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, and 59 points.  He did that in only 49 minutes of play!!!

[Happy Calvin Guy]

I am impressed with Adrian and continue to respect the job that Coach White is doing with that program.  Missed free throws hurt Calvin too.  I would say that Adrian exerted their will on the game in the first half, but that KVS made some halftime adjustments that worked.  This was one of those games in which we didn't really lose, just ran out of time.  Calvin controlled the tempo much better in the second half, as evidenced by both teams' scoring totals.  The halftime adjustment was clearly to get the ball down low to Snikkers, DeBoer, and Kruis early in the shot clock and attack the hoop, where the Knights had a significant height advantage.  Late in the game, Adrian countered by triple-teaming the post, and swatting at the ball with impunity.  A lot of contact that wasn't called.  The other tactic that Calvin tried was a 2-3 zone defense.  It did work well on multiple possessions, generating some steals, and does demonstrate that KVS isn't as set in his ways as some would have you believe (especially those who aren't present).

Now.....the biggest game of the year so far:  At Albion.  We put ourselves in this situation by blowing a very winnable game earlier at home vs the Brits.  Now a loss at Kresge effectively puts Calvin two games out of the postseason race (one game back vs Albion in the standings, + losing the head-to-head tiebreaker).  This Wednesday is a must win.