MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

NVA is a Freshmen eligible player, he will get a medical redshirt for last season if he wants it.   I am sorry to inform you of this.

[goodknight]

NVA is a Freshmen eligible player, he will get a medical redshirt for last season if he wants it.   I am sorry to inform you of this.

I knew that.  And you're not sorry.

[almcguirejr]

Powell's dunk wasn't even the best shot of the day.   That belonged to MIAA Commissioner Dave Nielson who took a moment to twist the 'no Calvin football knife' one more time into the chest of outgoing Calvin President Gaylan Byker at halftime.   The commish has also shown the ability to rise to the occasion in the past, but I don't think anyone saw that coming.

That was a good line by Nielson.  He also stated that Calvin and Hope have combined for 9 National Championships during the tenures of each President.  Does anyone know how that breaks down?

From Miaa.org:


1998 - Calvin, women's cross country
1999 - Calvin, women's cross country

2000 - Calvin, men's basketball
2000 - Calvin, men's cross country
2003 - Calvin, men's cross country
2004 - Calvin, men's cross country
2006 - Hope, women's basketball
2006 - Calvin, men's cross country
2010 - Calvin, volleyball

Reminds me of the old baseball trivia question of "which brothers combined for the most career home runs in MLB history?"

[wwjjdd]

As usual some of the commentary was kind of strange...

Now granted, I was in a restaurant full of people including 6 under 9yrs old , but I swear I heard an announcer mention Neil and Demaagd and "water carriers" in the same breath. Water carriers, as compared to the starters they would carry the water for? RUDE! 

My only explanation for this and other comments about "stars" of the team and other seemingly ignorant drivel was that he must watch a lot of NBA basketball, and that's about it.  Clearly he didn't do enough research to understand Hope's (and Calvin's for that matter) emphasis on team, and Hope's very talented bench.  He had another comment about Hope, referring to a "strange line-up on the floor."  Hope's done this all season (mixing starters and a wide variety of bench players), and has the ability to interchange many key players.  Nothing strange about using talent in a variety of ways.  His choice of words is kind of a shame; for those who follow either team closely he just looked foolish on several occasions.

The good news (I remind myself) is that the game is televised at least!

Or his going on and on about the fact that Chase DeMaagd hadn't played many minutes and here he was playing in "the Rivalry."  A tiny bit of research would have told him that with Chris Ray out with an injury, DeMaagd was playing his minutes.  All in all, I found him annoying and constantly proving to everyone why he was working the Hope/Calvin Rivalry and not Duke-North Carolina.

[gohope]

Nice interview by JT on Channel 8's Sports Overtime with Coach Neil last night.

[KnightSlappy]

I know this is going to be criticized, but hang in there with me for a moment while a plead my case. You can make a case for Tommy Erickson as the best big in the conference. Now let me back it up. He's averaging almost 12 points per game in an offense that is designed to push the ball and jack up threes. Not big man friendly at all. Erickson is fourth in the conference in blocked shots, and 3rd in defensive boards. That's higher than prepolec. Higher than snuggerud. Higher than nva. And tied with kruis. Erickson is also only 6-2. Yes, he's listed at 6-4. He's not. I'm a short 5-11 and my eyes are at his nose. So not only is he right up there stat wise with the top bigs in the league, but he's doing to being 4-8 inches shorter than all of them. Do you have a different mindset than when you read that sentance up there that said tommy erickson could be the best big in the conference? Cuz really, why not? Give me a reason to believe if those guys were 6-2 if theyd actually be better than tom. I really don't see how you can tell me that.

Just my opinion of course. But give it a thought. There's no reason why he's not on that los with prepolec kruis nva and snuggerud.   

I have no idea why height should play into the discussion. Those other guys aren't 6-2, they're 6-6 to 6-9. You can't compare players "if they were the same height", because they're not the same height. Yep, Kruis and VanArendonk have an advantage because they're tall, but that's a real advantage.

[sflzman]

I know this is going to be criticized, but hang in there with me for a moment while a plead my case. You can make a case for Tommy Erickson as the best big in the conference. Now let me back it up. He's averaging almost 12 points per game in an offense that is designed to push the ball and jack up threes. Not big man friendly at all. Erickson is fourth in the conference in blocked shots, and 3rd in defensive boards. That's higher than prepolec. Higher than snuggerud. Higher than nva. And tied with kruis. Erickson is also only 6-2. Yes, he's listed at 6-4. He's not. I'm a short 5-11 and my eyes are at his nose. So not only is he right up there stat wise with the top bigs in the league, but he's doing to being 4-8 inches shorter than all of them. Do you have a different mindset than when you read that sentance up there that said tommy erickson could be the best big in the conference? Cuz really, why not? Give me a reason to believe if those guys were 6-2 if theyd actually be better than tom. I really don't see how you can tell me that.

Just my opinion of course. But give it a thought. There's no reason why he's not on that los with prepolec kruis nva and snuggerud.   

I have no idea why height should play into the discussion. Those other guys aren't 6-2, they're 6-6 to 6-9. You can't compare players "if they were the same height", because they're not the same height. Yep, Kruis and VanArendonk have an advantage because they're tall, but that's a real advantage.

I guess my point is that when it comes down to skillset and who's the best skilled big man, the lack of height has to be made up for by doing a ton of things right with post-up moves, being at the right spot, and just your overall basketball knowledge and skills. So that's why I bring up height. You can stick a 7 footer out there and even if he gets biards and scores a few baskets, doesn't mean he's any good. He's just tall. Height doesn't make you good, it's just a part of life.

So that's why I like to compare guys on their skillset, and take the height factor out

[Busted Stuff]

Quote of the game from Terp, "Powell is 5 foot 8 in boots!"

Steve Bell called him 5'10" in a tweet and the Calvin roster lists him at 6'1".

Any other opinions?

I don't know his exact height but I've been right next to him and 6'1" is stretching it for sure.

He's about my height. 5'10"/5'11". I can only touch the net though

[KnightSlappy]

So, what happens if:

Adrian beats Kzoo
Trine beats Calvin
Albion beats Alma
---
Calvin beats Olivet
Hope beats Trine
Albion beats Adrian

We would have a four way tie for second place (and the above results are somewhat plausible, only Albion over Adrian looks like a real upset). I’m guessing the league would use the “seeding” tiebreakers to determine the #2 and #3 seeds, and then the remaining two would play a play-in game if they had split the season series.

In the above case, Adrian would get the #2 seed with a 4-2 record versus tied teams. Trine and Albion would both be 3-3 versus the tied teams, and they would have identical records versus all teams. So they’d have a coin flip for the #3 seed. Calvin would play at the loser of the flip for the play-in game.

So, it appears possible that the winner of a coin flip could get the #3 seed, and the loser could find themselves watching the tournament via live stream. That's oddly fascinating to me.

Either that, or they just stick with the head-to-head-to-head-to-head results and Calvin has to stay home.

[KnightSlappy]

Maybe I'm thinking about it wrong though, maybe after Adrian is tabbed the #2 seed they would re-do the tiebreaker only considering Trine-Albion-Calvin. This would be a split for everyone, so we would be back to the same scenario with Calvin dropping out due to their 0-2 record versus Adrian. So, still, we would have a coin flip and then Calvin would play at the loser.

[edit] Nope, I'm still thinking about it wrong, Calvin would "drop out", and then the tiebreaking would re-commence between just Adrian-Albion-Trine, but it still works out the same in the end. Albion-Trine coin flip for third.

[KnightSlappy]

Wonder what they'd do in a three way tie for fourth (top three already clinched) in which the teams shared identical records versus everyone in the league. (This is not a possibility for this season).

[bballfan13]

So does anyone know who would get to host that play-in game?  Or would it be on a neutral court?

[KnightSlappy]

So does anyone know who would get to host that play-in game?  Or would it be on a neutral court?

I think the host would be the winner of the "seeding" tiebreakers. My guess though, it doesn't actually say. (so Calvin @ Albion or Calvin @ Trine).

[realist]

So does anyone know who would get to host that play-in game?  Or would it be on a neutral court?

Don't think a "play in game" is realistic.  The MIAA would use coin toss to break the last tie.
If memory serves correct this may have already happened in one of the other MIAA sports that went the 4 team tourney route earlier.

[KnightSlappy]

So does anyone know who would get to host that play-in game?  Or would it be on a neutral court?

Don't think a "play in game" is realistic.  The MIAA would use coin toss to break the last tie.
If memory serves correct this may have already happened in one of the other MIAA sports that went the 4 team tourney route earlier.

They came out with new tie breaking procedures this week. In the even that there is a tie for the last spot, the only tiebreaker will be head to head. If they split, then they play a play-in game.

One of the Hope posters posted it the other day (forget who exactly, but I think it was NWChicagoCivicFlyingDewCrewConvert)