MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Mr. Ypsi]

A plaintive request to the board.  I fully intended to come to Holland for the weekend (and still HOPE to ), but I've struck out on trying to get a ticket.  I called IWU but could not get connected to the ticket office, left a message with the athletic department, and never got a call back.  I PM'd a classmate, but apparently he has never checked his PMs (even if he was unable to help me out, I trust he would have responded if he'd gotten the message).  I've about run out of options.

Can anyone procure me a ticket (preferably the $8 kind for my back, but at this point I can't be choosy)?  I'm certainly good for the reimbursement (including something extra for your trouble), and would be pleased to buy you a beer.   And I even promise to root hard for Hope in the second game, without even requiring you to root for IWU in the first!   (And IF I can get a ticket, it should mean a couple of hundred bucks for the Holland economy!)

[sac]

The Hope site has this up tonight
http://www.hope.edu/pr/athletics/mbb/mbbhostncaa.html

NCAA TICKET UPDATE
All available tickets for Friday's session have been sold. There is a
chance that additional tickets will become available Thursday
afternoon after the visiting schools report their sales.

I have to believe UWSP and Westminster will return some tickets, that's a pretty long haul.

[Mr. Ypsi]

You guys are magnificent - I've already gotten FOUR PMs since the plea, and it looks like Mr. Y will be in Holland this weekend!

Despite the fact I also have ties to the SLIAC, you may rest assured I'll be cheering all out for Hope on Friday.  Now if IWU faces Hope on Saturday, don't try to push my gratitude TOO far!

[John Gleich]

The Hope site has this up tonight
http://www.hope.edu/pr/athletics/mbb/mbbhostncaa.html

NCAA TICKET UPDATE
All available tickets for Friday's session have been sold. There is a
chance that additional tickets will become available Thursday
afternoon after the visiting schools report their sales.

I have to believe UWSP and Westminster will return some tickets, that's a pretty long haul.

It will be interesting to see how UWSP travels.  Historically, we've traveled well (unless we get shipped out to the Pacific Northwest).  The team has struggled of late though... so some support might have waned (the conference tournament game hosted by UWSP last Wed had only 900 attend and Point had at least 1300+ for every other home game but 1) but the women are playing at Calvin... so that might attract more attention to western Michigan.  Unfortunately, the men and women are playing at essentially the same time... the women start at 5 and the men at 5:30. 


I'm actually glad I looked into that... I had assumed the game times on Point's website would be Central... but it's not, so I'll have to tune in before I'm done with work!

[gohope]

Is it Friday yet???           

[Dutch_Man]

Is it Friday yet???           

Nope! But it is MARCH!!! 

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Is it Friday yet???           

Nope! But it is MARCH!!! 

Let the MADNESS begin!!

[HopeConvert]

Safe travels to everyone. Looks like rain tomorrow, but no snow. I hope to meet some of our UWSP, IWU and Westminster posters this weekend.

CHN: You coming for the games and to relive some of your Dew Crew glory, the most infamous moment of which was recently mentioned?

[HopeConvert]

Actually, CHN, now that I think about it, when you got punched by the ref - that was pretty awesome too.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Those were two glorious moments in my senior year.

Sadly, I won't make it up to Holland this weekend. I'll be rooting hard for Hope though as I am pretty sure I can get myself to Holland next weekend if Hope wins through and hosts. I'll be begging for ticket help too

[sac]

NAIA II released its brackets for their tournament yesterday. You can find the link on this page http://www.naia.org/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=647552&SPID=100395&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205389366&DB_OEM_ID=27900

Some notes of interest:
Cornerstone, Indiana Wesleyan and Marian all made the field of 32, these were Hope opponents, Marian also played Kalamazoo.  Indiana Wesleyan drew the #13 seed.   Almost 1/3 of the field comes from the WHAC or MCC.  Davenport is the #3 seed but did not play an MIAA school this year.


NCCAA I  is at the regional level:
Spring Arbor is playing Cedarville, I think the winner advances to the National Tournament.  Spring Arbor was a Hope opponent


NCCAA II released its bracket:  http://www.thenccaa.org/d2mensbasketchamp.htm
Both Kuyper and Grace Bible made that field.  The Bible Tigers are the #2 seed this year trying to defend a three-peat.  Grace Bible was a Calvin opponent.



USCAA released its D1 bracket:  http://www.theuscaa.com/2012_Basketball_National_Championships/Division_I_Bracket.pdf (I had to click on full page to get it to load)

Rochester College is the #1 seed.  Rochester was a Hope opponent.  Interesting that 6 of Rochester's 7 losses came to Hope and D1's, the other was.....Kuyper

[HopeConvert]

Those were two glorious moments in my senior year.

Sadly, I won't make it up to Holland this weekend. I'll be rooting hard for Hope though as I am pretty sure I can get myself to Holland next weekend if Hope wins through and hosts. I'll be begging for ticket help too

I'm your huckleberry.

[hopefan]

OK gang...  here is the Wesminster report....
First a little education.... when I moved to St Louis from Holland, I could hardly have told you where Missour is, much less Westminster in Fulton Missouri... the only Westminster I knew was the one North of Pittsburgh, famous for Being a part of the coaching career of Charles 'Buzz' Ridl, who later became a good friend of mine when he was coaching at Pitt and I was in Admissions there  (early 70's)

St louis is about 425 miles from Holland... Westminster and Fulton are over in the middle of the state, slightly south and east of columbia, where the University of Missouri is located...Fulton lies between columbia and the state capital Jefferson City.... the NCAA milage Fulton to Holland is 497 miles  (guess they couldn't have played at Calvin)... very pretty, quaint campus sitting just next to a small town area... I love to drive over for games because of the gymnasium... OLD, recently renovated to brighten it up, historical pictures of turn of the century teams throughout the halls... a crowd of 300 or 400 pretty much fills the place, and I've been to a number of games where there aren't that many.. still great atmosphere, Coach Matt Mitchell, SID Terry Logue always greet me...it and Greenville, another SLIAC school are your prototypical, iconic, small college, small town schools....

Westminster has performed well under Coach Matt Mitchell, and in the 10 years I've followed the conference, usually are in the top four of the 9-10 team league, making the conference tourney.  They won the tourney two years ago, playing Wash U in the first round and giving them a competitve game, losing by only 7.  Westminster gets most of their kids from St. Louis, Columbia, and Jeff City and always seems to have good players for SLIAC level of play....   a generalization... the better SLIAC teams would be competitive night in and night out with the bottom HALF to two-thirds of the MIAA.. 

Coming into the season, I thought Westminster would be the best team in the conference, but that was downplayed with the preseason announcement that they had lost Sophomore Charlie Henderson, transferring to Arkansas (where reports say he actually did walk on and impress.)  Henderson was 6'7", athletic, good player... would have been a SLIAC All conf for 3 years, but did not like the small school atmosphere and opted to go elsewhere.  Huge impact on Westminster's game plans for the year.  Also missing was 6'4 forward Joe Prophet, who had shown great promise off the bench last year, but sat out the first semester.  Prophet came back for the brunt of the conference games in the second semester, and was very good... quickly worked his way into the starting lineup and was clearly the go to man on offense as the season unfloded.  Sadly he suffered a major knee injury in the last week of the season and will be out, hopefully to return next year.  He made 2nd team all conference despite missing first semester and starting cold in January.  Averaged 14 ppg

So the short on Westmin...   Limited size, limited bench...   basically play with 4 guards and a center... team does not have great quickness... they want the score in the 50's and 60's... Superb coach in Matt Mitchell... they play a very smart game

6'1" Skylar Tolson   a junior...  had a fantastic game in he NCAA tourney game vs Wash U two years ago, hiting several 3's that kept Westmin close.  Last year, LED THE NATION D3 in 3 point FG %.  This year (at least to me), has been disappointing... not shooting as well, seems to be reluctant to play agressively if he misses his first couple of shots... primary ball handler up the court along with Joe James.... average 9.5 ppg, shot 41% from 3's

6'2" Joe James   sophomore... SLIAC tourney MVP.. had two good games, capped with a 3 pointer at the buzzer to get Westminster the Championship game win.  Sneaky quick, does alot of movement off the ball to get open, pretty good shooter, goes to the basket.    11 ppg

6'4" Kurt Kovach  Senior....   Kovach was a starter two years ago, had an injury that kept him out all last year, and lost his starting spot to Prophet this season... his playing time diminished and along with it his stats... but when Prophet went down, He has been the best player on the team, largely responsible for the  season ending win that got Westmin into the conference tourney and the two conference tourney wins.  Very aggressive offensive player, lots of 1 on 1 moves to the basket, pull up jumpers etc.... streaky though, if Westmin is to have any chance, he has to be hot throughout the game.  Averaged only 8 points per game, but 18 in those last 3 games.

6'2"  Verdis Lee  Freshman...  Very good frosh.. could have been newcomer of the year in the leage but there were 2 good ones and he finished 2nd..  Leading scorer at 13 ppg with Prophet out... again agressive offensive player who likes to go to the basket, but also a very competent outside shooter...40% from 3's... frosh ball handling mistakes occur, at times may try to do a little too much...  Will be a heck of a SLIAC player for the next 3 years

6'5"  Kelsey Weymouth  Senior... plays in the middle.... athletic kid, strong.. strength is his defense... in conference tourney vs Eureka, held 1st team all conference center Mark Lessen to 3 points, next night held Frosh of the year center Clayton Whitlock to 11 points...  Really keyed both wins...  offensively will not normally look to score, but in championship game had 18 points when Mac decided to leave him pretty much unguarded... 5 ppg

only two guys off the bench, Valendra in the middle for Weymouth, Hohenstein (good shooter) for anyone else.. neither has scored significantly, but both are capable players....

[monsoon]

For those interested in history, here are some combined stats for Hope, IWU, UWSP, and Westminster:

92 conference championships
58 NCAA tournament appearances
10 final fours
4 national championships

[monsoon]

OK gang...  here is the Wesminster report....

Thanks!