MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[maroonandgold]

Calvin is apparently hosting GRCC for a scrimmage on Wednesday night.

Are scrimmages open to the public?

[northb]

Calvin is apparently hosting GRCC for a scrimmage on Wednesday night.

Are scrimmages open to the public?

Typically, yes.

[KnightSlappy]

Grace Bible opened their season on Monday with an 82-64 loss at Davenport.

http://www.dupanthers.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=8720

[Flying Dutch Fan]

MIAA coaches meeting and media day is tomorrow - so we'll get a poll of the predicted MIAA league standings.  Anyone want to provide their opinions on this (kind of tough without an Adrian roster)?

Here's my stab at it (my prediction of the final standings - added for clarity):

1. Calvin (painful for me to predict)
2. Hope
3. Adrian
4. Albion
5. Trine
6. Alma
7. Olivet
8. Kalamazoo

[KnightSlappy]

MIAA coaches meeting and media day is tomorrow - so we'll get a poll of the predicted MIAA league standings.  Anyone want to provide their opinions on this (kind of tough without an Adrian roster)?

Here's my stab at it:

1. Calvin (painful for me to predict)
2. Hope
3. Adrian
4. Albion
5. Trine
6. Alma
7. Olivet
8. Kalamazoo

Is that a prediction of the final standings, or of the coaches poll?

I'll predict (with roughly constructed tiers):

1. Calvin (not painful for me to predict)
2. Hope
3. Adrian
--
4. Trine
5. Albion
--
6. Alma
--
7. Olivet
8. Kalamazoo

I predict the coaches will predict:

1. Hope
2. Calvin
3. Adrian
4. Trine
5. Albion
6. Alma
7. Kalamazoo
8. Olivet

[sac]

1. Calvin
2. Hope
3. Adrian
4. Albion
5. Trine
6. Alma
7. Olivet
8. Kalamazoo

Depending on Adrian's roster and who I do or don't see, I might flip these two.  I think Albion might make a good move up in quality of play this year.  They should be a little taller, and a little better from the perimeter.  They also played the MIAA season without their PG Anthony Wash who returns from injury along with Chris Hutton.

[KnightSlappy]

1. Calvin
2. Hope
3. Adrian
4. Albion
5. Trine
6. Alma
7. Olivet
8. Kalamazoo

Depending on Adrian's roster and who I do or don't see, I might flip these two.  I think Albion might make a good move up in quality of play this year.  They should be a little taller, and a little better from the perimeter.  They also played the MIAA season without their PG Anthony Wash who returns from injury along with Chris Hutton.

That's not unreasonable at all, but it may be tough for them to do. In conference play Trine was +5.4 in efficiency margin and Albion was -5.8. That's a significant gap to bridge (11.2 points per 100 possessions), but it's roughly the jump I'm expecting (hoping/praying) Calvin to make.

Adding 11ish points of efficiency margin would add an expected three wins over the 14-game conference stretch according to my empirical model. [Win Percentage = Efficiency Margin x 0.0183 + 0.500]

The efficiency numbers say Albion was really a "5.5 win" MIAA team, and Trine an "8.4 win" team. FWIW, over the past six or seven years, Albion is the team that has most consistently outperformed their expected efficiency-based win total.

[sac]

Going over the schedules and would like to point out the MIAA will be playing 51 or 52 in-region games this year.  That is an increase of 18 or 19 over last year.

Out of the total number of non-conference games that is still just 58% but it puts the league much more in line with other larger leagues with more games built in to their schedules.

[gobrits]

Here are my predictions, using the tier method:

1. Albion
----
----
----
----
----
----
2. Adrian
3. Trine
4. Alma
5. Olivet
6. Kalamazoo
----
9. Calvin
----
----
15. Hope

[KnightSlappy]

1. Calvin
2. Hope
3. Adrian
4. Albion
5. Trine
6. Alma
7. Olivet
8. Kalamazoo

Depending on Adrian's roster and who I do or don't see, I might flip these two.  I think Albion might make a good move up in quality of play this year.  They should be a little taller, and a little better from the perimeter.  They also played the MIAA season without their PG Anthony Wash who returns from injury along with Chris Hutton.

That's not unreasonable at all, but it may be tough for them to do. In conference play Trine was +5.4 in efficiency margin and Albion was -5.8. That's a significant gap to bridge (11.2 points per 100 possessions), but it's roughly the jump I'm expecting (hoping/praying) Calvin to make.

Adding 11ish points of efficiency margin would add an expected three wins over the 14-game conference stretch according to my empirical model. [Win Percentage = Efficiency Margin x 0.0183 + 0.500]

The efficiency numbers say Albion was really a "5.5 win" MIAA team, and Trine an "8.4 win" team. FWIW, over the past six or seven years, Albion is the team that has most consistently outperformed their expected efficiency-based win total.

Wow, just realized you highlighted Adrian and Albion, not Albion and Trine. 

Anyway, yeah, Richaud Pack made it clear that he was looking for "at least a D2 spot", but it didn't appear like he had one in August. Would/could he be back at Adrian? That would potentially change a lot.

[sac]

Wow, just realized you highlighted Adrian and Albion, not Albion and Trine. 

Anyway, yeah, Richaud Pack made it clear that he was looking for "at least a D2 spot", but it didn't appear like he had one in August. Would/could he be back at Adrian? That would potentially change a lot.

If you get a couple minutes, google a couple of Albion's Fr., I found it somewhat interesting


Pack has dropped off the face of the Earth, he's not on any roster at any level within the local area, and by local I mean Michigan, Indiana, Ohio.  He's one name I'm looking for along with a couple others.

[KnightSlappy]

If you get a couple minutes, google a couple of Albion's Fr., I found it somewhat interesting

Can you give me the highlights?

[Pat Coleman]

Going over the schedules and would like to point out the MIAA will be playing 51 or 52 in-region games this year.  That is an increase of 18 or 19 over last year.

Out of the total number of non-conference games that is still just 58% but it puts the league much more in line with other larger leagues with more games built in to their schedules.

Great to see.

[sflzman]

Interesting that Baldwin-Wallace announces an all-sport post-season ban today:

http://d3hoops.com/notables/2012/10/baldwin-wallace-postseason-ban

Then tonight Saint Mary's women's soccer vacates their bid in this year's MIAA tournament after they take down K-zoo in a must-win for them this afternoon.

(miaa.org for the "extent" of the details for that one)

[oldknight]

I abandoned the kiddies looking for candy at the OldKnight homestead in favor of watching the Knights scrimmage. They played GRCC which features a team that is not that big but is athletic and very quick. Calvin started Kruis, Snikkers, Dykstra, Brink and Rietema. This group played very well together the first 6-8 minutes, dominated the boards, moved the ball, and repeatedly got good shot opportunities. There was more uneven play as substitutes entered the game but the Knights won the first 20 minutes comfortably 48-33. The second 20 minutes featured more players who had seen little or no action during the first session of play, especially on the offensive end, and things got pretty ragged at times. Efficiency of ball movement declined and turnovers increased. The second frame ended with CC banking a buzzer beating triple from 35 feet and the teams tied at 33. I left early in the third 20 minutes as both teams emptied the bench of players who hadn't played.

There were good, bad and unusual things to note. Now that he has the offensive weapons around him he lacked last year, Snikkers was freed to do what he does best--spend more of his time and effort to penetrate and dish. His passing was very good and the big guys got several easy baskets on assists Tom created. Tyler Kruis played well and Jordan Brink reminded us we missed him last year. Mickey De Vries was outstanding, seemed to grab every rebound, took more than one charge and scored in a variety of creative ways. KnightSlappy said Mickey was the player of the game and I can't gainsay that comment. I think MDV needs to be a starter again.

On the list of concerns was the unusual lack of three point shooting. It's not that Calvin shot and missed a lot, it's just that they hardly even attempted any triples. Maybe that was by design with Calvin deliberately concentrating efforts on the inside game but it struck me as almost weird. Besides Brink (who only took one or two from the arc) who will be stretching the defenses this year? We need more than one player to do that. I also think we need more consistency from the point position which alternated between moving the ball in ways that challenged the defense and turning it over.