MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[hope81]

Rumors of a possible broken foot to Wittenbach today in practice.  Bad break for the young man.

[sac]

IPFW 71 Alma 43

If you want the boxscore you'll have to grab the .pdf file off their schedule.
http://www.gomastodons.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball

[neilrocks]

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/newsnow/x2112088125/Hope-basketballs-Stephen-Wittenbach-sidelined-with-foot-injury

Tough start for Dutchmen and the first official game hasn't even been played

[KnightSlappy]

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/newsnow/x2112088125/Hope-basketballs-Stephen-Wittenbach-sidelined-with-foot-injury

Tough start for Dutchmen and the first official game hasn't even been played

Trent Salo broke his foot on November 4 in 2010. His first game back was January 8, 2011. Obviously every case is different, but 9 weeks was the approximate recovery time in that case.

[sac]

Calvin plays its annual exhibition with Ferris State tonight at 7:30, all the relevant links available here:  http://www.ferrisstatebulldogs.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/schedule

[hope81]

Must be some tough practices.  Now Billy Seiler with his arm in a sling.

[Gregory Sager]

Those who dispute this still think GVW won 700 games due to great coaching NOT the whole incredibly deep, talented roster vs the average roster.

Statements like this one, and they're not infrequent on d3boards.com, always make me shake my head in disbelief. There seems to be an undercurrent of opinion out there that recruiting is not a part of college coaching. How can anybody possibly think that? Recruiting is by far the most important part of college coaching.

I don't care if you're John Wooden, Bobby Knight, and Phog Allen all rolled up into one; without the necessary ability level in the raw material that will eventually become the players you'll put out onto the floor, you're never going to be a winning college basketball coach. And who is responsible for bringing in all of the players who comprise that "incredibly deep, talented roster" in the first place? Santa Claus?

[Roundball999]

Those who dispute this still think GVW won 700 games due to great coaching NOT the whole incredibly deep, talented roster vs the average roster.

Statements like this one, and they're not infrequent on d3boards.com, always make me shake my head in disbelief. There seems to be an undercurrent of opinion out there that recruiting is not a part of college coaching. How can anybody possibly think that? Recruiting is by far the most important part of college coaching.

I don't care if you're John Wooden, Bobby Knight, and Phog Allen all rolled up into one; without the necessary ability level in the raw material that will eventually become the players you'll put out onto the floor, you're never going to be a winning college basketball coach. And who is responsible for bringing in all of the players who comprise that "incredibly deep, talented roster" in the first place? Santa Claus?

Very well said.  And I'd take it even a bit further; not only is recruiting critical, but so is the kind of leadership skill and hard work that builds support for the program among campus leadership and the fan base.   That kind of leadership results in better facilities, better budgets for the program, more community outreach, and all the other things that will draw the best student/athletes and make recruiting a little bit easier.  We probably all know of fine coaches that also work hard recruiting, but they don't quite do all the other less visible things that help sustain programs at a high level over the long term.

[sac]

Calvin plays its annual exhibition with Ferris State tonight at 7:30, all the relevant links available here:  http://www.ferrisstatebulldogs.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/schedule

With 50% of the precincts reporting, WSAC is projecting Ferris with a win.

[sac]

Must be some tough practices.  Now Billy Seiler with his arm in a sling.

Matt has said he wanted a tougher team.  They'll get there one way or the other.  'The Other' seems to winning.

[sac]

Ferris State 63 Calvin 62

http://www.ferrisstatebulldogs.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20121106_ia0t.xml

Ferris missed some FT's in the final minute, Snikkers missed a 3 that could have won it.

[oldknight]

I'm not quite sure how they did it but Calvin had two chances in the final 20 seconds of the game to take the lead and beat a Ferris team that had built a 23 point lead early in the second half. The first half was tremendously disappointing for Calvin as the Knights--for the last 12 minutes of the opening frame--looked tired and out of their league competing against a quick, athletic and disciplined Bulldog quintet who led 43-23 at half. Downtown Kenny Brown is a terrific point guard and scored 19 of his 31 in the first 20 minutes. Calvin is unlikely to see a better point guard this year, maybe not one his equal, as Brown shredded Calvin's defense with an assortment of drives to the hoop, pullup jumpers and shots from the arc.

I barely noticed Calvin had slowly but surely clawed their way back into the game prior to Snikkers hitting two free throws at the eight minute mark to cut the Ferris lead to 54-50. Jordon Brink missed a wide open game tying three with under 30 to play but Mickey DeVries tapped back in the miss to cut the deficit to one point. With the Ferris lead at 63-62 Snikkers couldn't convert a short jumper with five seconds left after some contact on the shot wasn't called on the defender. It was one of those plays that could have gone either way but Tom didn't get the call and Ferris headed to the line for a one and one which was promptly missed. Calvin got the rebound and smartly advanced the ball to the point where Snikkers got a pretty good look at the basket from 25 feet. Alas, the ball wouldn't go down.

I'm still pretty concerned about this team's ability to be effective from the arc. Other than Brink (who was 2-7 on threes) I don't see one player on this team ready to step up and become a consistent threat from downtown. In today's college game you just can't be a good team unless you have several deep threats and right now they don't have anyone else but Jordan. I also noticed that Tyler Dykstra started. I don't think he's ready for that role yet. Mickey De Vries is a far more well rounded player and needs to play major minutes right from the get go. Mickey was excellent for the Knights and was a major reason Calvin outrebounded Ferris. When teamed with Tyler Kruis, the Knights have a formidable D3 front line.

Calvin also needs to have Kruis in the game as much as possible. They are just a far better team when the big kid from Grandville is manning the post. His lengthy absence for foul issues was one reason Ferris dominated most of the first half. My eyeballs told me that Calvin did a lousy job protecting the ball but the box score says the Knights only had 11 turnovers which ain't bad. If you read KnightSlappy's pre-game preview you know he's happy about that. Most of Calvin's sloppiness was in the first half which led to easy breaks that the athletic Bulldogs utilized to get good shots. Shot selection for Ferris in the second half was much more difficult because most of their offense was in the half court game and the size of Calvin's defenders clearly bothered the Bulldogs in the second half.

[goodknight]

Thanks for the election-night wrap up from the Calvin-FSU game, OK.  It's so comprehensive, it made me feel as if I were in the arena sitting next to you.  

I strongly endorse your thoughts about Mickey DeVries.  He brings an intensity to both ends of the floor that Tyler Dykstra just can't match at this point in his development, especially on the offensive end.  And with David Rietema in the starting lineup and manning the point during crunch time for his steady ball-handling, the Knights need a fourth scoring option on the floor.

It was a relief to see the Knights creep and crawl and claw their way back into the game after taking a Bulldog punch to the gut the last 10 minutes or so of the first half.  I wasn't sure that Calvin would even be able to trim the deficit to single digits at any point of the second half, much less make a game of it.  But a seasoned observer perched nearby unhesitatingly asserted that the Knights were capable of digging out of the 20-point hole, prognosticating that they would have the ball with a chance to win it on the final two possessions of the game.   

Or was I dreaming that?

[oldknight]

Thanks for the election-night wrap up from the Calvin-FSU game, OK.  It's so comprehensive, it made me feel as if I were in the arena sitting next to you.  

I strongly endorse your thoughts about Mickey DeVries.  He brings an intensity to both ends of the floor that Tyler Dykstra just can't match at this point in his development, especially on the offensive end.  And with David Rietema in the starting lineup and manning the point during crunch time for his steady ball-handling, the Knights need a fourth scoring option on the floor.

It was a relief to see the Knights creep and crawl and claw their way back into the game after taking a Bulldog punch to the gut the last 10 minutes or so of the first half.  I wasn't sure that Calvin would even be able to trim the deficit to single digits at any point of the second half, much less make a game of it.  But a seasoned observer perched nearby unhesitatingly asserted that the Knights were capable of digging out of the 20-point hole, prognosticating that they would have the ball with a chance to win it on the final two possessions of the game.   

Or was I dreaming that?

Election? What election? Did I miss something as important as a basketball scrimmage? I was pleased to hear this "seasoned observer" point out at the break that a veteran Calvin squad would surely man up and make a game of it--possibly even getting the deficit down to single digits.

[KnightSlappy]

Calvin also needs to have Kruis in the game as much as possible. They are just a far better team when the big kid from Grandville is manning the post. His lengthy absence for foul issues was one reason Ferris dominated most of the first half.

Kruis left the first half after picking up his second foul with 9:45 left on the clock. Calvin was down by 5 at the time, but Ferris went on a 22-7 run to finish the half. Kruis played 14 minutes in the second half and didn't pick up another foul. Another example of why sitting a player in "foul trouble" is a bad idea. If he fouls out, he fouls out. The only way to maximize his playing time is to allow him to do so. By sitting him, you're enforcing the foul-out penalty upon yourself prematurely. That was 6-7 minutes of Kruis (clearly Calvin's most important player) lost for no reason.