MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Kalamazoo 68 Earlham 56
Ghafari 18, Schoenfeldt 11

For the weekend the league went 11-3, including 4-3 in those crucial in-region games and everybody won at least one on the weekend - Woo!.  18-12 overall now,   M-T-W have some more juicy winnable games before next weekend when we up the difficulty level significantly.

[oldknight]

Congrats to oldknight and family!!  Enjoy the grandson. So if you were oldknight before you were a grandparent, does that now make you ancientknight?

That's one possibility. In view of the weekend's events I am considering a board name change and will entertain suggestions.

TroglodyteKnight could catch on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNS42Na2mpc
(Although, I can hear you warning me now: "Go gently into that, goodknight!")

On the other hand, not every suggestion will be given serious consideration.

Trilobiteknight?

Not a chance. I am definately post-diluvian.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Congrats to oldknight and family!!  Enjoy the grandson. So if you were oldknight before you were a grandparent, does that now make you ancientknight?

That's one possibility. In view of the weekend's events I am considering a board name change and will entertain suggestions.

TroglodyteKnight could catch on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNS42Na2mpc
(Although, I can hear you warning me now: "Go gently into that, goodknight!")

On the other hand, not every suggestion will be given serious consideration.

Trilobiteknight?

Not a chance. I am definately post-diluvian.

Aw, such a shame.  My favorite t-shirt (from my wife two years ago who thought I was understating my age when I complained about dodging mastodons on the IWU campus) is a trilobite with a mortarboard - caption reads: Old School.

Trilobiteknight just sounds right!

[KnightSlappy]

Adrian (#16) and Calvin (#17) both crack the top 20 in Division III according to the Massey Ratings in this morning's update. He is, however, currently counting Calvin's Ferris State exhibition loss and an erroneous Calvin win over Allegheny. (I have notified him of both issues).

http://masseyratings.com/team.php?t=1126&s=193573

Hope checks in at #53, Trine at #93, Albion at #186, Alma at #242, Olivet at #247, and Kalamazoo at #253

http://masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cb&yr=2013&sub=11620

[sac]

also counting Albion's exhibition loss to Oakland and Kalamazoo's loss to WMU.

Oakland is actually counting the Albion game for themselves.

[Happy Calvin Guy]

Calvin's had a great deal of success in the first five games.  The team has a different feel to it this year and I think they have the potential to accomplish great things.  In my point of view, one huge key to this success is the role of Tom Snikkers.  We've seen an evolution of his game--when he was a freshman we raved about his court presence, decision making, body control, "basketball IQ", etc.  Then, he became "the man" throughout his SO/JR seasons, and started to shoulder the scoring burden for the Knights.  He forced many more shots and had to become less unselfish (I hate to say more selfish).  Turnovers increased and FG % decreased.  One big question coming into 2012-13 is how Tom would view his role in his senior season.  So far, it seems that he is content to share the ball and be more selective with his shots.  I don't fault him for taking more shots in 2010-11 and 2011-12, simply because he didn't have the same depth around him.  This year, the Knights have more experience and talent, and a mature Tom Snikkers has been a huge key to making sure that the ball gets distributed well (this is evidenced by the high shooting percentage that most of the top 9 guys have) and maintaining the team concept.  Also, he has been able to show his his incredible passing skills--he sees the court better than anyone (even given the excellent court vision of our guard triumvirate of Rietema, Brink, and Powell).  I hope he realizes that his legacy will be greater playing deep into the NCAA tournament in his senior year, rather than merely averaging 17 points per game.  So far, he seems to understand this and I give him a ton of credit.

I proposed an idea before the season began of possibly going to a 12 man rotation.  I'll back off of that belief now...it seems that Jordan Mast's game has declined a bit, and Huizenga and Daley, while showing great future potential, are a small but definite dropoff in skill from our top 9 or 10 guys.  I'm starting to wonder if Mitch Vallie is going to be the odd man out and if KVS will end up with his traditional 9 man rotation after all when league play starts. 

[ziggy]

I proposed an idea before the season began of possibly going to a 12 man rotation.  I'll back off of that belief now...it seems that Jordan Mast's game has declined a bit, and Huizenga and Daley, while showing great future potential, are a small but definite dropoff in skill from our top 9 or 10 guys.  I'm starting to wonder if Mitch Vallie is going to be the odd man out and if KVS will end up with his traditional 9 man rotation after all when league play starts.

I would be shocked if Vallie started losing minutes. He has started the season in a bit of a shooting slump but he provided some seriously ridiculous individual defensive moments in the tip-off tournament. The interesting thing about Calvin's ten-man rotation is that it contains the balance to put complete two good five-man units.

[KnightSlappy]

I proposed an idea before the season began of possibly going to a 12 man rotation.  I'll back off of that belief now...it seems that Jordan Mast's game has declined a bit, and Huizenga and Daley, while showing great future potential, are a small but definite dropoff in skill from our top 9 or 10 guys.  I'm starting to wonder if Mitch Vallie is going to be the odd man out and if KVS will end up with his traditional 9 man rotation after all when league play starts.

I would be shocked if Vallie started losing minutes. He has started the season in a bit of a shooting slump but he provided some seriously ridiculous individual defensive moments in the tip-off tournament. The interesting thing about Calvin's ten-man rotation is that it contains the balance to put complete two good five-man units.

His minutes, in game order: 20, 15, 14, 12, 8. It could just be KVS tightening his bench in a tight Cornerstone game, but the trend exists.

[maroonandgold]

Calvin's had a great deal of success in the first five games.  The team has a different feel to it this year and I think they have the potential to accomplish great things.  In my point of view, one huge key to this success is the role of Tom Snikkers.  We've seen an evolution of his game--when he was a freshman we raved about his court presence, decision making, body control, "basketball IQ", etc.  Then, he became "the man" throughout his SO/JR seasons, and started to shoulder the scoring burden for the Knights.  He forced many more shots and had to become less unselfish (I hate to say more selfish).  Turnovers increased and FG % decreased.  One big question coming into 2012-13 is how Tom would view his role in his senior season.  So far, it seems that he is content to share the ball and be more selective with his shots.  I don't fault him for taking more shots in 2010-11 and 2011-12, simply because he didn't have the same depth around him.  This year, the Knights have more experience and talent, and a mature Tom Snikkers has been a huge key to making sure that the ball gets distributed well (this is evidenced by the high shooting percentage that most of the top 9 guys have) and maintaining the team concept.  Also, he has been able to show his his incredible passing skills--he sees the court better than anyone (even given the excellent court vision of our guard triumvirate of Rietema, Brink, and Powell).  I hope he realizes that his legacy will be greater playing deep into the NCAA tournament in his senior year, rather than merely averaging 17 points per game.  So far, he seems to understand this and I give him a ton of credit.

[/color]

I, too, feel that same sense of potential.  What impressed me about the Cornerstone game was the fact that we still won without playing our best game in the last three minutes.  Tom Snikkers missed both shots when given 2 free throws, and we missed several opportunities toward the end; yet we still had enough overall strength to come through with the win.  It appears that we may have gone to three guards for that game only because of the outstanding speed and strength of Cornerstone's guards.  While Vallie's game as a guard has appeared to go down hill over the weekend, he is still a strong asset.  The biggest question for him is whether he can make the transition to guard against tough teams.  He may be better overall at the forward position he is accustomed to play.  Daley and Huizinga both look better at guard and may end up with more playing time there as they gain experience.  Both appear to me to have better guard-type ball-handling skills.

[SBell]

Trine dusts off Manchester (Calvin's next opponent) 78-61. I casually followed the scoreboard and it seems the game was closer than the final score represents (as the saying goes).

Trine's now starting two freshman, Jared Holmquist from Reed City and Nick Tatu from Clarkston.

[KnightSlappy]

Calvin and Adrian could both receive Top 25 votes in the first regular season D3hoops poll that's due out today. Hope may also keep some attention, even with the 1-2 record.

[knightvision]

Congrats to oldknight and family!!  Enjoy the grandson. So if you were oldknight before you were a grandparent, does that now make you ancientknight?

That's one possibility. In view of the weekend's events I am considering a board name change and will entertain suggestions.

TroglodyteKnight could catch on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNS42Na2mpc
(Although, I can hear you warning me now: "Go gently into that, goodknight!")

On the other hand, not every suggestion will be given serious consideration.

Trilobiteknight?

Not a chance. I am definately post-diluvian.

How about if we focus on the newborn instead of your advancing age, and go with Knighty Knight?  Gotta start practicing your baby talk anyway, right?

[KnightSlappy]

Hope at 19, Adrian 20, Calvin ORV in the latest poll.

Good job, good effort pollsters.

[sac]

Congrats to Adrian for being ranked in the top 25.  I think its been at least 3 years since the league had 3 teams getting votes.

[sac]

Adrian 67 UM-Dearborn 42

Eric Lewis with 23