MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[John Gleich]

Alma 75 Baldwin-Wallace 73

Scots survive a late push by BW.  The BW coach got himself tossed with two quick T's midway through the 2nd half gave up 3 FT's, been a long time since I've seen that in a D3 game if ever.

Isiah Law had +20 the livestats kept sticking so nothing else.


For the day the league went 2-5, 2-4 in-region.  (I assume Albion lost)

Actually, the Tufts coach got tossed last night against Illinois Wesleyan too.  There's some discussion about that on the CCIW page (now 2-3 pages back).

[sflzman]

Jut got done watching a very intertaining Alma BW game. The Scots managed to win while being outboarded 51-33 and while shooting 55% from the line. The whole BW coaching staff just kept nagging the whole game about the physicality of the game. Eventually the coach lost it with an offensive foul that was called while battling for position in the post. Begot the first T for telling the refs they should not be involved with college athletics and the 2nd for continuing to go out on the court. After he received the second one and was being kindly escorted/dragged off by Judd Folske he was still trying to go after one of the refs (who's family owns Treetops Ski Area up in gaylord) as he was trying to give Silverthorn his free throws.

After that was cleared up Alma pushed their lead up to as much as 8 but failed to find a Cory Schneider dagger as the game concluded. The game ended with Alma icing their own kicker as Beckman had a jumper as coach Hargreaves called a timeout. They then turned the ball over and gave BW another chance but they played lock down defense and stripped a BW shooter and then a Scrum right in front of the BW bench that ran out the clock.

Sean Clancy played some huge minutes for the Scots. Isiah Law and Greg Silverthorn led the Scots and Brian Sheridan added a double double.

Overall a good win for the Scots but BW kind of shot themselves in the foot with 21 tournovers.

[kiltedbryan]

Adrian scored 19 first half points and is shooting 47%......I didn't know this was possible in the modern game of basketball.

Wittenberg only managed 16 against Wooster in the first half tonight...but shot only 27% from the field. Remarkable to see 19 pts while almost shooting 50%.

[goodknight]

Back from a whirlwind visit to Wheaton's campus, which sometimes seems to out-Colonial Williamsburg. 
It was a bittersweet trip -- two deeply disappointing games for Calvin inside the King Arena, which is becoming a house of horrors for the Knights.  After getting thumped by the Thunder on Friday night, Calvin extended its misery (and quite a bit of unintended mercy) in this afternoon's contest with Carthage.  Calvin looked completely befuddled on the defensive end early on before recovering to cut the deficit to 34-30 at the intermission.
Calvin appeared poised to blow open the game several times in the second half, building a 55-50 lead before a total collapse in the last 5 or 6 minutes of the game.
Wheaton is a very good team, but Carthage seemed to be a very winnable matchup for the Knights, who heretofore have won a couple of close games that last year they almost certainly would not have (vs. AQ and Cornerstone last weekend).
Feels like gut check time for players and coaching staff alike.
At least the food, drinks and conviviality of catching up with  old friends in Chicagoland more than compensated for the brutal basketball played this weekend by the Calvin Knights.

[oldknight]

As GK's post implies, this is a game Calvin really should have won. While the end-of-game play showed a regression to some of last season's habits, they actually lost the contest in the first 10 minutes when the Knights gave up 24 points the day after holding a far superior Wheaton team to 22 points in a half. Carthage scored on a series of easy layups and short jumpers over and around Calvin "defenders" who were simply AWOL during the first quarter of the game. The 24-14 deficit would have been worse if Carthage hadn't gone 0-6 from the arc.

Maybe I'm too old school but I just don't like doing line changes during closely contested basketball games. That's fine if the Calvin hockey coach does it but I don't like seeing that on the hardwood. After Calvin took a four point lead with just under seven minutes left, an entire new team entered, played three minutes, and then all the starters returned with the lead down to one. With the game on the line Calvin's "refreshed" players came up empty with three straight poorly executed possessions, even as their opponent continued scoring. It seems it's tough for Calvin to maintain any rhythm.

Yesterday, Wheaton had four players put in at least 30 minutes. Today, Snikkers played the most minutes for Calvin at 26 while every Carthage starter logged between 28 and 37 minutes. Tyler Kruis--for one--needs to play more. His line was 18 and 9 in 22 minutes while Luke Johnson--his counterpart on the Red Men--was 12 and 7 in 37 minutes. I imagine Luke breathed a quiet "Thank you" for the 15 minutes he didn't have to guard Tyler. I would prefer to see Calvin shorten its bench. Also, for the second straight game, Snikkers got more shots (14 each night) than did Jordan Brink. The youngster from Dyer, Indiana needs to be the one taking the most shots on the team this year and everyone on the team needs to expect that.

[sac]

Carthage was down 2 men from injuries sustained in the Hope game 6-7 Steve Jaskulske and 6-5 Marlon Senior.  That could explain Carthage's minutes a little.  They aren't a very deep team without those guys.

[oldknight]

Carthage was down 2 men from injuries sustained in the Hope game 6-7 Steve Jaskulske and 6-5 Marlon Senior.  That could explain Carthage's minutes a little.  They aren't a very deep team without those guys.

That is no doubt true but no Calvin starter played more than 26 minutes in either game this weekend. In the Hope/Wheaton game four Thunder players logged 40, 37, 35 and 33 minutes. I'm not suggesting Calvin starters put in that kind of PT but it seems to me your best players need to be putting in 30 minutes on a regular basis and that hasn't been happening. Maybe Calvin will start doing that once the conference season begins.

[knightvision]

As GK's post implies, this is a game Calvin really should have won. While the end-of-game play showed a regression to some of last season's habits, they actually lost the contest in the first 10 minutes when the Knights gave up 24 points the day after holding a far superior Wheaton team to 22 points in a half. Carthage scored on a series of easy layups and short jumpers over and around Calvin "defenders" who were simply AWOL during the first quarter of the game. The 24-14 deficit would have been worse if Carthage hadn't gone 0-6 from the arc.

Maybe I'm too old school but I just don't like doing line changes during closely contested basketball games. That's fine if the Calvin hockey coach does it but I don't like seeing that on the hardwood. After Calvin took a four point lead with just under seven minutes left, an entire new team entered, played three minutes, and then all the starters returned with the lead down to one. With the game on the line Calvin's "refreshed" players came up empty with three straight poorly executed possessions, even as their opponent continued scoring. It seems it's tough for Calvin to maintain any rhythm.

Yesterday, Wheaton had four players put in at least 30 minutes. Today, Snikkers played the most minutes for Calvin at 26 while every Carthage starter logged between 28 and 37 minutes. Tyler Kruis--for one--needs to play more. His line was 18 and 9 in 22 minutes while Luke Johnson--his counterpart on the Red Men--was 12 and 7 in 37 minutes. I imagine Luke breathed a quiet "Thank you" for the 15 minutes he didn't have to guard Tyler. I would prefer to see Calvin shorten its bench. Also, for the second straight game, Snikkers got more shots (14 each night) than did Jordan Brink. The youngster from Dyer, Indiana needs to be the one taking the most shots on the team this year and everyone on the team needs to expect that.

I agree wholeheartedly with shortening the bench and would amend your second statement to state that Brink and Kruis should be taking the most shots on the team this year (followed by Powell) and everyone on the team needs to expect that...the coaching staff is communicating clearly who we are looking to for scoring. 

While the stat sheet shouldn't be the only means of evaluating a player's contribution, a  look at the season stats for Calvin provides some helpful info to support your two points.  Of the four guys taking the most shots, Kruis, Brink, and Powell are around 50% from the field, and Snikkers is slightly over 40%.  In addition, based on stats and an admittedly small sample of seeing Calvin  play (3 times), I'd be inclined to reduce minutes for DeBoer & Vallie as a means to bump up minutes for my key guys.

While we've all seen the rare team where a "second five" develops a special bond and mojo, I've always felt that guys off the bench are going to have a higher chance of success when blended with some of the starters.  Haven't seen enough of Calvin to know if the five for five subbing is the norm or if Saturday was an exception, but at a key moment of the game it certainly wouldn't be something I'd be inclined to even think about. 

[HopeConvert]

I've never understood this idea of keeping your players fresh at this level.  We are talking about twenty year old kids. I dare say most of us back then routinely played, mutatis mutandis, for three or four hours without getting tired. If you're worried about your kid playing 34 minutes then you have conditioning problems. The only way I'd consider having my best players play less is if thee wasn't a huge drop off between my starter and his replacement, if I wanted different matchups, or I needed a particular skill set on the floor.  Otherwise, keep your best players on the floor.

I'm waiting for some Hope poster who was at the games this weekend to share his observations. I'm kind of curious about whether the team is progressing, what some of the new players look like, and what's going on with Snuggs.

[Roundball999]

I've never understood this idea of keeping your players fresh at this level.  We are talking about twenty year old kids. I dare say most of us back then routinely played, mutatis mutandis, for three or four hours without getting tired. If you're worried about your kid playing 34 minutes then you have conditioning problems. The only way I'd consider having my best players play less is if thee wasn't a huge drop off between my starter and his replacement, if I wanted different matchups, or I needed a particular skill set on the floor.  Otherwise, keep your best players on the floor.

I'm waiting for some Hope poster who was at the games this weekend to share his observations. I'm kind of curious about whether the team is progressing, what some of the new players look like, and what's going on with Snuggs.

Agree with you for the most part, but I would say that the game today is far more physically demanding than it was 20-30 years ago.  Back then, virtually no one played the kind of pressure, denying defense that many/most teams use today.  I think far more energy is expended on defense than in the past, and consequently far more energy is also required on offense to run your sets.  I do believe it is tough for even a superbly conditioned 20 year old to maintain the same level for more than maybe 25-30 minutes/game, if his team isn't playing a passive defense.

[goodknight]

I've never understood this idea of keeping your players fresh at this level.  We are talking about twenty year old kids. I dare say most of us back then routinely played, mutatis mutandis, for three or four hours without getting tired. If you're worried about your kid playing 34 minutes then you have conditioning problems. The only way I'd consider having my best players play less is if thee wasn't a huge drop off between my starter and his replacement, if I wanted different matchups, or I needed a particular skill set on the floor.  Otherwise, keep your best players on the floor.

I'm waiting for some Hope poster who was at the games this weekend to share his observations. I'm kind of curious about whether the team is progressing, what some of the new players look like, and what's going on with Snuggs.

Agree with you for the most part, but I would say that the game today is far more physically demanding than it was 20-30 years ago.  Back then, virtually no one played the kind of pressure, denying defense that many/most teams use today.  I think far more energy is expended on defense than in the past, and consequently far more energy is also required on offense to run your sets.  I do believe it is tough for even a superbly conditioned 20 year old to maintain the same level for more than maybe 25-30 minutes/game, if his team isn't playing a passive defense.

The pure passivity of Calvin's defense yesterday was outstanding for about 32 of the 40 minutes.

[monsoon]

I'm waiting for some Hope poster who was at the games this weekend to share his observations. I'm kind of curious about whether the team is progressing, what some of the new players look like, and what's going on with Snuggs.

The team is definitely progressing; they appeared to be significantly more comfortable with each other this weekend than they did against North Central.  Benson continues to give good minutes; Gardner brings good energy and intensity and, when his shot is falling as it did on Friday, he's a lot of fun to watch; thought Eidson played well at times this weekend, too.

[sac]

If you play your starters a lot of minutes early in the season how are your young players ever going to gain experience?

[sac]

North Central 72 Kalamazoo 57
.....double-digit NCC lead for the last 30 minutes.

M. Ghafari 23, Shoenfeldt 17

[realist]

Carthage was down 2 men from injuries sustained in the Hope game 6-7 Steve Jaskulske and 6-5 Marlon Senior.  That could explain Carthage's minutes a little.  They aren't a very deep team without those guys.

That is no doubt true but no Calvin starter played more than 26 minutes in either game this weekend. In the Hope/Wheaton game four Thunder players logged 40, 37, 35 and 33 minutes. I'm not suggesting Calvin starters put in that kind of PT but it seems to me your best players need to be putting in 30 minutes on a regular basis and that hasn't been happening. Maybe Calvin will start doing that once the conference season begins.

My advice is do not hold your breath waiting for any Calvin starter to see pt. over 31 or 32 in any game.  31-32 happens from time to time, but seldom more than that.
A quick check of the last 5 years shows the Calvin player with the highest mpg to be:
11-12 Snikkers    27.2
10-11 Rodts        27.8
9--10 Mantel       28.4
8-9    Smith        27.0
7-8    Veldhouse  28.6
The die is cast.  10 man rotation, and seldom will any player see more than 30-32 minutes.
Look at 4 or 5 years of box scores.