MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Nice to see the entire team play well today - only DeMaagd (recovering from a hard fall at Albion) and Parisi (recovering from the flu) didn't play. Impressed with Overway's double-double of 12 pts and 11 ast in 24 minutes of play.

Now on to Calvin!

[ziggy]

Massey had Adrian #32.

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

The sarcasm was apparently lost on Titan Q

No, not at all, I promise.  Maybe I should have used a smiley thing or something like that.  Sorry.

Ah, then the snark was lost on me!

[oldknight]

Calvin dominated the Alma Scots who really struggled to deal with Calvin's size. Alma appeared interested in playing an uptempo game at VNA and Calvin didn't seem to mind that one bit. Coming in I expected to see a greatly improved Alma squad but their defense was pretty disappointing. Maybe it's better than what we observed at VNA today but bluntly put, Alma's defense was lousy Saturday afternoon. Snikkers and Kruis had their way, with Tom scoring 19 in 23 minutes and Tyler 21 in only 19 minutes. So when all is said and done, it seems the league is coming down to Calvin/Hope once again. The Knights look to be about as prepared as they can be at this point.

[sac]

Olivet 52 Adrian 49

The trouble with computer rankings, and even human rankings is they are looking behind them.  The Adrian team and lineup in November early December was much deeper and I would say even better than what Mark White is trying to keep together right now.  The Adrian team right now is not a top 25 or even a top 3 MIAA team.  They can still compete for it, still give Calvin or Hope a run for their money, but they're very capable of losing to everyone as well.

Speaking of looking behind Adrian might have got caught doing that today, after three tough games to open the conference season with Calvin, Hope and Trine (now in prime shape for at worst #3 in the league) I'm sure the Bulldogs thought today would be easy.  I wish I could say I've never seen a team so listless and weak but I saw Hope do the same thing at Olivet last winter.  Adrian was just poor early on and dug a big hole.  Olivet really capitalized on Adrian's mistakes and at one point had a 16 point lead.

Adrian's day was probably typified by this first half play.....
04:47              STEAL by Eric Lewis
04:44              MISSED LAYUP by Eric Lewis
04:44              REBOUND (DEF) by Jeff Cain
04:44              FOUL by Drew Torey

This was a breakaway steal after he stripped Olivet's Jeff Cain clean, no one was within 6 feet of Lewis, his uncontested layup rolled off the rim slowly, painfully slowly. This was in the middle of a 8 minute stretch where Adrian missed 12 shots in a row.  Lewis walked down the floor after the foul just smiling to himself.  Sometimes its just not your day.  Adrian missed a lot of them like this one today, painfully falling off the rim.

Very unusual halftime with Garner Small having just 2, Adrian's Barnes and Lewis with just 5 between them.  Adrian had to feel just plain lucky to be as close as 11.  The bottom line was though that Olivet outplayed them everywhere, defense, offense, rebounding and the Comets were doing it with a number of different people.

The second half is summed up like this:  Mark White coached his ass off. 

The best quote I could hear from him today was "defense, man, defense".  That's what he spent the entire second half directing from the sidelin, I don't think he sat down once.  Olivet scored 19 points on 4 second half FG's, and they were probably a little lucky to do that. 

Cody Barnes hit a clutch 3 to knot the game up with :34 to play, Olivet ran a play for the win and Dakota Ellis found himself absolutely alone on the right wing and nailed a 3 leaving only 6 to play.  Cody Barnes' desperate shot wasn't close.

When I saw Olivet earlier this year I couldn't envision an Olivet team winning without Garner Small having a good day.  He had 2 points at halftime, sitting a good part of it with foul trouble.  He continued to struggle against the taller Sean Gallant and finished with just eight points.  I don't think he hit a shot outside of 2 feet today, other than FT's.

Olivet got some great contributions today, they were just good enough on defense and rebounded well enough to beat a team I think is clearly better than them.  Of Olivet's 9 guys who played 7 had 3 or more rebounds, this was a total team effort all around. 


I don't know where this Adrian team goes from here, they may just completely fall apart or they could rally around that second half.  They look beat-up physically and mentally, nerves look frayed and fuses short.  They are not enjoying each others company or play it seems.  Mark White's second half coaching kept them together today I'm really not sure how much longer that can continue.  Their biggest opponent ahead of them might be themselves.


In the meantime the only real surprises through the 4 MIAA gamedays both belong to Olivet, beating Albion and Adrian at home.  I don't think the Comets are going to lie down for anyone, at least not at home.  I will admit that both Hope and Calvin are massively bigger than Olivet and that will challenge them greatly, but go into Olivet thinking you're going to win easily at your own peril.  Chris Coles has those guys competing at home.

[KnightSlappy]

Besides playing each other, an Adrian win, Trine has played the bottom three teams and Adrian the top three teams.

[sac]

Hope and Calvin are 4-0, unless I've completely missed or forgotten something this is the best league record these two have had against each other since at least 1998 which is as far back as the MIAA archives go.

[sac]

Kalamazoo went the last 27 minutes of the Hope game without registering an offensive rebound that wasn't a dead ball.

[sac]

Calvin     4-0
Hope       4-0
Trine       3-1
Olivet     2-2

these four teams all play each other in the next 3 game days.

Hope at Calvin
Olivet at Trine

Hope at Olivet
Calvin at Trine

Calvin at Olivet
Trine at Hope

[Happy Calvin Guy]

Massey predicts 72% probability of a Calvin victory on Wednesday, with a most likely score of 76-70. 

We'll see what drama Bryan Powell pulls out for this one.  The regular season Hope game at VNA has provided some of his career highlights in the past.  As a freshman, with Calvin down two in the second half, he hit three straight triples in front of a delirious student section over the span of about 90 seconds to put Calvin in front by seven, and the Knights never looked back (coincidentally that run included a couple of missed shots by freshman Nate Snuggerud).  Last year, Mr. Powell had the dunk of the year on Logan Neil's head (to go with 16 points) in an otherwise bleak game for the Knights. 

I also think we'll find out what Coach Neil really has in mind for Snuggerud's role this year.  This is a very important game for Hope--they have more need to win the MIAA tourney this year than they have in a few years when they probably could have gotten a Pool C bid regardless.  There is no question that Hope would rather host the tournament than have to make the trek to VNA.  It's early in the conference season, but a win on Wed would give Hope the inside track to hosting the tourney.  It's time for Coach Neil to put his best team on the floor--you'd think that any messages he needed to send have been sent by now and Calvin had better be prepared for Snuggs.  Calvin also presents more size than Hope's previous MIAA opponents--don't be shocked if we see also more minutes from Van Arendonk to counter.

I had been wondering if Mitch Vallie was being worked out of the rotation in favor of Jordan Mast--his minutes have been reduced significantly the last few games and he only saw time with the mop-up line on Saturday.  But apparently he's been recovering from the flu so I would guess we should see Mitch available for his normal minutes in the regular rotation on Wednesday. 

I'm very excited for this game.  Two unbeaten teams in conference play, tied for the league lead, and what I deem as the best Knight team in years.  I'm sure it'll be a classic once again.

[HopeConvert]

Massey predicts 72% probability of a Calvin victory on Wednesday, with a most likely score of 76-70. 

We'll see what drama Bryan Powell pulls out for this one.  The regular season Hope game at VNA has provided some of his career highlights in the past.  As a freshman, with Calvin down two in the second half, he hit three straight triples in front of a delirious student section over the span of about 90 seconds to put Calvin in front by seven, and the Knights never looked back (coincidentally that run included a couple of missed shots by freshman Nate Snuggerud).  Last year, Mr. Powell had the dunk of the year on Logan Neil's head (to go with 16 points) in an otherwise bleak game for the Knights. 

I also think we'll find out what Coach Neil really has in mind for Snuggerud's role this year.  This is a very important game for Hope--they have more need to win the MIAA tourney this year than they have in a few years when they probably could have gotten a Pool C bid regardless.  There is no question that Hope would rather host the tournament than have to make the trek to VNA.  It's early in the conference season, but a win on Wed would give Hope the inside track to hosting the tourney.  It's time for Coach Neil to put his best team on the floor--you'd think that any messages he needed to send have been sent by now and Calvin had better be prepared for Snuggs.  Calvin also presents more size than Hope's previous MIAA opponents--don't be shocked if we see also more minutes from Van Arendonk to counter.

I had been wondering if Mitch Vallie was being worked out of the rotation in favor of Jordan Mast--his minutes have been reduced significantly the last few games and he only saw time with the mop-up line on Saturday.  But apparently he's been recovering from the flu so I would guess we should see Mitch available for his normal minutes in the regular rotation on Wednesday. 

I'm very excited for this game.  Two unbeaten teams in conference play, tied for the league lead, and what I deem as the best Knight team in years.  I'm sure it'll be a classic once again.

And the weakest Hope one in years.

[realist]

Massey predicts 72% probability of a Calvin victory on Wednesday, with a most likely score of 76-70. 

We'll see what drama Bryan Powell pulls out for this one.  The regular season Hope game at VNA has provided some of his career highlights in the past.  As a freshman, with Calvin down two in the second half, he hit three straight triples in front of a delirious student section over the span of about 90 seconds to put Calvin in front by seven, and the Knights never looked back (coincidentally that run included a couple of missed shots by freshman Nate Snuggerud).  Last year, Mr. Powell had the dunk of the year on Logan Neil's head (to go with 16 points) in an otherwise bleak game for the Knights. 

I also think we'll find out what Coach Neil really has in mind for Snuggerud's role this year.  This is a very important game for Hope--they have more need to win the MIAA tourney this year than they have in a few years when they probably could have gotten a Pool C bid regardless.  There is no question that Hope would rather host the tournament than have to make the trek to VNA.  It's early in the conference season, but a win on Wed would give Hope the inside track to hosting the tourney.  It's time for Coach Neil to put his best team on the floor--you'd think that any messages he needed to send have been sent by now and Calvin had better be prepared for Snuggs.  Calvin also presents more size than Hope's previous MIAA opponents--don't be shocked if we see also more minutes from Van Arendonk to counter.

I had been wondering if Mitch Vallie was being worked out of the rotation in favor of Jordan Mast--his minutes have been reduced significantly the last few games and he only saw time with the mop-up line on Saturday.  But apparently he's been recovering from the flu so I would guess we should see Mitch available for his normal minutes in the regular rotation on Wednesday. 

I'm very excited for this game.  Two unbeaten teams in conference play, tied for the league lead, and what I deem as the best Knight team in years.  I'm sure it'll be a classic once again.

And the weakest Hope one in years.

Nice try HC:    I am not for a minute buying this as a weak Hope team.  Granted Hope (uncharacteristically) lost several games to teams they really shouldn't IMO have lost, but that doesn't mean they are weak.  Human perhaps, but weak no.
This supposedly "weak" Hope team did much better against Wheaton than Calvin did.  They beat Carthage which Calvin failed to do, and played a very tough team in IWU right down to the wire. 
I think MN knows exactly what he has been doing, and he has a ton of talent both upper and lower classmen. 
With Hope the names may change, and the faces may change, but everyone should expect to see
a very typical Calvin/Hope game.  I expect to see Calvin challenged like they haven't been since the Wheaton game. 

[sac]

And the weakest Hope one in years.

It might just be me but this team looks a lot like the 2009/2010/2011 Hope teams.  21-8, 21-8, 23-7. 

This team also played a more difficult schedule than those teams did.

[KnightSlappy]

Here's Massey's archive for the recent Calvin and Hope teams (as far back as he goes, 2008). Ranks are rank in ALL of college basketball.

Team	Year	Rank*	Schedule	Offense	Defense
Hope	2008	263	732	244	436
Hope	2012	354	941	198	898
Hope	2011	473	758	263	1056
>Calvin	2013	574	1207	959	488
Hope	2009	604	852	634	706
Calvin	2009	660	821	850	624
Calvin	2011	675	650	695	744
Calvin	2008	689	760	628	728
Hope	2010	702	1121	677	983
Calvin	2010	742	1035	818	905
>Hope	2013	769	784	404	1164
Calvin	2012	1161	1112	1138	1158
..	..	..	..	..	..
Calvin	AVG	750	931	848	775
Hope	AVG	661	979	704	855

*The median rank for a D3 team this year is 1281.

Interesting to note this years' offense/defense comparisons.

It's no wonder that 2009 had three classic games.

[KnightSlappy]

Calvin jumps to #21 in the d3hoops.com poll. Adrian (!?) hangs on to 10 points and is an ORV.

http://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2012-13/week7

[sac]

Calvin jumps to #21 in the d3hoops.com poll. Adrian (!?) hangs on to 10 points and is an ORV.

http://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2012-13/week7

Kind of interesting they came in one spot behind Wheaton.  One of the two results that has given voters their greatest pause on Calvin.