MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[KnightSlappy]

Calvin's rooting interests

(1) To beat Hope -- This obviously gets them the Pool A automatic bid
(2) Mount Union to beat Marietta in the OAC -- This should pretty much guarantee Hope ends up ranked in the rankings that no will see.
(3) Thomas More to beat St. Vincent in the PrAC -- Calvin wants to end up ranked ahead of the PrAC runner up, and the best chance of this happening is if it's St. Vincent. If Calvin loses to Hope, they could still conceivably jump St. Vincent in the rankings by virtue of adding the 1-2 record versus regionally ranked opponents. It's not a sure thing, but it's surer than jumping Thomas More. Maybe 50-50. Getting ranked in front of the PrAC runner up means that Calvin would be "on the board" for probably 5-10 rounds of selections (should they not win the AQ) -- it may be impossible for the committee to ignore the .917 winning percentage for that long.
(4) No upsets in any other D3 conferences.

[wwjjdd]

Colton Overway made a David-Meulenberg-esque cameo appearance in the last minute of the Hope-Trine game.  The crowd was very appreciative and gave him a nice round of applause as he stepped on the floor.  IMO, he is not capable of playing for real at this time, although he did participate in pre-game drills.  I was relieved to see that he was able to avoid getting hurt again.

[calvinite]

I don't think there are any other GL Region teams that could factor in, assuming that Capital's loss is enough to knock them behind Hope (and I don't see how it isn't).

KS, you are the king of stats, and I do trust your posts. However, if your belief that Capital's loss knocks them behind Hope is based on the 'logic' of the situation vs. the criteria for regional rankings, surely you realize the two are not directly related. My honest impression is that the committee is not trying to rank the best teams, but the teams that have done the best in 4 categories which are (A) flawed (B) overlapping and (C) not applicable for some of the teams being ranked. In short, you seem more optimistic than I.

[KnightSlappy]

I don't think there are any other GL Region teams that could factor in, assuming that Capital's loss is enough to knock them behind Hope (and I don't see how it isn't).

KS, you are the king of stats, and I do trust your posts. However, if your belief that Capital's loss knocks them behind Hope is based on the 'logic' of the situation vs. the criteria for regional rankings, surely you realize the two are not directly related. My honest impression is that the committee is not trying to rank the best teams, but the teams that have done the best in 4 categories which are (A) flawed (B) overlapping and (C) not applicable for some of the teams being ranked. In short, you seem more optimistic than I.

I'm considering the criteria. Since the last rankings, Capital took an 0-1 against a team that didn't help their SOS at all. Hope will (at worst) take a 1-1 with one of those being a huge SOS boost (Calvin, on the road) and a game versus a regionally ranked.

[calvinite]

Calvin's rooting interests
(4) No upsets in any other D3 conferences.

How about FEW upsets in D3 conferences. There's just no way there won't be any....

[KnightSlappy]

Colton Overway made a David-Meulenberg-esque cameo appearance in the last minute of the Hope-Trine game.  The crowd was very appreciative and gave him a nice round of applause as he stepped on the floor.  IMO, he is not capable of playing for real at this time, although he did participate in pre-game drills.  I was relieved to see that he was able to avoid getting hurt again.

Was this a well-deserved token appearance for a fine senior in front of the home crowd, or is he going to try to play on Saturday (and/or in the NCAA Tournament)?

[oldknight]

What's going on in Calvin right now is despicable!  They have given up...

Adrian inbounded a ball from underneath their hoop with 3 seconds on the shot clock.  An Adrian player (Gallant) got the ball, held it, made no move, after 2 seconds, passed it to a teammate who had 1 second, takes a dribble?!?  Neither was aware of time and/or situation.  That wasn't what made me upset though...

I first noticed it when an Adrian player made a bad pass up top and it went past him and it should've been just an over-and-back violation, but the Adrian guard started jogging and the Calvin player hustled, dove on the floor and got it, and then passed it to a teammate for (another) lay up.  I saw 2 other plays where Adrian players just gave up.  Instead of playing with pride, I saw gutlessness.

I don't say that lately.  I like Adrian,  I cheer for my alma matar, I like Mark White, but I saw what I saw.

I understand your frustration. I can't remember ever seeing a Mark White team actually look beaten but that's what happened tonight. The over and back play exemplified the difference in competitive juices between the two squads. Calvin played about as complete a game as we've seen this year. When the Knights repeatedly get the ball in the blocks to Tyler Kruis, the game just seems to get a lot easier for them. The offense just opens up for everyone. An interesting dynamic played out with Snikkers who--apparently chastened by last week's 11 turnovers--simply refused to try and press the action when there didn't seem to be an opening. Instead, he took what the defense gave him, moved the ball around, and led the team with 6 assists and 0 turnovers. Even if Tom only takes four shots as he did tonight, he can still be a leader by playmaking and rebounding as we observed against the Bulldogs.

Calvin's defense was outstanding, forcing Adrian into being little more than a jump shooting team. Sean Gallant is a very fine post player but I felt sorry for him. Against a team like Calvin he suffered the most from the loss of Adam Meier (who I'm told has a torn ACL) and simply found it impossible to get a shot off inside 15 feet for the first 30 minutes of play. With the Knights also able to hound Barnes and Lewis into 4-17 shooting, Adrian simply had no chance in this one.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Halftime

Hope 38
Trine 35

Gardner with 14, Snuggs with 8

Rogers with 8, Good with 7. Jackson with 2 (2ft with 2.5 seconds left in the half - thanks to Jim Schipper).

Given the earlier posts about the (lack of) quality officiating at both the college and high school levels, please tell me that you aren't complaining about having a guy who's doing a ton of Big Ten games doing a DIII game?!

I'll assume this is a good natured jab at a guy who transferred from Hope to Calvin about 30 years ago and not a belief that he (or anyone else who's officiating at a high level for that matter) would somehow compromise a huge investment of time to be a top flight official and be biased against a team they have been assigned to officiate...

Geez - all I said was that his ft were thanks to Jim Schipper - who made a very questionable call. It has no bearing on his officiating skill - I was simply trying to make a point that without that questionable call Jackson would have been held scoreless for the first half.

[oldknight]

Should be quite an afternoon/evening Saturday at VNA with Calvin hosting Hope for the day. As Mr. Cub would say, "It's a great day for a ballgame; let's play two." I wish the good folks at d3hoops could find a way to come, broadcast and enjoy the atmosphere.

[Pat Coleman]

Should be quite an afternoon/evening Saturday at VNA with Calvin hosting Hope for the day. As Mr. Cub would say, "It's a great day for a ballgame; let's play two." I wish the good folks at d3hoops could find a way to come, broadcast and enjoy the atmosphere.

Sorry. Wish I could. Already have one flight to Grand Rapids in my future, though.

[sac]

Hope 76 Trine 63

Something very pleasing to my basketball eyes about these two teams playing each other.  They seem to give each other lots of space to play the game.  Maybe its just me but the 3 most enjoyable games to watch this year were Hope v Trine.

Took awhile for Hope to realize the guys on the other side were playing harder than them and they had some less than spectacular moments on the offensive side of the floor in the first half.  I honestly have to give Trine some credit here because I thought their post D was the best it had been vs Hope this year, that said I thought Hope's post effort was pretty terrible at least in the first half.

Ben Gardner kept Hope's offense from being completely dead, 14 first half points, says it all.  When Hope finally did start to build an early 2nd half lead it was back-to-back Ben Gardner buckets that did it of course.  Trine stayed in it and almost exactly like Saturday hit a big 3 to get back within 6, only this time the 3's didn't go in after that one.

Also a lot like Saturday Hope scored points on almost all of its under 5 to play possessions including just enough ft's, while Trine wilted a little under the pressure.  Most of their shots in the last few minutes were well off the mark, including a couple air-ball ft's.

Hope has to play better Saturday, that much I'm sure about.

[arena]

What's going on in Calvin right now is despicable!  They have given up...

Adrian inbounded a ball from underneath their hoop with 3 seconds on the shot clock.  An Adrian player (Gallant) got the ball, held it, made no move, after 2 seconds, passed it to a teammate who had 1 second, takes a dribble?!?  Neither was aware of time and/or situation.  That wasn't what made me upset though...

I first noticed it when an Adrian player made a bad pass up top and it went past him and it should've been just an over-and-back violation, but the Adrian guard started jogging and the Calvin player hustled, dove on the floor and got it, and then passed it to a teammate for (another) lay up.  I saw 2 other plays where Adrian players just gave up.  Instead of playing with pride, I saw gutlessness.

I don't say that lately.  I like Adrian,  I cheer for my alma matar, I like Mark White, but I saw what I saw.

One of things I thought to myself when White took that player out was how little reaction that player had to what White was saying to him after that play.  It was almost like he checked out of the game mentally.  Its a shame, I really like how White coaches and to see that player's reaction was sad.

[maroonandgold]

I just looked at the box scores from last night's games and noticed that Colton Overway was in the game for just one minute.  From that I assume that his injury has healed, but he is not able to work into playing condition without quite a bit more time.  It's great that he could get in the game.  It looks as if it could be quite a contest on Saturday with Snuggerund playing well and Hope's freshman having so much experience by this time of the year.

In my opinion, Calvin played its most complete game of the year last night.  But it will take another similar game if they are going to win on Saturday.  Their depth and size give them the edge, but their shooting and hustle were outstanding, too.  Every player seems to have really bought into the team concept, trying to do what they can when opportunities come.  But I see no complaints from players whose time has been reduced this season from last year.  Their continuing contributions really impress me with the positive attitude they are demonstrating and a big part of the season's success.  Part of the reason it is so difficult to pick a league MVP is the fact that the winning team spreads its contributions so widely over so  many players.

[pointlem]

Yes, that was a miscall by a good ref . . . after Ian Jackson played bowling ball against some standing Hope pins.  Matt Neil was upset . . . and he--to his credit--rarely gets on a ref (or players), which gives him credibility when he does.  Schipper's response to the complaints last night was simply to calmly hear them out and then move on.

On the brighter side, is Ben Gardner going to be fun to watch for three more years or what?  Visions of David Krombeen and Joel Holstege--players capable of displaying an artistic athleticism that drops the jaw and make the game an aesthetic pleasure to watch.

Halftime

Hope 38
Trine 35

Gardner with 14, Snuggs with 8

Rogers with 8, Good with 7. Jackson with 2 (2ft with 2.5 seconds left in the half - thanks to Jim Schipper).

Given the earlier posts about the (lack of) quality officiating at both the college and high school levels, please tell me that you aren't complaining about having a guy who's doing a ton of Big Ten games doing a DIII game?!

I'll assume this is a good natured jab at a guy who transferred from Hope to Calvin about 30 years ago and not a belief that he (or anyone else who's officiating at a high level for that matter) would somehow compromise a huge investment of time to be a top flight official and be biased against a team they have been assigned to officiate...

Geez - all I said was that his ft were thanks to Jim Schipper - who made a very questionable call. It has no bearing on his officiating skill - I was simply trying to make a point that without that questionable call Jackson would have been held scoreless for the first half.

[GoKnights68]

Does anyone else agree with the Calvin athletic ticket office/department to only be selling tickets to Saturday's game to season ticket holders after the game?  I saw about 25 people waiting in line after the game last night be shewed away from buying a ticket because they weren't season ticket holders and telling them to come back the next day.  Just seemed kind of off considering the arena was 2/3rds empty last night.  I get the notion they are trying to give perks to season ticket holders and I would get it if last night's game was packed, but it seems kind of odd with Calvin's attendance at games never being "ideal" as one would hope.