MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[wiz]

Calvin's 2012-13 team was one of the better shooting teams in recent Calvin history. Before this season began there was some speculation that the 2013-14 version of Calvin basketball would be a better shooting one than last year's. Through four games that speculation is holding up very well. Against Manchester, Calvin shot 51.7%, the Knights' worst shooting performance of the season. For the year, Calvin is hitting 55.6% overall and 48.6% from the arc. Expect those numbers to go down the next two weekends, especially given the better quality of the upcoming competition, but it's encouraging to see these numbers. Among other things, it seems that having a brand new pair manning the point hasn't hurt Calvin's ability to get a lot of high quality shots, both inside and outside.

It's early but, so far, shot selection has been much smarter than last year.  And while defense is always a little slow to develop for the Knights, it appears to be ahead of the pace from previous years.  Big test with next opponent, Cornerstone, on Friday night.

[sac]

Sharp increase in ticket prices this year?  $10 for tonight's double-header at Calvin.  It was $7 at Olivet on Tuesday.

[sac]

Hope 69  Aquinas  67

What a wild finish to the this one, a drab, clunky sounding game with both teams struggling to score burst into life in the final 2 minutes with the teams trading baskets and leads 6 times .  Ben Gardner's shot with 5.5 to play gave the Dutchmen the lead.   Hope trailed by 7 with 6:40 to play.

Gardner 18, McMahon 11, Benson 11, VanArendonk 10

Kolin Kazen with 18 including a monster 3 with 1 to play for Aquinas.


Third year in a row Hope escapes AQ with a narrow win.  Four straight over AQ now.

[realist]

CU conducts a clinic at the VNA 85-66.
A complete game summary is CU controlled the opening tip, every aspect, and facet of the game from that point to the end.

[pointlem]

Hope was very fortunate to win tonight, thanks to good shooting from its bigs (Benson, NVA, Blackledge, and Stuive) and to Ben Gardner's great driving to the basket and even rebounding (a team-leading 9 rebounds).  Except for McMahon, the wing positions had another off-shooting night, with Grant Neil getting 19 minutes of action after, I gather, just a week of practice. 

To be competitive with Cornerstone, Hope will look for better shooting and fewer of the fouls that limited its starting post players to 14 minutes each.  But credit Brock Benson--nothing is lost when he plays.

Kudos to Calvin for its excellent video stream--which even allows pauses and replays.  One suggestion: Instead of continuously covering 2/3rds of the floor, consider zooming in a bit more--to focus on and enlarge the action, as the network broadcasts do. 

[oldknight]

CU conducts a clinic at the VNA 85-66.
A complete game summary is CU controlled the opening tip, every aspect, and facet of the game from that point to the end.

That's a fair summary, though the game was won in the first half with the Stoners hitting 7-14 triples. The Knights were miserable both from the free throw line (21-35) and the arc where they shot 3-16.  Jordan Brink hit 3-6 threes and the rest of the team went 0-10. The earlier start NAIA teams get, with more games played, and the fact that CU is a solid, veteran team was evident. Wes Hudson is a truly outstanding guard and GVSU transfer Ben Lanning wasn't on my radar screen before tonight--but he is now. Other game notes:

--Sometimes you can tell early on it's just not going to be your night. You know its likely to be a long night for the Knights when Jordan Brink misses 2 of his first 3 free throw attempts. Coming into this season Brink had missed only 6 of 110 career free throws. 

--It seemed like CU created more havoc than causing 12 Calvin turnovers but that's what the livestats show. Still, the press did force Calvin into a pace that prevented them from ever feeling comfortable with their offense.

--Losses like tonight's (to a non-D3 school) don't bother me much as long as the team learns something from it. In a way I was glad that foul issues forced Mickey DeVries to play only 16 minutes because it allowed us to get an extended look at BJ Van Loo who played 24 minutes and delivered a game high 16 points, 7 boards, and 4 assists. BJ still is still learning to be in the right spot on the floor--and sometimes failing--but he will help Calvin a lot this year and beyond. The college game isn't too fast for him, he's clever with the ball, has a knack for knowing what the defense is doing and finds a way to get the ball into the basket. He also seems to be a pretty good interior passer, a quality I hadn't noticed in him when I saw him play in high school.

[arena]

I was kind of confused on one foul call by the ref team last night.  When  I think it was Kruis went in for the dunk he sort of made, why was it waved off and two foul shots allowed.  First half play.

[HopeConvert]

Looking at the box score, I see that NVA played only 14 minutes last night and was called for 4 fouls. Surely he has one of the oddest careers I have seen. Gardner plays 33 minutes. Meanwhile, having just rejoined the team, Grant Neil plays 19 minutes.

Team stats look pretty close, as you would expect. Hope is going to have to do better than shoot 62% from the line.

[oldknight]

I was kind of confused on one foul call by the ref team last night.  When  I think it was Kruis went in for the dunk he sort of made, why was it waved off and two foul shots allowed.  First half play.

I believe it was Tyler Dykstra and the basket was waived off because after he was fouled, he hung on the ring, pulled it down and the ball then went in. That's offensive basket interference and was correctly called by the official.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Thoughts from last night:

- Hope played several stretches of head scratching ball and several stretches of well played ball. I guess that may be somewhat typical of a young team.  For whatever reason, that kind of play also seems typical for games the day after Thanksgiving. Turkey hangover??

- I like the fight in this team. In all three games they've played this season they have faced adversity and been down but I see th,em continuing to work hard and not give up. Great to see them pull out the win last night. That will be a boost to their confidence.

- Going to need to significantly step up their game tonight - to the level they showed in the first half at UWSP.

[John Gleich]

CU conducts a clinic at the VNA 85-66.
A complete game summary is CU controlled the opening tip, every aspect, and facet of the game from that point to the end.

Losing to Cornerstone isn't the worst thing in the world (other than bragging rights, the game doesn't really "count" in terms of post season, etc)...

But was anybody else surprised by the margin?

[arena]

I was kind of confused on one foul call by the ref team last night.  When  I think it was Kruis went in for the dunk he sort of made, why was it waved off and two foul shots allowed.  First half play.

I believe it was Tyler Dykstra and the basket was waived off because after he was fouled, he hung on the ring, pulled it down and the ball then went in. That's offensive basket interference and was correctly called by the official.

Ah. I had a bad angle from where I was sitting and it looked like one play to me. 

[arena]

CU conducts a clinic at the VNA 85-66.
A complete game summary is CU controlled the opening tip, every aspect, and facet of the game from that point to the end.

Losing to Cornerstone isn't the worst thing in the world (other than bragging rights, the game doesn't really "count" in terms of post season, etc)...

But was anybody else surprised by the margin?

Not really,  I told the friend I was with that the final would be Cornerstone by at least 25. That just based on how poorly they handled Cornerstone's pressure defense.

[almcguirejr]

Look for Todd Blackledge in the house tonight.

[AlwaysHope]

Todd Blackledge just announced on the U of M game that he will be in Grand Rapids tonight.