MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Hope gets a little love in the top 25 this week (8 points = 38th place).  Calvin down to 6 points = tied for 40th:

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2013-14/week6

4 of Calvin's poll points are from Hoopsville's Dave McHugh who's been revealing his poll with team explanations.

22 – Calvin (Down 9)
I realize the Knights may be banged up right now and I realize Hope was gunning for them to help jumped start their season, but right now things don't look good. Calvin has lost two of their last three including a big rivalry game against Hope and they barely beat then 1-11 Alma at home. Calvin isn't getting many votes in the Top 25 to begin with and honestly I probably am being too kind keeping them on my ballet.


I would only add, Alma is much better than their now 2-12 record, they've played a very difficult schedule and that game was at Alma.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Wheaton cracks top 25.  Interesting.

Why not. 

They have 4 losses all on the road.  Unranked Loras (by 1), #2 Wooster (by 4), #7 WashU (by 4), and ORV Calvin (by 27).  I suspect the voters are recognizing that the Calvin game is an anomoly (as well as the fact that it was the third game in under 72 hours for the Thunder).

They have also beaten #9 Wittenberg (by 11 on a neutral court), #13 Augustana (by 3 in OT at home), and ORV Hope (by 19 on a neutral court).

[HopeConvert]

Hope gets a little love in the top 25 this week (8 points = 38th place).  Calvin down to 6 points = tied for 40th:

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2013-14/week6

4 of Calvin's poll points are from Hoopsville's Dave McHugh who's been revealing his poll with team explanations.

22 – Calvin (Down 9)
I realize the Knights may be banged up right now and I realize Hope was gunning for them to help jumped start their season, but right now things don't look good. Calvin has lost two of their last three including a big rivalry game against Hope and they barely beat then 1-11 Alma at home. Calvin isn't getting many votes in the Top 25 to begin with and honestly I probably am being too kind keeping them on my ballet.


I would only add, Alma is much better than their now 2-12 record, they've played a very difficult schedule and that game was at Alma.

How else will they make the big dance?

[Stinger]

A final comment from me about the game. I was up in the nosebleed seats so missed a lot of the nuances I typically get to see at Hope games. But one thing that struck me on watching the replay was the integrity of the players. I didn't see any jawing, and saw a lot of mutual respect. There's a really nice moment between VanArendonk and Kruis, for example. To me, that typifies what this rivalry is and ought to be. Respect, admiration and comity, and a fevered desire to win.

Shocked it took this long for the "mutual respect" post   

[Erm Schmigget]

Hope gets a little love in the top 25 this week (8 points = 38th place).  Calvin down to 6 points = tied for 40th:

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2013-14/week6

4 of Calvin's poll points are from Hoopsville's Dave McHugh who's been revealing his poll with team explanations.

22 – Calvin (Down 9)
I realize the Knights may be banged up right now and I realize Hope was gunning for them to help jumped start their season, but right now things don't look good. Calvin has lost two of their last three including a big rivalry game against Hope and they barely beat then 1-11 Alma at home. Calvin isn't getting many votes in the Top 25 to begin with and honestly I probably am being too kind keeping them on my ballet.


I would only add, Alma is much better than their now 2-12 record, they've played a very difficult schedule and that game was at Alma.

How else will they make the big dance?

It's gotta be the shoes!

http://www.dancespirit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/funky-pointe-shoe.jpg

(tried to attach the above photo...got an error message stating it could not be done.    )

[HopeConvert]

A final comment from me about the game. I was up in the nosebleed seats so missed a lot of the nuances I typically get to see at Hope games. But one thing that struck me on watching the replay was the integrity of the players. I didn't see any jawing, and saw a lot of mutual respect. There's a really nice moment between VanArendonk and Kruis, for example. To me, that typifies what this rivalry is and ought to be. Respect, admiration and comity, and a fevered desire to win.

Shocked it took this long for the "mutual respect" post   

I fell asleep at the switch.

[sac]

Sad to link this
http://www.themorningsun.com/general-news/20140114/search-for-missing-student-ends-in-tragedy

Thoughts and prayers go out to the Murawske family everyone at Alma.

[almcguirejr]

A final comment from me about the game. I was up in the nosebleed seats so missed a lot of the nuances I typically get to see at Hope games. But one thing that struck me on watching the replay was the integrity of the players. I didn't see any jawing, and saw a lot of mutual respect. There's a really nice moment between VanArendonk and Kruis, for example. To me, that typifies what this rivalry is and ought to be. Respect, admiration and comity, and a fevered desire to win.

I would exclude Caleb Byers from this.

[sac]

The Alma at Olivet game tomorrow has been postponed.
http://www.goalmascots.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/releases/20140114xcylrv

No official make-up date is set, I might expect a couple games to me moved around next week.  Albion/Olivet has already been moved to Tuesday night.

[sac]

Hope at Albion, 8pm

Albion is still on break so no video, though I'm not sure they've even had video this year.  Just in case check back here around tip-off http://www.gobrits.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/schedule

Briton's have started every game with the same 5 guys.

G  Lawrence Ridgell   6-1  Sr.
G  Ryan Watson  5-11  So.
G  Vince Hill  5-10 Jr.
F  Jordan Herron 6-4 So.
C  Carter Elliot 6-7 Sr.
----------------------------------------
G  Eric Evans 6-1 So.
F  Travell Oakes 6-2 So.
G  Zach Hurth 6-2 Jr.
G  Dakota Kazen 6-2 So.
F  Quante Hill  6-4 Fr.

Ridgell will play around 3/4's of the game as the PG, Herron about 25 mins, the rest will divide nearly evenly at 20 mins.  Quante Hill and Eric Evans did not play in Saturday's loss to Alma, Evans is Albion's 3rd leading scorer.

Herron is becoming an all-MIAA type player and along with Carter Elliot leading the team in rebounds.  Elliot has dropped about 15 lbs., is playing about 10 minutes more per game than last year.  Hope will likely start VanArendonk and Benson together in this game.  Herron, Ridgell and Evans are their 3 leading scorers but the Britons really spread the wealth to all parts of the floor.

Overall a younger team than Hope and much shorter.  6-7, 6-4, 6-4 is the only size the Britons have available unless they're hiding someone in Kresge's basement.  For such an undersized team they are a remarkable rebounding club, Kenyon is their only opponent to log more rebounds.

From a Hope opponent comparison, size wise a little like Thomas More though I think Albion will take more mid-range and 3-point shots.

Albion has been in about 8 games decided in the games final minutes and they've only won 2 of those games.  This was last year's contest at Albion where Hope found themselves down 12 and battled all the way back to finally win it in the last 5 minutes.
http://miaa.org/mbb/stats/1213/m109hoab.htm . 

[realist]

Calvin 78 Adrian 54
Will be interested to learn from someone at the game what happened to Hope down at Albion.

[calvinite]

I'm interested to know, too. Eidson, Stuive, Neil, and Carlson are 1/13 combined.

Kazen for Albion was 6/11, but he was 5/7 for threes.

[wiz]

Calvin 78 Adrian 54
Will be interested to learn from someone at the game what happened to Hope down at Albion.

I just talked with someone that was down there and they said Hope got beat.

[maroonandgold]

Hope lost by 18 with a score of 65 to 47.  Most amazing is the fact that Eidson did not score a point.  As the earlier comment indicated, the Hope shooting percentage was way down in the 30 per cent range and Albion hit 50% even on three point shots.  You never know how things will turn out!

[oldknight]

Calvin won comfortably over a game but overmatched Adrian quintet, as the Knights asserted their size advantage to great effect. Other than a backdoor layup by Wes Reed on the Bulldogs' first possession, I can't remember an Adrian shot within 12 feet of the basket that wasn't hotly contested. The box score shows 7 blocked shots by Calvin which is ridiculous. The true number must be twice that. Jordan Brink (13 points) showed his composed, veteran leadership and Tyler Kruis (17 points) returned to form. In an interesting aside in the postgame, KVS mentioned that he watched the video of the Hope loss and was amazed to learn that the Knights missed 20 shots taken right at the basket on Saturday. He added, "I don't expect to see that again." We didn't tonight.