MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

As I mentioned, I'm curious too. Finances could be a factor, but so could academics, injuries, personalty conflicts, 'character flaws (ie not committed to the team, trouble with the law, whatever), and don't forget NEPOTISM -- that's definitely a very significant factor even though G.S. will certainly deny it -- at least in the case of Carthage and the other colleges which I can't remember).

Who knows? Mark White is likely to have pretty limited control over most of these issues. Calvin College has lost some pretty good players over the last couple years, too (not just role players). VanHarn from GRCH, and the very good post-up player from Covenant (sorry, can't remember his name), and others. There's no doubt Adrian has lost more than average.... but I, for one, am not convinced it's White's fault.

Overall there has been a tremendous amount of turnover at all MIAA schools for the past 6 or 7 years.

[almcguirejr]

As I mentioned, I'm curious too. Finances could be a factor, but so could academics, injuries, personalty conflicts, 'character flaws (ie not committed to the team, trouble with the law, whatever), and don't forget NEPOTISM -- that's definitely a very significant factor even though G.S. will certainly deny it -- at least in the case of Carthage and the other colleges which I can't remember).

Who knows? Mark White is likely to have pretty limited control over most of these issues. Calvin College has lost some pretty good players over the last couple years, too (not just role players). VanHarn from GRCH, and the very good post-up player from Covenant (sorry, can't remember his name), and others. There's no doubt Adrian has lost more than average.... but I, for one, am not convinced it's White's fault.

Josh Engelsma

[KzooHornet]

Note to self...don't tune into the game vs Albion on Saturday until after 8:15 pm.  For the second game in a row I wasn't able to tune in until halftime and once again I got to see a strong performance by the Hornets.  This time they actually led by 3 at the half (not down 10 like last week at Adrian), quickly turned that into double-digits, and never looked back.  Mark Ghafari had another strong game, but it was great to see contributions from a lot of other Hornets.  I don't know why Dykema and Baysdell didn't play, but I hope it is only temporary as the Hornets travel to both Albion and Hope in the next 5 days.

[realist]

During the game last night I did not hear B J Van Loo's name mentioned, and a check of the box score confirms no minutes.  Was he hurt or is he the one surrendering p.t. to Visser?   

[KnightSlappy]

During the game last night I did not hear B J Van Loo's name mentioned, and a check of the box score confirms no minutes.  Was he hurt or is he the one surrendering p.t. to Visser?

He only received something like 7 minutes in the Olivet game, and all of them came (late) in the second half.

I think he's been phased out of the rotation.

[Dark Knight]

Last year's Knight squad held MIAA opponents to the lowest point average of any MIAA team in the last 17 years (for which stats are on the web). Their Massey defense rating for the season was 12.9, good for fifth nationally, and in their NCAA tournament run their average defensive rating was 17.1. They ended up fifth nationally in Massey's ranking and seventh in the d3hoops.com poll.

This year's squad has been just as strong offensively, with a Massey offense rating of about 77. In fact, they've scored more points, had fewer turnovers, more assists, and better field goal percentages per game. But the defense has been 10 points weaker. For the first 14 games of the season, their Massey defense rating was about 2.6.

In this epiphany season, it appears that the Knights have seen the light defensively, as their defense rating for the last four games has been about 18.5. For comparison, the nation's #1 defensive team according to Massey is Claremont Mudd Scripps, with a defense rating of 16.4, and they play much slower. Calvin's overall Massey power for the last four games was 22.3. Top-ranked Stevens Point's last four games averaged 18.1.

It remains to be seen if Calvin can play as well against highly-ranked teams (plural); the best team they've defeated apart from Wheaton is 11-8 Albion.

[oldknight]

During the game last night I did not hear B J Van Loo's name mentioned, and a check of the box score confirms no minutes.  Was he hurt or is he the one surrendering p.t. to Visser?

Good question. I didn't notice from the video feed but I assume BJ was at the game and healthy and simply got a DNP-CD (did not play-coach's decision). BJ is a capable scorer when he gets the ball in his hands near the hoop and is a pretty good rebounder too. But he tends to freelance a lot on offense and gets lost on defense from time to time. Calvin's interior defense has been pretty good all year but against Albion their overall defensive game was particularly outstanding as the Knights seemed to cover the perimeter shot very well all evening. It seemed to me that most of Albion's three point shots were well contested as the Brits really struggled to sustain anything on offense.

I am surmising that KVS may have made two decisions that would impact how the second half of the conference season plays out. The first would be a commitment to strictly go with his best defensive team, and the second to play Brad Visser in the first rotation of subs thereby giving him more significant minutes. We shall see if my guess if correct but the box score shows that Visser did get 19 minutes last night and both Van Loo and Jordan Mast got zero.

[oldknight]

Last year's Knight squad held MIAA opponents to the lowest point average of any MIAA team in the last 17 years (for which stats are on the web). Their Massey defense rating for the season was 12.9, good for fifth nationally, and in their NCAA tournament run their average defensive rating was 17.1. They ended up fifth nationally in Massey's ranking and seventh in the d3hoops.com poll.

This year's squad has been just as strong offensively, with a Massey offense rating of about 77. In fact, they've scored more points, had fewer turnovers, more assists, and better field goal percentages per game. But the defense has been 10 points weaker. For the first 14 games of the season, their Massey defense rating was about 2.6.

In this epiphany season, it appears that the Knights have seen the light defensively, as their defense rating for the last four games has been about 18.5. For comparison, the nation's #1 defensive team according to Massey is Claremont Mudd Scripps, with a defense rating of 16.4, and they play much slower. Calvin's overall Massey power for the last four games was 22.3. Top-ranked Stevens Point's last four games averaged 18.1.

It remains to be seen if Calvin can play as well against highly-ranked teams (plural); the best team they've defeated apart from Wheaton is 11-8 Albion.

Speaking of Massey, I see from today's update (including Calvin's win over Albion), that the Knights have moved up 28 spots to the no 38 rating, one spot behind Carthage, three behind Claremont Mudd-Scripps, and six spots ahead of Hope. Massey also shows an improved SOS with Calvin now up to a more respectable 111 rating in that category.

[KnightSlappy]

Last year's Knight squad held MIAA opponents to the lowest point average of any MIAA team in the last 17 years (for which stats are on the web). Their Massey defense rating for the season was 12.9, good for fifth nationally, and in their NCAA tournament run their average defensive rating was 17.1. They ended up fifth nationally in Massey's ranking and seventh in the d3hoops.com poll.

This year's squad has been just as strong offensively, with a Massey offense rating of about 77. In fact, they've scored more points, had fewer turnovers, more assists, and better field goal percentages per game. But the defense has been 10 points weaker. For the first 14 games of the season, their Massey defense rating was about 2.6.

In this epiphany season, it appears that the Knights have seen the light defensively, as their defense rating for the last four games has been about 18.5. For comparison, the nation's #1 defensive team according to Massey is Claremont Mudd Scripps, with a defense rating of 16.4, and they play much slower. Calvin's overall Massey power for the last four games was 22.3. Top-ranked Stevens Point's last four games averaged 18.1.

It remains to be seen if Calvin can play as well against highly-ranked teams (plural); the best team they've defeated apart from Wheaton is 11-8 Albion.

Speaking of Massey, I see from today's update (including Calvin's win over Albion), that the Knights have moved up 28 spots to the no 38 rating, one spot behind Carthage, three behind Claremont Mudd-Scripps, and six spots ahead of Hope. Massey also shows an improved SOS with Calvin now up to a more respectable 111 rating in that category.

I emailed him about Calvin's 11/23 game incorrectly being shown as vs. Grace Bible when they actually played College of Faith. It's probably a small difference, but he actually has CoF rated above Grace (1615 to 1818). Calvin could get a small bump up in his system from this change.

I also noted to him that Hope's game vs. GVSU should be counted as an exhibition (though I think this game being counted is actually helping Hope's rating). He said both changes will be corrected during Monday's full update.

[HopeConvert]

I am told that all of Hope's home games are video-streamed at www.hope.edu/live and will be from henceforth.

This is true for both men's and women's games.

[realist]

During the game last night I did not hear B J Van Loo's name mentioned, and a check of the box score confirms no minutes.  Was he hurt or is he the one surrendering p.t. to Visser?

Good question. I didn't notice from the video feed but I assume BJ was at the game and healthy and simply got a DNP-CD (did not play-coach's decision). BJ is a capable scorer when he gets the ball in his hands near the hoop and is a pretty good rebounder too. But he tends to freelance a lot on offense and gets lost on defense from time to time. Calvin's interior defense has been pretty good all year but against Albion their overall defensive game was particularly outstanding as the Knights seemed to cover the perimeter shot very well all evening. It seemed to me that most of Albion's three point shots were well contested as the Brits really struggled to sustain anything on offense.

I am surmising that KVS may have made two decisions that would impact how the second half of the conference season plays out. The first would be a commitment to strictly go with his best defensive team, and the second to play Brad Visser in the first rotation of subs thereby giving him more significant minutes. We shall see if my guess if correct but the box score shows that Visser did get 19 minutes last night and both Van Loo and Jordan Mast got zero.

Thanks.  I noticed those changes, and couldn't tell if it was by design, injury or sickness.  Looking at the box score again it is easy to see the extended p.t. for many of the first 5, and the shorter bench.  Call it a personal preference, but I prefer the shorter bench, and last night it gave J. B. time to hit those 3's which really signaled the end for Albion.  Listening to the broadcast when I heard the T on Mays, and the comment about the jacket coming off I did a flashback to "smokin Joe".

[realist]

I am told that all of Hope's home games are video-streamed at www.hope.edu/live and will be from henceforth.

This is true for both men's and women's games.

This must mean that "the big check" from Sac cleared.

[sac]

I am told that all of Hope's home games are video-streamed at www.hope.edu/live and will be from henceforth.

This is true for both men's and women's games.

I watched last night.  Thumbs up.


They could use a filter to correct the lighting tint however.

[monsoon]

I am told that all of Hope's home games are video-streamed at www.hope.edu/live and will be from henceforth.

This is true for both men's and women's games.

Good to know!

[sac]

Matt Neil was on hoopsville yesterday.  Starts at about 8 hours  6 minutes

http://d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2013-14/jan30

You can learn a little about Hope's schedule gauntlet next year.