MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[NW Hope Fan]

Congrats Calvin. If they continue that play, they'll be a very dangerous team in the NCAA Tournament.
Hoping we both get in...

[almcguirejr]

Calvin down early 13-2 finishes the game on a 76-40 run.

March Madness begins!

[calvinite]

What's the story of Calvin's lineup change?

I don't know, and I also don't know when Dykstra entered the game. But the first mention of Dykstra on the play by play comes at 13:22 at which time Calvin was down 13-2. I'd just as soon forget about the first part of the game while Dykstra was on the bench.
Correction: 14:03   Calvinm   BLOCK by Tyler Dykstra, but the score was still 13-2.

[calvinite]

Hoping we both get in...

Speak for your self

I think Hope deserves to get into the tournament, but I'm not sure how I feel about playing them again.... And it seems like when both teams get in, they often end up playing each other.

[wiz]

Hoping we both get in...

Speak for your self

I think Hope deserves to get into the tournament, but I'm not sure how I feel about playing them again.... And it seems like when both teams get in, they often end up playing each other.

Speak for yourself.  I don't think they deserve it.  The Hope women, however, do deserve to get in.

[maroonandgold]

I have lots of thoughts about today's game but the most important for me is Hope needs to get out of the gate playing with more energy and urgency earlier than they have the last two game at DeVos against Alma and Trine.

Start like that against a good team like Calvin and they'll bury you before halftime.

[/color]

Sac seems to have hit it on the nose in terms of the level of energy displayed in the game.  Although it came out much more in the second half, Calvin did seem to have a lot more energy and ability to create turnovers than Hope in this game.  I thought before the game that Calvin should have reasonable chance to win because of the consistent play they have displayed recently as compared to Hope's ups and downs, but I did not see a blowout of this sort.  It came down to the energy and urgency more than anything else.  Van Arendonk and at times Eidson played well, but Hope as a team just seemed to lack its previous energy.

[calvinite]

Speak for yourself.  I don't think they deserve it.  The Hope women, however, do deserve to get in.

Here's to wishing that we'll be discussing Pool C bids for the Hope women later tonight.

[HOPEful]

Hope wasn't able to dominate the boards like they were in the previous games. Also, the game was called completely different in each half. In the first half, the refs swallowed their whistles and refused to call obvious fouls. calvin adjusted much better to this than Hope and increased their physical play, especially inside. Instead of spreading calvin's defense out, Hope continued to drive inside where they would were met with a sea of maroon. In the second half, much more fouls were being called. By this point, however, Hope was ice cold while it seemed no one on calvin could miss.

Great play by the knights. They won with more energy and better in game adjustments...

[arena]

29-24 Knights at the half.  Calvin was down 11-2 and went on a 20-4 run.  Go Knights!

you're not making Calvin fans look good in terms of math skills. >

[almcguirejr]

It was a great team win today for Calvin!

- KVS's decision to start Austin Parks paid off.  Parks only 2 turnovers in a team high 35 minutes played.  Those critical of KVS for being predictable can't complain today.

- KVS leaving Jordan Daley in the starting lineup freed Daley from some of the ball handling responsibility and he didn't have a turnover today after a total of 9 in the previous 2 Hope games.  Daley contributed 10 points and 8 rebounds.  It was interesting as the final buzzer sounded to see KVS grab Daley and give him a huge hug.  Usually KVS is to half court to shake hands as the buzzer sounds.  After the Trine game KVS mentioned that it was good to see Daley get his "mojo" going in that game.  KVS had stated earlier in the year nobody wanted to guard Daley in practice and Calvin needed to get him going.

- Tyler Kruis(league MVP) and Jordan Brink playing like the 2 best players on your team should play.  Both were outstanding today.

- Brad Visser 3 huge 3's today!  It was Visser's back to back 3's in the second half that got the lead to double digits for Calvin.

-  Calvin 9-20 and Hope 3-16 from beyond the arc.  An 18 point Calvin advantage

- Calvin team defense today was very good.  They surrounded everything in the paint and covered the 3 point line today.  The defense has been noticeably improved the last couple of weeks.  Edison started the game 2-2 from the floor and then went 2-14 the rest of the way. (He may have had a bug)

- Calvin only 7 turnovers today!

- Calvin being able to hang in being down 13-2 when every Calvin fan was fearing a replay of the Feb. 5 debacle.

- It appeared to me that Calvin came up with every loose ball in the second half.  The stats show Calvin winning the rebounding battle by only 1.  It seemed like a lot more.

I have to give credit to Grant Neil today.  He has some limitations as a player and you can debate how many minutes he should play, but he made several great defensive plays today.  His play on Brink early in the game was very good.  5 blocks by a 6'2" player is outstanding.

It is mind boggling to me that Calvin beat Hope 76-40 over the last 33 minutes!

[wiz]

29-24 Knights at the half.  Calvin was down 11-2 and went on a 20-4 run.  Go Knights!

you're not making Calvin fans look good in terms of math skills. >

You're not looking good in understanding the 20-4 run was before the half ended.

[calvinite]

- KVS leaving Jordan Daley in the starting lineup freed Daley from some of the ball handling responsibility and he didn't have a turnover today after a total of 9 in the previous 2 Hope games.  Daley contributed 10 points and 8 rebounds.  It was interesting as the final buzzer sounded to see KVS grab Daley and give him a huge hug. 

Nice interview by the Hope broadcasters at half time of the women's game with Jordan Daley. Jordan was asked about strategy changes in the game, and Jordan reported that it was mostly mental changes not strategy changes that they worked on this week. They wanted to be more aggressive, wanted to get more lose balls, more rebounds, etc.

[oldknight]

After Hope's 13-2 start Calvin fans were thinking "I've seen this movie before and it doesn't end well." But even then there were two differences in Calvin's play from the last trip to Holland: The Knights didn't look rattled and they were attacking the basket on every possession. I can't remember the last time I've seen Calvin put so much faith in their players simply taking the ball the rim. Hope did a creditable job of blocking some early shots--Grant Neil in particular as almcguirejr correctly noted--but it didn't seem to faze Calvin players one bit. Eventually shots started to fall and when your entire team plays hard for 40 minutes it's amazing how often those 50/50 balls seem to wind up in your hands. There's just no substitute for playing hard and eventually we saw Hope's defense wear out as the Knights never played not to lose. The entire Hope team looked totally gassed with about 8 minutes left. Other notes:

--I don't know who will win the league MVP but to me the three most likely candidates are Tyler Kruis, Jordan Brink and NVA. I understand that today's game has no bearing on the choice but if Kruis wins it (and I believe he should) his play today would only validate the award. His ability to pull NVA away from the hoop by consistently making shots from near and beyond the arc opened things up for a 49 point second half that left Hope in the dust. Tyler also dug out a number of very gritty boards and was the emotional and on-floor leader of the game.

--Until I looked at the box I didn't realize that Calvin won the turnover battle 16-7. The three guard offense at the start of the game was obviously done to address the turnover issues Calvin had in last month's game. Most of the season wasn't fair to Daley who was forced to play out of position all year and I like the idea of putting him at the 3. He's very athletic and picks up a lot of those lose ball rebounds that mostly require quickness. He had 6 offensive rebounds in today's game.

--Some fans might only note Jordan Brinks' 21 points as his contribution today but I thought his smarts and composure really stood out. Several times he dribble penetrated and then kicked it back out, often to Kruis who buried several big baskets. Brinks is first and foremost a scorer but he knows where his teammates are on the floor and is more than willing to use them.

--I've been waiting all year to find to see Brad Visser become that lightening-in-a-bottle kind of player in a big game and today he produced. His three made triples really put Hope in a bind defensively.

--NVA had a solid game for Hope, as he seemed to have all season. Once he simplified his game and concentrated his efforts on the things he does best--rebounding and patiently awaiting his opportunities to score--he became a consistent player for Hope. He had no help today.

[wiz]

"My only question at this point is why did it take so long for Kevin to figure out what IMHO was painfully obvious."

That's an easy one.  He's not as smart as you.

[almcguirejr]

As a poster who is "well known and loved"as a non KVS kool-aid drinker I give him all the credit in the world for this win.   Like others, those aren't quite the words I was using when Calvin was down 13-2, but what the heck they won.  All that ends well.....
I did notice that he shortened his bench quite a bit, and his change wasn't only the starters as his rotation was something I don't recall seeing before. 
My biggest complaint over the recent years was that KVS was very predictable, and today he broke the mold.    My only question at this point is why did it take so long for Kevin to figure out what IMHO was painfully obvious.

"Well known and loved"  Sorry, you're 1-2 my friend