MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

A very nice Holland Sentinel article on Greg Mitchell incidentally confirms what has been rumored here . . . that Dante Hawkins will be enrolling at Hope.  I saw him play once in high school and he was jaw-dropping quick.  No one could stay with him, and he had a great long-range shot as well.  I predict he will be a very exciting player for Hope fans to watch over the next four years.
http://www.hollandsentinel.com/article/20140705/SPORTS/140709572/10971/SPORTS

Hawkins reportedly averaged 21 points and five assists per game, including 37 points against the then-undefeated top-ranked Class A team. For more see
http://www.hollandsentinel.com/article/20140327/SPORTS/140329055/10970/SPORTS

Hawkins may be able to push Gardner this year.

Not just Gardner... Between Gardner, Eidson, McMahon, Carlson, Campbell, and now, Hawkins, Coach Mitchell won't be complaining about the guard play he's inheriting. Especially since he gets all of them, other than Corey, for multiple years.

With Stuive showing last year that he has the potential to be a versatile 4 and the lack of depth at the 5 (Brock and...?), I wouldn't mind seeing some creative play with 3-2 motion offenses. Any chance Harrison shows up in the fall having put on 10 pounds of muscle this off-season?

 

Cody Campbell graduates.



I made the assertion on my blog that Calvin will have the best back-court in the league next year.  Calvin was probably just a touch better statistically last season.  Its going to be pretty close again next year. 

Calvin--Brink-Daley-Parks-Visser

2438 minutes,  40.6% of minutes
1040 points, 44.7% of offense
353-793  FG   44.5%
143-368  3FG   38.9%
209-268  FT   79%
309 rebounds
265 assists
156 turnovers   A/TO ratio 1.7
90 steals


Hope--Gardner-Eidson-McMahon-Carlson

2292 minutes, 40.5% of minutes
945 points, 44.8% of offense
308-736  FG   41.8%
110-282  3FG   39%
219-278  FT     78.8%
291 rebounds
205 assists
140 turnovers   A/TO ratio 1.46
91  steals

[pointlem]

Ben Gardner spent some time at the #2 position last year, and with Dante on board perhaps we'll see more of that.  With Corey M. and Chad C. also available, and being terrific 3-point shooters . . . and with Dante's ability to blow by people and draw other defenders . . . I'll predict more assists from the Hope guards.  Better outside shooting and speedy guards could make for a really fun team to watch. 

Ergo, I wouldn't trade Hope's deep group of #1 and #2 guards (including Denham, Otto, and hopefully sharpshooter Sasha Yonov) for Calvin's.

[HopeConvert]

Gardner is going to have to improve his outside shooting if he's going to play the 2. Eidson (whom you didn't mention, which made me wonder if he's transferring or something) and McMahon seem to me the obvious guys to put there.

I thought Carlson was serviceable for spot minutes last year. I didn't see much more from him than 3-5 minutes a game. Yonov is the intriguing guy in the mix, as is Hawkins.

If Calvin plays Parks at the point, which I think they will, and Brink at the 2, they'll run Daley at the 3, which they did at the end of the year, which will create a problem for Hope I would think. I don't see an obvious 3 on this team. Otto would probably play there.

[pointlem]

Gardner is going to have to improve his outside shooting if he's going to play the 2. Eidson (whom you didn't mention, which made me wonder if he's transferring or something) and McMahon seem to me the obvious guys to put there.

I thought Carlson was serviceable for spot minutes last year. I didn't see much more from him than 3-5 minutes a game. Yonov is the intriguing guy in the mix, as is Hawkins.

If Calvin plays Parks at the point, which I think they will, and Brink at the 2, they'll run Daley at the 3, which they did at the end of the year, which will create a problem for Hope I would think. I don't see an obvious 3 on this team. Otto would probably play there.

I was thinking of Eidson as a 3, HopeConvert . . . I haven't heard of any team member leaving.  And my hunch is that they are going to like their new coach.  Everyone I know who knows him speaks so highly of him.

Although Gardner's 3-point shooting slipped last year (he was 38% his first year), he can drive to the basket from a wing, which perhaps is one reason he was getting minutes there.

[HOPEful]

I made the assertion on my blog that Calvin will have the best back-court in the league next year.  "Calvin was probably just a touch better statistically last season".  Its going to be pretty close again next year. 

Calvin--Brink-Daley-Parks-Visser

265 assists


Hope--Gardner-Eidson-McMahon-Carlson

205 assists

How many of those assists were to Kruis and DeVries or the result of the opponent focusing their energy stopping (or at least attempting to) Calvin inside?

I think it's pretty clear that both teams are excited (and should be) about their guard play next season. But how well will Dykstra and VanderBrug fill those holes? How well will Stuive, Otto, Blackledge and Benson fill in for the loss of NVA?



edit--fixed formating

[Roundball999]

Gardner is going to have to improve his outside shooting if he's going to play the 2. Eidson (whom you didn't mention, which made me wonder if he's transferring or something) and McMahon seem to me the obvious guys to put there.

I thought Carlson was serviceable for spot minutes last year. I didn't see much more from him than 3-5 minutes a game. Yonov is the intriguing guy in the mix, as is Hawkins.

If Calvin plays Parks at the point, which I think they will, and Brink at the 2, they'll run Daley at the 3, which they did at the end of the year, which will create a problem for Hope I would think. I don't see an obvious 3 on this team. Otto would probably play there.

I was thinking of Eidson as a 3, HopeConvert . . . I haven't heard of any team member leaving.  And my hunch is that they are going to like their new coach.  Everyone I know who knows him speaks so highly of him.

Although Gardner's 3-point shooting slipped last year (he was 38% his first year), he can drive to the basket from a wing, which perhaps is one reason he was getting minutes there.

I wonder if Wittenbach will play this year? 

[Gregory Sager]

Is the poll assuming facts not in evidence?

The poll also contains several non-mutually exclusive options.

Agreed. The poll annoyed me for the same reason. Pre-conference 6-5 or above, win the MIAA (home court), win the MIAA tournament, and sweet 16 could all happen or not happen independently. For instance, Hope could lose all of their difficult pre-season games but then march through the MIAA and tournament.

Hope won't be playing any preseason games, either difficult ones or easy ones, unless it adds an exhibition game to the schedule. Otherwise, Hope may play as many as two preseason scrimmages, as per D3 rules, followed by eleven non-conference games (or pre-conference games, if you prefer the polltaker's nomenclature), commencing with the November 19 season opener against defending national champion UW-Whitewater.

The D3 season starts on November 15. Any contest played before November 15 is within the preseason and doesn't count. Any contest played on or after November 15 is within the regular season -- and it counts.

[wiz]

Is the poll assuming facts not in evidence?

The poll also contains several non-mutually exclusive options.

Agreed. The poll annoyed me for the same reason. Pre-conference 6-5 or above, win the MIAA (home court), win the MIAA tournament, and sweet 16 could all happen or not happen independently. For instance, Hope could lose all of their difficult pre-season games but then march through the MIAA and tournament.

Hope won't be playing any preseason games, either difficult ones or easy ones, unless it adds an exhibition game to the schedule. Otherwise, Hope may play as many as two preseason scrimmages, as per D3 rules, followed by eleven non-conference games (or pre-conference games, if you prefer the polltaker's nomenclature), commencing with the November 19 season opener against defending national champion UW-Whitewater.

The D3 season starts on November 15. Any contest played before November 15 is within the preseason and doesn't count. Any contest played on or after November 15 is within the regular season -- and it counts.

So, you mean if a player has a hot hand in the preseason it won't even count?

[Gregory Sager]

Is the poll assuming facts not in evidence?

The poll also contains several non-mutually exclusive options.

Agreed. The poll annoyed me for the same reason. Pre-conference 6-5 or above, win the MIAA (home court), win the MIAA tournament, and sweet 16 could all happen or not happen independently. For instance, Hope could lose all of their difficult pre-season games but then march through the MIAA and tournament.

Hope won't be playing any preseason games, either difficult ones or easy ones, unless it adds an exhibition game to the schedule. Otherwise, Hope may play as many as two preseason scrimmages, as per D3 rules, followed by eleven non-conference games (or pre-conference games, if you prefer the polltaker's nomenclature), commencing with the November 19 season opener against defending national champion UW-Whitewater.

The D3 season starts on November 15. Any contest played before November 15 is within the preseason and doesn't count. Any contest played on or after November 15 is within the regular season -- and it counts.

So, you mean if a player has a hot hand in the preseason it won't even count?

[HOPEful]

Hope won't be playing any preseason games, either difficult ones or easy ones,...

Touche semantics. Obviously, I meant pre-conference.

[sac]

HOPEful is still working out his posting technique in the pre-quoting season which might actually be the non-quoting season.


Every [ quote author=] must be followed by a [ /quote]   Anything inside the [ quote author=][ /quote] will be quoted.  If you don't want your words to be quoted, make sure they are typed beyond the last [ /quote].

If you delete content to keep your quotes clean, you must delete the appropriate [ quote=author] [/ quote] or else you have failed in your endeavor.

[northb]

Is the poll assuming facts not in evidence?

The poll also contains several non-mutually exclusive options.

Agreed. The poll annoyed me for the same reason. Pre-conference 6-5 or above, win the MIAA (home court), win the MIAA tournament, and sweet 16 could all happen or not happen independently. For instance, Hope could lose all of their difficult pre-season games but then march through the MIAA and tournament.

Hope won't be playing any preseason games, either difficult ones or easy ones, unless it adds an exhibition game to the schedule. Otherwise, Hope may play as many as two preseason scrimmages, as per D3 rules, followed by eleven non-conference games (or pre-conference games, if you prefer the polltaker's nomenclature), commencing with the November 19 season opener against defending national champion UW-Whitewater.

The D3 season starts on November 15. Any contest played before November 15 is within the preseason and doesn't count. Any contest played on or after November 15 is within the regular season -- and it counts.

So, you mean if a player has a hot hand in the preseason it won't even count?

Only against your Karma if you don't use an emoticon

[sac]

Jordan Brink is playing in the Moneyball Pro-Am league in Lansing this summer along with Jared Holmquist and future Alma player Doug Bradfield.

Jordan and Doug are on the Green team with Drew and Denzel Valentine
http://moneyball.thelocalathlete.com/Pages/TeamOverview.aspx?LeagueId=1&TeamId=3


Games are Tue/Thur at the AIM High facility on the Southwest side of Lansing.  WILX-10 actually had a camera out there Tues to record the event for their news program.  Large crowd.

If you need your fix, not a bad idea...and free.

[HOPEful]

Other MIAA fan bases are gonna have to step it up - Hope can't do it all.

Adrian, Albion, Alma, Kalamazoo, Olivet, Trine and even Calvin (when playing anyone other than Hope) have got to step up their promotion!

Change in avg attendance from 2013

Adrian  -178
Albion  +129
Alma    +17
Calvin  -891
Hope   -289
Kzoo   -17
Olivet  -53
Trine   -315

The poor attendance at the MIAA semi-final at both Hope and Calvin was a large factor.

3 game MIAA Tournament attendance totals:
2013:   7,453
2014:   4,841

Hope's decrease is largely from a poorly attended MIAA Semi-final game and a Monday make-up game in league play.

Seeing as a Hope v. Calvin championship game sells out more often than not, playing the MIAA Championship at Hope, rather than at Calvin, is roughly a 1600 person swing for the conference. Having one home sell out instead of two is also a big hit for Calvin's average attendance.

I am at least excited to have found an legitimate argument for why Calvin needed to build a 5000 seat arena, when they average 1,500 fans (30%) at non-Hope games. In comparison, the smaller DeVos Fieldhouse averages at about 70% capacity for non-Calvin games (2,350 fans)...

[KnightSlappy]

Other MIAA fan bases are gonna have to step it up - Hope can't do it all.

Adrian, Albion, Alma, Kalamazoo, Olivet, Trine and even Calvin (when playing anyone other than Hope) have got to step up their promotion!

Change in avg attendance from 2013

Adrian  -178
Albion  +129
Alma    +17
Calvin  -891
Hope   -289
Kzoo   -17
Olivet  -53
Trine   -315

The poor attendance at the MIAA semi-final at both Hope and Calvin was a large factor.

3 game MIAA Tournament attendance totals:
2013:   7,453
2014:   4,841

Hope's decrease is largely from a poorly attended MIAA Semi-final game and a Monday make-up game in league play.

Seeing as a Hope v. Calvin championship game sells out more often than not, playing the MIAA Championship at Hope, rather than at Calvin, is roughly a 1600 person swing for the conference. Having one home sell out instead of two is also a big hit for Calvin's average attendance.

I am at least excited to have found an legitimate argument for why Calvin needed to build a 5000 seat arena, when they average 1,500 fans (30%) at non-Hope games. In comparison, the smaller DeVos Fieldhouse averages at about 70% capacity for non-Calvin games (2,350 fans)...

It also serves as commencement space and as a concert venue.