MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

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Calvin wins by 24.  Announcers can't believe hope lost to Trine this week and think KVS should be thrilled with this win.  I'm kind of thinking that maybe Hope isn't that good.  Thoughts....

Hope stuck with Wooster and beat Ohio Wesleyan convincingly. Those are booth good teams.

Yeah, based on results coming into today, I don't think you could say Hope isn't that good without also saying that Calvin isn't that good. The results against common opponents was a bit of a mixed bag, but I'd give the edge to Hope overall.

Lots of season left yet to make conclusions. I've seen Calvin struggle enough times at Trine to not go overboard about that loss for Hope. If I was a Hope fan, I'd be a lot more worried about getting run out of my own gym in the second half against Calvin than losing a tough game in Angola.

[Roundball999]

Hope guards aren't consistent enough to consider Hope a top tier team.  When the guards are on, they can beat anybody.  But seems to me they're too often not on.

[wiz]

Calvin wins by 24.  Announcers can't believe hope lost to Trine this week and think KVS should be thrilled with this win.  I'm kind of thinking that maybe Hope isn't that good.  Thoughts....

Hope stuck with Wooster and beat Ohio Wesleyan convincingly. Those are booth good teams.

Yeah, based on results coming into today, I don't think you could say Hope isn't that good without also saying that Calvin isn't that good. The results against common opponents was a bit of a mixed bag, but I'd give the edge to Hope overall.

Lots of season left yet to make conclusions. I've seen Calvin struggle enough times at Trine to not go overboard about that loss for Hope. If I was a Hope fan, I'd be a lot more worried about getting run out of my own gym in the second half against Calvin than losing a tough game in Angola.

That team from Angola just got beat by Adrian.

I too am not impressed with Hope this year.  They played well with a couple of good teams but oddities happen.  Didn't Texas Southern hand it to Michigan State?

Most interesting part of game is that those lame announcers are still calling the game.  But, it is difficult to do the play-by-play when Calvin, Hope and Grand Valley are all on the floor.  Interesting when they started referring to Daley as Benson.

[GoKnights68]

It's good to finally get that monkey off Calvin's back of losing Saturday regular season games to Hope.
Last win was in 2009.  Calvin has some impressive depth.

[maroonandgold]

It's good to finally get that monkey off Calvin's back of losing Saturday regular season games to Hope.
Last win was in 2009.  Calvin has some impressive depth.

Hope really had a poor game shooting.  But I have to agree that Cavlin's depth, especially at the big positions, Calvin's defense, and Brinks were the difference between the 2 teams today.  Hope has really played well most of the year.  So for them to lose by that margin was a huge surprise to me.  Some of the other league scores with Trine and Albion losing came as a big surprise, too.

[pointlem]

For Hope this game was the mirror image of last Saturday, when Hope exploded on a 25 to 4 game-ending run to unexpectedly blow out #10 Ohio Wesleyan.  Today they could feel OWU's pain.  Surely, Hope wasn't as good as they looked last week, or as bad as they looked (or at least shot) today.

Jordan Brink is, even for this Hope fan, an aesthetic pleasure to watch . . . silky smooth and with such an extraordinary shooting touch.  If he's not an all-American, as well as league MVP, I'm not sure what qualifies.  He has always been a fine player, but seems to have taken his game this year to a higher level. 

[ziggy]

Calvin wins by 24.  Announcers can't believe hope lost to Trine this week and think KVS should be thrilled with this win.  I'm kind of thinking that maybe Hope isn't that good.  Thoughts....

Hope stuck with Wooster and beat Ohio Wesleyan convincingly. Those are booth good teams.

Yeah, based on results coming into today, I don't think you could say Hope isn't that good without also saying that Calvin isn't that good. The results against common opponents was a bit of a mixed bag, but I'd give the edge to Hope overall.

Lots of season left yet to make conclusions. I've seen Calvin struggle enough times at Trine to not go overboard about that loss for Hope. If I was a Hope fan, I'd be a lot more worried about getting run out of my own gym in the second half against Calvin than losing a tough game in Angola.

That team from Angola just got beat by Adrian.

I too am not impressed with Hope this year.  They played well with a couple of good teams but oddities happen.  Didn't Texas Southern hand it to Michigan State?

Most interesting part of game is that those lame announcers are still calling the game.  But, it is difficult to do the play-by-play when Calvin, Hope and Grand Valley are all on the floor.  Interesting when they started referring to Daley as Benson.

Coming into today, Calvin's win probability for their game at Trine was 47% per Massey. Adding today's data points likely puts that over 50% but the point remains that based on the information available this season, it's basically a toss up.

Maybe Hope has overachieved some in their results so far, but I think you're underrating Trine who was ranked #79 by Massey coming into today.

[almcguirejr]

Calvin got very good play from a lot of different players today.  Jordan Brink was outstanding as usual.
Austin Parks (0 turnovers in 33 minutes), Dan Stout, and T.J. Huizenga all played well. The team defense has improve and the intensity was better, although it helps when Hope couldn't make anything on some good looks in the first half  Brink did a nice job on Eidson early and then it appeared Eidson got frustrated and took himself out of the game.  The last 13 minutes of the game from when it was 48-48 Calvin out scored Hope 40-16.

[almcguirejr]

MIAA Final Scores today

Alma 64  Albion 60
Adrian 54 Trine 44
Calvin 88 Hope 64
Kalamazoo 75 Olivet 62

A few surprises

[Flying Dutch Fan]

MIAA Final Scores today

Alma 64  Albion 60
Adrian 54 Trine 44
Calvin 88 Hope 64
Kalamazoo 75 Olivet 62

A few surprises

A few - in fact the vast majority of those in the pick em contest got one game correct.

[oldknight]

Pretty easy to know how to start this conversation--it's with Jordan Brink who was clearly the best player on the floor today. Plays the game at an unhurried pace, takes great shots, rebounds, defends and involves his teammates wonderfully (4 assists). Enjoy this kid's year Calvin fans because you're watching one of the finest guards to ever play for maroon and gold. Jordan was so good it's easy to ignore the exceptionally solid floor game of Austin Parks who almcguirejr correctly commended. Combined with today's peerless play by Brink, the Calvin backcourt simply dictated how this game was to be played. Shooting well always helps--and Hope can certainly shoot better than they did this afternoon--but the quality of shots the Knights took had something to do with the difference in shooting percentage, and a mere 8 turnovers in a Rivalry game on Hope's floor is always a recipe for success. I happened to be seated right behind Austin Parks' dad and near the end of the game I tapped on his shoulder to praise the play of Calvin's point guard. Mr. Parks, a former head basketball coach at Niles HS, also appreciated his son's floor game.

Other game notes:

--completely agree with maroonandgold's post noting that Calvin seemed to be deeper than Hope today. It's not that there was any spectacular performance off the pine, it's just that the subs did nothing to hurt their team's chances to win. I thought TJ Huizenga in particular was quite effective--a 6'4" guy with quickness, defends like crazy, and has a bit of scoring ability. His 3 steals and constant interruption of passing lanes appeared to frustrate Hope.

--Nice use of Calvin's bench by KVS I thought. Minutes were about right though I was surprised Brink only got 28 On the other hand, on more than on occasion the fifth year senior looked gassed so you know he was playing hard.

--good thing Harrison Blackledge played tonight. He distinguished himself in a game when none of his teammates did.

--watch out for freshman Luke Dreyer some time down the road. He only played five minutes but I mentioned in the offseason that he might be the best unknown small college-level player coming out of the West Michigan high school hoops scene last year.

[almcguirejr]

Austin Parks had 60 minutes of playing time this week against Alma and Hope and 0 turnovers.  He had 8 assists against Alma and 2 today. 

[almcguirejr]

Mlive articles:

http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2015/01/calvin_hope_defense_impressive.html#incart_river

http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2015/01/worried_at_hopes_0-2_start_cal.html#incart_river

Holland Sentinel articles:
http://m.hollandsentinel.com/article/20150110/SPORTS/150119908/2000/NEWS

http://m.hollandsentinel.com/article/20150110/SPORTS/150119922/2000/NEWS

[HollandKnight]

Pretty easy to know how to start this conversation--it's with Jordan Brink who was clearly the best player on the floor today. Plays the game at an unhurried pace, takes great shots, rebounds, defends and involves his teammates wonderfully (4 assists). Enjoy this kid's year Calvin fans because you're watching one of the finest guards to ever play for maroon and gold. Jordan was so good it's easy to ignore the exceptionally solid floor game of Austin Parks who almcguirejr correctly commended. Combined with today's peerless play by Brink, the Calvin backcourt simply dictated how this game was to be played. Shooting well always helps--and Hope can certainly shoot better than they did this afternoon--but the quality of shots the Knights took had something to do with the difference in shooting percentage, and a mere 8 turnovers in a Rivalry game on Hope's floor is always a recipe for success. I happened to be seated right behind Austin Parks' dad and near the end of the game I tapped on his shoulder to praise the play of Calvin's point guard. Mr. Parks, a former head basketball coach at Niles HS, also appreciated his son's floor game.

Other game notes:

--completely agree with maroonandgold's post noting that Calvin seemed to be deeper than Hope today. It's not that there was any spectacular performance off the pine, it's just that the subs did nothing to hurt their team's chances to win. I thought TJ Huizenga in particular was quite effective--a 6'4" guy with quickness, defends like crazy, and has a bit of scoring ability. His 3 steals and constant interruption of passing lanes appeared to frustrate Hope.

--Nice use of Calvin's bench by KVS I thought. Minutes were about right though I was surprised Brink only got 28 On the other hand, on more than on occasion the fifth year senior looked gassed so you know he was playing hard.

--good thing Harrison Blackledge played tonight. He distinguished himself in a game when none of his teammates did.

--watch out for freshman Luke Dreyer some time down the road. He only played five minutes but I mentioned in the offseason that he might be the best unknown small college-level player coming out of the West Michigan high school hoops scene last year.

TJ Huizenga showed what he could really be this year in this past game. He got off to particularly slow start after breaking his hand early in the year. His athleticism and slippery scoring ability will be nice off the bench as we go deeper into a long season. He's the kind of guy that can play either a 2 or 3 type of role giving that needed depth to the Calvin bench.

[sac]

Couple thoughts


---part of Hope's defensive success this year has been keeping opponents under their season average  from 3, Calvin was 50% which is well above their average and well above Hope 25% allowed on the year.

---Hope really did nothing else of significance on defense all day.

---offensively,  Calvin gives up lots of 3's, Hope took 19 in the first which isn't their game and missed, missed, missed, missed, missed, missed...etc.  If you aren't going to defend Calvin you have to score with them and Hope was simply awful shooting the ball today.

----also offensively Hope didn't attack the basket like they have in the previous 6 games I've watched (minus OWU sort of), Calvin deserves some credit for that, but its really easy to play defense on a team when that team makes themselves easy to defend.  Harrison had a nice day, but even half of his points came from the perimeter.



--The point margin is almost entirely the difference between what Hope had allowed from the 3-point line, what Calvin shot.  What Hope had shot from the 3 -point line this year, and what Hope shot.  21 points I figure just from 3-point shooting.


Hope put themselves behind the 8-ball this afternoon.  No margin for error the rest of the way.