MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[almcguirejr]

Starting 5 watchers will note Hope started Corey McMahon and he promptly went 4-5 from 3 in the first 9 minutes.  Alex Eidson has an injury.

Eidson is playing according to Live Stats

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Starting 5 watchers will note Hope started Corey McMahon and he promptly went 4-5 from 3 in the first 9 minutes.  Alex Eidson has an injury.

Eidson is playing according to Live Stats

He did play a couple of minutes but appeared to be in some discomfort when he shot 2 FTs.

[sac]

16 first half 3-point attempts by Hope, K playing zone

Once again this is all Sam Hargraves fault.

[gobrits]

Also, some students in the Brit Pit section were making the traveling signal  during the 8-second sequence,and it looked like the Trine ball handler did change the positions of his feet without putting  the ball on the floor. But the missed foul calls were clearly the main issue. Seems like it's got to be one or the other.

I've never seen two players try to commit fouls for 8 straight seconds and fail ... according to the refs.

[sac]

Alma is 20 minutes away from clinching an MIAA Tournament spot.  lead 39-26 and shooting over 60% again.

[HollandKnight]

Seems like Trine has hit the "blah" streak as predicted, by only playing 6-7 players.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Also, some students in the Brit Pit section were making the traveling signal  during the 8-second sequence,and it looked like the Trine ball handler did change the positions of his feet without putting  the ball on the floor. But the missed foul calls were clearly the main issue. Seems like it's got to be one or the other.

I've never seen two players try to commit fouls for 8 straight seconds and fail ... according to the refs.

The Trine player DID 'move' his feet - because he was bumped and eventually bear hugged and thrown to the ground!  Those refs should be ashamed of themselves (and hopefully unemployed by the MIAA).  (The Albion players, be it noted, were NOT playing dirty - they were just desperately trying to get a foul call!)

[calvin_grad]

Calvin women going for a regular season sweep of Hope tonight.  I can only guess as to how long its been since Calvin has gone 4-0 against Hope in the regular season.

According to my crack research staff, I think the last time that happened was the '93-'94 season.   

[sac]

Alma beats Adrian 64-42 and clinch their first appearance in the MIAA semi-finals since 1997.

Hope wins 67-55 over Kalamazoo, and also clinches a playoff spot.

[sac]

+1 or road win, -1 for home loss
Calvin   11-2    +4
Hope     9-4    +3
Trine     9-4    +3
Alma     8-5    +1
Adrian   6-7    -1
Albion   5-8     -1
Kzoo     2-11    -4
Olivet    2-11    -5

Saturday
Adrian at Hope
Alma at Kalamazoo
Calvin at Albion
Olivet at Trine

#1 Seed is Calvin


---If Trine wins vs Olivet, Trine is the #2 seed

so then
---If Hope wins, Hope is the #3 seed, Alma #4 seed
---If Hope loses, Alma wins, Alma is #3 seed, Hope #4 seed
---If Alma loses, Hope is the #3 seed, Alma #4 seed


---If Trine loses, Hope wins and Alma loses, Hope is #2 seed, Trine is the #3 seed, Alma is #4 seed
---If Trine loses, Hope wins and Alma wins, Hope is #2 seed, Alma is the #3 seed, Trine the #4 seed (result vs Olivet is tie-breaker)
---If Trine loses, Hope loses and Alma wins, Alma is #2 seed, Trine #3 seed, Hope #4 seed
---If  Trine loses, Hope loses and Alma loses, Trine #2 seed, Hope #3 seed, Alma #4 seed

[KnightSlappy]

---If Trine loses, Hope wins and Alma wins, Hope is #2 seed, Alma is the #3 seed, Trine the #4 seed (result vs Olivet is tie-breaker)
---If Trine loses, Hope loses and Alma wins, Alma is #2 seed, Trine #3 seed, Hope #4 seed

Trine will win a tiebreak with Alma due to their 2-0 record with Albion. Alma split with the Britons. So Alma shouldn't be able to finish above Trine.

Everything else looks correct.

[Happy Calvin Guy]

Re: MIAA MVP. Is there any chance that Jordan Brink doesn't win the award this year? What seemed inevitable after the first few conference games was cast in a bit of doubt as the conference season wore on as he had several single-digit scoring games, but now seems to be more of a sure thing again. Here's why I see Brink receiving the honor:
1. Even though the award is given based on conference play alone (I think), it's hard to ignore his total body of work which includes tremendous non-conference play. If the award were based on the entire season, there is no debate.
2. The "best player on the league champ" argument.
3. The "senior factor"--he is clearly the top performing senior in the league.
4. The "lifetime achievement award" factor
5. His dominance not just in the scoring column, but top 10 in rebounds, assists, steals, assist/turnover ratio, FT %, 3 pt %, etc.
6. The fact that the only reason his scoring doesn't lead the league in scoring during conference play is the intense defense and double teams he faced. Opponents had to alter their defensive scheme for him, allowing his teammates to score and ultimately team success.
7. His dominance in the two Rivalry games that ultimately won the conference title.

The only others I can see a case for are Will Dixon and Jared Holmquist who had excellent seasons, and without whom Trine would not have been the team that they were, joining the league's upper echelon. But, they would probably split the "Trine vote" anyway.

To take this a step further, I have been considering all season Brink's place in Calvin history. He will likely pass Tom Snikkers soon to move into 8th place in Calvin's career scoring list, and possibly join Chris Knoester and Caleb Veldhouse as the only guards in Calvin's 1,500 point club. Having seen all three of those players play, my humble opinion is that Brink is the best of them all, but perhaps that legacy will be further defined by the final few games of this season + how far Calvin makes it in the postseason. I'd be interested to hear where long-time Knight fans would place Brink in the top Calvin guards of all time list, and who else they would consider. Whatever the answer, it's been a treat to watch him play these past four (five) years.

[KnightSlappy]

The only others I can see a case for are Will Dixon and Jared Holmquist who had excellent seasons, and without whom Trine would not have been the team that they were, joining the league's upper echelon. But, they would probably split the "Trine vote" anyway.

I think the top four candidates are Brink, Holmquist, Harrison Blackledge, and Scott Nikodemski.

I think one could have a serious discussion about these four, but Brink will win it because Calvin won the league, he had a good season, and he was expected to win it all along.

Of the group, Blackledge was the most efficient scorer.
Nikodemski is tops in assists and steals.
Holmquist was the best rebounder.
Brink was very good at everything.

[knight4life]

Brink does deserve this award for all of these reasons posted by HCG. Every team that did not alter their defense for them, well we saw we he can do (games against Hope, specifically). Teams need to pay so much attention to him and I did not see another player in the conference that required this attention to defend.

Also note that many times he was defending the other teams' best player - getting it done on both ends of the floor.

M-V-P. M-V-P. M-V-P.

[HOPEful]

(Assuming that Trine beats Olivet at home on Saturday and Hope beats Adrian at home...)

If the scorching hot Alma team goes to Calvin and knocks off the #1 seed and Hope goes down to Angola and knocks of the #2 seed...

The MIAA Championship game would be Alma @ Hope