MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

My first thought when looking at the schedule is that GLC has upgraded their opponent list quite a bit.  They'll be playing a lot of the WHAC this year.  GLC also lost two games with Kuyper which no longer supports athletics.  I seem to remember a lot more of the 'Bible' schools and long road trips on their past schedules.  Its almost like they're auditioning to join NAIA.

I'm just stumped as to why Trine had to go outside the D3 fold for an opponent. The Thunder aren't stuck on a peninsula like the rest of you good folks, and there's plenty of D3 opponents within a three-hour bus ride of Angola, IN. Even if for some reason there was no D3 opponent willing to take on the Thunder, both southern Michigan and the state of Indiana are chock-full of NAIA schools that always seem to need games.

Giving Coach Miller the benefit of the doubt, my guess is that he was stuck with a recent cancellation, mid-June proved to be too late in the off-season for another viable D3 or NAIA opponent to be able to offer him a date, and he was therefore forced to take potluck in the form of Great Lakes Christian.

With the recent expansion of the WHAC to 12 teams and the Crossroads now at 10 that really isn't the case anymore.  I had heard the NAIA is also asking its members to play more NAIA opponents but I'm not sure how valid that really is.

The Trine vs GLC game is right around exam time, so maybe its as simple as giving the team an easy opponent without taking a week off and getting rusty.  Trine will win that game by a lot.

[Gregory Sager]

A late cancellation is certainly a likely possibility.  But I also wonder if there is some connection between the Trine coach and the new coach of GLC and the Trine coach wanted to do him a favor.  Personal coaching relationships are sometimes the explanation for games that otherwise seem to make little sense (that seems to nearly always be the case when a D1 schedules a D3).

Good point. That's a possibility as well. But, on the face of it at least, there doesn't appear to be a formal relationship between the two. Coach Snyder of GLCC is a Spring Arbor grad who got his master's degree from Ohio University and has spent his entire coaching career as an assistant at Spring Arbor. Coach Miller of Trine doesn't have either Spring Arbor or Ohio on his resume. If this game is a favor to a friend on Coach Miller's part, it's based upon a heretofore obscure reason. Perhaps they worked at a camp together.

My first thought when looking at the schedule is that GLC has upgraded their opponent list quite a bit.  They'll be playing a lot of the WHAC this year.  GLC also lost two games with Kuyper which no longer supports athletics.  I seem to remember a lot more of the 'Bible' schools and long road trips on their past schedules.  Its almost like they're auditioning to join NAIA.

I have no problem with understanding the game from GLCC's perspective. It's the Trine end of it that I don't get.

With the recent expansion of the WHAC to 12 teams and the Crossroads now at 10 that really isn't the case anymore.

Keep in mind that the NAIA regular-season schedule is 32 games. That's a lot of slots to fill, regardless of the size of your league.

I had heard the NAIA is also asking its members to play more NAIA opponents but I'm not sure how valid that really is.

I can certainly understand that, especially in light of the fact that D3's doing everything that it can to get its own members to color between the lines when it comes to scheduling. I just don't know if the NAIA has anything in the way of enforcement mechanisms for this. Of course, I'm not at all conversant with the NAIA's championships rulebook.

The Trine vs GLC game is right around exam time, so maybe its as simple as giving the team an easy opponent without taking a week off and getting rusty.

Possible, but that seems like weak tea in terms of a reason to schedule a nondescript non-D3 opponent and thereby forego either an opportunity to buttress a possible Pool C qualification or to improve the team by playing a decent non-D3 foe.

Trine will win that game by a lot.

Yeah, that's a big part of why I brought it up in the first place.

[sac]

With the recent expansion of the WHAC to 12 teams and the Crossroads now at 10 that really isn't the case anymore.

Keep in mind that the NAIA regular-season schedule is 32 games. That's a lot of slots to fill, regardless of the size of your league.

While that's true they often play as many as 6 games before D3 can even start playing real games.  Meaning they have basically the same number of overall dates to cover from Nov 15 on,  and the Crossroads and WHAC have a significant number taken care of with conference play which starts the first weekend D3 can play.

I also think NAIA has either shortened their season to 30 games or now include conference tournaments in their total of 32 but I'm not positive about the latter.  (the bottom 4 teams in the WHAC all played only 30 games)

[sac]

Hope's full schedule is out:   http://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mbkb/2015-16/schedule

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope's full schedule is out:   http://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mbkb/2015-16/schedule

One note of interest, both the men's and women's teams for Hope will be playing at the RDV Sportsplex in Orlando.  They have combined what was an every other year (men one year, women the next) tournament/classic so that both are playing on the same dates.  6:00pm women's games, 8:00pm men's games - and on the 30th both teams are playing Beloit.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope's full schedule is out:   http://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mbkb/2015-16/schedule

One note of interest, both the men's and women's teams for Hope will be playing at the RDV Sportsplex in Orlando.  They have combined what was an every other year (men one year, women the next) tournament/classic so that both are playing on the same dates.  6:00pm women's games, 8:00pm men's games - and on the 30th both teams are playing Beloit.

Looking through the entire schedule, the Hope men's and women's teams will be playing in the same gym on the same date 9 times in the coming season!!!  Which means lots of Saturday night games for the men (the men have a single MIAA Saturday afternoon home game versus Kalamazoo on Jan 23).

The first two I noted above - double headers on back to back nights in Florida

They have four more double headers in the regular season:

Jan 27 - 6pm Olivet @ Hope (women) - 8pm Calvin @ Hope (men)
Feb 03 - 6pm Alma @ Hope (women) - 8pm Olivet @ Hope (men)
Feb 16 - 6pm Hope @ Kazoo (women) - 8pm Hope @ Kazoo (men)
Feb 20 - 1pm Hope @ Calvin (women) - 3pm Hope @ Calvin (men) - let the discussion begin...

Additional dates where the women play in the afternoon, and the men at night

Jan 16 - 3pm Kazoo @ Hope (women) - 7:30pm Trine @ Hope (men)
Feb 06 - 3pm St Marys @ Hope (women) - 7:30pm Alma @ Hope (men)
Feb 13 - 3pm Albion @ Hope (women) - 7:30 Adrian @ Hope (men)

[sac]

Hope's full schedule is out:   http://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mbkb/2015-16/schedule

Some very quickish math. 

If Hope's D3 non-conf opponents were to all have the same kind of reg season as last year Hope's strength of schedule from just non-conference games would fall in a range from about .475 to .515

For at large selection purposes Hope either needs 2 or 3 of these 8 opponents to have much better seasons than last year and/or they need the MIAA to have a much better out of conference record than a year ago (at reg seasons end the non-conference portion last year was .618 one of the highest in D3)  The home multipliers for Wheaton, Carthage, Platteville and Hanover will really hurt.

My purely amateur take is Hope will need to win the AQ or have a win% around .800 or better for NCAA selection.   Drastically different schedule than last year for Hope.

[Gregory Sager]

For at large selection purposes Hope either needs 2 or 3 of these 8 opponents to have much better seasons than last year and/or they need the MIAA to have a much better out of conference record than a year ago (at reg seasons end the non-conference portion last year was .618 one of the highest in D3)  The home multipliers for Wheaton, Carthage, Platteville and Hanover will really hurt.

Of course, the fact that three of Hope's eleven non-con contests are essentially wasted throwaways in the eyes of the D3 national committee doesn't help, either. It narrows Hope's margin for error in terms of some of Hope's D3 opponents providing those improved results of which you spoke. The fewer games you play against D3 opponents, the more the games that you do play against D3 opponents are magnified, as far as Pool C considerations go.

[HOPEful]

Of course, the fact that three of Hope's eleven non-con contests are essentially wasted throwaways in the eyes of the D3 national committee doesn't help, either.

Worse than wasted throwaways. They're wasted throw aways when Hope wins both games. They are a blemish and another 1 in the loss column when they lose. According to Massey, the win against Cornerstone last season was Hope's best win. The loss to Aquinas was one of their worst (Trine and Alma were worse). No one (and rightfully so) gave them any credit for the Cornerstone win. But they were surely given credit for all 9 losses (including Aquinas)... 

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Of course, the fact that three of Hope's eleven non-con contests are essentially wasted throwaways in the eyes of the D3 national committee doesn't help, either.

Worse than wasted throwaways. They're wasted throw aways when Hope wins both games. They are a blemish and another 1 in the loss column when they lose. According to Massey, the win against Cornerstone last season was Hope's best win. The loss to Aquinas was one of their worst (Trine and Alma were worse). No one (and rightfully so) gave them any credit for the Cornerstone win. But they were surely given credit for all 9 losses (including Aquinas)...

I don't think you have that right.  Hope's record (from an NCAA regional ranking and thus tournement birth potential) was 17-8. Neither the win against Cornerstone, nor the loss against Aquinas counted or even existed in the eyes of the NCAA.

[HOPEful]

I don't think you have that right.  Hope's record (from an NCAA regional ranking and thus tournement birth potential) was 17-8. Neither the win against Cornerstone, nor the loss against Aquinas counted or even existed in the eyes of the NCAA.

Officially, and by all computer rankings, you are correct.

[sac]

I know where you're coming from but "wasted" seems harsh.  Cornerstone was as good or better than any D3 opponent Hope played last year save for Point and maybe Whitewater.  Remember Hope didn't play them with 6-8  Ben Lanning in the lineup.  There is much to be gained by playing very good teams even if they aren't in your division.



Of all the teams I saw last year I thought Indiana Wesleyan was the best, yet Cornerstone ended up with the big banner.

The only real problem I see with Hope's schedule is not being able to get another D3 team to their own tournament, which as has been shown in the past, is a difficult thing to do for whatever reason.

25 countable D3 games is fine, its just not the best it could be.

[Gregory Sager]

I didn't say that they were wasted games in terms of their usefulness to the Hope team. I would never say that, since I'm quite aware of Cornerstone's prowess over the last couple of decades. I know full well that a strong scholie-level opponent can help a team tune up for league play. I said that those three games were wasted throwaways in the eyes of the D3 national committee, which is a different thing altogether.

As for Hope's difficulty in finding opponents for the school's tournament, that's not a problem unique to your alma mater. I've expounded on the same problem on the CCIW board. North Central struggles every year to find opponents for its tipoff tournament, and usually settles for a Bible school or a random NAIA-D2 outfit to fill out the field. At the moment, Wheaton still hasn't filled out the field for its annual Lee Pfund Tourney this coming season. Two years ago, North Park got stuck in a situation in which it agreed to participate in the Bluffton tourney, only to find that Bluffton couldn't get any other D3 schools to participate, forcing the Beavers and Vikings to share the tourney with a couple of nondescript non-D3 opponents (OSU-Lima and now-defunct MidContinent University). I've heard similar complaints from folks at other schools that try to field tournaments.

It's just plain hard for any school in D3 that holds a tournament to fill out the field every year. Perhaps they should all follow Pat's lead and start hosting them in Vegas.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg, that might not help them with the committee.

Remember: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

(We have a bib for grandson Max: What happens at Grandma's, stays at Grandma's. )

[HOPEful]

As for Hope's difficulty in finding opponents for the school's tournament, that's not a problem unique to your alma mater...

It's just plain hard for any school in D3 that holds a tournament to fill out the field every year.

This is why I love the CCIW/MIAA challenge every year! I love knowing the Carthage and Wheaton will always appear on Hope's schedule. Wouldn't mind adding 2 more from each conference. Hope, calvin, Trine, and Albion v. Carthage, Wheaton, Augustana, and North Park? One weekend in Michigan/Indiana, one weekend in Illinois/Wisconsin...