MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[wiz]

Video feed coming in from the women's game at Manchester, so assuming the same will hold true for the men's game.
http://www.calvinknights.com/sports/wbkb/2015-16/boxscores/20151124_ypbh.xml

Warning:  If you watch the video, get familiar with the word "buffering".

[sac]

Carthage 106 Olivet 93

There's a reason these two teams were picked 8th in their respective conferences, put them on the same floor and its actually pretty entertaining.  Mostly close until Carthage hit a bunch of 3's late in the game to put some distance between these two teams.

Not much to say about Carthage, they start two Fr. and play pretty much how they have for the last decade.  Olivet just did a really poor job getting out on their shooters for much of the game.

Both of these teams are not very tall and will have trouble with size.

This isn't really the Olivet team we'll see in the MIAA, I think they might get a couple wins before January tops maybe even none.   Fr. Kyle Emory had a nice game, I think his first breakout game scoring wise.  Kids not shy about shooting.  Lee Gardner is great, pretty difficult match-up in this league.  6-4 220 can drive the lane and has a really nice jump shot, just has an eye for rebounds.


Lee Gardner played only 13 games and averaged 6.1 points at Siena Heights last year and didn't start, he's averaging 27 for Olivet.  Coupled with Christian Corville's transfer to Adrian it makes me wonder what's going on at Siena Heights that made these guys walk away.

[KnightSlappy]

Calvin tops Manchester 89-77. Austin Parks finished with 21 points. Nate Drews had 17 and is now 9-11 on three point attempts this season. Daley and Denney were also in double figures with 15 and 14 respectively.

The Manchester announcers also referred to Calvin as a middling D3 team that "usually finishes around .500". Which, yeah, the Knights were 72-17 the last three years.

[sac]

The Manchester announcers also referred to Calvin as a middling D3 team that "usually finishes around .500". Which, yeah, the Knights were 72-17 the last three years.

Thanks, I wasn't sure I had heard that right.    Manchester has been looking up to middling for a couple years now.

[SBell]

Carthage 106 Olivet 93

There's a reason these two teams were picked 8th in their respective conferences, put them on the same floor and its actually pretty entertaining.  Mostly close until Carthage hit a bunch of 3's late in the game to put some distance between these two teams.

Not much to say about Carthage, they start two Fr. and play pretty much how they have for the last decade.  Olivet just did a really poor job getting out on their shooters for much of the game.

Both of these teams are not very tall and will have trouble with size.

This isn't really the Olivet team we'll see in the MIAA, I think they might get a couple wins before January tops maybe even none.   Fr. Kyle Emory had a nice game, I think his first breakout game scoring wise.  Kids not shy about shooting.  Lee Gardner is great, pretty difficult match-up in this league.  6-4 220 can drive the lane and has a really nice jump shot, just has an eye for rebounds.


Lee Gardner played only 13 games and averaged 6.1 points at Siena Heights last year and didn't start, he's averaging 27 for Olivet.  Coupled with Christian Corville's transfer to Adrian it makes me wonder what's going on at Siena Heights that made these guys walk away.

Think Keith Dambrot.

[Titan Q]

Hope 95
Aquinas 61

Holy smokes is Hope good.  Wow.  The Dutchmen have all of the pieces necessary to win the D3 title.

[NW Hope Fan]

Hope 95
Aquinas 61

Holy smokes is Hope good.  Wow.  The Dutchmen have all of the pieces necessary to win the D3 title.

I like the sound of that... But hatched November eggs will only be counted in March.   

[sac]

Hope was excellent tonight.  Entirely different animal tomorrow night with Cornerstone an excellent team in their own right.

If you like small school basketball you might want to head over to Mol Arena,  I can't think of too many better match-ups this year, at least on paper.

[pointlem]

Hope 95
Aquinas 61

Holy smokes is Hope good.  Wow.  The Dutchmen have all of the pieces necessary to win the D3 title.

Indeed . . . lots of excitement about Hope's team this year--its best men's team in years. They play with relentless intensity no matter who is in the game (44 bench points tonight), and with seemingly great spirit and unselfish play.

Tomorrow night they will likely be underdogs against last year's NAIA DII national champion Cornerstone, which returns 7 of its 8 top scorers, including two all-American post players--probably the best Hope will face this year. Contending with them, without foul trouble for Brock Benson, will be a challenge.  Calvin in the first 10 minutes double-teamed Steigenga down low and took their chances when he gave the ball back to a teammate for an open 3.  As long as Cornerstone was missing those, Calvin was in the game.

Jordan Daley and Cameron Denny look like key players for Calvin. In the half I saw, Denny spent much of his time standing at the top of the key and offering ball screens and distributing the ball.  Not sure that's the best use of his athleticism.

[Titan Q]

Tomorrow night they will likely be underdogs against last year's NAIA DII national champion Cornerstone, which returns 7 of its 8 top scorers, including two all-American post players--probably the best Hope will face this year. Contending with them, without foul trouble for Brock Benson, will be a challenge.  Calvin in the first 10 minutes double-teamed Steigenga down low and took their chances when he gave the ball back to a teammate for an open 3.  As long as Cornerstone was missing those, Calvin was in the game.

Jordan Daley and Cameron Denny look like key players for Calvin. In the half I saw, Denny spent much of his time standing at the top of the key and offering ball screens and distributing the ball.  Not sure that's the best use of his athleticism.

I believe Cornerstone is better than whoever the best team in NCAA Division III is (Augustana or whoever) -- or maybe it's a push.  So quite a test tomorrow for the Dutchmen.

[oldknight]

There is no doubt Hope is one of the best teams in D3 right now. They took a very competent Aquinas quintet to the woodshed, and over 40 minutes simply slowly but surely pulled away to one of the most ordinary 30+ point wins I've seen in some time. The Dutch are deep and talented with no serious weakness in evidence. The challenge for Greg Mitchell is to make sure that a team already in mid season form isn't still in mid season form in March. Other teams get better and Hope will have to do the same.

Calvin's game against Cornerstone went as I expected except that Calvin led 18-12 mid way through the first half. Once Kim Elders' boys put the foot on the gas though, there was no stopping them and Calvin simply had no answer. This may be the best Cornerstone team ever. It was more like watching a D2 team than one from NAIA. They're not just athletic, skilled and tough, they're also a very smart team that knows how to adjust to an opponent. They may not lose this year. Good early season test for Hope tomorrow night.

Some random thoughts from watching basketball this week:

--Watched Michigan State manhandle Boston College the other night, checked out the end of the bench and--lo and behold--there seated in an MSU tee shirt was former Calvin guard, Ryan Nadeau. Apparently he works for Izzo as a student assistant.

--Ran into Todd Blackledge tonight, Harrison's dad. I assume he is heading over to Ann Arbor tomorrow to do color commentary for the OSU/UM game, and will return to Grand Rapids tomorrow night for Hope's contest against Cornerstone.

--I knew something like this would happen to me someday but it happened sooner than I ever expected. Cornerstone's prize frosh--Dilon Aten--played tonight. When in high school Dilon's grandfather and I were running mates at guard. You read that correctly--one of my contemporaries has a grandson playing college hoops. Yeah. Weird, really weird. Guess that oldknight moniker is well earned.

[sac]

Calvin's game against Cornerstone went as I expected except that Calvin led 18-12 mid way through the first half. Once Kim Elders' boys put the foot on the gas though, there was no stopping them and Calvin simply had no answer.  This may be the best Cornerstone team ever. It was more like watching a D2 team than one from NAIA. They're not just athletic, skilled and tough, they're also a very smart team that knows how to adjust to an opponent. They may not lose this year. Good early season test for Hope tomorrow night.

Cornerstone lost its season opening game at Indiana Wesleyan 95-90 in a game featuring NAIA II's #1 and #2 pre-season teams, I forget which was which.    IWU was ranked #1 all year last year until Davenport knocked them off in the quarterfinals, which indirectly helped pave the way for Cornerstone to win their title.

[oldknight]

Calvin's game against Cornerstone went as I expected except that Calvin led 18-12 mid way through the first half. Once Kim Elders' boys put the foot on the gas though, there was no stopping them and Calvin simply had no answer.  This may be the best Cornerstone team ever. It was more like watching a D2 team than one from NAIA. They're not just athletic, skilled and tough, they're also a very smart team that knows how to adjust to an opponent. They may not lose this year. Good early season test for Hope tomorrow night.

Cornerstone lost its season opening game at Indiana Wesleyan 95-90 in a game featuring NAIA II's #1 and #2 pre-season teams, I forget which was which.    IWU was ranked #1 all year last year until Davenport knocked them off in the quarterfinals, which indirectly helped pave the way for Cornerstone to win their title.

Well. That didn't take long.

[sac]

Calvin's game against Cornerstone went as I expected except that Calvin led 18-12 mid way through the first half. Once Kim Elders' boys put the foot on the gas though, there was no stopping them and Calvin simply had no answer.  This may be the best Cornerstone team ever. It was more like watching a D2 team than one from NAIA. They're not just athletic, skilled and tough, they're also a very smart team that knows how to adjust to an opponent. They may not lose this year. Good early season test for Hope tomorrow night.

Cornerstone lost its season opening game at Indiana Wesleyan 95-90 in a game featuring NAIA II's #1 and #2 pre-season teams, I forget which was which.    IWU was ranked #1 all year last year until Davenport knocked them off in the quarterfinals, which indirectly helped pave the way for Cornerstone to win their title.

Well. That didn't take long.

You did correctly offer your skepticism by using the word 'may' so there is that.



Cleaning up a couple Aquinas odd and ends:

I was asked if that was Hope's biggest win over Aquinas and I think it was.  I quit looking when I reached the early 80's, there were three wins of 31, 31 and 32 in the 90's.   The weirdest result I found was Aquinas beating Hope by 39 points in 1995-96, the year Hope went to the Final Four. 

That was Hope's 50th win over AQ making the series 50-30 to Hope.


Aquinas/Hope games had been very competitive the last few years:
15--Aquinas 72  Hope 68
14--Hope 69 Aquinas 67
13--Hope 63 Aquinas 60
12--Hope 67 Aquinas 65


I'm sure Cornerstone is gunning for Hope the way Hope was gunning for their shot at Stevens Point.  Hope handed Cornerstone one of their 5 losses last year 77-64

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Adrian:

North Park 73
Adrian 70

NPU hands the Bulldogs their first loss of the season after a 5-0 start.