MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[oldknight]

Despite having to endure repeated verbal microaggressions cast my way by goodknight and knightvision—and done within earshot of the inestimable Mrs. Oldknight no less—an enjoyable evening was had at VNA as the home team scored the last 10 points to rally for a 74-70 win. Calvin executed perfectly the last two minutes with Nate Drews hitting a huge three coming out of a timeout and Tony Canonie then making two terrific defensive plays in the final minute. They led to four Calvin points within 15 seconds of playing time. Canonie is simply a superior one-on-one defensive player who should always be on the floor at crunch time.

Can't say enough about Holmquist who never seems to play a poor game (or even an average one) and went 13-19 from the floor tonight. As realist noted, Trine is who we thought they were (apologies to Dennis Green). The Thunder are about as good of a starting five as you find in D3, but seem a bit short on quality depth. The starters are warriors though, can shoot lights out, and compete on every possession on both ends.

Other game notes:

--only one game but Dodson may be freshmen of the year. Kid has icewater in his veins (5-7 from the arc), dished 6 assists and doesn't play like a freshmen at all.

--it took 38 minutes of game time, but it was nice to see the Calvin student section actually has a voice.

--a quiet scoring night for Wilks (7 points) but he had 6 assists including a pair of beauties down the stretch to Daly standing right next to the hoop.

--exceptionally efficient night from Daly who never got frustrated by all the extra defensive attention he got. Daly scored 18 after the break and led Calvin with 23 for the game.

--I assume the game will be archived. If so, watch the last two minutes if you missed tonight's game.

--nice to see Siegel back after injuring himself out west crashing into the scorer's table. He didn't quite seem to be at full strength yet though as he went 1-7 from the floor.

[sac]

Hope 68  Albion 65

Hope is the David Blaine of D3 basketball.  Maybe I'll think of something tomorrow today..

[KnightSlappy]

Jared Holmquist is simply a tremendous player. I think Calvin actually did quite a nice job defending him, yet he ended up with 26 points. According to the box score play-by-play data he was 10-13 on his two-point jump shots. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to a great player knocking down his shots.

[KnightSlappy]

Calvin executed perfectly the last two minutes with Nate Drews hitting a huge three coming out of a timeout

I wonder if Brooks Miller regrets that timeout? Trine had just scored on their fifth straight possession (with their fourth three pointer in three minutes), then Miller called a TO from the bench. KVS used the timeout to insert Drews into the game, which player immediately hit said huge three-pointer. Trine would not score for the rest of the game.

[oldknight]

Calvin executed perfectly the last two minutes with Nate Drews hitting a huge three coming out of a timeout

I wonder if Brooks Miller regrets that timeout? Trine had just scored on their fifth straight possession (with their fourth three pointer in three minutes), then Miller called a TO from the bench. KVS used the timeout to insert Drews into the game, which player immediately hit said huge three-pointer. Trine would not score for the rest of the game.

I wasn't surprised that a time out was called after Trine went up 70-64 but was very surprised to see that Trine called it. I do think KVS was ready to call his own TO so I think Drews was going in the game anyway. Drews is proving to be quite a weapon off the bench and teams have to respect his ability to bomb from outside. He came from a small high school on the east side of the state where he scored a ton and was likely the only decent player. He has progressively warmed to the college game in his time along the East Beltline.

[HopeConvert]

I don't know how often Hope can keep playing games like this and expect to pull them out. Credit to Albion for a great effort, both defensively and on the boards. In the second half Hope went to a full court zone to try stymie the Brits, who started killing Hope on the glass. The defense finally did wake-up for the Dutchmen, with Stuive again playing a key role, as well as Alex Eidson, who complemented his sound defense with a huge 3 to tie the game.

But in some ways the hero of the game was Chad Carlson, who hit a pair of 3-pointers to keep Hope in the game, DROVE THE LANE(!) for an important lay-up, and threw in a pull-up 8 foot jumper for good measure. After Carlson's lay-up brought the deficit to 6, it looked as if Hope was coming back, but Albion hit back-to-back 3's to go up 12, and added a lay-up to be up 14 with under 8 minutes left. I don't know what Fordham said after Gardner's blocked lay-up (the Sentinel claims it was for taunting), but it put Carlson at the line for two technical FT's that really were the turning point of the game. (The official boxscore lists no technical fouls for Albion, but that is incorrect.) Hope went on a 12-0 run (including a Carlson 3 and the aforementioned jumper in the paint) that put them within striking distance.

Mitch seems to be settling on an 8-man rotation, with Blackledge getting fewer minutes. Also, Otto went to the bench with 16:02 left and never reentered the game. I don't know what that's all about.

[oldknight]

Mitch seems to be settling on an 8-man rotation, with Blackledge getting fewer minutes. Also, Otto went to the bench with 16:02 left and never reentered the game. I don't know what that's all about.

Without seeing the game I'm guessing Otto's defense (or lack thereof) may have been a factor. Any guesses on why Blackledge is playing fewer minutes?

[HOPEful]

I don't know how often Hope can keep playing games like this and expect to pull them out. Credit to Albion for a great effort, both defensively and on the boards. In the second half Hope went to a full court zone to try stymie the Brits, who started killing Hope on the glass. The defense finally did wake-up for the Dutchmen, with Stuive again playing a key role, as well as Alex Eidson, who complemented his sound defense with a huge 3 to tie the game.

But in some ways the hero of the game was Chad Carlson, who hit a pair of 3-pointers to keep Hope in the game, DROVE THE LANE(!) for an important lay-up, and threw in a pull-up 8 foot jumper for good measure. After Carlson's lay-up brought the deficit to 6, it looked as if Hope was coming back, but Albion hit back-to-back 3's to go up 12, and added a lay-up to be up 14 with under 8 minutes left. I don't know what Fordham said after Gardner's blocked lay-up (the Sentinel claims it was for taunting), but it put Carlson at the line for two technical FT's that really were the turning point of the game. (The official boxscore lists no technical fouls for Albion, but that is incorrect.) Hope went on a 12-0 run (including a Carlson 3 and the aforementioned jumper in the paint) that put them within striking distance.

Mitch seems to be settling on an 8-man rotation, with Blackledge getting fewer minutes. Also, Otto went to the bench with 16:02 left and never reentered the game. I don't know what that's all about.

Does anyone understand what happened on the 1 and 1, where the Albion players missed and then the rebound appeared to go to Hope/jump ball? Suddenly, Albion was back at the free throw line shooting another free throw with no explanation.

[Hope22]

Does anyone understand what happened on the 1 and 1, where the Albion players missed and then the rebound appeared to go to Hope/jump ball? Suddenly, Albion was back at the free throw line shooting another free throw with no explanation.

It was a two shot shooting foul, as I believe Benson fouled the Albion shooter on a layup attempt. For some reason, players from both teams and the refs seemed to forget this momentarily, then realized after the scrum.

[HopeConvert]

Mitch seems to be settling on an 8-man rotation, with Blackledge getting fewer minutes. Also, Otto went to the bench with 16:02 left and never reentered the game. I don't know what that's all about.

Without seeing the game I'm guessing Otto's defense (or lack thereof) may have been a factor. Any guesses on why Blackledge is playing fewer minutes?

That's my guess as well, although Otto hasn't struck me as defensively deficient. I'm guessing something similar is going on with Blackledge, that Mitch likes what Stuive brings to the floor defensively. Blackledge had a really pretty dish to a cutting Gardner late in the game.

[HopeConvert]

Does anyone understand what happened on the 1 and 1, where the Albion players missed and then the rebound appeared to go to Hope/jump ball? Suddenly, Albion was back at the free throw line shooting another free throw with no explanation.

It was a two shot shooting foul, as I believe Benson fouled the Albion shooter on a layup attempt. For some reason, players from both teams and the refs seemed to forget this momentarily, then realized after the scrum.

Yep. I think the refs forgot to communicate this to the players.

[oldknight]

Mitch seems to be settling on an 8-man rotation, with Blackledge getting fewer minutes. Also, Otto went to the bench with 16:02 left and never reentered the game. I don't know what that's all about.

Without seeing the game I'm guessing Otto's defense (or lack thereof) may have been a factor. Any guesses on why Blackledge is playing fewer minutes?

That's my guess as well, although Otto hasn't struck me as defensively deficient. I'm guessing something similar is going on with Blackledge, that Mitch likes what Stuive brings to the floor defensively. Blackledge had a really pretty dish to a cutting Gardner late in the game.

Otto should be a good defender--he has the tools--but for whatever reason he just doesn't seem to get the job done on that half of the floor. He was the person not guarding Jordan Brink the last five minutes of the conference final last year when everyone in the building knew the Calvin star was going to take pretty much all the shots down the stretch.

As for Stuive, you see him play more than I do but he's never struck me as a particularly good defender either. He does stretch the floor on offense for Mitchell though, there's no doubt about that.

[HOPEful]

As for Stuive, you see him play more than I do but he's never struck me as a particularly good defender either. He does stretch the floor on offense for Mitchell though, there's no doubt about that.

Where last season Stuive seemed to be perfectly content defending outside on the wings, he is playing much bigger inside this season and has really improved his help-side defense. My guess is that Harrison is being viewed more as Brock's backup and Stuive more as the 4.

[HopeConvert]

As for Stuive, you see him play more than I do but he's never struck me as a particularly good defender either. He does stretch the floor on offense for Mitchell though, there's no doubt about that.

Where last season Stuive seemed to be perfectly content defending outside on the wings, he is playing much bigger inside this season and has really improved his help-side defense. My guess is that Harrison is being viewed more as Brock's backup and Stuive more as the 4.

Fortunately, I wasn't at the MIAA championship game. I think that's right about Otto: he has the athleticism to be a good defender. in his defense, everyone struggled guarding Jordan Brink. Stuive is deceptively good on defense, in part because he can cover a lot of space pretty effortlessly, especially with his long wingspan. He's been a problem for opposing offenses all year.

[sac]

Hope/Albion  thoughts


--    Albion played without their best offensive player Corey Wheeler who was sitting at the end of their bench nursing an injury.   Fr.  Jaylen Fordham  for Albion more than made up for it with a really brilliant performance going 6-7 from 3, logging 30 minutes the most he's played this year by 10.  He was also a gnat on defense.

---  Hope tried to pressure Albion in the back-court the whole game and didn't get a single turnover out of it.   It did force the Brits to play with only 20 seconds on the shot clock nearly every possession but they played with great poise and rarely were forced to make a prayer at the shot clock buzzer.......except the two times they did in the first half.

--  This was a really low possession game, Hope's lowest since their game at Stevens Point.  Hope's 13 turnovers is about 4 over their season turnover rate and Albion was well under their season turnover rate until the last 5 minutes.  They had 10 for the game, but 5 in the last 7 1/2 minutes starting with Jaylen Fordham's technical foul (which shouldn't be a turnover).

--  Back to Jaylen Fordham, he re-entered the game at the 11:11 mark and pasted his name all over the score book for a few minutes.

09:54    FORDHAM,JAYLEN missed 3-pt. jump shot    -    
09:43    Steal by FORDHAM,JAYLEN    -    
08:27    FORDHAM,JAYLEN made 3-pt. jump shot    53-44    
08:14    FORDHAM,JAYLEN made 3-pt. jump shot    56-44    
07:43    FORDHAM,JAYLEN made layup    58-44    
07:24    Block by FORDHAM,JAYLEN    -    
07:19    Turnover by FORDHAM,JAYLEN    -    
07:19    Technical Foul by FORDHAM,JAYLEN    -    
07:19    Foul by FORDHAM,JAYLEN    -    
05:01    Turnover by FORDHAM,JAYLEN    -    
03:59    FORDHAM,JAYLEN made 3-pt. jump shot    62-57    
03:00    Block by FORDHAM,JAYLEN
(I don't know why Jaylen gets a turnover at the 7:19 mark, it was Hope's possession)

Unfortunately the highlighted part is where the game turned, Albion had just gone up 14 following 8 straight points from the Fr., then he blocks a Ben Gardner layup attempt from behind and decided to tell Ben about it with the official right in the middle.  Overall though a very impressive performance for the Fr.


--  That's about the 4th time this year Hope gets ambushed by someone off the bench or not even on the roster before they play Hope.  That can end anytime basketball Gods.


Peak deficits in the final 10 minutes for Hope all at home
---   down 7 with 2:43 vs Wheaton  (4-9)
---   down 10 with 9:17 vs Hanover  (6-6)
---   down 14 with 7:43 vs Albion (5-7)