MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[HopeConvert]

If someone has an unbiased opinion on Brock Benson's travel and even the subsequent "things" before it I'd like to hear it.  You may PM if you'd like.  I was mostly blocked on the ultimate call just looking for what other people thought of it.

I'm not unbiased, but it was a turning point. The official who overruled the other one seemed very sure of it. It was a bang-bang call. I'm not prepared to say it was a bad one, but it did seem to me that Brock may have been forced into a step. As for the T: Mitch gave the ref no choice. It was pretty clear how that was going to end. Plus he had been riding that ref all night the way it was.

Sam Hargraves can coach.

I should add that I don't think that play was really a "turning-point." If Hope was to have had any chance at winning, they would have needed the foul call, and the technical not to be called.  It was still a tall order, but doable at least. After that play, the air was out.  But, really, Alma thoroughly outplayed Hope last night and pretty much imposed their will on the Dutchmen.

[calvinite]

Canonie is an interesting choice to play the two guard. A superb defender who doesn't shoot a lot. Calvin compensates for the limited offense from that spot by bringing in Drews off the bench to bomb. His minutes have been progressively increasing and he's clearly a key reserve, maybe the most important non-starter Calvin has. Nate has taken 84 shots and nearly three quarters of them (61) have been from the arc. Despite that imbalance the kid from Rochester Hills Lutheran is shooting 55% from the floor. We need KnightSlappy to calculate his offensive efficiency. We don't know what kind of a free throw shooter Drews is. He hasn't shot one yet in 226 minutes of game time. Doesn't make a lot of mistakes though. Just 6 turnovers.

Nate Drews is shooting .557 on three point attempts and currently has an effective field goal percentage of .750. Since he hasn't gotten to the free throw line, that translates directly into an astounding 1.50 points per weighted shot. That's Calvin's best mark of the last 18 years (the internet age) by a mile.

Jordan Brink just graduated as Calvin's career leader (internet age) in PPWS at 1.27 (minimum 50 career attempts). Right behind him are Andy Draayer (1.26) and Derek Griffin (1.25).

Calvin's team average is typically around 1.09, though they've skewed a few points higher in recent years (Mr. Brink likely had something to do with that).

So whereas a guy like Brink added something like 0.18 points above average to the team total every time he shot, Drews has added roughly 0.41 points above average!

The two player obivously shouldered different shooting loads, but it's possible Drew could approach Brink's mark last year in 'shooting value added' or whatever you might want to call it (kind of making things up on the fly here as per usual). Brink added ~68 points in 27 games last year using the numbers above. Drews has added ~34 in 14 games this year.

That explains (not that there's any surprise here) why Kevin VanderStreek could be heard forcefully telling Drews to "Shoot the Ball" in the Trine game (I don't think Kevin meant to encourage Drews, but to almost reprimand him for not shooting).

I know 3s are a huge part of the game, but I generally don't like to see the teams depend on them because of the unpredictability factor. With the ball in Drews' hands, however, I also want him shooting the 3.

[sac]

http://www.miaa.org/sports/mbkb/2015-16/boxscores/20160113_wptq.xml

The Olivet side of this boxscore is not accurate,  Lee Gardner did not play, Chris Chrzan did.

[knightvision]

Hope's loss to Alma should not affect their national ranking because they once played so well against Cornerstone.

A team undefeated against D3 competition should, in my opinion, be judged based upon (among other things) how good they look when they are at their best. The lost last night provided further evidence of the inconsistencies we've seen all season. Hope will and should fall, and if they don't figure it out, could very well lose to Trine on Saturday.

National rankings can be fun, rewarding for the recognition they bring a team, a source of great pride for fans, and a reason for significant head scratching when trying to comprehend some relative placements of teams.  Hope will likely drop a bit (how much probably depends on the Trine game), but that really doesn't matter much--I agree entirely with you that they seem to be at a point where they need to figure it out.  I've seen as many Hope games as I've seen Calvin games, and in contrast to oldknight's comment today about KVS having established Calvin's rotation, it seems that GM and Hope are still searching.  Honestly, I think a good bit of that is tied to the fact that Hope has a ton of talent sitting on the bench at any moment, and deciding who is in the rotation and who is out can either subtly or significantly affect team chemistry and also has a tendency to affect how guys play when they are given a chance.  If you've ever been outside the rotation looking in, you know exactly what I mean.  When roles are well defined, teams tend to play better. Don't know if these dynamics are in play with Hope, but it does seem with the talent they have that they should be playing better than they are right now.  However, it's still early, and I suspect that they will figure it out....

I've been waiting for the right moment to respond to oldknights jab at goodknight and me from last week about "having to endure repeated verbal microagressions" at the Calvin-Trine game, and I want to thank HOPEful for making that possible  .   I've  tried your "how good they look when they are at their best" reasoning with my wife a couple times, and she assured me that I would be judged far more on my entire body of work (please, I know what you're thinking--don't go there  ) than on one of my (in her mind) isolated shining moments.  goodknight and I witnessed such a moment last week at the game when oldknight got up to head to the bathroom at a stoppage in play. The inestimable Mrs. oldknight demurely asked if he was getting something from the concession stand, to which he abruptly replied "NO!" and promptly sprinted off to the lavatory.  After goodknight and I coached him up on the proper response to such an inquiry, he did a decent job of making amends at halftime by overspending on her, but I can assure all on this board that she (and we) were far less impressed with his shining moment than his overall body of work for the evening.

By the way, is microaggression even a word? 

[sac]

http://www.miaa.org/sports/mbkb/2015-16/boxscores/20160113_wptq.xml

The Olivet side of this boxscore is not accurate,  Lee Gardner did not play, Chris Chrzan did.

This has been fixed.   

[almcguirejr]

OT:  Davenport to join DII and GLIAC

http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2016/01/davenport_accepted_into_gliac.html#incart_river_home

[TUAngola]

Hey, any other Trine fans on this board?  I seem to be the only one that posts to the basketball threads.  I read in the winter addition of Trine magazine that a multipurpose sports arena is in the planning stages.  This will be a nice addition to campus as Hershey Hall has been around some 50 years and most likely is not feasible to fix up the old gal.  Anyone hear anything more on this?  Time frame?  The magazine just mentions that it is a part of the capital campaign.  There is an artist rendering of the complex, looks sweet!

Lots of big games today, most of them can go either way.  If Trine can shoot close to 50% today from the field then they have a good shot at Hope.  If they struggle shooting the 3 then I just don't think Holmquist will be enough to put them over the hump, especially on the road.  Good luck to your teams today!

[KnightSlappy]

Hey, any other Trine fans on this board?  I seem to be the only one that posts to the basketball threads.  I read in the winter addition of Trine magazine that a multipurpose sports arena is in the planning stages.  This will be a nice addition to campus as Hershey Hall has been around some 50 years and most likely is not feasible to fix up the old gal.  Anyone hear anything more on this?  Time frame?  The magazine just mentions that it is a part of the capital campaign.  There is an artist rendering of the complex, looks sweet!

Lots of big games today, most of them can go either way.  If Trine can shoot close to 50% today from the field then they have a good shot at Hope.  If they struggle shooting the 3 then I just don't think Holmquist will be enough to put them over the hump, especially on the road.  Good luck to your teams today!

Any chance there is an online version of the images? It would be neat to see.

[TUAngola]

"Any chance there is an online version of the images? It would be neat to see."


I looked all over Trine's website but didn't find anything, that's not to say it isn't out there. Trine does put their magazine online in PDF format. However the Winter 2016 version is not yet uploaded.  Here is the link:   http://www.trine.edu/magazine/   When they do put the Winter magazine online the artist rendering of the outside of the arena will be on the inside of the cover.

[calvin_grad]

Alma over Calvin 86-64.  When the time comes for a new coach at Calvin (whenever that might be), I have a suggestion for the list of candidates.

[Grutte Dirk]

When the time comes for a new coach at Calvin (whenever that might be), I have a suggestion for the list of candidates.

What Calvin alumni are currently coaching basketball?

I wonder if Calvin will run into some trouble trying to hire a winner with their current hiring strategies? ... or will the next men's basketball hire redefine those policies?

[sac]

Alma's pretty good.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm kinda wondering if Alma just had the single best week in MIAA history?  By eleven (at home) over #4 Hope, then a total demolition of Calvin in Grand Rapids.   (It's true that Calvin seems somewhat down this year, but still....)

[sac]

No

[oldknight]

This week Alma officially made a joke of their pre-season predicted fourth place finish. Hope has their work cut out for themselves if they expect to win the regular season conference championship. The Scots combine a suffocating half court trapping zone on defense with a terrific transition game and quick ball movement on offense. Calvin was bedeviled by the same style last year but it was obvious from the opening tip that the Knights had no confidence in their ability to solve it. Calvin was lucky to be down 7 at the break but a miserable shooting second half (8-28 overall, 0-10 from the arc) fueled the rout. Truth be told though, it seemed most of Calvin's shots were rushed as Alma almost appeared to have six defenders on the floor at all times. I was surprised to see Calvin only made 13 turnovers but most of them turned into quick and easy buckets on the other end as Alma made 19 points off turnovers vs. two for Calvin. This is the best Alma team I have seen since the 70's. This isn't the Alma team of even a couple of years ago when DJ Beckman had to play well to give them a shot at winning. DJ is still an important player but he looks more like one of several good players as Sammy Hargraves has a well balanced team with size, quickness, depth and great ball handlers. One of the best passing teams in the MIAA in some time.