MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[TUAngola]

Final from Angola: Trine 55 Olivet 54

Very disappointing game for the Thunder...almost maddening.  For as well as they played the last 35 minutes against Alma, they really stunk up the joint today.  Only thing good I have to say is they got a "W".  Olivet has to be deflated, they had the game in hand.  Trine had a quick 6-2 lead, but from there on it was all Olivet, they outplayed us in pretty much in all facets of the game.  The only other lead of the game for Trine was when Will Dixon hit 2 free throws with 2 seconds left to win it.  Olivet didn't get a look at the end.  This feels more like a loss than a win.

Trine better get this figured out soon or they will not even make the 4 team MIAA tournament.   

[Knight2Day]

Calvin loses 61-85.  Just following live stats I doubt the game was as close as the score would indicate.
Looking ahead to the next 8 games it may be a struggle to make the MIAA tournament.

They won't. The Knights just aren't that good and the MIAA is a little better this  year. I think it's likely to be a 7-7 conference record.

7-7 with the availability that Calvin has for recruiting is absolutely disgusting. Calvin should never finish below 3rd in the league with the resources they have available. No disrespect to any MIAA team, but with the the facilities Calvin has at its disposal, not making the tourney is not an option. Anything less than 3rd is an utter disaster and most of the donors agree with me. This season is cause for concern.

[knightyknight]

7-7 with the availability that Calvin has for recruiting is absolutely disgusting. Calvin should never finish below 3rd in the league with the resources they have available. No disrespect to any MIAA team, but with the the facilities Calvin has at its disposal, not making the tourney is not an option. Anything less than 3rd is an utter disaster and most of the donors agree with me. This season is cause for concern.

"Availability that Calvin has for recruiting...."  What does that mean?  Asking parents to shell out $38,000 a year so their kid can come and try out for the team?   But hey,  they'll have a really nice gym to play in if they make it. 

You seem to have no clue as to the state of small college recruiting these days.  Virtually every college player has played AAU ball.  The minute they join an AAU program all they hear about is "scholarships."  They're told that their club will help their kid pay for their college education.  And the kids and their parents fall hard for this.   It's  a badge of honor to be "offered", and have that national letter of intent signing day.

And quite frankly,  it's real.  I can think of 5 quality players off the top of my head, all 6'6  or bigger from west Michigan Christian schools ( historically typical Calvin feeder schools), that are currently playing college ball under scholarships at NAIA schools.  Two of them have fathers that has good careers at Calvin .  The program, the history, the academics, and  the facilities cannot compete with what can amount to 10's of thousands of dollars over the course of 4 years.

[sac]

Hope 86  Kalamazoo 78


This is where I am.

It occurred to me the other day out of all the Hope basketball teams and players I've watched I've probably watched Ben Gardner, Brock Benson, Alex Eidson, Sam Otto, Harrison Blackledge, Cody Stuive and Chad Carlson more than any other individual or group of players that have played for Hope, and I'm stumped. 

So I think I'll probably just sit back and watch the rest of the year and not worry about anything. 


Kzoo played very well, probably one of the best games they've played this year.  They just couldn't defend Hope without fouling in the 2nd half and for whatever reason Hope was able to make a ton of ft's today after just barely eeking out 60% at Adrian Wednesday.  Somehow Kzoo's been able to take Alma to Overtime and push Hope right to the final couple possessions.   They are 1-16, this is the MIAA in 2016, its great.

[sac]

Alma 75  Albion 64

I enjoyed this game thoroughly.  Albion really brought a nice plan to the North and their first half execution and patience was impeccable.  They led 38-34 at the half but it just felt like Alma was going to start rolling.

Sure enough they did when they turned up the pressure in their 2-3 zone to start the 2nd half, turned over Albion 3 straight times score 9 points in a little over 2 min to grab the lead at 43-38.  Alma dictated everything after that and had many, many run-out fast breaks.  The Scots shot 76% in the 2nd half but "shot" is really a misnomer because other than the four 3's they made, it was all layups that I can remember.  After the first 10 minutes or so Alma shot right around 70% for the game.

Albion just kind of quit making shots for only a couple minutes and found themselves a little too far behind with too little time on the clock.


Kid in the fat suit (fat Scotsman) is right up there with the 3 ballerinas from a few years ago.


After a visit from a small band of Hope's dew crew a couple weeks ago it appears the Alma student section has stolen all their bits.  May it serve them well.  Something really special is going on up in Alma, no doubt about it.

[almcguirejr]

High School student sections are getting creative also:

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2016/1/21/10810038/free-throw-distraction-childbirth-sheridan-high-school-videol-looooool

[GreatScot!?]

Tough game for the Scots against the Brits! Tough matchup due to Albion's toughness and offensive rebounding ability. The Brits ended up with more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds, which is pretty remarkable and I'm curious to how many times that has actually happened. Albion had a rough night shooting the ball with shooting splits of 39/24/61, hard to win while shooting that poorly. The Scots could definitely learn a thing or two about their toughness and grit though! Cannot remember a game with this current core that took 10 or less 3's in a game. Albion denied shooters and switched the PNR, which lead to the Scots doing most of their damage in the paint (21 of Alma's 31 made FG's were in the paint). Albion did not want to get into a track meet with Alma, but the tempo was pushed when possible and lead to pretty good results. Not sure why the box-score said there was 0 fast break points. Overall happy with how the Scots responded in the second half.

And boy what a Saturday for the MIAA! Between some closer than should be games between Trine-Olivet and Kzoo-Hope and Adrian's smackdown of Calvin, basketball is such an interesting thing! Was not smart enough to go to Trine's athletic page to see the live feed so just wondering what went down the last few possessions? Was watching Hope-Kzoo hoping for an upset, but I had a feeling the Hope was going to persevere, which they did. Not sure how much Hope is "struggling", but it seemed at the beginning of the year that they were a clear favorite to win the MIAA. Same with Calvin, I saw they as a most likely 4 seed in the tournament and they now have to fight hard to get that spot. Olivet and Kzoo are bound to upset someone again, just waiting to see who it will be! (Hopefully not against the Scots on Wednesday)

[KnightSlappy]

Calvin loses 61-85.  Just following live stats I doubt the game was as close as the score would indicate.
Looking ahead to the next 8 games it may be a struggle to make the MIAA tournament.

They won't. The Knights just aren't that good and the MIAA is a little better this year. I think it's likely to be a 7-7 conference record.

As it stands now -- one game short of the first round robin -- Calvin is tied for third at 3-3 with Albion and Trine. Current tiebreakers would have Albion 3rd, Calvin 4th, and Trine on the outside. It's going to be a dogfight for the 3rd-5th spots. Adrian could fight their way into the mix as well as if they're not already. Calvin could very well end up sixth after Wednesday.

The MIAA is better that it's been in a long time. The 8-team tournament would have been fun this year.

[pointlem]

Hope 86  Kalamazoo 78


This is where I am. . . .

Kzoo played very well, probably one of the best games they've played this year.  They just couldn't defend Hope without fouling in the 2nd half and for whatever reason Hope was able to make a ton of ft's today after just barely eeking out 60% at Adrian Wednesday.  Somehow Kzoo's been able to take Alma to Overtime and push Hope right to the final couple possessions.   They are 1-16, this is the MIAA in 2016, its great.

How about this for a game spin, Sac . . . . 

• Hope started with a 3/4 press--a strategy that produced no turnovers and enabled some easy Kazoo baskets, contributing to their 12-point first half lead . . . after which Hope won the rest of the game by 20 poiints
• Kazoo is a young and improving team that played a great game yesterday, while Hope missed 17 of 22 3-pointers.  Even the dead-eye Chad Carlson was but 1 of 6.

Ergo, I don't fault the players for "lacking energy." Rather, there's a chance element to the game, which means that some games the shots are falling, other games not . . . and you thus get the unpredictable outcomes (with occasional "intransitivity" . . . as when Team A trounces Team B which trounces Team C which trounces Team A). And that's part of what makes sport exciting.

[sac]

Yes it does make it exciting.  Hope's trouncing everyone once they get behind by 10 or 12.

[sac]

This is similar to the ending of the Trine-Albion game last year or the year before when the refs refused to call a foul late when it was obvious they were fouling
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/2016/01/24/watch-refs-suspended-emu-game-debacle/79269340/

[GoKnights68]

Off topic: Hope football hires Pete Stuursma. Nice get

[Knight2Day]

7-7 with the availability that Calvin has for recruiting is absolutely disgusting. Calvin should never finish below 3rd in the league with the resources they have available. No disrespect to any MIAA team, but with the the facilities Calvin has at its disposal, not making the tourney is not an option. Anything less than 3rd is an utter disaster and most of the donors agree with me. This season is cause for concern.

"Availability that Calvin has for recruiting...."  What does that mean?  Asking parents to shell out $38,000 a year so their kid can come and try out for the team?   But hey,  they'll have a really nice gym to play in if they make it. 

You seem to have no clue as to the state of small college recruiting these days.  Virtually every college player has played AAU ball.  The minute they join an AAU program all they hear about is "scholarships."  They're told that their club will help their kid pay for their college education.  And the kids and their parents fall hard for this.   It's  a badge of honor to be "offered", and have that national letter of intent signing day.

And quite frankly,  it's real.  I can think of 5 quality players off the top of my head, all 6'6  or bigger from west Michigan Christian schools ( historically typical Calvin feeder schools), that are currently playing college ball under scholarships at NAIA schools.  Two of them have fathers that has good careers at Calvin .  The program, the history, the academics, and  the facilities cannot compete with what can amount to 10's of thousands of dollars over the course of 4 years.

With that logic, the overall talent level of D3 basketball should be falling and Calvin should be able to maintain its position as a national power. Unfortunately your logic fails. Trust me, I'm not only familiar with playing D3 and the expenses that come with it but also the decision to play or not play based on those financial questions and the role AAU is playing (some of us on this board aren't in our 40-50's and have played in the AAU circuit). The thing that people like you want us to believe (us being individuals who believe Calvin basketball deserves better) is that mediocrity is just a sign of the times and we should accept it. If finances were the only issue for Calvin, then Hope would be in an equally poor position as well as many other D3 institutions. It's poor coaching that is the problem and is pushing athletes away, as much as you want to put your head in the sand and think otherwise.

[sac]

On this day one year ago the Alma Scots were 4-13, 2-4 in the league.  They have since gone 20-6 overall, 13-2 vs the MIAA.

[HOPEful]

Hope's trouncing everyone once they get behind by 10 or 12.

Haha, I said a similar thing to my father-in-law yesterday. I told him Hope seems to play their best basketball when they're down double digits.