MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[KnightSlappy]

Congrats to Trine for making the tournament final.  Holmquist for President! 

How long has it been since the MIAA has seen a men's final pairing where Calvin or Hope was not a participant?  Love parity!

Go Thunder women and men!!

Guessing it was the 1999 final between Defiance and Albion.

[sac]

1999 is correct.  The only previous time without Hope or Calvin in the final.  Hope has had its 10 year streak of appearing in the Championship game broken which was the longest streak by 2 years and kind of amazing.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Congrats to the Thunder on last nights win.  Truly were the better team and just outplayed Hope.  Hate having to wait till Monday to know if Hope is in - and I get all the assessments that say we are, but...

Side note - congrats to Brock Benson on joining the 1000 point club last night.   

[HOPEful]

Let's go Trine! Would love to see the MIAA get 3 in!!!

[Titan Q]

Let's go Trine! Would love to see the MIAA get 3 in!!!

If I'm a Hope fan, I'm rooting for Alma.  Hope is in decent shape in Pool C, but a Trine win pushes Hope closer to an uncomfortable position.

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.msg1733446#msg1733446

[KnightSlappy]

Let's go Trine! Would love to see the MIAA get 3 in!!!

If I'm a Hope fan, I'm rooting for Alma.  Hope is in decent shape in Pool C, but a Trine win pushes Hope closer to an uncomfortable position.

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.msg1733446#msg1733446

Who do you see being in more uncomfortable shape though: Hope or Alma?

[Titan Q]

Let's go Trine! Would love to see the MIAA get 3 in!!!

If I'm a Hope fan, I'm rooting for Alma.  Hope is in decent shape in Pool C, but a Trine win pushes Hope closer to an uncomfortable position.

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.msg1733446#msg1733446

Who do you see being in more uncomfortable shape though: Hope or Alma?

The current Great Lakes regional ranking has Hope (#4) just ahead of Alma (#5).  Updated numbers through yesterday (thanks to you):

- Hope  .913/.504/1-1
- Alma  .769/.552/3-4

For Alma to be a Pool C candidate, they obviously have to lose in the MIAA championship game.  So tacking on a loss...

- Hope:  .913/.504/1-1*
- Alma:  .741/.552 ish/3-4*

Trine could enter the final (secret) regional ranking...but Hope and Alma would both be 2-1 vs Trine, so we will just call that development a push.

The way I interpret the numbers, I would have Alma as the higher team in the final Great Lakes ranking, getting to the table first.  But that's a tough one - it's close. 

The possibility of Alma being ranked ahead of Hope is why I say Hope fans want Alma to get the Pool A.  Hope has some competitive Pool C issues with a low SOS, only one win vs RRO, and just two total games played vs RRO...enough so that things could get tight with some upsets.

[almcguirejr]

Hope's last 2 MIAA Tournament games ended in similar fashion:

In the 2015 MIAA tournament championship game Hope led Calvin by 11 (67-56) with 5 minutes to play.  Hope was out scored by 12 (14-2) down the stretch and lost 70-69.

Last night Hope was leading Trine by 7 (68-61) with 5 minutes to play.  Hope was out scored by 12 (again)down the stretch 21-9 and lost by five, 82-77.

[sac]

Hope's last 2 MIAA Tournament games ended in similar fashion:

In the 2015 MIAA tournament championship game Hope led Calvin by 11 (67-56) with 5 minutes to play.  Hope was out scored by 12 (14-2) down the stretch and lost 70-69.

Last night Hope was leading Trine by 7 (68-61) with 5 minutes to play.  Hope was out scored by 12 (again)down the stretch 21-9 and lost by five, 82-77.

You can extend that back to their 2014 exit from the NCAA tournament.   Although that was a Hope comeback to force OT

Until last night Hope had been really good in end of game situations all year, except at Cornerstone.

[sac]

The only mistake I made watching games this Winter was skipping the Alma @ Trine game in favor of Hope @ Adrian.   Trine ended up forcing OT after a furious comeback, otherwise Alma has played almost 3 halves of superior basketball to Trine in their 2 games.

No idea what happens tonight, just know who ever wins will be very deserving of making the NCAA Tournament.  Both teams playing for their first ever NCAA Tournament bid which should make it very interesting.

[MaroonKnighty]

Great win for Sammy and the Scots!  What a fun game to watch.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Great win for Sammy and the Scots!  What a fun game to watch.

I completely agree - well deserved.

[Hope ful]

Congratulations to Alma !  Well deserved, outstanding game tonite !  Class and hard work. Impressive Indeed

[oldknight]

Sat near courtside tonight and enjoyed the game greatly with Alma coming out on top 62-54. Trine was game and gutty but Alma simply is deeper, bigger and defend just a bit better than our friends from Angola. A worthy final between two smart teams who acquitted themselves well even if the second half turned into a grind for both squads. In fact, the two halves were dramatically different. The first ten minutes of the game showed plenty of scoring but in the second half, getting the ball in the hole was like pulling teeth. Trine made 7 baskets the final 20 minutes while Alma put in a mere 5 field goals. Despite being offensively challenged the second half, Alma held on by completely blanketing the admirable Holmquist who shot 2-8 after the break and simply couldn't find a good shot anywhere. Alma did a great job of dogging Homquist every time he put the ball on the floor, forcing several turnovers. It's rare to see a college basketball team go an entire season playing nothing but zone and do it at championship level, but that's what the Scots did. They cover the normal weaknesses in a zone exceptionally well and will be a challenge for any NCAA tournament opponent. Other game notes:

--Alma definitely had the larger crowd in Holland, a bit surprising to me given the fact that Trine's women were also playing today. Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised because Alma traveled very well to Calvin for the regular season game played at VNA.

--At one point in the second half, with Alma getting the short end of the stick on several calls, a mock cheer went up from the Alma contingent when the refs made a doubtful call against Trine. Funny how fans everywhere really are the same.

--Speaking of fans, there were several Alma students seated right on the sideline directly across from the Trine bench. One student in particular was pretty obnoxious loudly questioning almost any call that didn't go Alma's way. Finally, in the final couple of minutes, Wallace Whitfield turned and said something to the kid in the black hat that seemed to render the youngster speechless.

--Trine students tried to get in the head of Alma's Nikodemski. Any time the fine Scots' point guard made a mistake, the students opened by chanting "MVP, MVP." The Trine students wasted their time. Nikodemski was unfazed

[sac]

Holmquist seemed to lose his legs a little tonight, missed a lot of shots short.  Alma was a little more scrappy this weekend than they were the previous times I saw them.   

I ended up seeing Alma play 8 times and enjoyed it each time.  Really great mix of players, fun to watch the little tweaks to the zone and make-up of the zone.
Alma's going to be an opponent not many people will want to see in round one.  I don't think I'm kidding when I say they can make it to Salem.  They're just a really tough out.  Have fun traveling to watch your Scots Alma fans, it really is the best thing about the NCAA Tournament.



I had a nice weekend watching all of these games.  The Friday/Saturday semi-final is a really great thing, I don't really know why we ever went away from it.  Not sure I'm sold on combining it with the women in years one school wins both titles (which should actually be rare), that's just a really long day and I think short changes the student athletes playing in the early games with pretty small crowds.   Might be better to alternate Thursday/Saturday---Friday/Saturday and have Thursday games at two sites.