MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[HOPEful]

Hmm indeed...

In the meantime, Hope has posted its schedule:

http://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mbkb/2016-17/schedule

That's a better than average d3 non-con.  Impressive.

Although I really like this schedule for a lot of reasons, there are 4 eggs in the WIAC basket. Those 4 eggs were a combined 51-53 last season and none of them played in the post-season. UWSP shouldn't stay down for long, but Stout was 4-20 last season... Getting Johnson and Wales to come to Holland is exciting, but, with Garrick and Greenaway both graduated the impact on Hope's SoS probably won't be that great. Williams could be a sneaky good team this year, but it's the @ John Carroll and @ Mount Union games that will make or break this non-con schedule. Both teams have a legitimate shot to be RROs in the GL region at the end of the season. Really wish that game in University Heights wasn't on a Tuesday

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Hmm indeed...

In the meantime, Hope has posted its schedule:

http://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mbkb/2016-17/schedule

That's a better than average d3 non-con.  Impressive.

Although I really like this schedule for a lot of reasons, there are 4 eggs in the WIAC basket. Those 4 eggs were a combined 51-53 last season and none of them played in the post-season. UWSP shouldn't stay down for long, but Stout was 4-20 last season... Getting Johnson and Wales to come to Holland is exciting, but, with Garrick and Greenaway both graduated the impact on Hope's SoS probably won't be that great. Williams could be a sneaky good team this year, but it's the @ John Carroll and @ Mount Union games that will make or break this non-con schedule. Both teams have a legitimate shot to be RROs in the GL region at the end of the season. Really wish that game in University Heights wasn't on a Tuesday

J&W isn't really a game, especially with them traveling so far and playing in a gym three times the size of what they're used to.  I do think having four WIAC teams will at least tell us a little more about the team's quality before conference play.  It's a selfish reason for me, but this schedule will keep Hope from being a knowledge outlier this year when we look at them nationally.

[HOPEful]

J&W isn't really a game, especially with them traveling so far and playing in a gym three times the size of what they're used to...

Agreed, although my reasoning has more to do with the losses of Garrick and Greenaway.

I do think having four WIAC teams will at least tell us a little more about the team's quality before conference play.  It's a selfish reason for me, but this schedule will keep Hope from being a knowledge outlier this year when we look at them nationally.

I'm not certain that the 4 WIAC games would alone do that though? At Stout and v. River Falls are both should win games. Who knows who La Crosse and UWSP will be this year? I could see a situation where a couple ugly wins that could easily go the other way supply more questions than answers. That being said, throw in @Mount Union and @John Carroll, and I agree wholeheartedly with the "knowledge outlier" statement

[craigkopas]

D3Hoops Community-
It is with great sadness that I pass along the news that my father Stephen Kopas passed away in the last week after a sudden illness. He was a great lover and supporter of MIAA athletics, in many sports even beyond basketball. While I knew he was active on this site, for obvious reasons we had a bit of separation of church & state, never discussing things on that front in great depth. But I got a big smile on my face when going through some of his stuff this week, and discovering he posted here under the name "Roughrider".

I do know he had a lot of friends/acquaintances (enemies?) on this site, and really seemed to enjoy some great of the great discussions, ponderings, and ruminatings with many of you.

Thanks to those who have already sent emails/texts/calls/tweets...it has been much appreciated and well received. For any who had not yet heard, or want to visit the services this weekend in Holland, you can find his obituary with more detailed information here:

www.lakeshorememorial.com

Thanks again to those of you who befriended him - no doubt he'd tell you all to not be sad, and echo what he always told me: "Sunny side up - it's another HOPE day!!!"

Sincerely,

Craig Kopas
Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Hope College

[Flying Dutch Fan]

D3Hoops Community-
It is with great sadness that I pass along the news that my father Stephen Kopas passed away in the last week after a sudden illness. He was a great lover and supporter of MIAA athletics, in many sports even beyond basketball. While I knew he was active on this site, for obvious reasons we had a bit of separation of church & state, never discussing things on that front in great depth. But I got a big smile on my face when going through some of his stuff this week, and discovering he posted here under the name "Roughrider".

I do know he had a lot of friends/acquaintances (enemies?) on this site, and really seemed to enjoy some great of the great discussions, ponderings, and ruminatings with many of you.

Thanks to those who have already sent emails/texts/calls/tweets...it has been much appreciated and well received. For any who had not yet heard, or want to visit the services this weekend in Holland, you can find his obituary with more detailed information here:

www.lakeshorememorial.com

Thanks again to those of you who befriended him - no doubt he'd tell you all to not be sad, and echo what he always told me: "Sunny side up - it's another HOPE day!!!"

Sincerely,

Craig Kopas
Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Hope College

Coach Kopas:

Thank you so much for sharing this here - especially since many of us enjoyed Roughrider's input and banter throughout the years. He and I had communicated a few times over the years (though I never knew him other than Roughrider) and I always enjoyed his perspective.  He often helped me with the MIAA Pick' Em contest which he participated in for 10 years.  He asked me several times to compile and report "Career Pick Em" numbers, but I never got around to it.  I will do that in the next month or two in his honor.  He was also quick to point out if errors were made, but always in a very kind manner.   We will certainly miss him.

Prayers and blessing to you and your entire family.  May God grant you His peace!

[goodknight]

I rarely feel that I can't improve on FDF's posts, but in this instance he has spoken very well my heart and soul. Grace and peace, Craig! I appreciated roughrider's spirit on this site, and may he rise in glory on the last day!

[sac]

Olivet has posted its schedule.  Two mid-season games vs D1's as exhibitions.  Overall a bit weaker than recent Comet schedules.

http://olivetcomets.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/schedule

[HOPEful]

I rarely feel that I can't improve on FDF's posts, but in this instance he has spoken very well my heart and soul. Grace and peace, Craig! I appreciated roughrider's spirit on this site, and may he rise in glory on the last day!

You know you made an impact when you can get Flying Dutch Fan and goodknight to agree! Godspeed Roughrider and condolences to your family Craig.

"And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

― C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Olivet has posted its schedule.  Two mid-season games vs D1's as exhibitions.  Overall a bit weaker than recent Comet schedules.

http://olivetcomets.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/schedule

That is a really weird schedule!!!

[HOPEful]

Olivet has posted its schedule.  Two mid-season games vs D1's as exhibitions.  Overall a bit weaker than recent Comet schedules.
http://olivetcomets.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/schedule

That is a really weird schedule!!!

6 games against non-d3 teams! Weird is definitely an accurate adjective.

[Gregory Sager]

Olivet has posted its schedule.  Two mid-season games vs D1's as exhibitions.  Overall a bit weaker than recent Comet schedules.

http://olivetcomets.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/schedule

That is a really weird schedule!!!

It's also a little deceptive. The Robert Morris that the Comets will be playing in the Carthage Classic isn't the Eagles from Chicago, who are a traditionally formidable NAIA-D2 outfit that went 24-10 last season and made the NAIA-D2 tourney. It's the Eagles from the RMU branch campus in Peoria, which is unaffiliated with any national organization and which plays mostly jucos, Bible colleges, and four-year-school JVs. Last season RMU-Peoria did face three D3 varsities, losing to Adrian (13-12) by 29 and Iowa Wesleyan (13-12) by 7 in the 2015-16 iteration of the Carthage Classic, and then to Cornell (8-15) by 11 on Thanksgiving weekend.

Big, big difference there. My guess is that the Olivet coach neglected to tell SID Geoff Henson which Robert Morris the Comets would be facing in Kenosha. Either that, or nobody at Olivet is aware that Robert Morris even has multiple campuses, three of which (including RMU-Springfield as well) offer men's basketball. Given that RMU is not all that well-known in D3 circles (or in Illinois itself, for that matter), it would be an understandable mistake.

[sac]

Olivet has posted its schedule.  Two mid-season games vs D1's as exhibitions.  Overall a bit weaker than recent Comet schedules.
http://olivetcomets.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/schedule

That is a really weird schedule!!!

6 games against non-d3 teams! Weird is definitely an accurate adjective.

That's been the standard Olivet schedule for several years now.   

2016---Trinity Int, Trinity Chr, GVSU, Ind Wes., Grace Bible, Pur-Calumet
2015---Pur Calumet, Ind Wes., Marygrove
2014---GVSU, Pur-Calumet, Illinois Tech, Lawrence Tech, Ind Wes, Concordia
2013---CMU, Union, Pur-Calumet, Spring Arbor, Ill Tech, Lawr. Tech, Marygrove
2012---AQ, Madonna, UM-Dearborn, Ferris State, Spring Arbor, Marian(In)
2011---AQ, Madonna, UM-Dearborn, GVSU, Spring Arbor, Northwood, Fla.
2010---AQ, SVSU, Madonna, UM Dearborn, Davenport, Spring Arbor, GVSU, Ohio Dominican

etc.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Olivet has posted its schedule.  Two mid-season games vs D1's as exhibitions.  Overall a bit weaker than recent Comet schedules.
http://olivetcomets.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/schedule

That is a really weird schedule!!!

6 games against non-d3 teams! Weird is definitely an accurate adjective.

That's been the standard Olivet schedule for several years now.   

2016---Trinity Int, Trinity Chr, GVSU, Ind Wes., Grace Bible, Pur-Calumet
2015---Pur Calumet, Ind Wes., Marygrove
2014---GVSU, Pur-Calumet, Illinois Tech, Lawrence Tech, Ind Wes, Concordia
2013---CMU, Union, Pur-Calumet, Spring Arbor, Ill Tech, Lawr. Tech, Marygrove
2012---AQ, Madonna, UM-Dearborn, Ferris State, Spring Arbor, Marian(In)
2011---AQ, Madonna, UM-Dearborn, GVSU, Spring Arbor, Northwood, Fla.
2010---AQ, SVSU, Madonna, UM Dearborn, Davenport, Spring Arbor, GVSU, Ohio Dominican

etc.

I guess what made me say it was weird is the variety in their opponents (even historically).  D1, D2, NAIA, NSCAA, unaffiliated...

<tangent> - just realized this is post #4000 for me </tangent>

[HOPEful]

I guess what made me say it was weird is the variety in their opponents (even historically).  D1, D2, NAIA, NSCAA, unaffiliated...

That and the timing. How did they get Miami interested in playing an exhibition game against Olivet on December 29th?! Last season they had 12 games in before December 29th... any chance it's a typo and should be October or November 29th, not December?

[sac]

I guess what made me say it was weird is the variety in their opponents (even historically).  D1, D2, NAIA, NSCAA, unaffiliated...

That and the timing. How did they get Miami interested in playing an exhibition game against Olivet on December 29th?! Last season they had 12 games in before December 29th... any chance it's a typo and should be October or November 29th, not December?

Its not a typo, the game is on Dec 29.  Miami hasn't released their 2017 schedule yet though.


Here's the backdrop on the Miami game.

1)  Chris Coles father, Charlie, coached at Miami, Ohio for 16 years. 
2)  Olivet was originally scheduled to play at the Mt. Union "tournament" with Hope and Williams on the 28th 29th of Dec
3)  Miami of Ohio called and asked Olivet if they were interested in playing in Oxford, I believe having something to do with honoring Charlie Coles
4)  Olivet agreed and dropped out of the Mt. Union tournament scheduled for the same weekend.
5)  Chris Coles was let go as Olivet head coach shortly after.
6)  Olivet was either already committed to playing in Oxford or Steve Ernst agreed to keep the game.