MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

A surprisingly energetic and respectworthy performance by Hope tonight. They came out showing no intimidation . . . moving the ball well, helping on defense, and committing only 12 turnovers to IU's 18 (with Dante, who was a confident ball handler, having four steals). IU was, of course, bigger and had a big rebounding edge . . . and also a 3-point shooting edge, with both teams having lots of open looks but Hope hitting only 25%.

Moreover, with their two NBA prospects playing till near the end, this was not a game against the end of IU's bench.

All in all, a game that left Hope fans feeling upbeat. IU will likely beat some DI teams by more.

I was able to catch the last part of the first half and most of the second half of the game on Big 10 TV yesterday afternoon and was impressed by the job Hope did, especially on defense and the floor game.  Is there a box score available?  It appeared that Blackledge, Stuive, Carlson, and Hawkins were probably starters and getting heavy minutes.  If that is correct, who else started and who else played much of the time?   It was noticeable that the announcers were Indiana students and all about Indiana.  They said some good things about Hope players, but it appeared to me they knew and said a  lot more about Indiana.

Had the awesome opportunity to be there live - and I too was very impressed with the way Hope handled themselves on the floor. 

Hope started with Stuive, Blackledge, Brushwyler, Carlson, and Hawkins.  Brushwylers minutes (8) were dictated by foul trouble (but then what D3 guy isn't going to struggle with fouls guarding Thomas Bryant).  Teddy Ray was first off the bench (replacing Brushwyler) and played well in his 23 minutes.  Hope held the lead for just over 5 minutes in the first half - the largest being 14-7 shortly after the first TV timeout.  IU finished the half strong, and lead 43-29 at the break (after Hawkins hit a buzzer beating floater to end the half).  Hope opened the 2nd half strong, and had the lead down to 8 with around 15 to play, but eventually succumbed to the size and athleticism of the Hoosiers. 

Prior to the game my expectations were we would see a good fight from the Dutchmen, and I Hoped we could keep IU under 110 and score 50.  I also expected there to be a large difference in rebounding and TO.  I told Civic Minded right before the game started my biggest desire was that IU would have to call a time out due to something Hope did.  That never transpired, but the Dutchmen certainly exceeded my expectations. 

Held IU to under 100 while the IU starters/1st guys off the bench all played 20+ minutes (Thomas Bryant played 27 and finally sat down with 4 min left to play)

Scored 65 against a Big Ten team despite shooting 31% from the floor.  Leading scorer... Harrison Blackledge with 12 (he also had 6 assists to lead the team)

Got outrebounded 51-32 - but Hope had 16 offensive rebounds.  Leading rebounder... Chad Carlson with 6

Only 12 turnovers for Hope - to 18 for IU - 8 of those being steals by Hope.  Lead by... Dante Hawkins with 4

All in all a fabulous experience for the team.  Looking forward to see them against a "lesser" opponent.

Here is a link to the final stats:

http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/iuhoosiers.com/documents/2016/11/1/IU_Hope_Exhibition_Box.pdf

[sac]

Hope started   Hawkins, Carlson, Stuive, Blackledge, Brushwyler.   I think you can ink the first 4 as starters, not sure if Brush is the starter or if Hope rolled with Brush because it was Indiana and they needed some "extra" height.  I need more evidence this is the direction Hope will go.

IMO, Teddy Ray will be a starter at some point, either situational or just because he's a really good fit at the 3 spot, where Hope is really thin (at least in the tradition 3 sense).  He also happens to be a really good overall player which helps

Hope's bench is really a work in progress and how well they develop is going to dictate how this season goes.  Indiana is absolutely the wrong opponent to evaluate how 4 or 5 first year varsity players are going to fit.   

It occurs to me that if Hope can get 5-10 good minutes out of Dennis Towns and Robert McGivney, mixed with Brushwyler Hope actually ends up with a deeper front line than last year.  In the MIAA that could be huge.

Guard play was Hawkins and Carlson getting the vast majority of the minutes.   Noticeable dip in execution when Hawkins came out.   Pete Smith was first off the bench followed by O'Brien and Dreyer in nominal minutes.  Riley Lewis' minutes all came very late in the game.   Evaluating these last 4 against Indiana talent is just unfair.


I look forward to seeing them in a more normal, D3 setting.  Highly encouraging and massively fun.

[sac]

Albion roster:   http://gobrits.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/roster

Looks like Nate Collins, Jared Larr and Sean Kelly did not return.


Mitchell Rubio is a JC transfer, played at Mott CC last year.  Kirk Douglas is listed as a RS Fr on the 2013 Earlham roster:  http://www.goearlham.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/roster?sort=number

[ziggy]

Here is a little Calvin preview; not sure if there is or will be Febus-KVS audio interview like in previous years: http://calvinknights.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/releases/20161102xs1oko

Most interesting thing to me was a little schedule detail for next season: "Next year we are going to Augustana and Illinois Wesleyan."

[sac]

Upcoming exhibition games:

Nov 5  Calvin at Northwood  3pm
Nov 5  Kalamazoo at Western Michigan  3pm
Nov 5  Alma at Lake Superior State  5pm

Nov 9  Alma at Aquinas  7pm

Nov 11  Adrian at Detroit  7pm

Nov 12  Lawrence Tech at Calvin 3pm

[KnightSlappy]

Calvin is about to tip off versus Northwood. It does not look like Northwood is offering live video of this game. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

Canonie, Trewhella (!), Denney, Bykerk (!), and Wilks are the Calvin starters according to the Northwood audio feed.
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/northwood/stats.htm?eventId=324203&streamType=audio

Northwood exhibitioned Michigan State last week. They lost 93-69 for what it's worth.

[KnightSlappy]

Calvin and Northwood head to the break with the Knights trailing 36-35.

14 Calvin players saw the floor in the first half. I don't know if that means KVS is happy with a good amount of depth or that he has no idea who's going to step up for him this year (I'm leaning a little bit toward the latter at this point).

Calvin getting out-rebounded 22-15 but they committed fewer turnovers (6 to 8) and scored 18 off Northwood turnovers. 5 for 10 from three-point distance has also helped.

[KnightSlappy]

Well, it was one of those Cam Denney games. 5-6 from 3-pt distance with an efficient 23 points. This'll probably be the exception, not the rule.

Calvin should feel pretty good, even with a 69-66 loss. They stayed in the game the whole way even though they trailed for the entire second half. Biggest negative for the Knights was getting out-rebounded 41-32. Particularly bad was the 28-3 disadvantage they had on their offensive glass -- they didn't give themselves any second chances.

Northwood didn't shoot very well, but I don't know how much of that had to do with Calvin's defense without being able to watch.

Never sure how much we can take from exhibition games, but this doesn't feel like a bad result.

[maroonandgold]

Well, it was one of those Cam Denney games. 5-6 from 3-pt distance with an efficient 23 points. This'll probably be the exception, not the rule.

Calvin should feel pretty good, even with a 69-66 loss. They stayed in the game the whole way even though they trailed for the entire second half. Biggest negative for the Knights was getting out-rebounded 41-32. Particularly bad was the 28-3 disadvantage they had on their offensive glass -- they didn't give themselves any second chances.

Northwood didn't shoot very well, but I don't know how much of that had to do with Calvin's defense without being able to watch.

Never sure how much we can take from exhibition games, but this doesn't feel like a bad result.

It seems rather clear that the coach was taking a look at just about every player on the team.  It appeared that scoring from the guard position could be an issue since both starters did not score at all.  I would imagine that if Trewella is starting he will have better shooting games in the future.  Even though I only watched parts of the Live Stats it seemed that just about every time I looked it showed Bykerk missing a layup.  That  could be just a coincidence.  Interesting that Welch scored 9 in the first half and made just about every shot including free throws and a three.  But he ended with just 9.  Did he play much of the second half? 

[oldknight]

Well, it was one of those Cam Denney games. 5-6 from 3-pt distance with an efficient 23 points. This'll probably be the exception, not the rule.

Calvin should feel pretty good, even with a 69-66 loss. They stayed in the game the whole way even though they trailed for the entire second half. Biggest negative for the Knights was getting out-rebounded 41-32. Particularly bad was the 28-3 disadvantage they had on their offensive glass -- they didn't give themselves any second chances.

Northwood didn't shoot very well, but I don't know how much of that had to do with Calvin's defense without being able to watch.

Never sure how much we can take from exhibition games, but this doesn't feel like a bad result.

It seems rather clear that the coach was taking a look at just about every player on the team.  It appeared that scoring from the guard position could be an issue since both starters did not score at all.  I would imagine that if Trewella is starting he will have better shooting games in the future.  Even though I only watched parts of the Live Stats it seemed that just about every time I looked it showed Bykerk missing a layup.  That  could be just a coincidence.  Interesting that Welch scored 9 in the first half and made just about every shot including free throws and a three.  But he ended with just 9.  Did he play much of the second half?

Welch played 9 of his 17 minutes in the second half and went 0-1 from the floor. I did listen to the Northwood broadcast team and just by listening, it seemed that Calvin lost the game by giving up too many second opportunities to the home team. A review of the box bears that out as Calvin was Northwood's equal or superior in every stat line except offensive rebounding. I know it's only an exhibition game but it's very interesting to see KVS start a freshmen in the backcourt. Other than that, the PT looks to be about what I would have expected. Trewhella may have only gone 0-5 tonight but the fact that he was inserted as a starting 2 guard--and is an Indiana prepster--tells me that his shooting performance is an aberration. I know Northwood isn't exactly the cream of GLIAC crop but they are a D2 school so I think this afternoon's result isn't a bad one for Calvin.

[sac]

Western Michigan 108  Kalamazoo 57    Box http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/wmich.sidearmsports.com/documents/2016/11/5/WMU_108_KC_57.pdf
49-12 at the half

Lake Superior State 90  Alma 58   Box http://www.lssulakers.com/sports/m-baskbl/2016-17/boxscores/20161105_rjp0.xml

Alma started Fr. guard Ryan Stevens.  Lamereaux and Harvey, 2 other Fr., played solid minutes.  Doug Bradfield didn't play, he would obviously start over Scheibert.  Kevin Gamble also did not play, he might start over Edwards that's an either or position probably.

[maroonandgold]

Western Michigan 108  Kalamazoo 57    Box http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/wmich.sidearmsports.com/documents/2016/11/5/WMU_108_KC_57.pdf
49-12 at the half

Lake Superior State 90  Alma 58   Box http://www.lssulakers.com/sports/m-baskbl/2016-17/boxscores/20161105_rjp0.xml

Alma started Fr. guard Ryan Stevens.  Lamereaux and Harvey, 2 other Fr., played solid minutes.  Doug Bradfield didn't play, he would obviously start over Scheibert.  Kevin Gamble also did not play, he might start over Edwards that's an either or position probably.

Kalamazoo seemed to have a much more experienced starting lineup in the game.  That may help them down the line.  Although key players were out for the present, Alma played players unfamiliar from previous years.  Both teams had rather disappointing shooting percentages, as did Hope.  Calvin, on the other hand, had very decent shooting percentages, especially that 42% from 3 point range.  It's hard to know how much those shooting percentages mean with such a range of difference with competition.  But I do find that encouraging for Calvin, at  least.  In Hope's case, I think it tells much more about the level of the competition.  I have to believe that Hope will shoot well.  They always do.

[sflzman]

Western Michigan 108  Kalamazoo 57    Box http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/wmich.sidearmsports.com/documents/2016/11/5/WMU_108_KC_57.pdf
49-12 at the half

Lake Superior State 90  Alma 58   Box http://www.lssulakers.com/sports/m-baskbl/2016-17/boxscores/20161105_rjp0.xml

Alma started Fr. guard Ryan Stevens.  Lamereaux and Harvey, 2 other Fr., played solid minutes.  Doug Bradfield didn't play, he would obviously start over Scheibert.  Kevin Gamble also did not play, he might start over Edwards that's an either or position probably.

Two things stood out about Alma's performance that will probably not be a thing to worry about as the season progresses.

19 turnovers (leading to 30 points). Understandable with a freshman point guard and some unfamiliar faces in the lineup.

Chase Fairchild 0-8 from the field, 0-7 from the 3 point line. I'll put big money on Fairchild not shooting that poorly again.

My guess is that Bradfield starts at the 5 and Edwards/Gernaat start as the 3/4 combo. Gamble will likely play large minutes off the bench. It'd be a little different kind of look for Alma, starting more of a traditional 3 as opposed to a shooter as they have the last few years with Beckman at the 3.

[GreatScot!?]

Western Michigan 108  Kalamazoo 57    Box http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/wmich.sidearmsports.com/documents/2016/11/5/WMU_108_KC_57.pdf
49-12 at the half

Lake Superior State 90  Alma 58   Box http://www.lssulakers.com/sports/m-baskbl/2016-17/boxscores/20161105_rjp0.xml

Alma started Fr. guard Ryan Stevens.  Lamereaux and Harvey, 2 other Fr., played solid minutes.  Doug Bradfield didn't play, he would obviously start over Scheibert.  Kevin Gamble also did not play, he might start over Edwards that's an either or position probably.

Two things stood out about Alma's performance that will probably not be a thing to worry about as the season progresses.

19 turnovers (leading to 30 points). Understandable with a freshman point guard and some unfamiliar faces in the lineup.

Chase Fairchild 0-8 from the field, 0-7 from the 3 point line. I'll put big money on Fairchild not shooting that poorly again.

My guess is that Bradfield starts at the 5 and Edwards/Gernaat start as the 3/4 combo. Gamble will likely play large minutes off the bench. It'd be a little different kind of look for Alma, starting more of a traditional 3 as opposed to a shooter as they have the last few years with Beckman at the 3.

A large number of the turnovers were unforced and came from the experienced guys on the team. With so many new faces it will take a while for the team to jell. Was pleasantly surprised with how the youngsters played and look forward to watching them develop. Having Gamble and Bradfield hurt, definitely did not help going against LSSU's size and skill. Not sure what the time table is on their return being that they are both being evaluated soon.

[Knight2Day]

Well, it was one of those Cam Denney games. 5-6 from 3-pt distance with an efficient 23 points. This'll probably be the exception, not the rule.

Calvin should feel pretty good, even with a 69-66 loss. They stayed in the game the whole way even though they trailed for the entire second half. Biggest negative for the Knights was getting out-rebounded 41-32. Particularly bad was the 28-3 disadvantage they had on their offensive glass -- they didn't give themselves any second chances.

Northwood didn't shoot very well, but I don't know how much of that had to do with Calvin's defense without being able to watch.

Never sure how much we can take from exhibition games, but this doesn't feel like a bad result.

It seems rather clear that the coach was taking a look at just about every player on the team.  It appeared that scoring from the guard position could be an issue since both starters did not score at all.  I would imagine that if Trewella is starting he will have better shooting games in the future.  Even though I only watched parts of the Live Stats it seemed that just about every time I looked it showed Bykerk missing a layup.  That  could be just a coincidence.  Interesting that Welch scored 9 in the first half and made just about every shot including free throws and a three.  But he ended with just 9.  Did he play much of the second half?

Welch played 9 of his 17 minutes in the second half and went 0-1 from the floor. I did listen to the Northwood broadcast team and just by listening, it seemed that Calvin lost the game by giving up too many second opportunities to the home team. A review of the box bears that out as Calvin was Northwood's equal or superior in every stat line except offensive rebounding. I know it's only an exhibition game but it's very interesting to see KVS start a freshmen in the backcourt. Other than that, the PT looks to be about what I would have expected. Trewhella may have only gone 0-5 tonight but the fact that he was inserted as a starting 2 guard--and is an Indiana prepster--tells me that his shooting performance is an aberration. I know Northwood isn't exactly the cream of GLIAC crop but they are a D2 school so I think this afternoon's result isn't a bad one for Calvin.

If Calvin hits the .500 mark this season that will be a huge victory. This might be the least talented Calvin team in awhile especially since Vanderbrug didn't come back. Graduating the likes of Daley is going to hard to replace especially considering the guards dont score well. I'm gunna say the Knights end up in the neighborhood of 11 wins. But KS and Sac will keep drinking the koolaid that .500 and below is acceptable while Hope is scheduling schools like IU to play against for exhibitions. And we wonder why we're falling behind in hoops. At least volleyball can get crowds into Van Noord because basketball won't be doing it for awhile.