MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[devossed]

Cornerstone's Kyle Stegenga scored 56 points this weekend.  He was 18-19 (1-1 from 3) from the floor and 19-22 from the line.

Seriously - just think about those numbers for a second. And the resulting EFG%. That is unreal.

Now for those that were there - was it more a matter of both teams' defense being soft in the middle?  Him being fired up to play in front of the hometown crowd? Both teams keying defensive efforts on Cox and letting him roam free? Some combo of all options?

[almcguirejr]

Cornerstone's Kyle Stegenga scored 56 points this weekend.  He was 18-19 (1-1 from 3) from the floor and 19-22 from the line.

Seriously - just think about those numbers for a second. And the resulting EFG%. That is unreal.

Now for those that were there - was it more a matter of both teams' defense being soft in the middle?  Him being fired up to play in front of the hometown crowd? Both teams keying defensive efforts on Cox and letting him roam free? Some combo of all options?

I was there Friday night.  He was a Man among boys.

[GreatScot!?]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw_8vLsnl5c

Link to the video to the Scots game today against Elmhurst! Scots trying to pick up a win and some momentum after a few L's. Should be a good game!

[sflzman]

No Trevor Gernaat in the starting lineup for the Scots

Also interesting to note Doug Bradfield has been removed from the online roster.

[almcguirejr]

Preston Huckaby is no longer listed on Calvin's roster.

http://www.calvinknights.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/roster

[sflzman]

Scots fall 104-96 to elmhurst. Preston Laketa with 14 and 6 in 20 minutes off the bench.

Gernaat DNP
Hyble played 3 minutes
Fairchild 13 minutes
Edwards 19 minutes

[GreatScot!?]

No Trevor Gernaat in the starting lineup for the Scots

Also interesting to note Doug Bradfield has been removed from the online roster.

Gernaat has infection in his face, it swelled so bad that he had to go to the emergency room and can barely see. Not sure what the timetable is for him, but his presence will obviously be missed. Bradfield had surgery on his knee and is out for the remainder of the season. Also to note, Fairchild had a ankle injury that limited him tonight, sadly the beginning of the season has been a storm of injuries for the Scots, who are just trying to get healthy and strengthen chemistry at this point.  5 freshman played tonight all tacking double digits in scoring.

[sac]

Earlham 76  Olivet 74  This was actually a very good game!

Ewing 14, Washington 14, Chrzan 11, Walker 11

I don't think many of us have high expectations for Olivet this season.  Numbers don't lie much, and last years Olivet team was pretty poor.  This is the same group returning minus their best player who kept them competitive.  This afternoon they faced Earlham who have hit a high water mark of 5 wins twice in the last 8 years.   The final score here is red flag enough, but most concerning for Olivet has to be the fact a mostly veteran group of guys who have been playing together for 2, 3 and 4 years got beat by an Earlham team that started 3 Freshmen, 2 Sophomores and had very little offensive help from their bench (5 total shot attempts)

With all that said, I kind of think this Earlham team might be the best version of an Earlham team in quite some time (which is relative of course).  Hard for me to know without seeing them much and their only other win before tonight was against D'Youville who's been anchored near the bottom of the AMCC for awhile.  My general observation would be, Earlham has some kids in its starting 5 that can play. They are just young and undersized.  This afternoon they shot the ball particularly well from behind the arc and when presented the opportunity to win the game they hit the game winning three-point shot and made the game saving defensive play in the final 20 seconds.


Bullets on Olivet

---Ewing, Washington, Woodson, Chrzan and Haas started.   Emory, Terry, Trammel off the bench.  Griffin Lewis played really late when foul trouble became an issue.  Primarly Olivet had a very short bench. 

---Olivet used what I think was  a 2-2-1 press a few times (but honestly one guy might have just been out of position), but most of the time they went 1-2-2 but passive, the one being 6-5 Haas, then they'd drop into a zone.  They'd try to trap the sideline's with some success and did manage to hound the Quakers into a few ball handling mistakes.

---Defensively the Comets played a bunch of 2-3 zone much like Alma, almost exactly like Alma really.  Foul trouble on Haas and Chrzen did become a problem so it might have been for that reason.  It did offer openings for Earlham to knock down some three's.

---Noticeable difference in energy and jump from the Comets.  Last year they looked beaten down and defeated in the games I saw them.  Much more coherent offensive and defensive approach.  First impression of Coach Ernst is he cares more about the defensive end than the offensive.  Also, very Bosko Djurikovic'esque voice

---But, I really have to question the last 7 minutes of this one.  Down by 6 with 7:22 to play Olivet removed its two leading scorers Aaron Washington and Eric Ewing and tallest player Chris Chrzan from the floor.  Ewing and Chrzan didn't re-enter until their were :15 seconds left, Washington never did.  I don't know if coach just liked the lineup he had on the floor, which did play well, or if he liked the defensive setup better, or wasn't happy with them or what.  It was just really, really weird to have your 3 best scorers on the bench the last 7 minutes of a close game.


Prognosis on one look isn't great for Olivet, but this is a team that drilled Heidelberg yesterday a couple days after Albion lost to them at home.  Olivet can probably beat some MIAA teams this year but  the long-run of the season probably casts them near the bottom.  Long way to go so who knows.  I honestly came away much more impressed by Earlham who I had very, very low expectations for.

[sflzman]

No Trevor Gernaat in the starting lineup for the Scots

Also interesting to note Doug Bradfield has been removed from the online roster.

Gernaat has infection in his face, it swelled so bad that he had to go to the emergency room and can barely see. Not sure what the timetable is for him, but his presence will obviously be missed. Bradfield had surgery on his knee and is out for the remainder of the season. Also to note, Fairchild had a ankle injury that limited him tonight, sadly the beginning of the season has been a storm of injuries for the Scots, who are just trying to get healthy and strengthen chemistry at this point.  5 freshman played tonight all tacking double digits in scoring.

Hadn't heard of Gernaat's infection. That definitely doesn't sound enjoyable.

Knew Bradfield had surgery - the more interesting thing to me with him being removed from the roster kind of leads me to believe we may see a 5th year of Doug Bradfield.

Despite the injuries and the losses it is promising to see the freshmen have a level of success against quite frankly probably the toughest schedule Alma has ever played. Stevens is so impressive. I can't wait to see what the next four years have in store with him.

Hopefully the added experience for the freshmen combined with some guys coming back from injury after winter break will lead to a nice run in league action.

[HopeConvert]

It is unfortunate that the rise in NAIA $$ has taken talent away from the MIAA the past few years.

And a nationwide lack of parent commitment to academics and the intellectual growth of their child.

Because the decision to go to Cornerstone over Calvin, based at least in part by financial motives, shows a "lack of parent commitment to academics and intellectual growth"?

For example, I cannot think of one academic discipline where Cornerstone University is close to what is offered at Hope College. Parents are shorting their child's option when finances, in some cases a small amount of dollars, are the deciding factor.

There's something to be said for that. A lot of fans would be surprised to learn just how small an amount an NAIA scholarship can be. Every NAIA program of which I'm aware divvies up its scholarships into partials, and the amount doled out in some of those partials can be extremely small. I've known of NAIA players who've been on scholarships that totaled as little as $750 per semester.

Two things need to be said in conjunction with that, however: 1) Not all, but many NAIA schools are cheaper in terms of tuition and r&b than their D3 counterparts; and 2) the prestige involved in being able to tell friends and family (and impressionable young women  ) that you're on a basketball scholarship should not be discounted as a motivating factor for choosing an NAIA school over a D3 school. After all, why should you disclose that the scholarship is only worth $1,000 per semester if nobody asks?

Reality, and markets, will sort this out. There's a storm a'comin, and it will blow away colleges tenuous in their missions and finances. Bad investing and declining demographics will change the composition of these conferences. Look at some 990s and you'll get an idea of which MIAA and NAIA schools are not going to survive. The results may surprise you. The trick is to survive the first wave (to mix my metaphors).

[northb]

It is unfortunate that the rise in NAIA $$ has taken talent away from the MIAA the past few years.

And a nationwide lack of parent commitment to academics and the intellectual growth of their child.

Because the decision to go to Cornerstone over Calvin, based at least in part by financial motives, shows a "lack of parent commitment to academics and intellectual growth"?

For example, I cannot think of one academic discipline where Cornerstone University is close to what is offered at Hope College. Parents are shorting their child's option when finances, in some cases a small amount of dollars, are the deciding factor.

There's something to be said for that. A lot of fans would be surprised to learn just how small an amount an NAIA scholarship can be. Every NAIA program of which I'm aware divvies up its scholarships into partials, and the amount doled out in some of those partials can be extremely small. I've known of NAIA players who've been on scholarships that totaled as little as $750 per semester.

Two things need to be said in conjunction with that, however: 1) Not all, but many NAIA schools are cheaper in terms of tuition and r&b than their D3 counterparts; and 2) the prestige involved in being able to tell friends and family (and impressionable young women  ) that you're on a basketball scholarship should not be discounted as a motivating factor for choosing an NAIA school over a D3 school. After all, why should you disclose that the scholarship is only worth $1,000 per semester if nobody asks?

Reality, and markets, will sort this out. There's a storm a'comin, and it will blow away colleges tenuous in their missions and finances. Bad investing and declining demographics will change the composition of these conferences. Look at some 990s and you'll get an idea of which MIAA and NAIA schools are not going to survive. The results may surprise you. The trick is to survive the first wave (to mix my metaphors).

Can you elaborate?

[realist]

990 is a Federal filing required of tax exempt organizations.
Google "Calvin College 990" or "Hope College 990" etc. to get the information.  It helps to have some experience reading/reviewing financial filings.   Key to look at is the balance sheet.  Does the organization have adequate cash flow to cover operating expenses?
Obviously if enrollment takes a deep drop it is going to cut revenue, and that is just the start of potential problems.

HC is right that you need to survive the first wave.  However, some colleges may survive the first wave, but will lack the liquidity necessary to ramp back up for a full or long term recovery.

[wiz]

Anyone know Calvin's travel plans this week? Looks like they have a game at Carthage on Tuesday and then another game in Wisconsin on Saturday at Oshkosh.  Are they staying in WI until Saturday or coming back to Grand Rapids between games?

[Young Knight 14]

They will be coming back between games.  Leaving again Friday to stay overnight for the Saturday game.

[KnightSlappy]

Reality, and markets, will sort this out. There's a storm a'comin, and it will blow away colleges tenuous in their missions and finances. Bad investing and declining demographics will change the composition of these conferences. Look at some 990s and you'll get an idea of which MIAA and NAIA schools are not going to survive. The results may surprise you. The trick is to survive the first wave (to mix my metaphors).

990 is a Federal filing required of tax exempt organizations.
Google "Calvin College 990" or "Hope College 990" etc. to get the information.  It helps to have some experience reading/reviewing financial filings.   Key to look at is the balance sheet.  Does the organization have adequate cash flow to cover operating expenses?
Obviously if enrollment takes a deep drop it is going to cut revenue, and that is just the start of potential problems.

HC is right that you need to survive the first wave.  However, some colleges may survive the first wave, but will lack the liquidity necessary to ramp back up for a full or long term recovery.

But do you guys even talk to the accountants regularly?