MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Hope 78  Trine 74

Good road win for the Dutchmen.  Hope won a game that probably shouldn't have ended up as close as it did, but really probably is just about the right margin for how the rest of the game played out.  The finish of this one was sort of weird, but describing it won't sound right to the readers.  But,  I don't know it was just weird.

Dante Hawkins capped off an excellent week with his single best defensive effort of his career chasing Will Dixon around the whole night.  Dixon never did get a clean look until late the 2nd half which he of course made.  With what must have been pretty dead legs and coming off two really crushing consecutive turnovers, Dante crossed over Dixon and blew by Cummings to score what ultimately was the winning bucket and then stole the ball before Trine had a chance at a game tying or winning shot with 10 seconds left, then made both game clinching FT's.

Shrewd and observant Hope fans might remember Dante making a critical steal late in last years game in Angola under not quite similar circumstances. 

Chad Carlson's 6-10 effort from 3 and solid 40 minutes can't go unmentioned either.

Ellis Cummings made perhaps the block of the MIAA season so far when he hustled from a long way away to block  a Harrison Blackledge uncontested layup that would have sewn things up.  A pretty remarkable play at this level.  Myles Copeland was dynamite as both Trine's interior guys had excellent games.  I saw Trine way back in November, nothing I saw yesterday changes my mind that they'll be a good and tough team in February.

No Kreglow for Trine and I see he's missed the last 3 games now?  Kreglow was instrumental in their win against Hope in last years MIAA semi-final.  Also pretty short benches for both squads with just 7 guys getting majority minutes for both teams.

Hope:  Carlson 20, Stuive 19,  Hawkins 16,  Blackledge 13
Trine:  Copeland 22, Cummings 14, Dixon 11

[TUAngola]

No Kreglow for Trine and I see he's missed the last 3 games now?  Kreglow was instrumental in their win against Hope in last years MIAA semi-final.  Also pretty short benches for both squads with just 7 guys getting majority minutes for both teams.

Jordan Kreglow started the first few games this year but was pretty ineffective, which was surprising to me seeing how much he had improved over the course of his Freshman year last year to become an integral part of the rotation.  Senior Adison Daub has taken over the point and has really been a nice surprise.  Until this year he had played very sparingly over his 2 years at Trine (he transferred in his Sophomore season).  When Daub took over, Kreglow became the backup.  When MIAA play started, Coach Miller has shortened his bench which is his custom, and usually only plays 8 maybe 9 players and Kreglow has not been in that rotation.  When Daub needs a breather, Dixon can run the point pretty well, and Langston Johnson comes in at the off guard position.

Johnson, Adam Ciszewski, and sometimes Jared Dishop are regulars off the bench now.  Jason Clune, a freshman from Pennsylvania, had been getting more minutes lately, but is likely out the rest of the year with a broken bone in his foot.  I am hoping Kreglow can work his way back on the court, we really need another ball handler to spell Dixon and Daub in the backcourt.

[ipoint]

What an exciting win for Hope on Saturday at Trine! They almost lost it down the stretch, but Hawkins has to be the most improved player in the MIAA. Do they have that award?

Trine had professional broadcasters working the game, and it was excellent. I guess they work for ESPN sometimes, I was told. They have way too much static on the video, though. Stuive is making the most of his senior season and was the difference in the game, early. I still don't think Hope has enough inside depth, but well see. On to the next one! 

[devossed]

Really thought Hope would have won by more than four considering they were reportedly hitting 13s. That just doesn't seem fair.

http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2017/01/hope_mens_basketball_sinks_13s.html#incart_river_index

I know there was talk of a 4-point line in the NBA but this just seems a little too over the top.

Editors are now extinct, evidently, at mlive.com.

Editors, and now seemingly "actual journalists" too...as that was a straight copy/paste from the Hope website presser...where I might also note, it lists the correctly-intended (though grammatically-ugly) "13 3s".

[Gregory Sager]

All the more reason to follow AP style by writing out numbers under ten. Among other things, it prevents this sort of confusion by making it harder to accidentally conflate numbers that are right next to each other.

[/only became a grammar Nazi for the leather greatcoat and the colorful parades, I swear]

[realist]

All the more reason to follow AP style by writing out numbers under ten. Among other things, it prevents this sort of confusion by making it harder to accidentally conflate numbers that are right next to each other.

[/only became a grammar Nazi for the leather greatcoat and the colorful parades, I swear]

Perhaps you were a Linotype operator in a previous life.     Those guys never would have let something looking like that go out.  The setters actually did a lot of proof reading, spell checking, and were the first grammar checkers as well.

[Gregory Sager]

I wasn't a Linotype operator, as that was before my time. I did work as a typesetter, though, back in the early days of computerized typesetting. I've also worked as an editor and as a proofreader, so noticing stuff like the potential for "13 3s" to be conflated is second nature to me.

[sac]

It went by without much if any mention that Calvin's win at Alma ended the Scots 16 game home winning streak vs MIAA competition.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

No JV game at Hope tonight, and I see that the Adrian JV team (roster & schedule) no longer appear on the Adrian website.  I hope that is just for this season and we don't start losing more JV teams (Kalamazoo has not had JV for several years now).  IMHO JV teams are a very very valuable opportunity to develop young players.  I look at Hope this year and 8 of the 14 players on the Varsity roster played JV ball. 

[oldknight]

No JV game at Hope tonight, and I see that the Adrian JV team (roster & schedule) no longer appear on the Adrian website.  I hope that is just for this season and we don't start losing more JV teams (Kalamazoo has not had JV for several years now).  IMHO JV teams are a very very valuable opportunity to develop young players.  I look at Hope this year and 8 of the 14 players on the Varsity roster played JV ball.

That kind of thing is happening at some high schools now too. There are Class A size schools in Michigan that have deleted their freshmen program, choosing to only go with JV and varsity teams. Sometimes it's the fact that numbers for the sport aren't high enough to justify having three teams, but other times the school--for reasons of its own--chooses to not go with the full complement of teams. That's sad, especially at the prep level, when schools should be giving as many kids as possible the opportunity to compete in athletics. I believe that doing so is also a better program builder for the school.

[sflzman]

No JV game at Hope tonight, and I see that the Adrian JV team (roster & schedule) no longer appear on the Adrian website.  I hope that is just for this season and we don't start losing more JV teams (Kalamazoo has not had JV for several years now).  IMHO JV teams are a very very valuable opportunity to develop young players.  I look at Hope this year and 8 of the 14 players on the Varsity roster played JV ball.

That kind of thing is happening at some high schools now too. There are Class A size schools in Michigan that have deleted their freshmen program, choosing to only go with JV and varsity teams. Sometimes it's the fact that numbers for the sport aren't high enough to justify having three teams, but other times the school--for reasons of its own--chooses to not go with the full complement of teams. That's sad, especially at the prep level, when schools should be giving as many kids as possible the opportunity to compete in athletics. I believe that doing so is also a better program builder for the school.

One thing that I think would help Michigan high schools keep jv and freshman teams is the the game limit rules. I know in a lot of other states they don't have the game limit rules. In Michigan a kid can only appear in 20 non playoff games (varsity or subvarsity) while many other states have minute limits or they don't have the limits at all.

I think this would help because I think you consistently see underclassmen moved up. Often you'll see a sophomore playing 5 minutes a game on the varsity team which results in JV teams moving freshmen up and freshmen teams being decimated.

If a kid could play 20 minutes on Thursday night in the JV game and then 5 minutes Friday night in the varsity game I think it would not only help the programs, but I think the kids would benefit from that a lot more as well. That's part of the reason why I like how MIAA football does JV games the Monday following the games so players that suited up for varsity on Saturday it didn't participate can then be rostered and play in the JV game.

[HOPEful]

Anyone know what that technical foul on Adrian's bench was about?

[realist]

A good effort in a road environment that has not been kind to Calvin in recent years. They gave a strong effort for all 40 minutes and weathered a shooting barrage by the Scots to win 95-86. Alma shot 50% from the arc, but Calvin dominated the glass 43-31 and didn't give up many second looks when Alma missed. Wilks and Welch were especially good on the offensive end scoring 28 and 19 respectively (on a combined 27 field goal and 10 free thrown attempts). Denney (17) and DeWitte (12) also scored in the double figures.

That's a five game winning streak for Calvin who moves to 4-0 in conference play.

This kool-aid is kinda tasty....

Amigo:  How did the "kool aid" go down tonight after the 79-70 loss to (previously 0-4) Kalamazoo?

[HOPEful]

A good effort in a road environment that has not been kind to Calvin in recent years. They gave a strong effort for all 40 minutes and weathered a shooting barrage by the Scots to win 95-86. Alma shot 50% from the arc, but Calvin dominated the glass 43-31 and didn't give up many second looks when Alma missed. Wilks and Welch were especially good on the offensive end scoring 28 and 19 respectively (on a combined 27 field goal and 10 free thrown attempts). Denney (17) and DeWitte (12) also scored in the double figures.

That's a five game winning streak for Calvin who moves to 4-0 in conference play.

This kool-aid is kinda tasty....

Amigo:  How did the "kool aid" go down tonight after the 79-70 loss to (previously 0-4) Kalamazoo?

Probably about as well as Cam Denney's shots went down tonight

[realist]

A good effort in a road environment that has not been kind to Calvin in recent years. They gave a strong effort for all 40 minutes and weathered a shooting barrage by the Scots to win 95-86. Alma shot 50% from the arc, but Calvin dominated the glass 43-31 and didn't give up many second looks when Alma missed. Wilks and Welch were especially good on the offensive end scoring 28 and 19 respectively (on a combined 27 field goal and 10 free thrown attempts). Denney (17) and DeWitte (12) also scored in the double figures.

That's a five game winning streak for Calvin who moves to 4-0 in conference play.

This kool-aid is kinda tasty....

Amigo:  How did the "kool aid" go down tonight after the 79-70 loss to (previously 0-4) Kalamazoo?

Probably about as well as Cam Denney's shots went down tonight

Josh Miller comes off the bench for Kalamazoo for 25 points.  Shot 12 0f 14,  (MVP), and made the only ft. he shot.  Novel idea,  the big guy never took a 3 point shot.
Calvin shoots 6/28 for 21.4 percent beyond the arc.  Maybe, just maybe they should restrict who can shoot 3's.  See: Mr. Miller above!   Kalamazoo made 8/17 beyond the arc (47.1%), so maybe not letting everyone shoot 3's has some merit.
Kalamazoo ties Calvin at 37 on rebounds, and outscores them by 10 (34/24) in the PAINT.