MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

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

I spotted it right away and was wondering why it wasn't called or why no one had noticed.  #13 for Adrian was wearing the wrong number uniform vs what was on the roster.  Justin Webster was listed as #10 on the roster.    The PA kept calling him Anthony Cannon.   Mr. Cannon and Mr. Webster look nothing alike.

There are a few ways you can mess this up but it is exactly a "technical" thing.    Adrian has had some program "attrition" and I might guess some guys thought they could switch up numbers or something.   100% on Adrian's staff who received a very scolding pointing of the finger in their direction from their head coach.


I'd like to know how or who spotted the error because you could probably play an entire game without that being noticed if you didn't know the players.  I also wonder why this wasn't called by the sharp eyed officials at the tipoff   (and if you were at the game you probably know why the officials didn't spot this  )

[sac]

Hope 75  Adrian 65

Its not often a team doesn't "get off the bus" at home but Hope didn't.  Hope was a pretty uncharacteristic sloppy team in the first half with several turnovers and an interesting way of not coming up with rebounds or loose balls.  Flat out for about 10 or 12 minutes Hope was getting beaten to the punch everywhere.  Throw in a pretty hot shooting Adrian early and Hope found themselves down 11 at 26-15.   There wasn't much pretty about Hope getting back on equal footing other than Chad Carlson getting loose 3 times to hit 3-pointers, it was mostly grit and better determination.......and it helped that Adrian started missing some shots.

I called the first half weird and I still think so because both teams needed their #3's Dante Hawkins and DaVonte Harris, one to score one to defend the other.  Hawkins picked up his second foul a little before the midway point of the half and had to sit the rest of the way.   A perfect chance for Adrian to unleash Harris who Hawkins had pretty tied up to that point......nope!.  Harris picked up his 3rd foul just a couple minutes later and had to sit himself.  With those guys sitting and Hope floundering you had two teams with little offensive punch bashing each other in the face for the next 10 minutes and it was ugly.

Hope never really got a foothold in this one until the last 8 minutes when they outscored Adrian 20-10.  Hawkins scored 10 of his 18 point in the last few minutes and 16 in the 2nd half.  In the end Hope's guards outplayed their guards with Carlson netting 15.

Hope:  Blackledge 21,  Hawkins 18,  Carlson 15
Adrian:  Harris 22, Cannon 12, Webster 12, Ennis 10



DaVonte Harris was held mostly in check in the first half but Adrian made sure to get the ball in his hands a ton in the 2nd half.  Harris took 14 of his teams 26 2nd half FG attempts which is a bit looney.    I thought Adrian was better in the first half when everyone had to contribute more.  For the game Harris finished right on his season average of attempting 35% of his teams FG's. 

I missed it before hand but Harris takes 67% of Adrian's 3-point attempts,  Daton Aaron is next on their roster with a modest 41 season attempts.  Aaron is no longer on the Adrian team which means Harris is pretty much their only 3-point threat.   

[HopeConvert]

Hope 75  Adrian 65



I called the first half weird and I still think so because both teams needed their #3's Dante Hawkins and DaVonte Harris, one to score one to defend the other.  Hawkins picked up his second foul a little before the midway point of the half and had to sit the rest of the way.   A perfect chance for Adrian to unleash Harris who Hawkins had pretty tied up to that point......nope!.  Harris picked up his 3rd foul just a couple minutes later and had to sit himself.  With those guys sitting and Hope floundering you had two teams with little offensive punch bashing each other in the face for the next 10 minutes and it was ugly.

He didn't have to.

[pointlem]

Hope 75  Adrian 65



I called the first half weird and I still think so because both teams needed their #3's Dante Hawkins and DaVonte Harris, one to score one to defend the other.  Hawkins picked up his second foul a little before the midway point of the half and had to sit the rest of the way.   A perfect chance for Adrian to unleash Harris who Hawkins had pretty tied up to that point......nope!.  Harris picked up his 3rd foul just a couple minutes later and had to sit himself.  With those guys sitting and Hope floundering you had two teams with little offensive punch bashing each other in the face for the next 10 minutes and it was ugly.

He didn't have to.

Amen, Hope Convert.  Hope was fortunate that Harris "had to" sit with his 3rd foul . . . given that Dante "had to" sit the rest of the first half with two fouls.

As things turned out, he ended the game with but two fouls, and fewer minutes than he could have played. And Harris likewise got no additional fouls.  Coaches everywhere, it seems, will sacrifice player minutes not just to rest a player, but to have the player available at the game's end, when points scored seem more decisive.

For Hope, the benching strategy worked last night.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

As I usually do, I was keeping an eye on the live stats for the other games while watching Adrian @ Hope.  The Olivet @ Albion game caught my eye a few times, with what I thought were some big swings in the score.  Looking back at the play by play, it was a pretty remarkable game of runs.

First half was mostly back and forth with a 6 point lead the biggest.  2:39 left in the half, and Albion is up 1 - but proceed to close the half on a 9-0 run - leading 36-26 at the half.

Second half Albion pushes the lead to 11,  40-29 at the 17:56 mark.  Olivet then proceeds to go on a 28-4 run over the next 7+ minutes, to take a 13 point lead, 57-44 at the 10:33 mark.  Back and forth for a bit and at 7:47 its Olivet still leading 62-52.

Back comes Albion with a 13-3 run to tie the game at 65-65 with 3:56 left.  Back and forth for a bit, and Olivet is holding a 71-70 lead with 0:59 on the clock.  Albion finishes the game on a 9-0 run to win 79-71. 

Had to be quite the experience watching that kind of a game. 

[HOPEful]

As things turned out, he ended the game with but two fouls, and fewer minutes than he could have played. And Harris likewise got no additional fouls.  Coaches everywhere, it seems, will sacrifice player minutes not just to rest a player, but to have the player available at the game's end, when points scored seem more decisive.

There was a moment right before half that Harris was completely out of control driving to the hoop and got a 50/50 call go his way. Greg Mitchell was not pleased with the call, which had it gone the other way would have been Harris' fourth foul.

00:33      -   Foul by LITTLESON,ZACH
00:33   HARRIS,DAVONTE made free throw   35-33   
00:33   HARRIS,DAVONTE made free throw   36-33   
00:33   LANDINI,ANDREW enters the game   -   
00:33   HARRIS,DAVONTE goes to the bench   -   

[KnightSlappy]

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.

It was actually Flavor Aid, but that's beside the point.

I've never seen a Calvin team shoot like this. It's incredible. Only Wilks and Siegel are knocking down threes with any regularity, and even they are more "good" than "great" with the percentage this year. The utter lack of three point shooting has cost them at least two games (and, ironically, exceptional shooting might have won them the Carthage game).

Calvin is 8-1 when they shoot at least 28% ( !) from the arc and 1-6 when shooting below that mark.

The rebounding margin is a bit misleading since Calvin missed so many shots. Calvin actually boarded relatively well with 84% of Kalamazoo's misses and 34% of their own misses.

[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.

It was actually Flavor Aid, but that's beside the point.

I've never seen a Calvin team shoot like this. It's incredible. Only Wilks and Siegel are knocking down threes with any regularity, and even they are more "good" than "great" with the percentage this year. The utter lack of three point shooting has cost them at least two games (and, ironically, exceptional shooting might have won them the Carthage game).

Calvin is 8-1 when they shoot at least 28% ( !) from the arc and 1-6 when shooting below that mark.

The rebounding margin is a bit misleading since Calvin missed so many shots. Calvin actually boarded relatively well with 84% of Kalamazoo's misses and 34% of their own misses.

The fastest way to get the team's 3 point % up is to reduce the number of 3 attempts by those players with a low completion rate. 
In the Carthage game the player that went 0-3 last night went 0-1, and the player that went 0-5 last night hit the only 3 he attempted in that game.    Perhaps some guys should just stop shooting 3's. 

[kzoo99]

Kalamazoo did have the same number of players try 3 pointers as Calvin.  Both teams had 7 players attempt a 3.  Calvin shot 11 more 3s.  Josh Miller was 12-14 because 3 foot shots are underrated in a league where most teams live and die by the 3.

[sflzman]

Kalamazoo did have the same number of players try 3 pointers as Calvin.  Both teams had 7 players attempt a 3.  Calvin shot 11 more 3s.  Josh Miller was 12-14 because 3 foot shots are underrated in a league where most teams live and die by the 3.

Would hardly say most teams. Only Olivet, Alma, and one could possibly argue Hope live off of the three ball. Hope, IMO, gets most of their threes simply as a best shot option as opposed to a first option like Olivet and Alma.

Also on a separate note. Today I came across the stat that Adrian averages just 6.7 assists per game. Wow.

[sac]

Hope 75  Adrian 65



I called the first half weird and I still think so because both teams needed their #3's Dante Hawkins and DaVonte Harris, one to score one to defend the other.  Hawkins picked up his second foul a little before the midway point of the half and had to sit the rest of the way.   A perfect chance for Adrian to unleash Harris who Hawkins had pretty tied up to that point......nope!.  Harris picked up his 3rd foul just a couple minutes later and had to sit himself.  With those guys sitting and Hope floundering you had two teams with little offensive punch bashing each other in the face for the next 10 minutes and it was ugly.

He didn't have to.

Amen, Hope Convert.  Hope was fortunate that Harris "had to" sit with his 3rd foul . . . given that Dante "had to" sit the rest of the first half with two fouls.

As things turned out, he ended the game with but two fouls, and fewer minutes than he could have played. And Harris likewise got no additional fouls.  Coaches everywhere, it seems, will sacrifice player minutes not just to rest a player, but to have the player available at the game's end, when points scored seem more decisive.

For Hope, the benching strategy worked last night.

Mitchell might have had a tougher decision on Hawkins had Harris been able to stay on the floor and be productive.  But because Harris picked up his 3rd foul and also sat  and Hope was cutting into the lead without Hawkins it was easier to leave Hawkins on the bench.  O'Brian also did a pretty good job on Harris with Hawkins on the bench.   Once Harris came on late in the half and miraculously avoided that 4th foul it was a bit late in the half to risk Hawkins.

I do know I would much rather have played the 5 last minutes of the game with Hawkins than without him.

Hope and Hawkins were helped by Adrian being content to hand the ball to Harris 25 feet from the basket in the 2nd half rather than make Dante chase him all over the floor like the first half.  I didn't really understand Adrian's change in offense from the 1st half to the 2nd, but at least they got Harris a ton of shots I guess.

[sac]

Kalamazoo did have the same number of players try 3 pointers as Calvin.  Both teams had 7 players attempt a 3.  Calvin shot 11 more 3s.  Josh Miller was 12-14 because 3 foot shots are underrated in a league where most teams live and die by the 3.

Would hardly say most teams. Only Olivet, Alma, and one could possibly argue Hope live off of the three ball. Hope, IMO, gets most of their threes simply as a best shot option as opposed to a first option like Olivet and Alma.

Also on a separate note. Today I came across the stat that Adrian averages just 6.7 assists per game. Wow.

3-point attempts per game:  Olivet #10, Alma #52, Hope #108
3-point made per game:  Alma #11, Olivet #32, Hope #70
3-point percentage: Alma #1, Hope #39, Olivet #265


Calvin actually attempts a slightly below the national average number of 3-point shots.  #397 in percentage made of 416 though.



Adrian's 6.7 assists would probably rank dead last in D3 but the NCAA stat page only ranks 416, last is Rutgers-Newark at 8.5

[Gregory Sager]

Also on a separate note. Today I came across the stat that Adrian averages just 6.7 assists per game. Wow.

Pretty understandable, really, when you consider that: a) the starting point guard has left the team; and b) only two players on the roster seem capable of putting the ball in the basket with any regularity -- one of them is a forward who has to have somebody else give him the ball, which takes us back to a), and the other is a very gifted player who is capable of manufacturing his own shot (and who does it so often that it's more or less the team's offensive staple).

[oldknight]

Calvin beats Adrian 79-67, and it seemed like the Knights should have won by an even larger margin. I thought Calvin was a poor shooting team but Adrian is even worse from the floor. After leading 32-21 at half, Calvin pulled away early in the second frame to build a lead as large as 21. That lead dwindled as the host team went into an offensive funk that helped the Bulldogs pull within 9 late in the game. The funk was largely fueled by turnovers, an issue that plagued Calvin throughout the game. The official stat sheet shows Calvin had 13 miscues but I find that hard to believe. It seemed far worse, but good shooting allowed Calvin to win with reasonable comfort. The Knights shot 55% from the floor, including 50% from the arc  the first time this year they hit at least half their three-ball attempts. The only other game Calvin came close to 50% from the arc was Carthage when they went 9-19. It would be nice to see that kind of shooting continue next Wednesday. They'll need it. Other game notes:

--Davonte Harris needed 19 shots to score 19 (including a late meaningless 3) and really wasn't much of a factor in the game. Canonie played terrific defense on Adrian's leading scorer and it was clear Tony had strict instructions to stay with his man and not help out. Tony scored 12 of his own and had 7 assists so he more than did his job for the afternoon.

--Mike Siegel was in street clothes but I thought Van Boxel did some very nice things, and freshmen Derrick DeVries looked very comfortable on offense. DeVries still is a work in progress on the defensive side of the ball but I'm pretty sure he will prove to be an excellent scorer in the MIAA. The Covenant Christian product scored 10 points in 10 minutes this afternoon.

[sac]

Alma 89  Albion 87

Super game at Albion this afternoon.  The nations #1 3-point shooting team had a bit of an off day but that didn't stop them from bombing 33 deep ones making 11.  Alma had  Albion on the ropes early in the 2nd half leading by 13 then all of sudden Albion went on a 23-6 run to take a 4 point lead.  Great credit to both teams for a highly, highly entertaining 2nd half of basketball.

If you want to see a thing of basketball beauty just check the 2nd half play-by-play of this one    http://miaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/boxscores/20170121_ra3u.xml?view=plays


Alma had the ball with 39 seconds to play in a tie game, I figured they'd run something for Edwards who had been Albion's toughest one on one match-up all afternoon.  Make or miss and Albion probably gets last shot..........nope.   Coach Hargraves has his Fr. guard Stevens sprint the length of the court and falling out of bound hit Trevor Gernaat cutting down the lane who was then fouled in a terrible shooting position under the basket mind you.    That play took 7 seconds and meant that Alma might just get the last crack.  Gernaat sank both FTs to put the Scots up 2.

One thing you must know that I've picked up on watching Albion is a pretty distinct lack of shot clock situational awareness, they simply go to fast when they could run a few more ticks off the clock.  Sure enough Albion clears out for Zahran who lays in the game tying shot leaving Alma a decent 14 seconds to score.  Alma sets a simple high screen for Stevens who then beats Robert Ryan off the dribble and makes a nice 6 footer over Zahran for the winner.  Albion got a decent 3-point shot to win but probably in the wrong hands.

Alma:  Gernaat 27, Edwards 24, Laketa 13, Stevens 10
Albion:  Wheeler 20, Zahran 15, Branch 13, Burks 11