MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[HOPEful]

Michael Wilkes has rarely been in foul trouble. He committed four fouls in the Aquinas game (the last with 25 secons remaining) but has been foul-free as many times (4) as he's committed three this season.

It's a long way from real trouble, but he picked up 2 fouls in the first half against Kalamazoo, Trine, and Anderson (the first three teams I looked at when assessing when he played against teams with decent centers). Also, Hope v. calvin games tend to be more physical than your average MIAA game. It's a very intriguing match-up...

[sac]

I miss Zoerhoff

[oldknight]

A Kooiker sighting at VNA and Bykerk is sick. Not a promising start to the evening.

[arena]

Its time for KVS to either leave on his own accord, or be relieved of his coaching duties. Beyond embarrassing performance tonight by the team and his coaching team. Enough is enough

[GoKnights68]

Congratulations Hope. You guys have a complete team and came ready to play.

What an almost unwatchable game to watch as Calvin fan. I can understand why Sac always  loves to defend KVS so much throughout all these years . I'd want him to stick around too if I were a Hope fan.

[TUAngola]

Trine 78 Albion 49

Trine came out guns a blazin' and withstood a mini rally by Albion in the 1st half that got them within 1pt, but Trine went on another run and the game was really never in doubt after that.  The "law firm" of Dixon Dodson and Daub put up pretty good numbers.  Dixon, he sure will be missed once he graduates, just like Holmquist is missed.  He just does so many things well.  I thought his passing was the best I've seen in his career, finished with 8 assists.  He consistently got Albion scrambling on defense and he found the open man when the Brits tried to double.  Daub really took advantage of the open looks created by Dixon. He's been on a tear lately.  Good to see Daub in his last year finally get in a groove, you can tell he's really put in the work.  Copeland played well inside and Cummings had some really huge blocks inside, finished with 6.

Albion, not sure what is going on with this team.  It's a team in dysfunction right now, so much so they tried to play with 6 guys at one point in second half.  Umm, you can't do that, sorry.  I know they are missing a couple guys, saw Douglas in a walking boot.  Granted I thought Trine's defense was the best I've seen from them this season, Albion just didn't get many open looks.  Actually I thought the Brits played best when Lowe was in the game.  The big guy is a challenging matchup if he gets the ball in the paint, and he can feed it back outside to open guys.  He had a nice dunk in the first half.  Albion looked much better when I saw them play in November at Trine's weekend tournament.  Maybe is just was a bad night for them.

[kzoo99]

Kalamazoo wins by 1 after being down 5 with 9 seconds left. 58-57.

[almcguirejr]

Mlive Article:  http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2017/01/hope-calvin_excitement_fades_w.html#incart_river_home

[sac]

Hope 87  Calvin 67

Always amazing the little moments that turn this game.  35-30 with 2:42 left in the half  4/5th's of Hope's starting 5 is sitting on the bench with 2 fouls.  Hope has a lineup of Carlson, O'Brien, Dreyer, Towns and Littleson on the floor.  Calvin has the ball misses a 3 and gets an offensive rebound.  From that point on Hope scores 10 straight points with this lineup gets 3 Calvin turnovers, and Calvin gets 1 more FG attempt before Hope closes it out by inserting Hawkins and Blackledge back on the floor and getting a layup by Dennis Towns.    12 straight points to close out the half and a close feeling game is 17.

Hope did a nice job maintaining that lead and never let Calvin really get any kind of momentum for a potential run.  All around a really good team win, one of the better performances through the lineup Hope's had this year.

Hope:  Blackledge 25, Carlson 15, Stuive 10
Calvin:  Wilks 18, Denny 15

Long way to go yet but that was a pretty big step to winning an MIAA Championship for the Dutchmen.

[sac]

Trine 78 Albion 49

Trine came out guns a blazin' and withstood a mini rally by Albion in the 1st half that got them within 1pt, but Trine went on another run and the game was really never in doubt after that.  The "law firm" of Dixon Dodson and Daub put up pretty good numbers.  Dixon, he sure will be missed once he graduates, just like Holmquist is missed.  He just does so many things well.  I thought his passing was the best I've seen in his career, finished with 8 assists.  He consistently got Albion scrambling on defense and he found the open man when the Brits tried to double.  Daub really took advantage of the open looks created by Dixon. He's been on a tear lately.  Good to see Daub in his last year finally get in a groove, you can tell he's really put in the work.  Copeland played well inside and Cummings had some really huge blocks inside, finished with 6.

Albion, not sure what is going on with this team.  It's a team in dysfunction right now, so much so they tried to play with 6 guys at one point in second half.  Umm, you can't do that, sorry.  I know they are missing a couple guys, saw Douglas in a walking boot.  Granted I thought Trine's defense was the best I've seen from them this season, Albion just didn't get many open looks.  Actually I thought the Brits played best when Lowe was in the game.  The big guy is a challenging matchup if he gets the ball in the paint, and he can feed it back outside to open guys.  He had a nice dunk in the first half. Albion looked much better when I saw them play in November at Trine's weekend tournament. Maybe is just was a bad night for them.

I was at the game Albion against Ohio Wesleyan that first weekend and I can't disagree.  I thought Albion looked sharp that night and potentially pretty good.  One reason was an excellent game from Jaylen Fordham who has since really, really struggled shooting the ball.  The Brits have also had injury problems with starting PG Robert Ryan who's back playing but nowhere near 100%, Adam Davis is now out and Kurt Douglas has missed the MIAA portion of the schedule with a foot injury.  (box score says he played tonight, but you say he was in a boot).  They also lost Fr. 6-7 F Caden Ebeling after just 3 games, I think he could have made a real solid impact in the paint for them.

Since that first game I've seen them 6 or 7 times and they've never quite looked that good.   But I think they still factor into the 2nd half somehow.

[sac]

Congratulations Hope. You guys have a complete team and came ready to play.

What an almost unwatchable game to watch as Calvin fan. I can understand why Sac always  loves to defend KVS so much throughout all these years . I'd want him to stick around too if I were a Hope fan.

[Knight2Day]

Congratulations Hope. You guys have a complete team and came ready to play.

What an almost unwatchable game to watch as Calvin fan. I can understand why Sac always  loves to defend KVS so much throughout all these years . I'd want him to stick around too if I were a Hope fan.

GoKnights you read my mind. SAC you can talk about loving the whole of the MIAA but we all know you rock blue and orange undies. Calvin fans should no longer think they're going to match up with their rival especially without players like Brink, Mantel, or Veldhouse. Hope is going to run away with the league this year and Calvin doesn't look like it will have the horses to run with them for the next few years. There's a reason a player like Vanderbrug isn't motivated to come out and play, and that's something you can't argue against. But hey, at least we can always say we won two Natty's way back when.

[TUAngola]

Trine 78 Albion 49

Trine came out guns a blazin' and withstood a mini rally by Albion in the 1st half that got them within 1pt, but Trine went on another run and the game was really never in doubt after that.  The "law firm" of Dixon Dodson and Daub put up pretty good numbers.  Dixon, he sure will be missed once he graduates, just like Holmquist is missed.  He just does so many things well.  I thought his passing was the best I've seen in his career, finished with 8 assists.  He consistently got Albion scrambling on defense and he found the open man when the Brits tried to double.  Daub really took advantage of the open looks created by Dixon. He's been on a tear lately.  Good to see Daub in his last year finally get in a groove, you can tell he's really put in the work.  Copeland played well inside and Cummings had some really huge blocks inside, finished with 6.

Albion, not sure what is going on with this team.  It's a team in dysfunction right now, so much so they tried to play with 6 guys at one point in second half.  Umm, you can't do that, sorry.  I know they are missing a couple guys, saw Douglas in a walking boot.  Granted I thought Trine's defense was the best I've seen from them this season, Albion just didn't get many open looks.  Actually I thought the Brits played best when Lowe was in the game.  The big guy is a challenging matchup if he gets the ball in the paint, and he can feed it back outside to open guys.  He had a nice dunk in the first half. Albion looked much better when I saw them play in November at Trine's weekend tournament. Maybe is just was a bad night for them.

I was at the game Albion against Ohio Wesleyan that first weekend and I can't disagree.  I thought Albion looked sharp that night and potentially pretty good.  One reason was an excellent game from Jaylen Fordham who has since really, really struggled shooting the ball.  The Brits have also had injury problems with starting PG Robert Ryan who's back playing but nowhere near 100%, Adam Davis is now out and Kurt Douglas has missed the MIAA portion of the schedule with a foot injury.  (box score says he played tonight, but you say he was in a boot).  They also lost Fr. 6-7 F Caden Ebeling after just 3 games, I think he could have made a real solid impact in the paint for them.

Since that first game I've seen them 6 or 7 times and they've never quite looked that good.   But I think they still factor into the 2nd half somehow.

Douglas was in street clothes and did not play.  Not sure how the name got in the box score, unless maybe someone else on the roster was wearing his uniform number?

[oldknight]

Congratulations Hope. You guys have a complete team and came ready to play.

What an almost unwatchable game to watch as Calvin fan. I can understand why Sac always  loves to defend KVS so much throughout all these years . I'd want him to stick around too if I were a Hope fan.

Sac gave me that package at halftime last night. I would have made a mix at home and drunk it too, except that it's so . . . orange.

[HOPEful]

SAC you can talk about loving the whole of the MIAA but we all know you rock blue and orange undies.

I don't think SAC has ever hidden his allegiance.  There is literally a link to the donation page on Hope's website on his profile.

As for KVS, I don't understand why NOW everyone is jumping on the hate train. This season has gone pretty much exactly as you should have expected given the pieces. If anything, KVS has gotten more out of this team than the sum of its parts (I sure didn't expect them to go 5-2 in the first half of MIAA play!)...