MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Gregory Sager]

Emmet Warners G/ F  Grand Rapids Christian will attend Calvin for basketball and baseball
http://www.hudl.com/profile/3579064/emmett-warners

He also played football at GR Christian but will not play it at Calvin.

https://twitter.com/AmberWarners/status/789611711292706816

Assuming he turns out to be good, Calvin is certainly lucky he doesn't love football more than he apparently does.  You could have been facing him for four years in Hope uniforms!

Which raises a question I hadn't previously considered: I wonder how many good athletes Calvin loses in other sports because they don't have football?

I don't know Hope's football team well, but are many/any two sport athletes on it?  Same question for a school like Wheaton.

Do you really want this question answered? And, if so, are you looking for it to be answered for "a school like Wheaton" (which opens up a potential can of worms regarding what constitutes being "like Wheaton", unless you define it further), or do you want it answered for Wheaton?

I'm not being difficult, because I can actually supply you with some answers if you really want them.

[sac]

Olivet's having a "throwback" night on Wednesday and they're playing the Hope game at their old Upton Gymnasium on campus
http://olivetcomets.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/releases/20170130mvug6n



The "throwback" is probably that we all remember why Olivet built a new gym.

PS  Its hot and presumably still dark

[Young Knight 14]

Emmet Warners G/ F  Grand Rapids Christian will attend Calvin for basketball and baseball
http://www.hudl.com/profile/3579064/emmett-warners

He also played football at GR Christian but will not play it at Calvin.

https://twitter.com/AmberWarners/status/789611711292706816

Assuming he turns out to be good, Calvin is certainly lucky he doesn't love football more than he apparently does.  You could have been facing him for four years in Hope uniforms!

Which raises a question I hadn't previously considered: I wonder how many good athletes Calvin loses in other sports because they don't have football?

I don't know Hope's football team well, but are many/any two sport athletes on it?  Same question for a school like Wheaton.

Do you really want this question answered? And, if so, are you looking for it to be answered for "a school like Wheaton" (which opens up a potential can of worms regarding what constitutes being "like Wheaton", unless you define it further), or do you want it answered for Wheaton?

I'm not being difficult, because I can actually supply you with some answers if you really want them.

My fault on not being specific enough.  I would like to know the answer for Hope and for Wheaton if you would.

[HupHolland]

Emmet Warners G/ F  Grand Rapids Christian will attend Calvin for basketball and baseball
http://www.hudl.com/profile/3579064/emmett-warners

He also played football at GR Christian but will not play it at Calvin.

https://twitter.com/AmberWarners/status/789611711292706816

Assuming he turns out to be good, Calvin is certainly lucky he doesn't love football more than he apparently does.  You could have been facing him for four years in Hope uniforms!

Which raises a question I hadn't previously considered: I wonder how many good athletes Calvin loses in other sports because they don't have football?

I don't know Hope's football team well, but are many/any two sport athletes on it?  Same question for a school like Wheaton.

Do you really want this question answered? And, if so, are you looking for it to be answered for "a school like Wheaton" (which opens up a potential can of worms regarding what constitutes being "like Wheaton", unless you define it further), or do you want it answered for Wheaton?

I'm not being difficult, because I can actually supply you with some answers if you really want them.

My fault on not being specific enough.  I would like to know the answer for Hope and for Wheaton if you would.

There were no players on the 2016 Hope Football roster that were dual sport athletes (Some may run track but I am not aware of any)

[Mr. Ypsi]

While playing football and excelling in another sport is obviously the observable test case, it would certainly be possible that an athlete doesn't actually play football, but loves it enough that he (or she, for that matter) wouldn't go to a school without a fball team - a situation we fans would be unlikely to know about.

almcguirejr, yeah, I didn't know that (don't follow volleyball).  I withdraw any suggestion that he doesn't adequately love football; he just loves his mom (and, presumably, free tuition ) more!

[Gregory Sager]

At least on the men's side, Wheaton seems to have more two-sport athletes than do the other CCIW schools. This year Wheaton has freshman Spencer Peterson (a Northpointe Christian product, BTW), who was a backup quarterback on the football team and is now playing meaningful minutes off the bench for Wheaton basketball as a center. Their football team's star quarterback in recent seasons, Johnny Peltz, also played baseball, and he had a teammate named Justin Swider (son of the WC head football coach) who played alongside him in both sports. About four or five years ago Wheaton had a student-athlete named Drew Golz who was a standout on both the soccer team and the baseball team. Among the women, Wheaton currently has a sophomore named Kelly Thornton who plays three sports for the Orange and Blue: soccer, basketball, and softball.

I hasten to point out that by "two-sport athlete" I'm not referring to any of the running-sports student-athletes, for whom participation in two or all three of the running sports is pretty common everywhere.

[sflzman]

Alma senior Nick Sullivan played JV his basketball his freshman and sophomore years at Alma.  He then quit the basketball team and joined the football team where he proceeded to rush for 1728 and 21 touchdowns the past two years.

Basketball Nick:  http://almascots.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/bios/sullivan_nick_szww

Football Nick:  http://almascots.com/sports/fball/2016-17/bios/sullivan_nick_g9e8

I remember a half dozen years ago or so the Scots had Matt Brown who (if I remember correctly) was a four year starter on both the football field and basketball court.  He was a tremendous football player and I believe he was one of a few Scots in that time frame that went and played a season or two professionally overseas.  He had over 1000 receiving yards and 12 TDs as a senior as well as being amongst national leaders in punting.  I believe he was around a 20 and 10 guy his senior year in basketball once he got healthy, but I remember him missing significant time that year due to an injury from the end of football season.

[oldknight]

While playing football and excelling in another sport is obviously the observable test case, it would certainly be possible that an athlete doesn't actually play football, but loves it enough that he (or she, for that matter) wouldn't go to a school without a fball team - a situation we fans would be unlikely to know about.

almcguirejr, yeah, I didn't know that (don't follow volleyball).  I withdraw any suggestion that he doesn't adequately love football; he just loves his mom (and, presumably, free tuition ) more!

Given that only a concrete block wall separates Kevin VandeStreek's office from that of Emmett Warners' mother, I'm guessing the sales pitch was pretty uncomplicated.

Because he plays on such a talented high school team (GRCHS has three legitimate scholarship players, one of whom already signed with Izzo), Emmett has gotten little notice but he's a pretty solid high school basketball player. I think he's starting material at the D3 level. Warners has nice size for a wing player at 6'5" and combines a reliable shooting stroke with a pretty good passing game. The kid is an excellent athlete and obviously comes from a high IQ athletic family.

[Gregory Sager]

Alma senior Nick Sullivan played JV his basketball his freshman and sophomore years at Alma.  He then quit the basketball team and joined the football team where he proceeded to rush for 1728 and 21 touchdowns the past two years.

Basketball Nick:  http://almascots.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/bios/sullivan_nick_szww

Football Nick:  http://almascots.com/sports/fball/2016-17/bios/sullivan_nick_g9e8

I remember a half dozen years ago or so the Scots had Matt Brown who (if I remember correctly) was a four year starter on both the football field and basketball court.  He was a tremendous football player and I believe he was one of a few Scots in that time frame that went and played a season or two professionally overseas.  He had over 1000 receiving yards and 12 TDs as a senior as well as being amongst national leaders in punting.  I believe he was around a 20 and 10 guy his senior year in basketball once he got healthy, but I remember him missing significant time that year due to an injury from the end of football season.

Some would say that a student-athlete doesn't qualify as a two-sport player unless he or she is playing those two sports in the same school year. That's because a lot of what people focus upon is the student-athlete's ability to not only juggle the increased time-management burden of two sports but the physical wear-and-tear as well.

The pool of two-sport student-athletes gets much broader if you include the Nick Sullivan types who don't play those two sports within one academic year. F'rinstance, a few years ago North Park had a baseball player named Dan Anderson who had been a multi-sport star athlete in his hometown of Moose Lake, MN. After graduating from NPU and then re-enrolling there as a graduate student, he decided to go out for the Vikings football team despite not having played the sport since high school. This was permissible, since NCAA rules allow a student-athlete five full years of school in which to use up his or her sports eligibility, and even if eligibility in one sport (i.e., baseball in his case) has already been used up, he or she is still eligible to play a different sport. As it turned out, he won a starting WR job and had a very successful season.

A decade and a half ago Carthage had a star basketball player named Rob Garnes who was named first-team All-CCIW all four years of his career, a feat so rare that you can count on the fingers of one hand the number of CCIW basketball players who've ever done it. As a sophomore Garnes decided to go out for the Carthage football team; he not only ended up as a starting WR that year, he led the league in receptions and was second in receiving yards and touchdowns and was named first-team All-CCIW, making him the only non-Wheaton CCIW male student-athlete to be named a first-teamer in two different ball sports in this century. With his speed, size (6'4, 200), hand-eye coordination, and leaping ability, he might've had a decent shot at getting invited to a combine and catching some NFL's scout eye had he stuck with football. But he was a basketball player at heart, and he abandoned the gridiron after only one season.

[sac]

Daniel Black  6-4 G/F Ann Arbor Skyline will attend Kalamazoo
http://www.hudl.com/profile/4940256/daniel-black

[sac]

Between Black, Robinson, Warners and a Hope commit who's name escapes me that's 4 pretty good athlete wings heading to the MIAA.

[GreatScot!?]

Alma senior Nick Sullivan played JV his basketball his freshman and sophomore years at Alma.  He then quit the basketball team and joined the football team where he proceeded to rush for 1728 and 21 touchdowns the past two years.

Basketball Nick:  http://almascots.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/bios/sullivan_nick_szww

Football Nick:  http://almascots.com/sports/fball/2016-17/bios/sullivan_nick_g9e8

I remember a half dozen years ago or so the Scots had Matt Brown who (if I remember correctly) was a four year starter on both the football field and basketball court.  He was a tremendous football player and I believe he was one of a few Scots in that time frame that went and played a season or two professionally overseas.  He had over 1000 receiving yards and 12 TDs as a senior as well as being amongst national leaders in punting.  I believe he was around a 20 and 10 guy his senior year in basketball once he got healthy, but I remember him missing significant time that year due to an injury from the end of football season.

Alma 5th year senior Troy Gahm also played basketball at Alma before being a star defensive lineman for the Scots and All-MIAA if I remember correctly. On top of that Alma's JV roster has had two individuals play both football and basketball in recent years, along with a student athlete now competing in track and field that played two years of JV basketball. A senior on last years team Matt Launstein also played basketball and baseball for four years at Alma as well.

[almcguirejr]

Hope 93 Olivet 88

Chad Carlson 10-17 beyond the arc!

[TUAngola]

Trine 54 Kalamazoo 50

Tape of this game needs to burned!  Thank goodness Josh Miller can't hit free throws, 1-9 on the night.  If not for that he was the only bright spot on either side tonight.  Trine goes at least 11-12 minutes in 2nd half with maybe 2 pts.  Bit them in the rear when they had a long drought at Calvin, very lucky to win tonight.  You just can't keep doing that and expect to win. 

[sac]

Hope 93  Olivet 88

Great game and great atmosphere inside Olivet's old Upton Gymnasium.  Olivet played with a ton of energy and enthusiasm drawing on a boisterous and large student section.  The Comets played a great first half and should have been leading handily if not for Hope's Chad  Carlson who nearly kept the Dutchmen in the game by himself with 7 first half 3-pointers.

Hope gained a foothold in the game late in the first half and into the 2nd half building a brief 15 point lead.  Steve Ernst received a well earned technical that really seemed to spark his guys (and that's his coaching MO btw).  Olivet needed baskets to go in on several trips down the floor and got them which extended the game and the effort from both teams.  A rare and really careless turnover in the backcourt by Hope with under a minute to play put Olivet within 3   Then a tough but correct blocking foul put Hawkins on the line for what must have been two nerve wracking FT's.  He calmly made them both.  A miss by Olivet on the next trip really ended the rally and the drama.

Both teams deserve a ton of credit for the way they played this game, Olivet for its energy, Hope for its poise and calm demeanor.  Only flinched once.

3 things were the difference in the game.
1.  Olivet out worked Hope on the glass and for loose balls a lot, they had several baskets off balls that were bouncing around the lane they picked up and laid in.  If there was one thing I was a little disappointed in Hope tonight it was their rebounding.  Maybe a second look though and its more a product of how many and where the misses for both teams were.

2.  Hope just stayed so calm throughout this game in an atmosphere I can't describe properly as difficult.  With Harrison Blackledge mostly nullified Hope had to find a lot of offense from outside the lane and they did.

3.  Chad Carlson's night swung the game to Hope.  Olivet ends up overplaying on its zone a lot and if you move the ball well you'll end up with a pretty open look and Chad got a bunch of them.  He really kept Hope in the game in the first half for a good stretch and then hit a key one late that provided separation.  10 3's breaks Hope's old record of 8.  Overall though Hope had a really nice evening behind the 3-point line everyone else not named Chad Carlson went 7-14.  They're just open.  An Olivet fan pointed out to me afterwards what a good shooters gym it really is and at least two people couldn't think of a better individual performance in that building.

Hope:  Carlson 30, Hawkins 24, Stuive 13, O'Brien 12
Olivet:  Ewing 24, Tsalkitzis 22, Washington 10, Chrzan 10


Olivet was night and day different than when I saw them a week and a half ago hosting Trine.  Different team demeanor and energy.  They have a real shot for the 4th tournament spot if they play like tonight.

Always fun to watch how teams play each other a 2nd time in different environments.  Makes basketball watching very fun.