MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[oldknight]

"It looked like a fist, I don't think it was intentional"

Blackledge nails Canonie bloody mouth video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8jXLs_Z9shM

1:23:20 mark

I can't open it up due to a private issue.  Canonie had to get stitches after the game.

I just watched the video and it shows Blackledge spun around Canonie's attempt to block out. Harrison's left elbow caught Tony flush in the face. Not a dirty play, just two competitors going at it hard. The action left me with my own bitter memory of what happened to my mug on something similar a long, long time ago.

The only scary part of being a guard trying to block out a big guy is the fact that for someone my size, a physical 6'6" player like Blackledge has elbows that just about match where my face is located during a scrum. Many years ago I caught one full in the face on a rebound. Left a badly split lip, blood everywhere and a trip to ER where I got 5 stitches. Even as I type this story, I can run my tongue along my inside upper lip and feel exactly the spot. Still hurts to think about it.

[sac]

I like to seed pods as 1, 2, 3 and 4's

I can't get Calvin into a 3 seed spot which means they are probably a 4 seed and would play a host school.  I'd actually prefer they were a 3 but that's hard to do with this years teams.   I have Marietta, Hanover, Whitewater as reachable host sites for Calvin.  One other option is Calvin playing WashU at a secondary host site like Benedictine, North Central or Hope, where WashU is the 1 seed.

Marietta should be a really high National Tournament seed, Calvin as their opponent doesn't seem weak enough, so I think Calvin's most likely options are Hanover or Whitewater.  Which would probably bump Hope to the other site.

Wooster is also in the mix as a host site and that wouldn't be a bad first round match-up either.  But when Wooster hosts they usually pull teams from NY and Pa.


*Calvin can technically get to Rochester, NY but that requires passports and two border crossings I don't know of a time when the NCAA has done this route for any sport.  I could be wrong.


Hope's destination options are the same, with the small chance of actually hosting.  Most likely Hope and Calvin go in opposite directions though that isn't necessarily something that has to happen.

But brace yourselves for the possibility of Hope and Calvin being in the same building and that same building might be in Holland.

[arena]

I like to seed pods as 1, 2, 3 and 4's

I can't get Calvin into a 3 seed spot which means they are probably a 4 seed and would play a host school.  I'd actually prefer they were a 3 but that's hard to do with this years teams.   I have Marietta, Hanover, Whitewater as reachable host sites for Calvin.  One other option is Calvin playing WashU at a secondary host site like Benedictine, North Central or Hope, where WashU is the 1 seed.

Marietta should be a really high National Tournament seed, Calvin as their opponent doesn't seem weak enough, so I think Calvin's most likely options are Hanover or Whitewater.  Which would probably bump Hope to the other site.

Wooster is also in the mix as a host site and that wouldn't be a bad first round match-up either.  But when Wooster hosts they usually pull teams from NY and Pa.


*Calvin can technically get to Rochester, NY but that requires passports and two border crossings I don't know of a time when the NCAA has done this route for any sport.  I could be wrong.


Hope's destination options are the same, with the small chance of actually hosting.  Most likely Hope and Calvin go in opposite directions though that isn't necessarily something that has to happen.

But brace yourselves for the possibility of Hope and Calvin being in the same building and that same building might be in Holland.

assuming Hope gets in.

[sac]

I like to seed pods as 1, 2, 3 and 4's

I can't get Calvin into a 3 seed spot which means they are probably a 4 seed and would play a host school.  I'd actually prefer they were a 3 but that's hard to do with this years teams.   I have Marietta, Hanover, Whitewater as reachable host sites for Calvin.  One other option is Calvin playing WashU at a secondary host site like Benedictine, North Central or Hope, where WashU is the 1 seed.

Marietta should be a really high National Tournament seed, Calvin as their opponent doesn't seem weak enough, so I think Calvin's most likely options are Hanover or Whitewater.  Which would probably bump Hope to the other site.

Wooster is also in the mix as a host site and that wouldn't be a bad first round match-up either.  But when Wooster hosts they usually pull teams from NY and Pa.


*Calvin can technically get to Rochester, NY but that requires passports and two border crossings I don't know of a time when the NCAA has done this route for any sport.  I could be wrong.


Hope's destination options are the same, with the small chance of actually hosting.  Most likely Hope and Calvin go in opposite directions though that isn't necessarily something that has to happen.

But brace yourselves for the possibility of Hope and Calvin being in the same building and that same building might be in Holland.

assuming Hope gets in.

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.7110

[knightvision]

Production of the Calvin/Hope game was pretty good. Kudos to whomever is running that Deparment.

I agree. The video quality is excellent, multiple camera angles, replays, and what the announcers lack in polish they make up for in enthusiasm.   

Regarding the Blackledge/Canonie exchange, it is a discussion board, and was raised in a very neutral manner.   Reeelaaaaax.....

Speaking of the video/multiple camera angles, the video feed extended for several minutes after the game was over, and captured what appeared to be a well controlled court storming by the Calvin students (kudos to Hope and whoever managed this)....and a camera angle that showed Blackledge with his back pointedly turned to the Calvin celebration while his Hope teammates looked on very disappointed but respectful.  Having been in his shoes in both high school and college, I have had my head down in tears, had to watch others celebrate, and it is no fun at all.  But I really hope that after the video cut out he turned around....he is too fine a player and competitor for this to happen.   

Regarding who hosts and where Calvin and Hope end up, KVS in his post game radio interview specifically noted that Wash U women would probably be hosting and specifically mentioned that Hope men could very well be a first round host... 

[arena]

I like to seed pods as 1, 2, 3 and 4's

I can't get Calvin into a 3 seed spot which means they are probably a 4 seed and would play a host school.  I'd actually prefer they were a 3 but that's hard to do with this years teams.   I have Marietta, Hanover, Whitewater as reachable host sites for Calvin.  One other option is Calvin playing WashU at a secondary host site like Benedictine, North Central or Hope, where WashU is the 1 seed.

Marietta should be a really high National Tournament seed, Calvin as their opponent doesn't seem weak enough, so I think Calvin's most likely options are Hanover or Whitewater.  Which would probably bump Hope to the other site.

Wooster is also in the mix as a host site and that wouldn't be a bad first round match-up either.  But when Wooster hosts they usually pull teams from NY and Pa.


*Calvin can technically get to Rochester, NY but that requires passports and two border crossings I don't know of a time when the NCAA has done this route for any sport.  I could be wrong.


Hope's destination options are the same, with the small chance of actually hosting.  Most likely Hope and Calvin go in opposite directions though that isn't necessarily something that has to happen.

But brace yourselves for the possibility of Hope and Calvin being in the same building and that same building might be in Holland.

assuming Hope gets in.

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.7110

forgot the smiley face.  I expect Hope to get in

[HopeConvert]

Hope has three first-team all league players, and one second-team. Calvin has no first-team players and one second-team. Yet Calvin, a team that a week and a half ago Hope fans would likely have unanimously denounced as inferior to their own, has beaten Hope twice in the past week on Hope's home floor. Am I the only Hope fan who finds this concerning? I think the situation requires more analysis than "that was a good game." So what are the possibilities? Here are a few that come to mind:

• Hope simply isn't as good as we thought.
• Calvin's coaching staff ran circles around Hope's coaching staff.
• Hope's lack of depth was exposed.
• Calvin fans have referred to their team's "toughness" and "resiliency." Is this an implicit criticism of Hope?
• Hope simply doesn't match-up well against Calvin.
• Calvin is doing a better job developing over the course of the season.

It's entirely possible I'm missing something. Also possible it's a combination of these things. A neutral observer I talked to, who knows basketball well, said to me "they flat-out outplayed Hope." As I said: this concerns me.

[Gregory Sager]

I agree with others that this was a terrific game, almost a renewal of the great Rivalry games from the past. Wonderful atmosphere with both teams competing hard and--for the most part--quite well. Some games your opponent gives you the win and some games you just snatch it away. Tonight was the latter for Calvin who looked to me to just have a little more gas in the tank down the stretch. Outstanding clutch free throw shooting with the Knights going 18-19 the second 20 minutes. After getting outboarded the first half, Calvin dominated the paint in the second, including 10 offensive boards after the break. Other game notes:

--You won't see Cam Denney play under control for a full game very often but he did tonight. A very quiet and efficient 21 points, 8 points and 4 assists with few mistakes. His well timed, under control, step-in three ball with 2:30 left was the biggest shot of the game and created about as loud a roar from a Calvin crowd as you will ever hear at DeVos.

--Blackledge is a load to guard but it seemed Hope struggled even more with Welch who was money down the stretch in a pressure packed game.

--Dante Hawkins is a warrior, playing the full 40, but I thought he tired late. Siegel, who was sick yesterday also looked tired but Mike did hit an important second half triple.

--Tony DeWitte was also quietly efficient, getting a patient 14 points and grabbing five important rebounds.

--Not a lot of mistakes by either team. Calvin with 8 turnovers and Hope just 7. Quite a contrast from last Saturday's game.

--I'll leave it to goodknight to remind Calvin fans of Bosko's prescient comment in December.

When Calvin defeated Carthage early in the season, the longtime CCIW coach, Bosko Djurickovic, gave a shockingly positive endorsement of the Calvin team, which had started the non-conference portion of the schedule poorly.  In his post-game interview, Bosko asserted, "Calvin is a good team.  They will finish with 17, 18, 19 wins." Calvin fans might have thought Bosco was already deep into the flask of Slivovitz on that late November evening, but he evidently saw something that escaped most of the rest of us.

Speaking of Bosko's shrewdness, I just posted this on CCIW Chat:

I think Bosko is an idiot and the politics that got IWU moved down the regional rankings is a farce.

That's more than a little harsh, USee. Bosko Djurickovic is many things, but "idiot" is not one of them. Idiots don't win two national championships or reach the Final Four from two different schools.

(Bosko said on Friday night after Carthage lost that it would "set a bad precedent" if Illinois Wesleyan got a Pool C berth without having even qualified for the CCIW tournament, a remark that has certainly added to the controversy.)

[MaroonKnighty]

Great win for the Knights last night.  Kudos to the student section for not storming the court.

[KnightSlappy]

Great win for the Knights last night.  Kudos to the student section for not storming the court.

They did, just after the teams finished shaking hands and the Hope team had left the court.

[wiz]

Great win for the Knights last night.  Kudos to the student section for not storming the court.

They did, just after the teams finished shaking hands and the Hope team had left the court.

They went on the court only after very respectfully first checking to make sure no distraught Hope players were lying on the court pounding a fist into the floor. 

[pointlem]

a camera angle that showed Blackledge with his back pointedly turned to the Calvin celebration while his Hope teammates looked on very disappointed but respectful.  Having been in his shoes in both high school and college, I have had my head down in tears, had to watch others celebrate, and it is no fun at all.  But I really hope that after the video cut out he turned around....he is too fine a player and competitor for this to happen.   

Harrison Blackledge was visibly grieving--not what he'd worked and hoped for--but certainly not dissing the Calvin celebration. As you observed, he's much too fine a player (and person) for that.

And kudos to the Calvin students for allowing the coaches and teams to complete their post-game congrats before their well-deserved storming of the floor. From my perspective, the whole evening was spirited yet class-act sportsmanship from coaches, fans, and players of both sides. And that's why I could walk out last evening feeling disappointed yet also thinking that these student athletes and their mentors had treated us to college sport at its best.

[sac]

For potential Hope opponents its really location dependent with some pretty far-fetched ideas.  I'm disregarding seeding right now, and probably leaving off some schools from out East.  These are my own ideas on who might be hosting.  Calvin can go to all of these locations as well, likely against the host school except at Hope.  Seeding among the Great Lakes/Central and West Regions is a real bear, with some really tough first round match-ups likely between tradition rich schools.

Probably an incomplete list given my head cold. 

At Whitewater  same at Benedictine or North Central
Wartburg
Ripon
Bethel
North Central
Benedictine
Augustana
Mt. St. Joseph
Eau Claire
Wooster
Thomas More (likely paired with a host)
Northwestern, Mn  (likely paired with a host)
Westminster  (likely paired with a host)
St. Thomas   (cannot safely eliminate from  C)
Ill. Wesleyan  (cannot safely eliminate IWU yet)
Washington U  (Hope's not playing WashU in round 1 unless they do it wrong)


at Hope
Wartburg
Ripon
North Central
Benedictine
Augustana
Mt. St. Joseph
Eau Claire
Wooster
Thomas More (likely paired with host)
Westminster  (likely paired with host)
Ill. Wesleyan  (cannot safely eliminate IWU yet)
St. Thomas   (cannot safely eliminate from  C)
Washington U  (Hope's not playing WashU in round 1 unless they do it wrong)
Medaille

at Hanover
Ripon
North Central
Benedictine
Augustana
Mt. St. Joseph
Wooster
Thomas More (likely paired with a host)
Westminster  (likely paired with a host)
Ill. Wesleyan  (cannot safely eliminate IWU yet)
Washington U  (Hope's not playing WashU in round 1 unless they do it wrong)
Rhodes
Emory

at Wooster
North Central
Benedictine
Augustana
Mt. St. Joseph
Wooster
Thomas More (likely paired with a host)
Ill. Wesleyan  (I cannot safely eliminate IWU yet)
Emory
Medaille
Guilford
a whole bunch of Eastern schools

at Marietta
North Central
Benedictine
Mt. St. Joseph
Wooster
Thomas More (likely paired with a host)
Ill. Wesleyan  (I cannot safely eliminate IWU yet)
Emory
Medaille
Guilford
a whole bunch of Eastern schools

[KnightSlappy]

Calvin and Hope will not be sent to the same pod. They don't put two teams from the same conference in the same pod anymore unless geography demands it (and it won't in this case). And, being the national committee chair, KVS would probably threaten to fight any committee members who tried to pair them together.

[sac]

For potential Hope opponents its really location dependent with some pretty far-fetched ideas.  I'm disregarding seeding right now, and probably leaving off some schools from out East.  These are my own ideas on who might be hosting.  Calvin can go to all of these locations as well, likely against the host school except at Hope.  Seeding among the Great Lakes/Central and West Regions is a real bear, with some really tough first round match-ups likely between tradition rich schools.

Probably an incomplete list given my head cold. 

At Whitewater  same at Benedictine or North Central
Wartburg
Ripon
Bethel
North Central
Benedictine
Augustana
Mt. St. Joseph
Eau Claire
Wooster
Thomas More (likely paired with a host)
Northwestern, Mn  (likely paired with a host)
Westminster  (likely paired with a host)
St. Thomas   (cannot safely eliminate from  C)
Ill. Wesleyan  (cannot safely eliminate IWU yet)
Washington U  (Hope's not playing WashU in round 1 unless they do it wrong)


at Hope
Wartburg
Ripon
North Central
Benedictine
Augustana
Mt. St. Joseph
Eau Claire
Wooster
Thomas More (likely paired with host)
Westminster  (likely paired with host)
Ill. Wesleyan  (cannot safely eliminate IWU yet)
St. Thomas   (cannot safely eliminate from  C)
Washington U  (Hope's not playing WashU in round 1 unless they do it wrong)
Medaille

at Hanover
Ripon
North Central
Benedictine
Augustana
Mt. St. Joseph
Wooster
Thomas More (likely paired with a host)
Westminster  (likely paired with a host)
Ill. Wesleyan  (cannot safely eliminate IWU yet)
Washington U  (Hope's not playing WashU in round 1 unless they do it wrong)
Rhodes
Emory

at Wooster
North Central
Benedictine
Augustana
Mt. St. Joseph
Wooster
Thomas More (likely paired with a host)
Ill. Wesleyan  (I cannot safely eliminate IWU yet)
Emory
Medaille
Guilford
a whole bunch of Eastern schools

at Marietta
North Central
Benedictine
Mt. St. Joseph
Wooster
Thomas More (likely paired with a host)
Ill. Wesleyan  (I cannot safely eliminate IWU yet)
Emory
Medaille
Guilford
a whole bunch of Eastern schools

So apparently some people in the outside world are taking my having Hope host a pod as gospel, it is merely an option of several available to fix the problem of Washington Univ not being able to host on the mens side.

The only 4 in this half of the country I'm confident will host are
Whitman
River Falls
Marietta
Hanover

...but you need more than those 4.