MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[SBell]

http://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2017-18/preseason

Hope's the only MIAA to garner any votes, and they probably shouldn't have.  I'm not sure any MIAA is deserving of a vote, except maybe one but they haven't proven anything yet.

Despite not having a  legit top 25 team right now I expect this to be a very competitive and interesting season with as many as 6 schools really battling it out for a playoff spot, and probably 3 maybe 4 having a realistic shot at winning the league outright.

Is this a team that hasn't released their roster yet or a team that has?

Olivet roster? http://www.olivetcomets.com/sports/mbkb/2017-18/roster . . . with one frosh, one soph, and all the rest juniors and seniors

No Trevor Manuel? That didn't take long.

According to verbalcommits.com, Manuel's status is undecided. His previous college is listed as Olivet:

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/trevor-manuel

He's enrolled, on team, sitting out season.

[sac]

I can't fault the resourcefulness but the school didn't want that roster posted until Monday.  We've probably all used that backdoor on occasion.  Just FYI   

[KnightSlappy]

http://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2017-18/preseason

Hope's the only MIAA to garner any votes, and they probably shouldn't have.  I'm not sure any MIAA is deserving of a vote, except maybe one but they haven't proven anything yet.

Despite not having a  legit top 25 team right now I expect this to be a very competitive and interesting season with as many as 6 schools really battling it out for a playoff spot, and probably 3 maybe 4 having a realistic shot at winning the league outright.

Is this a team that hasn't released their roster yet or a team that has?

Olivet roster? http://www.olivetcomets.com/sports/mbkb/2017-18/roster . . . with one frosh, one soph, and all the rest juniors and seniors

No Trevor Manuel? That didn't take long.

According to verbalcommits.com, Manuel's status is undecided. His previous college is listed as Olivet:

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/trevor-manuel

He's enrolled, on team, sitting out season.

If this is the case, I believe he is allowed to practice with the team until their first game while maintaining his season of eligibility.

[SBell]

Should've said "with team," will be listed as manager or something.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Quick comparison of what teams have back from last season for a few key stats (% of retuning output from last season):

Team	Returning players	Minutes	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks
Adrian	4	0.379	0.361	0.348	0.478	0.376	0.226
Albion	11	0.611	0.611	0.556	0.542	0.614	0.508
Alma	13	0.731	0.704	0.659	0.768	0.735	0.755
Calvin	8	0.499	0.459	0.316	0.415	0.556	0.638
Hope	7	0.359	0.339	0.311	0.397	0.308	0.416
Kalamazoo	8	0.362	0.295	0.247	0.32	0.339	0.416
Olivet	4	0.165	0.202	0.103	0.065	0.148	0.117
Trine	5	0.262	0.291	0.292	0.197	0.222	0.265

Alma with a pretty solid lead across the board - plus they have Doug Bradfield returning. 

[sac]

bump

Exhibitions:


Nov. 4  Trine at Toledo 2:30
Nov. 4  Calvin at Trinity Christian  5pm
Nov. 4  Kalamazoo at Western Michigan 2pm
Nov. 11  Grace Bible at Calvin  7:30pm
Nov. 14  Olivet at Grand Valley St  7pm
Nov. 15  Olivet at Saginaw Valley St.  7pm

[sac]

Looking through Olivet's roster and summer "commitments".  Olivet had 14 transfer commits which included the late arrival of 4 Marygrove players.  Out of those 14, 5 are not on the roster:

Will Robertson
Michael Fomby
Dee Roberts
Keidron McCallister
Trevor Manuel

Quick comparison of what teams have back from last season for a few key stats (% of retuning output from last season):

Team	Returning players	Minutes	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks
Adrian	4	0.379	0.361	0.348	0.478	0.376	0.226
Albion	11	0.611	0.611	0.556	0.542	0.614	0.508
Alma	13	0.731	0.704	0.659	0.768	0.735	0.755
Calvin	8	0.499	0.459	0.316	0.415	0.556	0.638
Hope	7	0.359	0.339	0.311	0.397	0.308	0.416
Kalamazoo	8	0.362	0.295	0.247	0.32	0.339	0.416
Olivet	4	0.165	0.202	0.103	0.065	0.148	0.117
Trine	5	0.262	0.291	0.292	0.197	0.222	0.265

Imagine what Olivet's numbers would look like without the return of starter Aaron Washington who was granted a 5th year through injury.

[KnightSlappy]

bump

Exhibitions:


Nov. 4  Trine at Toledo 2:30
Nov. 4  Calvin at Trinity Christian  5pm
Nov. 4  Kalamazoo at Western Michigan 2pm
Nov. 11  Grace Bible at Calvin  7:30pm
Nov. 14  Olivet at Grand Valley St  7pm
Nov. 15  Olivet at Saginaw Valley St.  7pm

FWIW, Calvin's game today is at 4pm ET

This might be a real game for Trinity Christian. Never can tell with these things.

[Young Knight 14]

bump

Exhibitions:


Nov. 4  Trine at Toledo 2:30
Nov. 4  Calvin at Trinity Christian  5pm
Nov. 4  Kalamazoo at Western Michigan 2pm
Nov. 11  Grace Bible at Calvin  7:30pm
Nov. 14  Olivet at Grand Valley St  7pm
Nov. 15  Olivet at Saginaw Valley St.  7pm

FWIW, Calvin's game today is at 4pm ET

This might be a real game for Trinity Christian. Never can tell with these things.

I've been told it is a real game for Trinity.
35-22 at the half Trinity in the lead.

[TUAngola]

Exhibition Final:  Toledo Rockets 116 Trine Thunder 59

Not a good looking box on either side of the ball...got outrebounded 39-19...got outshot 66% to 35%...got outshot from 3pt 50% to 16%.  Lone bright spot was play of Myles Copeland, 21 pts.  Both of the Smith boys started, Joe with 9 pts, Pete with 7pts.  Awful first half, down 56-18, better second half 60-41.  Lots of work to do on "D". 

Interesting home schedule for Trine men and women this year.  I was uploading a composite calendar and notice the Men have 6 of their 7 conference home games on Wednesday nights and the Women have 7 of their 8 conference home games on Saturdays.  Tough for all the out of town parents, alumni and fans to make Wednesday night games every week, will be lots of work schedule adjustments.  Seems like their should be more balance between Wednesday and Saturdays.  Strange. 

[oldknight]

Playing the role of a good guest, Calvin managed to make a rather middlin' Trinity Christian team look good. In the only other good news of the afternoon, Michael Wilks can still score, finishing the night with 23.

Calvin lost the game in the first half, and was honestly lucky to only be down 13 at the break. After a decent opening 5 minutes of the game, the Knights looked truly horrific the balance of the half, committing a mindboggling 13 turnovers the first 20 minutes. The majority of the miscues occurred the last 5+ minutes when Calvin looked like a team that had not yet started practice. I don't think anyone other than Wilks scored a point for Calvin the last 12 minutes of the first half. Tony DeWitte had a miserable game and was benched for Amoros the second frame, even though Carlos had done nothing to distinguish himself. The second 20 minutes, Wilks finally found a second player to help score, as Derrick DeVries--held scoreless the first half--put up 10 points in the second, hitting a couple of big baskets to help close the gap. Calvin tied the game a couple of times in the closing minutes but never led. If Wilks could have managed to drop his wide-open, step-in three pointer when the game was tied at 60, the final minutes would likely have played out very differently. But alas, it just wouldn't go down. Other game notes:

--Calvin's miserable shooting from the arc continues, as they hit only 6-27 in Palos Heights. After two games, the Knights are 10-55 on threes. Yikes!

--After a poor shooting first half, DeVries managed to finish the game with a double-double, getting 10 points and 13 boards.

--Interesting to see that of the two Morrison brothers, the freshman (Luke) got more minutes than his older brother (Tom) for the second straight game. While Luke didn't shoot all that well (1-5) he definitely didn't look lost out there and I'm thinking he might wind up in the first rotation all season.

--I had been told that Austin Bykerk had bulked up in the off-season and that is most definitely true. He looks 15-20 pounds heavier than last year.

--I was surprised to see Wilks get pulled with just over a minute left and Morrison making two free throws to cut the Trinity lead one point. Seemed like a strange time to pull the man who is easily your best scorer so I'm wondering if he got injured.

--Calvin isn't a very good defensive team.

[maroonandgold]

Playing the role of a good guest, Calvin managed to make a rather middlin' Trinity Christian team look good. In the only other good news of the afternoon, Michael Wilks can still score, finishing the night with 23.

Calvin lost the game in the first half, and was honestly lucky to only be down 13 at the break. After a decent opening 5 minutes of the game, the Knights looked truly horrific the balance of the half, committing a mindboggling 13 turnovers the first 20 minutes. The majority of the miscues occurred the last 5+ minutes when Calvin looked like a team that had not yet started practice. I don't think anyone other than Wilks scored a point for Calvin the last 12 minutes of the first half. Tony DeWitte had a miserable game and was benched for Amoros the second frame, even though Carlos had done nothing to distinguish himself. The second 20 minutes, Wilks finally found a second player to help score, as Derrick DeVries--held scoreless the first half--put up 10 points in the second, hitting a couple of big baskets to help close the gap. Calvin tied the game a couple of times in the closing minutes but never led. If Wilks could have managed to drop his wide-open, step-in three pointer when the game was tied at 60, the final minutes would likely have played out very differently. But alas, it just wouldn't go down. Other game notes:

--Calvin's miserable shooting from the arc continues, as they hit only 6-27 in Palos Heights. After two games, the Knights are 10-55 on threes. Yikes!

--After a poor shooting first half, DeVries managed to finish the game with a double-double, getting 10 points and 13 boards.

--Interesting to see that of the two Morrison brothers, the freshman (Luke) got more minutes than his older brother (Tom) for the second straight game. While Luke didn't shoot all that well (1-5) he definitely didn't look lost out there and I'm thinking he might wind up in the first rotation all season.

--I had been told that Austin Bykerk had bulked up in the off-season and that is most definitely true. He looks 15-20 pounds heavier than last year.

--I was surprised to see Wilks get pulled with just over a minute left and Morrison making two free throws to cut the Trinity lead one point. Seemed like a strange time to pull the man who is easily your best scorer so I'm wondering if he got injured.

--Calvin isn't a very good defensive team.

Looking the box score, I saw a couple of items of interest.  David Rinke has not been on the floor yet this year even when all the others listed got a look in the first exhibition game.  Is he healthy and in uniform?   I noticed that Chad Symanski has been in both games.  He look to be a terrific 3 point shooter in high school.  Is his overall game enough to give him more playing time?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Anyone know anything about Alma's exhibition with Northern Michigan last night.  I'm curious about how it went.

[KnightSlappy]

Playing the role of a good guest, Calvin managed to make a rather middlin' Trinity Christian team look good. In the only other good news of the afternoon, Michael Wilks can still score, finishing the night with 23.

Calvin lost the game in the first half, and was honestly lucky to only be down 13 at the break. After a decent opening 5 minutes of the game, the Knights looked truly horrific the balance of the half, committing a mindboggling 13 turnovers the first 20 minutes. The majority of the miscues occurred the last 5+ minutes when Calvin looked like a team that had not yet started practice. I don't think anyone other than Wilks scored a point for Calvin the last 12 minutes of the first half. Tony DeWitte had a miserable game and was benched for Amoros the second frame, even though Carlos had done nothing to distinguish himself. The second 20 minutes, Wilks finally found a second player to help score, as Derrick DeVries--held scoreless the first half--put up 10 points in the second, hitting a couple of big baskets to help close the gap. Calvin tied the game a couple of times in the closing minutes but never led. If Wilks could have managed to drop his wide-open, step-in three pointer when the game was tied at 60, the final minutes would likely have played out very differently. But alas, it just wouldn't go down. Other game notes:

--Calvin's miserable shooting from the arc continues, as they hit only 6-27 in Palos Heights. After two games, the Knights are 10-55 on threes. Yikes!

--After a poor shooting first half, DeVries managed to finish the game with a double-double, getting 10 points and 13 boards.

--Interesting to see that of the two Morrison brothers, the freshman (Luke) got more minutes than his older brother (Tom) for the second straight game. While Luke didn't shoot all that well (1-5) he definitely didn't look lost out there and I'm thinking he might wind up in the first rotation all season.

--I had been told that Austin Bykerk had bulked up in the off-season and that is most definitely true. He looks 15-20 pounds heavier than last year.

--I was surprised to see Wilks get pulled with just over a minute left and Morrison making two free throws to cut the Trinity lead one point. Seemed like a strange time to pull the man who is easily your best scorer so I'm wondering if he got injured.

--Calvin isn't a very good defensive team.

Looking the box score, I saw a couple of items of interest.  David Rinke has not been on the floor yet this year even when all the others listed got a look in the first exhibition game.  Is he healthy and in uniform?   I noticed that Chad Symanski has been in both games.  He look to be a terrific 3 point shooter in high school.  Is his overall game enough to give him more playing time?

I'm not sure if Rinke is fully healthy. The team had an intrasquad scrimmage last weekend and he participated in some non-contact drills but didn't play in any of the "game" portions.

[oldknight]

Interesting story about the DIII Player of the Decade (the 90's), and his upset of former Fab Fiver, Chris Webber. Tip of the cap to goodknight for noting this for me:

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/jeff-seidel/2017/11/05/steve-hondered-calvin-college-fab-five-chris-webber-after-the-magic/827671001/