MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[wiz]

Anyone know why Calvin scheduled Carthage for 5:00pm this Saturday.  No one will attend.  Exams will be over and students gone home.  Alumni will be at Russ' for the early bird special.

[KnightSlappy]

Anyone know why Calvin scheduled Carthage for 5:00pm this Saturday.  No one will attend.  Exams will be over and students gone home.  Alumni will be at Russ' for the early bird special.

The alumni who are wont to dine at Russ' are not the type of fans who make any noise anyway.

[sac]

Carthage plays in Miami on Monday the odd start time might be travel related.

[GreatScot!?]

Anyone know why Calvin scheduled Carthage for 5:00pm this Saturday.  No one will attend.  Exams will be over and students gone home.  Alumni will be at Russ' for the early bird special.

The alumni who are wont to dine at Russ' are not the type of fans who make any noise anyway.

Alma is going to probably have the same problem tonight, but that's just how it works with all the games this weekend. All the students are going to be home for the holidays. Alma doesn't quite have the alumni early bird special problem though

[wiz]

Anyone know why Calvin scheduled Carthage for 5:00pm this Saturday.  No one will attend.  Exams will be over and students gone home.  Alumni will be at Russ' for the early bird special.

The alumni who are wont to dine at Russ' are not the type of fans who make any noise anyway.

That explains it!  Must have been all Russ' diners in the arena last week when UW-Oshkosh came to town.

[CK150408]

Anyone know why Calvin scheduled Carthage for 5:00pm this Saturday.  No one will attend.  Exams will be over and students gone home.  Alumni will be at Russ' for the early bird special.

The time on this Saturday won't matter, once exams are done most students are gone whether is a noon start or 5.

On another note, any word from insiders on Wilks' status or progress on Dewitt's injury?

[maroonandgold]

It is really difficult to get any good idea of how the MIAA teams will stack up this year.  Last night Alma, the early favorite of the coaches for second place, lost again, putting their record at 1-5(?).    Not only is their record quite poor, but the team they lost against does not appear to be that strong, and Alma only shot 32% over all and 22% on three-pointers.  Adrian, which was not highly rated, won again, though against a team that appears very weak.  But they have defeated some strong teams, too.  What I do like about the way things have gone so far is that the competition should really be wide open.  Calvin and Hope both have losing records, but the teams they have been playing have been really good in many cases.  Kalamazoo has a winning record against weaker competition.  If anyone feels they have a good handle on how the teams compare at this point, I would really love to see a prediction.

[shknowsbest]

I think the miaa is wide open this year.  Calvin has only 3 home games in their 1st 14 games this year.  Tough Schedule.

[KnightSlappy]

It is really difficult to get any good idea of how the MIAA teams will stack up this year.  Last night Alma, the early favorite of the coaches for second place, lost again, putting their record at 1-5(?).    Not only is their record quite poor, but the team they lost against does not appear to be that strong, and Alma only shot 32% over all and 22% on three-pointers.  Adrian, which was not highly rated, won again, though against a team that appears very weak.  But they have defeated some strong teams, too.  What I do like about the way things have gone so far is that the competition should really be wide open.  Calvin and Hope both have losing records, but the teams they have been playing have been really good in many cases.  Kalamazoo has a winning record against weaker competition.  If anyone feels they have a good handle on how the teams compare at this point, I would really love to see a prediction.

Alma's schedule has possibly been the most difficult in Division 3. Their record is poor, but I my efficient numbers think they're a slight above-average D3 squad. In fact, I have 6 of the 8 MIAA teams being average or better, but none are close to elite (Hope is my top team at 88th overall). Only Albion and Kalamazoo look to be sub-par at this point.

[KnightSlappy]

Michael Wilks is in street clothes again tonight.

[sac]

Olivet 117  St. Mary's(Md) 111   3OT's

Olivet lost the lead in regulation and first OT at the horn, missed a shot to win in 2OT before finally pulling it out in the 3rd.

Adams 38, Edmond 38, Washington 17, Carlton 11

[Gregory Sager]

Last night Alma, the early favorite of the coaches for second place, lost again, putting their record at 1-5(?).    Not only is their record quite poor, but the team they lost against does not appear to be that strong

Paging AndOne, paging AndOne, please pick up the white courtesy phone ...

[sac]

Last night Alma, the early favorite of the coaches for second place, lost again, putting their record at 1-5(?).    Not only is their record quite poor, but the team they lost against does not appear to be that strong

Paging AndOne, paging AndOne, please pick up the white courtesy phone ...

North Central could probably win this years MIAA, and I'm not even sure it would be real close.

[oldknight]

Calvin suffers a disappointing 79-74 loss to a superb, 8th ranked, UW-Oshkosh quintet in a game highly reminiscent of the Knight loss at Aquinas. In both games, Calvin played the first 35 minutes quite well, leading almost the entire way, only to lose it down the stretch as the Knights couldn't execute their offense when they really needed to do so. Hopefully, this won't be a recurring theme this season.

Well, right now, it is. For the third time this season, Calvin coughed up a lead the final five minutes (actually less than four minutes this time, so maybe they're showing us progress in small increments). Fortunately, the Knights built a lead just large enough (9 points) to withstand a poor offensive showing down the stretch. That nine point margin occurred when Austin Bykerk, who had his best all-around game as a Knight, baited Carthage player Jordan Vedder with a side comment after Vedder's hard foul with 3:48 left in regulation and the Knights nursing a 66-61 advantage. Would love to know what Austin said but whatever it was (presumably Christmas greetings were not conveyed), Vedder took exception, shoving Bykerk resulting in a technical foul and four free throws for the home team, all of which were made to give Calvin a seemingly safe 70-61 lead. I remarked to another fan how I was interested in seeing if the Knights would protect their lead down the stretch of this game better than the earlier disappointments we saw. They didn't, a collapse fueled by a combination of poor decision making and missed shots. The Knights were fortunate to get to overtime when Brad Kruse saw his runner in the lane fall short at the end of regulation. Calvin wouldn't score from the 3:48 mark of regulation until 4:02 was left in overtime, yet scrambled back into the game, seemingly more comfortable playing from behind than with the lead. That's not a good bad habit to develop. I think Calvin has reasonably good talent, but you can't be a good team that beats other good teams if you don't know how to hold a lead at the end of games. Right now, no one seems comfortable taking charge in that situation. My hope is that Luke Morrison will develop into that guy. I sense that Bosko is building a good club with the roster he has, a roster than includes at ton of size, led by that mountain of a man, Brad Perry at 6'11", 285. This kid is a load and if he learns to pass the ball just a little bit out of the post, Carthage will be all the better for it. Other game notes:

--I talked to Michael Wilks' father and it's only been the last two days that Michael has felt normal since his collision in the Martin Luther game over two weeks ago. Michael is a very smart kid but this week's exams were . . . a challenge for him.

--Despite being outsized by at least two players on the Carthage roster, Austin Bykerk came up with a terrific game when his team really needed him to show some grit, and the Unity Christian product responded. Bykerk led the Knights with 19 points, 9 boards and 3 blocks.

--For the second straight game, Derrick DeVries gave Calvin a real offensive lift in Wilks' absence, scoring 18 on the strength of 3-3 from the arc. Once teams realize that despite Derrick's size, he's really more of a perimeter player, opposing defenses tend to adjust and he finds the going harder as the game progresses. He's really good at extending the floor for Calvin's offense though.

--Tony Canonie continues to be a warrior, logging 40 minutes, hounding Derek Mason into a 6-18 shooting night. and adding 10 points and 7 assists. The normally sure-handed young man from South Haven did make 5 turnovers though, which is very unusual for him, including a couple late in regulation which really hurt.

[AndOne]

Last night Alma, the early favorite of the coaches for second place, lost again, putting their record at 1-5(?).    Not only is their record quite poor, but the team they lost against does not appear to be that strong

Paging AndOne, paging AndOne, please pick up the white courtesy phone ...

North Central could probably win this years MIAA, and I'm not even sure it would be real close.

Multiple choice..........
The above is an insult to
A) The MIAA?
B) NCC?
C) Both?