MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Goknights2017]

Great win for the knights tonight without DeVries. It was nearly the perfect results tonight. Alma beats Olivet but Kzoo falls to Albion after leading late.

[Young Knight 14]

Calvin gets the win over Trine 81-76 despite DeVries in street clothes and Shymanski having a less than stellar game. DeWitte picked up the slack dropping 29 while shooting 7-9 from deep. It's been said before and will be said again, Carson Meulenberg is a heck of an athlete. Dare I say his blocks are actually more exciting than his dunks He really makes this team fun to watch. Now winners of four straight games Calvin has to be the hottest team in the league and seems to be headed in the right direction for tournament time.

[KnightSlappy]

Where is DeVries tonight?4:

I heard he was dealing with an illness.

[KnightSlappy]

Tonight should have clinched an MIAA Tournament berth for Calvin with 7 wins. Adrian is obviously out of the picture and Kalamazoo can only get to 6 wins at this point.

The end result of the home game vs. Alma is still looming large for the Knights. Had they won that game they would be in control of their own destiny for at least a share of the MIAA title.

[sac]

5 more player technical fouls tonight and one really weak coaches warning, at least.  Every little smirk being watched like a hawk.  Word is out, MIAA players need to shut their mouths, quit trying to be tough guys and play basketball.

Another berating of a player with foul language by a coach for all to hear.  Where the heck are the AD's?

[sac]

Hope 71 Adrian 62 F

Hope grinds out the tough midweek trip to Adrian, one neither school ever relishes.  Third game in 5 nights, maybe some weak legs showing up a little late too.  Hope led this one pretty much all the way, Adrian had a couple nice bursts of plays late first half and again late'ish but Hope did a decent job closing this one out.  J. Beckman had a great 2nd half, hit a few clutch shots late to keep the margin at 9 or so.

Shooting from deep was a challenge tonight, Hope only managed to make 5-21, Adrian was just downright pathetic at 3-24 but at one point I think it was at least 1-15. Harris hit a couple back-to-back late in the 2nd that gave a glimmer of hope but it never materialized as they missed every one after.   No idea where Adrian would have been tonight without Harris.

Hope:  Beckman 23, Towns 13   ---Hope got some bench points tonight.
Adrian:   Harris 27, Kalonji 11, Heard 10



Three technicals in this game.  Double tech on what was really just a jump ball fight.  I was blocked a bit but it seemed a little harsh on both guys.  I don't think either guy was even part of the fight for the ball, I know Granger wasn't seems like it was Heard and Ray that tied up.  Technical on Harris was sort of funny.  Harris committed a foul at mid court, obviously disagreed with it and as the official turns to the table Harris slams the ball down but not in a way that I would deem necessary of a technical.  Without even seeing it ref turns and gives a T.  Magic words?  I don't know, but sort of funny.

Coach Mitch got a bench warning for arguing for a foul a little too vociferously.  In my view super thin skinned referee.  Coach Mitch was right btw.

[sac]

tonights's results
Hope 71  Adrian 62
Calvin 81 Trine 76
Albion 65  Kzoo 62
Alma 78  Olivet 69 OT


5 player technical fouls tonight, that's 8 since Saturday's near brawl at Kzoo/Olivet.


Standings with +/-    (+1 for road win, -1 for home loss) w/remaining games

Albion    9-2      +3      (@Trn, @Cal, HPE)
Trine      8-3      +3     ( ALB, @Kzo, ALM)
Olivet     7-4      +1     (@Adr, @Hpe, CAL)
Calvin    7-4       +1     (@Kzo, ALB, @Oli)
Hope      6-5        +1     (ALM, OLI, @Alb)
-------------------------------------------------
Alma      4-7       -2      (@Hpe, ADR, @Trn)
Kzoo      3-8        -2     (CAL, TRN, @Adr)
Adrian    0-11     -4      (OLI, @Alm,  KZO)---Eliminated

Albion, Trine already in, Olivet, Calvin both clinched tonight. 

I think Hope clinched a spot tonight by virtue of their two wins over Kzoo.  Kzoo can't win a tie-break with Hope or a 3-way tie-break with Hope and Alma.  Hope has 3 wins in that grouping with 1 more game to play vs Alma.    Both Alma and Kzoo have one win in that 3-way, Alma with 1 more to play vs Hope.    I don't know how Alma/Kzoo would be broken.

Albion can clinch a share of the MIAA Championship with a win at Trine Saturday.  Will get super fun if Trine wins.....and check out Albion's schedule next week @Calvin, Hope.

The other seeds are up in the air and can go a lot of directions.



The template of Win remaining Home games and games w/Kzoo/Adrian.   This is now very unfair to Kzoo, still sticking with it.

Trine     11-3
Albion   10-4   
Olivet     9-5
Calvin    9-5
Hope      8-6
Alma     5-9

Kzoo  4-10  but sure looks like 5 or 6 might be within reach.

Nothing changed, this is where we should end up if home teams win and people take of business vs Adrian.


Calvin plays at Olivet on the last day of the year, will be interesting to see who throws that game to get a first round with Hope.
I think we can still get a 5-way tie at 9-5.

[sac]

Jamezell Davis hit a 3 pointer pretty much at the buzzer to beat Kzoo

1:44:45 is the start of the play
https://livestream.com/KalamazooCollege/events/8555223/videos/186959351

[HOPEful]

Calvin plays at Olivet on the last day of the year, will be interesting to see who throws that game to get a first round with Hope.

If they keep playing like they have for the past two weeks, I'm thinking calvin will be playing for a BYE and will be just fine seeing Hope later in the tournament (IF Hope makes it there)...

[ziggy]

I made an interesting observation this morning when checking the MIAA Massey Ratings. Massey's rankings mirror the conference standings very closely but what jumped out at me is that Calvin is ranked first in the "Power" category. (I will note that yesterday's results were not been included at the time I was looking at the data)

Obvious question then is, what does "Power" mean. Thankfully, Massey has a pretty good section on the site that helps explain some of his metrics and methodology. He mentions this metric in a couple places as follows:

Power = estimated team strength going forward (used to make predictions)

In contrast to the overall rating, the Power is a better measure of potential and is less concerned with actual wins-losses.

Maybe validation of what some have observed recently? On the other side, Albion stock holders might want to consider selling high.

[hornets76542]

Just a gut-wrenching loss for Kzoo last night. They were up by at least 8 midway through the second half and played stellar defense the whole game. Got killed on the boards though, and that turned out to be the difference. As frustrating as it is to lose to Albion in close games year after year, this recent stretch of games is very promising for a team that should return everybody. Blyly, Reiter, & Vincent is a solid core, and Drake Thompson should take a leap forward next year. Still possible to make the conference tourney this year, too.

[wiz]

Just a gut-wrenching loss for Kzoo last night. They were up by at least 8 midway through the second half and played stellar defense the whole game. Got killed on the boards though, and that turned out to be the difference. As frustrating as it is to lose to Albion in close games year after year, this recent stretch of games is very promising for a team that should return everybody. Blyly, Reiter, & Vincent is a solid core, and Drake Thompson should take a leap forward next year. Still possible to make the conference tourney this year, too.

We will see what happens Saturday afternoon.  Calvin is on a roll right now but I have far too many memories of very poor shooting when playing at Kalamazoo.  Game will probably be decided on the boards.

[KnightSlappy]

Just a gut-wrenching loss for Kzoo last night. They were up by at least 8 midway through the second half and played stellar defense the whole game. Got killed on the boards though, and that turned out to be the difference. As frustrating as it is to lose to Albion in close games year after year, this recent stretch of games is very promising for a team that should return everybody. Blyly, Reiter, & Vincent is a solid core, and Drake Thompson should take a leap forward next year. Still possible to make the conference tourney this year, too.

We will see what happens Saturday afternoon.  Calvin is on a roll right now but I have far too many memories of very poor shooting when playing at Kalamazoo.  Game will probably be decided on the boards.

I'm very very nervous about the upcoming trip to Kalamazoo.

[Goknights2017]

Just a gut-wrenching loss for Kzoo last night. They were up by at least 8 midway through the second half and played stellar defense the whole game. Got killed on the boards though, and that turned out to be the difference. As frustrating as it is to lose to Albion in close games year after year, this recent stretch of games is very promising for a team that should return everybody. Blyly, Reiter, & Vincent is a solid core, and Drake Thompson should take a leap forward next year. Still possible to make the conference tourney this year, too.

We will see what happens Saturday afternoon.  Calvin is on a roll right now but I have far too many memories of very poor shooting when playing at Kalamazoo.  Game will probably be decided on the boards.

I'm very very nervous about the upcoming trip to Kalamazoo.

Calvin has not won there the past 3 seasons. Despite the recent losses, Kzoo has been playing well. The knights better be ready.

[RuleBritannia]

I've got a reliable source telling me that Steve Ernst has informed Olivet College he will step down after this season as men's basketball coach.