MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[DrDutchman]

I remember watching a young UW-Oshkosh team narrowly lose to Hope in 2017 while in Florida for work. Many of those players heavily contributed tonight. Ben Boots was terrific then and now. MIAA teams have an uphill battle to try and get on the level of the final four teams I watched online this weekend. Coach Mitchell has his work cut out for him this next year. This may sound bad from a Hope fan but I hope Calvin finds a homerun hire to put some pressure on Hope's program.

[formerd3db]

I was able to only go down Friday night.  I agree, very nicely done.

Attendance was a big downer although all 4 schools were pretty well represented.   Ticketing sections could have been divided better.    NCAA might need to rethink their pricing.  $15+ for a game you have no dog in the hunt is enough for a neutral to take a pass.

Great weekend in Fort Wayne. They did a wonderful job with everything. Facility was awesome. Way nicer than Salem. Oshkosh wins it all. 96-82.

Yes, sac, I agree re: the attendance.  I saw that statistic, listed attendance of 1,710 and was disappointed to see that.  Moving the Final Four to Fort Wayne, I thought would have increased the attendance for teams from the Midwest that would make the final weekend.  However, it appears that may not be what the trend will be, although we all know that can vary from year to year.  It will remain to be seen how it plays out for the remaining three years at the Fort Wayne site. 

Looking at the attendance figures for the championship game that have been listed, the "final" has slightly declined over the last decade over all to the mid 2,000 (2015 and 2013 being the exceptions in the 3,000s,) which isn't that bad.  Yet, again, I just thought it would be higher this year.  As you and Hope1993 relate, however, it appears the arena and the atmosphere are both awesome,   Thank you to both of you for sharing your experience there with us.

[Grutte Dirk]

... I hope Calvin finds a homerun hire to put some pressure on Hope's program.

I have to wonder if there is any way to put more pressure on Hope College's mens basketball coach than there always is, no matter what.

[DrDutchman]

... I hope Calvin finds a homerun hire to put some pressure on Hope's program.

I have to wonder if there is any way to put more pressure on Hope College's mens basketball coach than there always is, no matter what.

That is true. Hope might be going through the same process as Olivet and Calvin are going through if we have another 10+ loss season and lose to your rival 3 times next year

[Flying Dutch Fan]

... I hope Calvin finds a homerun hire to put some pressure on Hope’s program.

I have to wonder if there is any way to put more pressure on Hope College's mens basketball coach than there always is, no matter what.

That is true. Hope might be going through the same process as Olivet and Calvin are going through if we have another 10+ loss season and lose to your rival 3 times next year

Absolutely ridiculous!!!! He's 99-41 in 5 seasons (.707)

FWIW - GVW was 65-47 in his first 5 seasons (.580)

[Hope1993]

I agree with FDF. Us Hope fans don't call for our coaches head after a couple of down seasons. I don't think a lot of you understand the difficulties of coaching and recruiting in division 3. It is not the way it was in the 90's and early 2000's

[DrDutchman]

... I hope Calvin finds a homerun hire to put some pressure on Hope's program.

I have to wonder if there is any way to put more pressure on Hope College's mens basketball coach than there always is, no matter what.

That is true. Hope might be going through the same process as Olivet and Calvin are going through if we have another 10+ loss season and lose to your rival 3 times next year

Absolutely ridiculous!!!! He's 99-41 in 5 seasons (.707)

FWIW - GVW was 65-47 in his first 5 seasons (.580)

I admire your love and support FDF. To clarify, I support GM as well, however let me say this. GM inherited a lot of talent and won. He has not been able to replace that talent and 20+ losses in two years is not great. Agree or Disagree?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

... I hope Calvin finds a homerun hire to put some pressure on Hope's program.

I have to wonder if there is any way to put more pressure on Hope College's mens basketball coach than there always is, no matter what.

That is true. Hope might be going through the same process as Olivet and Calvin are going through if we have another 10+ loss season and lose to your rival 3 times next year

Absolutely ridiculous!!!! He's 99-41 in 5 seasons (.707)

FWIW - GVW was 65-47 in his first 5 seasons (.580)

I admire your love and support FDF. To clarify, I support GM as well, however let me say this. GM inherited a lot of talent and won. He has not been able to replace that talent and 20+ losses in two years is not great. Agree or Disagree?

Agree with what?  That 20 losses in 2 years is not great - of course.  Agree that he has not been able to replace the talent he inherited - well considering he inherited all-Americans and a Josten's trophy winner - yeah that's pretty tough to do.  But to expect every recruiting class to be like the one with Benson and Gardner, or Stuive, Carlson, and Blackledge is not realistic.  Keep in mind the youth on this years team.  One rough year (I would argue last year was not rough - considering it took a 2nd round NCAA tourney loss to get to 10 losses) is hardly reason to make the kind of assertion you did. 

[sac]

Perspective:   Hope's 21 losses over these last two years is the fewest in the MIAA

[Jameswys]

Perspective:   Hope's 21 losses over these last two years is the fewest in the MIAA

Further perspective: Hope's 21 losses in two years is one loss than Olivet had the season before Ernst became head coach.

[HOPEful]

Pretty nice to have the bar set so high that winning the MIAA tournament, a playoff game, and losing in the playoffs on the road to a VERY good Augustana team is considered a down year

[pointlem]

I'd also predict--and time will tell if I'm right--that GM's kindness, positive spirit, values, energy and seeming love of his players will, in the long run, attract and retain good players and good people. At least he's the kind of human being I'd want to play for--or wish my son to. (I'd say the same of Hope's women's BB coach, who is, indeed, having an amazing career.)

[realist]

Perspective:   Hope's 21 losses over these last two years is the fewest in the MIAA

\

I agree.   Sure beats having gone 51-54 over the last 4 seasons!

[sac]

Agree with what?  That 20 losses in 2 years is not great - of course.  Agree that he has not been able to replace the talent he inherited - well considering he inherited all-Americans and a Josten's trophy winner - yeah that's pretty tough to do.  But to expect every recruiting class to be like the one with Benson and Gardner, or Stuive, Carlson, and Blackledge is not realistic.  Keep in mind the youth on this years team.  One rough year (I would argue last year was not rough - considering it took a 2nd round NCAA tourney loss to get to 10 losses) is hardly reason to make the kind of assertion you did.

I can think of 3 or 4 Hope recruits in the last 3 years that would have transformed Hope's starting 5 this year, maybe to the point Towns, Granger and Lewis aren't starting.  They all chose other schools very late in the process for various reasons.

D3 recruiting can be very frustrating.

[formerd3db]

Okay, sac, how about that...Spring Arbor wins the NAIA National Championship (Div II) in basketball.  Quite interesting that they and Cornerstone have each won national titles in bb in recent years.  With Ferris State winning last year, now all we need to do is get one of the MIAA teams to win it all again.  However, as has been said here by several, that will be a very tough task.  The situation (with recruiting among other factors) is not like it was back when Calvin won their two national titles and Hope losing twice in the final game.  Granted Hope's women's two national titles and Alma's women's one national are great accomplishments.

All that said, I have to go back to what one of the UW-Oshkosh players said in the D3.hoops article of them winning it this year.  A senior, he related that losing the title game last year was such a disheartening feeling such that it was the great motivation to not let that happen again this time (my paraphrase of his specific comment). Which makes me feel all the more worse for our fellow Hope bb players who lost the two national title games within 3 years.  Even with time "softening the sting." after all these years, that still has to be a slightly gut-wrenching memory.  But, such is life at times as we all know. Just getting there was a great accomplishment.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see who Olivet and Calvin finally choose for their next HCs.  Also, remember to keep Jay Smith in prayer for his battle and hopefully he will be able to continue as HC at Kalamazoo next season.