MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[GrantHill33]

Maybe Coach Sall has something to do with Derrick's new found interest in defense!

Last year Calvin had a freshman named Carson Meulenberg on the roster that was a pretty good player.  He is not on the roster this season.  Does anyone know if he is hurt or what happened to him?

[sac]

2. Evan Thomas on Derrick was a train-wreck. I'm not sure why Mitchell allowed it for as much of the game as he did. He was clearly a freshman defender getting just bullied by one of the best offensive players in the league. I thought Gamm did a great job defending DeVries, but whenever anyone else was on him, it was ugly.

Thomas defended DeVries a total of about 8 min.  In the first half that resulted in 1 made 2, 1 miss.  In the second half Thomas picked him up after the dike had already burst.  Hope's strategy at that point was to try and double DeVries nearly every time he touched it.  There was one instance where he was left alone deep underneath, Hope didn't double and it went poorly for Thomas.  DeVries ended up 4-6 against Thomas drawing 2 fouls, one coming off a good Calvin screen in which Thomas was the helper.   One possession I thought it looked like Hope was confused on match-ups with Thomas taking DeVries and Gamm taking Shymanski, an opportunity to switch never came but I might be wrong about that.  But Gamm guarding Shymanski purposely just seems odd.

Otherwise Hope spent the majority of the afternoon with Gamm and Opple as the primary defenders.  Gamm ended up giving up 5 fg's with 2 misses.  Opple  5 fg's and 4 misses.

I'd actually grade Opple and Gamm as having good defensive games, DeVries hit some really tough shots and no alot in tight and easy.   Interesting to note when Gamm was out there DeVries went mostly 1 v 1, when Opple proved at least capable of defending him 1 v 1 Calvin went screen heavy and Opple got caught a couple times.   

The basket I credited as against Thomas in the first half was a high ball-screen where Thomas anticipated the movement to soon and DeVries blew past him once he was committed the wrong direction.  Savy.


Thomas was the primary defender on Shymanski, with some moments guarding DeWitte

[sac]

Maybe Coach Sall has something to do with Derrick's new found interest in defense!

Last year Calvin had a freshman named Carson Meulenberg on the roster that was a pretty good player.  He is not on the roster this season.  Does anyone know if he is hurt or what happened to him?

Carson left school to work for his dad.

[GrantHill33]

Thank you!

[wiz]

Regarding Mickey Phelps, when he set Calvin's single game scoring record in 1968, coach Vroon was well aware of the opportunity with precious little time left in the game.  So, with Bob Iwema at the line to shoot a free throw, he positioned Phelps out on the wing and instructed Iwema to intentionally throw it hard off the front rim, rebound his own missed shot, and pass the ball out to Phelps who calmly set the new school record with nothing but net.  One of the more memorable plays in school history.

Regarding the freshman Thomas, no reason for the Hope faithful to fret.  He is only a freshman and I think he already ranks higher than the "second best" player on the team.  If I were a Hope fan (and I never will be) I would be more concerned about Granger (nailed the spelling!) as he has two distinct issues and they are holding his team back.  1) He doesn't distribute the ball unless it's via one of his frequent turnovers, and 2) he allows opponents to get into his head.  That needs to get controlled or one of the other bigs will have his job.

[HopeConvert]

[GoKnights68]

Maybe Coach Sall has something to do with Derrick's new found interest in defense!

Last year Calvin had a freshman named Carson Meulenberg on the roster that was a pretty good player.  He is not on the roster this season.  Does anyone know if he is hurt or what happened to him?

Carson left school to work for his dad.

Speaking of Carson:   https://www.mlive.com/sports/grand-rapids/2020/02/greatest-slam-dunkers-of-all-time-from-the-grand-rapids-area.html 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

First Regional Rankings are out: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2020/02/men-regional-rankings-first

[scottiedawg]

First Regional Rankings are out: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2020/02/men-regional-rankings-first

Albion #3.

[tartanpride2016]

Nice win by Alma over former coach Sam Hargraves and Olivet tonight, 96-88.

Ryan Stevens was a machine, with a career high 27 points on 8/18 shooting, as well as 10 assists.
Eddie Thigpen was a stellar player for OC tonight, an impressive 33 points, despite 0/5 from deep.

That's 5-1 in Alma's last six, they seem to be playing their best basketball at the right time.
HUGE next two games at Calvin and home against Hope. If they can even split, that keeps the momentum rolling heading into the season finale vs K and the MIAA Tournament.

Go Scots!

[MaroonKnighty]

Great come from behind win for Calvin tonight.  It's fun to see how much Bill is getting out of these kids, they are getting better every game.

[DrDutchman]

Hot Garbage

When is the last time hope had 7 conference losses?? Maybe they should hire Matt Neil to recruit players and Coach Mitchell can coach

[wiz]

Coach Mitchell can coach

Really?  Hope staged a nice comeback but, once again when it counted the most in the final minute, very indecisive regarding clock management.  Let the clock run or foul quickly would seem the two options available.  The decision was to run the shot clock half way down and then foul.  Bet they would like to have those 14 seconds back.

[DrDutchman]

Coach Mitchell can coach

Really?  Hope staged a nice comeback but, once again when it counted the most in the final minute, very indecisive regarding clock management.  Let the clock run or foul quickly would seem the two options available.  The decision was to run the shot clock half way down and then foul.  Bet they would like to have those 14 seconds back.

Coach Mitchell has good offense, but no players to run it. When he was successful in the MIAA his first few years, he had great players. But it seems he hasn't put in any effort to replace them. He was lucky to have Jason Beckman transfer to Hope

[pointlem]

Coach Mitchell . . . it seems he hasn't put in any effort to replace them. He was lucky to have Jason Beckman transfer to Hope

My impression is quite the opposite, and two of his frosh recruits this year have shown exceptional talent, including tonight. If he can continue to get two players a year of their caliber, Hope will be fine in the long run.