MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[almcguirejr]

Then you have bad luck with recent Hope legacy recruits.
Duane Bosma's son ends up a great baseball player, the Hodgson's son(s) ends up a D1 basketball player.  VanKovering would rather work for dad, Muhlenberg decides on playing with friends/cousins and ultimately quiting to work for dad.

.....and then there's Cornerstone.  At one point recently I think Cornerstone's entire starting 5's final college choice was Hope or Cornerstone.

All of this!!! When I think about the long list of players that Hope ALMOST had, it's somewhat depressing. Escepically bigs. Meulenberg choosing Calvin over Hope was a shock to a lot of people, VanKovering leaving less of a shock, but still disappointing.

And a lot of people will rejoice in Holland when Kim Enders finally retires.

Also, ask anyone on the coaching staff how hard they recruited Harrison Blackledge, and they will tell you they didn't. He fell into Hope's lap. I believe the story goes something along the lines that he asked a mentor/coach in high school if he recommended any christian D3 colleges where he could play basketball... the response was,

"You should check out Hope College in Holland, Michigan..."

I find it hard to believe that Harrison Blackledge just fell out of the sky at Hope.  I wouldn't think the Blackledge family would be that naive about opportunities for Harrison to play.  Blackledge, Stuive, Edison, Gardner, Benson, and others must have been identified as MIAA players and sold on the Hope education and experience by Matt Neil and the Hope coaching staff.

Maybe you're confusing Blackledge with Beckman, who did seem to fall out of the sky for Hope.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The first Regional Rankings of the season are out and there are plenty of reactions ... and questions.

On Thursday's Hoopsville, we chat with a few programs who are in those rankings and others who know the best way into the NCAA tournaments is to win their conference. Plus, we find out how a fast break is a solid investment in giving back. And do you really understand the Strength of Schedule math and what is does, and does not, tell the ranking committees?

Hoopsville is presented by D3hoops.com and airs from the WBCA/NABC Studio. You can watch Thursday's show LIVE starting at 7:00 pm ET in the following ways:
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- Team1 Sports: www.team1sports.com/Hoopsville/
- Team1 Sports app (Android TV, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Roku) - you will either find it under the "live" section or search for the Hoopsville channel

Thursday's show primarily covers the East, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, and West Regions while also featuring a women's coach in the WBCA Center Court segment. All men's coaches appear in the NABC Coach's Corner. And all guests are featured on the BlueFrame Technology Hoopsville Hotline.

If you have questions about Division III basketball, feel free to send them and we will answer them on a the show. Email them to hoopsville@d3sports.com or use any of the social media options to the right.

Guests Schedule (order subject to change):
- Steve Lamie, Grove City men's coach
- Lucia Robinson-Griggs, Vassar women's coach
- Tonja Englund, UW-Eau Claire women's coach (WBCA Center Court)
- Justin Heinzen, No. 10 Loras women's coach
- Matt Snyder, SOS guru

Please also consider helping us out. We are accepting donations to the show - which many of you have asked about. We have an initial goal to hit $5,000 by Feb. 16. We are currently at $2,330.20.

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[HupHolland]

Then you have bad luck with recent Hope legacy recruits.
Duane Bosma's son ends up a great baseball player, the Hodgson's son(s) ends up a D1 basketball player.  VanKovering would rather work for dad, Muhlenberg decides on playing with friends/cousins and ultimately quiting to work for dad.

.....and then there's Cornerstone.  At one point recently I think Cornerstone's entire starting 5's final college choice was Hope or Cornerstone.

All of this!!! When I think about the long list of players that Hope ALMOST had, it's somewhat depressing. Escepically bigs. Meulenberg choosing Calvin over Hope was a shock to a lot of people, VanKovering leaving less of a shock, but still disappointing.

And a lot of people will rejoice in Holland when Kim Enders finally retires.

Also, ask anyone on the coaching staff how hard they recruited Harrison Blackledge, and they will tell you they didn't. He fell into Hope's lap. I believe the story goes something along the lines that he asked a mentor/coach in high school if he recommended any christian D3 colleges where he could play basketball... the response was,

"You should check out Hope College in Holland, Michigan..."

I find it hard to believe that Harrison Blackledge just fell out of the sky at Hope.  I wouldn't think the Blackledge family would be that naive about opportunities for Harrison to play.  Blackledge, Stuive, Edison, Gardner, Benson, and others must have been identified as MIAA players and sold on the Hope education and experience by Matt Neil and the Hope coaching staff.

Maybe you're confusing Blackledge with Beckman, who did seem to fall out of the sky for Hope.

Blackledge's mom discovered Hope on a website about Christian colleges that impact your life. They then reached out to Hope

[HoopsCoach]

Recruiting isn't the issue for Hope. Also, Blackledge was the Neil regime.

Watching the last two on stream, the problem for Hope is adjustments or lack thereof. And I believe a far too predictable offense. Granger posts and Thomas drives. Those are the only players with a true "go" to shoot/score. George has a "soft go" as third option. Hackert, Gamm and maybe everyone else but Dykhouse don't have a green light. Teams sag as a result. That just clogs the paint. There has to be a better effort to get all five moving and involved.

That's the problem. The D has been mostly decent this year. But, You can't win if you can't score and you can't score if you have no more than 2.5 options on the floor at a time that have the freedom to shoot. It's pin down, flair screen or handoff/butt screen. If nothing happens there it becomes chaos. Too easy to guard. Added up, it Puts Hope on track to have its worst season since 1978.

It's not talent... it's use of the talent IMO.

[HOPEful]

Maybe you're confusing Blackledge with Beckman, who did seem to fall out of the sky for Hope.

I'm not. Beckman originally chose Alma to play with older his brother. I believe Matt Neil was part of the reason why they both chose Alma over Hope despite their father's connection. And Neil's departure a reason why Jason transferred from Alma to Hope after his brother graduated.

I heard the whole Blackledge recruiting story at one point from Jeff Carlson, then assistant coach for Hope. I remember the "Christian colleges that change your life" part, but I also think I remember a coach of some sort that was a former Wittenberg or Wooster player that further confirmed Hope as a great option for Harrison. Whether that's accurate or just mis-remembering my part, either way, he very much fell in their lap.

[sac]

Marco Lucchesi  6-4 G/F Dexter will attend Albion.

[Happy Calvin Guy]

Nice job KS on Hoopsville. You explain things really well. The host, knowing you are a Calvin fan, told you to enjoy the "DeVos Center".  Must be hard to keep encyclopedic knowledge of all things D3 straight. He does a great job too.

[KnightSlappy]

Nice job KS on Hoopsville. You explain things really well. The host, knowing you are a Calvin fan, told you to enjoy the "DeVos Center".  Must be hard to keep encyclopedic knowledge of all things D3 straight. He does a great job too.

I walk to a lot of basketball games, and Calvin's DeVos Communications Center is on my route. I walk through the building on cold nights to get a bit of a warm up. I'm assuming Dave must have known this and that's why he said that.

Or that Calvin has won at Hope's DeVos Fieldhouse in each of the last two seasons and he knew I'd enjoy that. Either way.

[sac]

Jake Zuiderveen  6-8 C  Kalamazoo Christian will attend Calvin

[sac]

Detroit News with an article on Albion
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/2020/02/14/hes-still-us-after-losing-zachary-winston-albion-verge-first-title-15-years/4748658002/

[GoKnights68]

Jake Zuiderveen  6-8 C  Kalamazoo Christian will attend Calvin

I will be interested to see how many Freshmen will get significant playing time for Calvin next season.

[ziggy]

Jake Zuiderveen  6-8 C  Kalamazoo Christian will attend Calvin

I will be interested to see how many Freshmen will get significant playing time for Calvin next season.

One of the biggest differences for Calvin basketball this season in the transition from one coach to another has been in player usage. Gone apparently are the days of a strict rotation with guys playing in 4-6 minute stretches and now we see four players averaging 30+ minutes per game. For comparison, Jordan Brink had minute per game averages of 23.3, 26.4 and 29.9 for his sophomore through senior seasons.

I looked through Northern Michigan stats for the last few years and I think we can expect what we've seen this year as the new norm under Bill Sall. It happens to be that the five players being heavily used this season are upperclassmen but I don't think this rules out underclassmen, even freshman, from getting significant playing time. Naba Echols was a four-year starter for Sall at Northern and averaged over 34 minutes per game as a freshman.

Seems to me Sall's philosophy for doling out playing time is to identify his best players. Expect starters to play around 30 minutes per game and then three players off the bench to fill out the remaining 12-15 minutes per game.

[GoKnights68]

Jake Zuiderveen  6-8 C  Kalamazoo Christian will attend Calvin

I will be interested to see how many Freshmen will get significant playing time for Calvin next season.

One of the biggest differences for Calvin basketball this season in the transition from one coach to another has been in player usage. Gone apparently are the days of a strict rotation with guys playing in 4-6 minute stretches and now we see four players averaging 30+ minutes per game. For comparison, Jordan Brink had minute per game averages of 23.3, 26.4 and 29.9 for his sophomore through senior seasons.

I looked through Northern Michigan stats for the last few years and I think we can expect what we've seen this year as the new norm under Bill Sall. It happens to be that the five players being heavily used this season are upperclassmen but I don't think this rules out underclassmen, even freshman, from getting significant playing time. Naba Echols was a four-year starter for Sall at Northern and averaged over 34 minutes per game as a freshman.

Seems to me Sall's philosophy for doling out playing time is to identify his best players and to rely on them heavily.

For sure.  I think this season that definitely is applicable because Calvin does not have the ideal roster depth that it'd like.   There's quite the significant drop-off after the starting 5, IMO.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Note that Hope actually looses two seniors this year - Zandstra and Opple

Is this confirmed. I keep asking around but no one seems to know for certain if Opple is on track to graduate in May. Could he be back playing basketball next season?

If he does indeed graduate, that's a heck of a feat! Three sport athlete and graduating in 4 years!?

Confirmed - given that both Matt and Mason will be honored at today’s senior day at the De Vos. If you’re headed to the K’zoo @ Hope game today, come early and see a Hope alumni game at 1pm.

[KnightSlappy]

Henry Goldkuhle, 6-7 F, Traverse City Central, will attend Calvin.