MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[pointlem]

I noticed that in Hope's women's game last night all players from both teams respected one another by wearing asks. Likewise, the Calvin men's team showed respect for one another and for the Olivet players by mask-wearing (and virtue got rewarded on that desperation last shot?). But am I right that the Olivet players were unmasked? If so, does the league not have a policy for protecting its athletes and its future games?

[ziggy]

I noticed that in Hope's women's game last night all players from both teams respected one another by wearing asks. Likewise, the Calvin men's team showed respect for one another and for the Olivet players by mask-wearing (and virtue got rewarded on that desperation last shot?). But am I right that the Olivet players were unmasked? If so, does the league not have a policy for protecting its athletes and its future games?

Everyone at the Olivet-Calvin game had masks. Whether or not you want to count it as actually wearing the mask is up for debate... And that goes for both teams.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Hope is wearing masks because they can't meet the 6x/week testing the state mandates. Thus to play they must wear masks. It was explained on their Orange and Blue Podcast with their Athletics Director recently.

Other schools are likely doing the same or have to because the other school has to? I am not sure of all the details. However, you can suspect if you see masks unless it is a conference mandate (SAA for example) that the school isn't testing 6x/week.

[Pat Coleman]

I noticed that in Hope's women's game last night all players from both teams respected one another by wearing asks. Likewise, the Calvin men's team showed respect for one another and for the Olivet players by mask-wearing (and virtue got rewarded on that desperation last shot?). But am I right that the Olivet players were unmasked? If so, does the league not have a policy for protecting its athletes and its future games?

Photo on the front page of D3hoops.com is pretty clear. On close inspection, everyone is wearing a mask. (Obviously not all masks fit the same or stay on the face the same in the rush of a last-second shot.)

[KnightSlappy]

I noticed that in Hope's women's game last night all players from both teams respected one another by wearing asks. Likewise, the Calvin men's team showed respect for one another and for the Olivet players by mask-wearing (and virtue got rewarded on that desperation last shot?). But am I right that the Olivet players were unmasked? If so, does the league not have a policy for protecting its athletes and its future games?

Everyone at the Olivet-Calvin game had masks. Whether or not you want to count it as actually wearing the mask is up for debate... And that goes for both teams.

I agree with Ziggy and Pat on this. Both teams were equally masked, which meant players had them, then they floated down to the neck and chin, then occasionally pulled back up, then drifted down again.

Kudos to everyone for trying to get these games in for the athletes (and fans!) while trying to follow state and institutional protocols while trying to be as safe as possible with it all.

[pointlem]

I noticed that in Hope's women's game last night all players from both teams respected one another by wearing asks. Likewise, the Calvin men's team showed respect for one another and for the Olivet players by mask-wearing (and virtue got rewarded on that desperation last shot?). But am I right that the Olivet players were unmasked? If so, does the league not have a policy for protecting its athletes and its future games?

Everyone at the Olivet-Calvin game had masks. Whether or not you want to count it as actually wearing the mask is up for debate... And that goes for both teams.

Thanks, Ziggy et al. . . .good to hear . . . I was watching on a laptop.

[maroonandgold]

Jordan Katje has scored 37 pts in 3 games for Calvin this year. He scored 31 pts in 26 games last year!

In addition to his scoring, Jordan Katje also has 26 rebounds in just 3 games.  Pretty good for a reserve!

Has there been update on the severity of Warners injury?  He has been such a factor for Calvin so far.

[calvinite]

Haven't received an update on Warners, but the speed at which he rushed the court with other Calvin players following the buzzer-beater gives me some reason to be optimistic.

[TUAngola]

Final from last night:  Trine 97 Alma 75

Tight game thru 16 minutes with Trine up 33-31.  Then we go on a 22 -0 run to end the half to go into the locker room up 55-31, it was a great last 4 minutes by Trine, could not miss, good D, steals, etc, and Alma couldn't buy a bucket and it just snowballed.  Second half Trine extended out to 36 point advantage at one point before Alma ended with a decent finish.

I know the body of work for the season is short, as some MIAA teams haven't even played yet, but Nick Bowman of Trine so far has got to be the most improved players in the league.  This is a guy who didn't get much playing time his freshman and soph seasons, maybe averaged 2 or 3 pts a game.  But with our heavy graduation losses from last year he has really taken advantage of his time on the court and has become a good leader of this fairly young team.  He scored a career high 30 pts last night and is averaging 21 over the 4 games played.  I never would have expected this much offense out of him.  He has shown tremendous athletic ability, has several steal and breakaway dunks.  Going in to this year I would have guessed Bryce Williams or Aiden Warzecha to have a "breakout" year, not Bowman.

Got Olivet Saturday at home.  Olivet looked pretty good against Calvin, tough loss at the buzzer on a 3ball from Uchenna Egekeze.  He's gonna be a good one for the Knights.  I've watched both Calvin games online.  They will be a tough team to beat.   

Trine:   Bowman 30, Cox 18, Jones 12 off the bench
Alma:  Kleiver 17, Harris 11, Bourdeau 10

[TUAngola]

Trine 91 Olivet 79

Close 1st half, neither team shooting particularly well, Trine leads 38 -32 at the break.  Trine maintains 8-10 point lead then reserve Christian Knox hits 3 3s in a row to give the Thunder some breathing room.  Extend out to 22 pt lead, but Trine commits lots of fouls and Olivet is in double bonus by the 10 min mark and they shoot their way back in, but Trine does enough to keep them at bay to win by 12.  Both teams shot much better FGs the 2nd half and end up around 50% for the game.  Trine was awful at the FT line though, just 11-20.  It's just good to watch some MIAA basketball again, albeit from my laptop.

Trine:  Bowman 22, Cox 14, Manny Menglango off the bench with a really good game 12, Jones 11, Knox 9
Olivet:  Robinette 16, Johnson 14, Angell 13, Tuominen 10, Thigpen 9

[maroonandgold]

Calvin played a solid. steady game with some changes in the lineup because Warners was still out.  Katje earned a well-deserved start and responded with17 points and 11 rebounds.  Brandon Paul had his best game so far, scoring 16 points and gathering 9 rebounds.  Luke Scheffers also had his best game so far with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.  Shymanski had another solid game with 25 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.  Calvin led from the beginning and expanded their lead in the second half to 20 points.

Alma was led in scoring by the always solid Cole Keiver with 18 points.  Brandon Rake was solid, especially at the beginning of the second half, and Williamson had another good game with 11 points.  Both teams shot well.

[sac]

Paul Gadde  6-3 G  from Alma will attend Albion.

[RuleBritannia]

Albion 95, Adrian 60

A very successful, if unpolished first outing for the Brits as they look to defend their MIAA regular season title in this abbreviated season.

Albion has a little different look this year after a few departures from last years team. The team will strongly feature 5th year big man Caden Ebeling (who was at 999 career points heading into this game, and is now safely ensconced in the 1000 point club), as well as reigning MIAA defensive player of the year Cortez Garland, as well as outside sniper MJ Barnes. This is a core that can win the conference IMO, but Jody May's chief task this season will be to build a solid role-playing cast from the rest of the roster. On to the game:

-Nobody's going to beat Albion if they shoot 50% on 3s (11-22). Many of these were good looks by good shooters, but that torrid rate is obviously unsustainable.

-Cortez Garland was a really good player last year, but he's on a different level this year, he's shooting the 3 with confidence, has a lightning quick first step, and his on-ball defensive ability can really disrupt an opponents ability to even get into their offense. I'd say the two main themes in Albion's rout today were their hot outside shooting, and Adrian's inability to hold onto the rock (26 turnovers, which Albion scored 35 points off of, which nicely matches their margin of victory).

-Caden Ebeling is going to struggle to get the ball down low with him being the only post presence on the team. Albion's unique ability to put to true back-to-the-basket guys last year gave opposing defenses fits. This year teams are going to front, deny, and double Caden, and force Albion to score any other way. Albion will have to find additional ways to get him involved in the offense.

-Jaylen Ross' 10 points on 5-7 shooting and a steal in 16 minutes impressed me, and I think he could be in line to be the scoring guard off the bench, something his assistant coach Arshawn Parker can tell him lots about.

-I was also impressed by Ken Thomas' 10 points on 4-6 shooting 3-3 FTs in 10 minutes. Albion needs a big off the bench to spell Ebeling, and Thomas looked like the guy best suited to fill that role. This is also because:

-Devin Holmes looked unsure of himself with a team leading 3 turnovers in 20 minutes. Holmes was also exposed on defense at least once badly, when guarding a more agile offensive player.

-Adrian has once again had significant roster turnover since last year (as several teams have, it seems), but Adrian seems to be back to square one. Saturday's game put the Bulldogs, the defending MIAA tournament champions, at 0-8 on the season, and with seemingly few answers. It seems like no matter what momentum Adrian has from the previous season, they're always starting over the next. But Adrian seems to doggedly improve as the season moves along. After Saturday, they have nowhere to go but up.

I can't over emphasize how cathartic it was to see my alma mater compete again after the long delay. Regardless of how the season goes, I'm going to treasure watching these young men play for their schools and the love of the game like never before, knowing how fragile it is.

Good luck to all MIAA squads this season.

[hope81]

Hope's game against Alma has been moved from Wednesday to Friday at 6pm.  There will be no JV game.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope's game against Alma has been moved from Wednesday to Friday at 6pm.  There will be no JV game.

So as it stands now, Hope gets to open the season with this schedule

vs Alma - 6pm Fri
@ Calvin - 3pm Sat
@ Albion - 7:30pm Mon
@ Trine - 7:30pm Wed

Just 4 games with no more than 1 day off between them.  Guess we will at least know how their conditioning work has been going