MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[PoppersMacsLive]

I think Ryan nailed the second point here. Trine's biggest struggles (based on what I saw from this last year) would likely come against teams with size.

All due respect to the MIAA, outside of Trine the conference simply wasn't very good last year. But even against weaker competition, I saw a team which was solid defensively. They're quite strong rotationally and cover down well. I'd like to see them play some teams which move off the ball, to see how good they really are defensively.

I'm not sure where Ryan stands on Trine's talent level, but I would not call them outclassed talent-wise against RMC. From what I saw last year, including in the game against RMC, Trine is slightly more talented (on an individual player level) than RMC. RMC was clearly the better team, no doubt.

I don't know if Trine belongs in the Top 10, even though I myself have them at 6. The only teams which I am pretty confident are Top 10 teams, before they play a game, are RMC, YU, and IWU. I am looking forward to seeing Trine on the court in what is hopefully shaping up to be a normal basketball season.

I was just curious how much stock we should put into Trine's season last year. 17-1 is really good. A quick look at their schedule, they basically played conference opponents 3 times and the one true test they had, they lost to RMC by 14. Are they really the class of the MIAA this year?

I attended the RMC game, expecting a blowout. Trine really made a believer out of me. Despite losing their best defender and most versatile player to injury early on, and being outclassed by Macon's talent and athletic ability, Trine never gave up and battled back at least three times when most teams would've been resigned to their fate.

Now, the MIAA tends to have a lot of size, which will definitely be a challenge for Trine, and their success depends on intense focus, which will certainly be challenged this year, with more typical distractions, but they have the makings of a team to watch.

I'm skeptical of nearly every team this year simply because the context of playing basketball is so different from the last time we saw any of them on the floor, but there's as much reason to be confident in Trine as anyone else.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Kalamazoo has posted their roster:

https://hornets.kzoo.edu/sports/mbkb/2021-22/roster

6 FR
6 SO (5 from last years team)
1 JR (transfer from KVCC)

Now that's a young team, with only 5 guys with any experience playing for K and Coach Giard.  Looking at last years roster (6 SRs and 5 FR) that's not a surprise, but wow.  This roster does include the 3 "recruits" we knew about.

[ziggy]

Looks like the Calvin roster is coming together behind the scenes. Some interesting names on it and not on it so far...

[EDIT] Roster is now live: https://calvinknights.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/roster

[KnightSlappy]

Looks like the Calvin roster is coming together behind the scenes. Some interesting names on it and not on it so far...

The Calvin roster is live on the website.

Thad Shymanski and Emmett Warners are back, using their extra year of eligibility as graduate students.

Luke Morrison returns as a graduate student after two seasons (and a COVID year off) at Emory.

Alec Fruin arrives as a graduate student after starting at Northern Michigan the last two years.

Luke Scheffers and Brandon Paul are not on the roster.

[maroonandgold]

Looks like the Calvin roster is coming together behind the scenes. Some interesting names on it and not on it so far...

The Calvin roster is live on the website.

Thad Shymanski and Emmett Warners are back, using their extra year of eligibility as graduate students.

Luke Morrison returns as a graduate student after two seasons (and a COVID year off) at Emory.

Alec Fruin arrives as a graduate student after starting at Northern Michigan the last two years.

Luke Scheffers and Brandon Paul are not on the roster.

Interesting roster!  Not a true center in the group, but an incredible amount of guard talent.  I suspect they will play 3 guards much of the time.  They will probably get their share of rebounds with outstanding height, and their offense should show a lot of movement.  Does anyone know what happened with the two previous starters that are not on the roster this year?

[Dark Knight]

The two grad student transfers sound very experienced (e.g. two years as starter at Northern Michigan), but the downside is that they likely only have a year of eligibility to play at Calvin. Add to that the two Calvin grad students (Warners and Shymanski) and three seniors (Katje, Minderhoud, and Cahalane), and we're looking at a very different team in two years. Of players who got playing time last year, only Egekeze and Bult are likely to still be around.

Calvin will have to make the most of this year!

Does anyone know about any of the freshmen on the roster?

Code Select Expand

Gabe Dirksen         G/F Fr. 6-4 210 Davis, Ca. / Jesuit
Sirr Favors         G Fr. 6-2 200 Cerritos, Ca. / Valley Christian
Daane Harvey      G Fr. 6-3 195 Grand Rapids, Mich. / Forest Hills Northern
Beau Koffman        G Fr. 6-0 175 Carney, Mich. / Carney-Nadeau
Payton Lomax        G/F Fr. 6-3 210 Brazil / -
Josh Steinberg        G Fr. 6-0 175 Irvine, Ca. / Portola
Austin Van Elst         C Fr. 6-8 200 Middleville, Mich. / Thornapple Kellogg
Logan Van Essen      G Fr. 6-0 187 Crown Point, Ind. / Illiana Christian
Koby Vander Woude G Fr. 6-0 155 Caledonia, Mich. / Caledonia


[Flying Dutch Fan]

Alma has posted a roster:

https://almascots.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/roster

Looks like all of their "recruits" are listed.  Assume the Varsity are those with roster numbers, which would include FR Mieske and Bush

[sac]

Interesting that Cole Kleiver is listed after his announcement he was leaving Alma last Spring

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope's roster is up:

https://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mbkb/2021-22/roster

Includes 4 freshman:

- 2 "recruits" we knew about - Ver Steeg & Quillan
- 2 "unkowns" - 6-4 Sam Carlson and 6-7 Ben Wagar

Hope also has a JV roster posted, and all 4 FR are listed on it.  JV Coach (and Varsity Assistant) is Ryan Klingler.

Get to see the Varisty tonight in an exhibition game vs Chicago at 7:30 (open to fans) - preceeded by the Hope Women vs Ferris St. at 5:30.  Be the first time I get to be back in DeVos to watch some basketball in 609 days!!

[Dutchman17]

Hope looked good tonight.  George played very well, and Dykhouse looks to have taken a step forward with his confidence.  Looking forward to the season

Sad moment for Harris Hawkins going down with what appeared to be a serious knee injury seconds after checking in.  Prayers for him for a full recovery

[TUAngola]

Trine with an exhibition game this afternoon hosting Saginaw Valley State University.  My first game watching the Thunder in person since they lost to Adrian in the 2020 MIAA conference championship game.  Pretty much the same 9 guy rotation as last year with the exception of Freshman Hayden Jones getting the backup point guard minutes that Reese McGinsie saw.  None of the other newcomers got into the game.  We held our own against the DII opponent, but got outmatched a lot inside by the height and athleticism of the Cardinals.  Next Saturday Trine opens the regular season hosting Mt St Joseph.

[sac]

Hope looked good tonight.  George played very well, and Dykhouse looks to have taken a step forward with his confidence.  Looking forward to the season

Sad moment for Harris Hawkins going down with what appeared to be a serious knee injury seconds after checking in.  Prayers for him for a full recovery

I was pleased to see Hope play at the same higher pace they had achieved last Winter, also thought they threw in some really good defensive possessions as well.  Guard play should be great, finding a good mix of post players at the 4/5 is really going to be the key.  It was hard to tell with this game since they lost Hawkins and Halbert pretty quickly and without much playing time.  I think both those guys were going to be in the bigger minute category mix.  Wiegerink is probably going to get more minutes early which can only help him.  Thought he looked the most changed physically of all the guys.

Only thing I'd temper this with is Chicago didn't play any basketball last Winter and a quick glance of rosters I think they only have 4 or 5 players from their 2020 squad.  That was an almost completely new team playing its first "game" together and I think it showed.  Didn't think they had great legs either, a little sluggish and their 3's were off.

It was still a reasonably close game to start the 2nd half, Dykhouse had 3 or 4 great defensive possessions that resulted in Hope transition baskets and kind of put it out of reach.


Hawkins injury doesn't sound great, he'll certainly miss some time here in November at a minimum.  Halbert looked more ankle, possibly high ankle which can be troublesome and linger.

Hope gets one more good run before their first game at Illinois Wesleyan, they'll play at Western Michigan on Nov 10.

[sac]

Lake Superior St 88  Alma 51
https://www.lssulakers.com/sports/m-baskbl/2021-22/boxscores/20211031_kdj2.xml?view=boxscore

Cole Kleiver led Alma with 16, since Cole is back he's on Alma all-time leading scorer watch, which I think he'll get comfortably at some point.

Albion grad Caden Ebeling had 14 in his debut for Lake State

[Dutchman17]

Hope looked good tonight.  George played very well, and Dykhouse looks to have taken a step forward with his confidence.  Looking forward to the season

Sad moment for Harris Hawkins going down with what appeared to be a serious knee injury seconds after checking in.  Prayers for him for a full recovery

I was pleased to see Hope play at the same higher pace they had achieved last Winter, also thought they threw in some really good defensive possessions as well.  Guard play should be great, finding a good mix of post players at the 4/5 is really going to be the key.  It was hard to tell with this game since they lost Hawkins and Halbert pretty quickly and without much playing time.  I think both those guys were going to be in the bigger minute category mix.  Wiegerink is probably going to get more minutes early which can only help him.  Thought he looked the most changed physically of all the guys.

Only thing I'd temper this with is Chicago didn't play any basketball last Winter and a quick glance of rosters I think they only have 4 or 5 players from their 2020 squad.  That was an almost completely new team playing its first "game" together and I think it showed.  Didn't think they had great legs either, a little sluggish and their 3's were off.

It was still a reasonably close game to start the 2nd half, Dykhouse had 3 or 4 great defensive possessions that resulted in Hope transition baskets and kind of put it out of reach.


Hawkins injury doesn't sound great, he'll certainly miss some time here in November at a minimum.  Halbert looked more ankle, possibly high ankle which can be troublesome and linger.

Hope gets one more good run before their first game at Illinois Wesleyan, they'll play at Western Michigan on Nov 10.

Agreed.  The competition wasn't amazing, but the play was definitely promising in many areas

I think you switched up Nocek with Halbert here for the ankle sprain.  I didn't see Halbert get in at all, but I haven't heard anything about an injury for him

Rotational minutes for the bigs are definitely up in the air, but it seems like we have quite a few decent options.  I'm excited to see that sophomore class of bigs develop

[FyteOnne]

Albion's roster includes all of the freshmen from the recruit list and a few more:

https://gobrits.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Excited to be back in Kresge this weekend!

https://twitter.com/AlbionMBB/status/1455535163648008192

Also, not insignificant to note that Caden Ebeling is #5 for LSSU.