MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[TUAngola]

Final from the MIT Center:  Trine 72  Baldwin Wallace 70

Another tight game this afternoon.  Trine jumped out to a 12 point lead in the first half and saw that disappear in a hurry in the last 5 minutes or so as BW started to drain 3s...I think they hit around 4 in a row to get the lead down to 1 point before Hayden Jones nailed a 3 before the horn to lead Trine in the locker room with a 4 point lead at half.  We kept the lead but weren't able to pull away in the first 8 minutes of the second half.  Then BW went on a run to go up 5 at one point before Trine clawed back into the game.  We kept a slim margin but BW answered every score with a score of their own.  We were up 3 with 20 seconds left and we were willing to give up a layup but the BW guy threw a nifty pass from under the basket to a wide open guy who hit a 3 to tie the game with 8 seconds to go at 70.  After a BW timeout Hayden Jones took the inbounds pass, with little pressure from BW which was surprising, and drove down the left side of the court and passed the ball to Nick Bowman who got by his man and drove to the basket with a layup over their 6'9 center with .6 to go.  BW with a 3 quarters court heave at the buzzer that fell short.  Whew!

Observations:  Aiden Warzecha was back in the starting lineup and probably played his best all around game so far this season, 8 pts, 3 asst, 5 steals with only 1 turnover.  On the flip side Brent Cox has been M.I.A. for the most part so far this year.  Like I said before, offensively we need his presence to run this motion offense and get open looks.  Today he just seemed out of sorts from the start.  Then after turning the ball over 2x in the first 4 minutes of the second half Coach Miller sat him down and he didn't get back in the game at all.  Sending a message?  Maybe, I don't know.  We have 10 days off now to figure things out before the next game.  Even though we are a veteran team we still have a lot of things to work on.  Shots aren't falling as easily for the guys as they did last year.  Hayden Jones has played really well for a Freshman and we wouldn't have won today without him.

Trine:  Bowman 23, Geller 13, H Jones 12
BW:  Mazzeo 24 (kid can flat out play), Snyder 14, Wennes 13

[ziggy]

Alma HS 6'10" forward Sam Leppien has committed to Calvin. I will never pretend to know much about how good a recruit is but it seemed like most of the MIAA was after him and he had offers from Spring Arbor and Concordia.

[wiz]

Alma HS 6'10" forward Sam Leppien has committed to Calvin. I will never pretend to know much about how good a recruit is but it seemed like most of the MIAA was after him and he had offers from Spring Arbor and Concordia.

Great news!  How are things coming with the big 6'9" guy from the lakeshore?

[maroonandgold]

Calvin won 75-57 against the 7th ranked team in Division 3 with another outstanding defensive effort.  They held Elmhurst to 7 points in the first 10 minutes, led 51-34 at halftime, and kept a constant 18 to 26 point lead throughout the second half.  Morrison and Shymanski both scored 22 points with most of them in the first half.  Both hit several three point shots, and Shymanski was almost unstoppable when he was in close with a variety of shots.

[ziggy]

Calvin won 75-57 against the 7th ranked team in Division 3 with another outstanding defensive effort.  They held Elmhurst to 7 points in the first 10 minutes, led 51-34 at halftime, and kept a constant 18 to 26 point lead throughout the second half.  Morrison and Shymanski both scored 22 points with most of them in the first half.  Both hit several three point shots, and Shymanski was almost unstoppable when he was in close with a variety of shots.

Reminded me a lot of the Augustana game where Calvin was just the better team from start to finish. Very impressive performance from Calvin, especially on the defensive end. Jake Rhode is one of the finest players in all of D3 basketball and the Knights more than held him in check. Coach Sall seemed very pleased with the defense over the full 40 minutes in his postgame comments.

[oldknight]

Bill Sall has to be pretty pleased about his squad's surprisingly comfortable win over a Top 10 team from Elmhurst College. I did sense that the Blue Jays were not at the top of their game at VNA, but certainly some of that was due to Calvin's excellent team defense. A very good effort by the Knights, particularly given that they were a bit undermanned. Two starters, Emmett Warners and Uchenna Egekeze began the game on the bench, and each logged only 18 minutes of PT. Unchenna was rather ineffective, but Warners gamely challenged the physically imposing Lavon Thomas, who is a beast in the paint. Warners was able to draw Thomas away from the basket when Calvin had the ball, and Emmett also sported several nifty passes that led to easy baskets. Marcus Bult played probably his best game as a Knight, scoring 11 points and grabbing 7 boards in 14 minutes. His good play was vital to the win and I expect Coach Sall was delighted with the sophomore's game.

Some general observations on the 2021-22 edition of Calvin men's BB from the games I have seen them play:

--Luke Morrison has become the kind of player Calvin fans expected/hoped he would be, following his promising but long-ago interrupted freshmen year on the Knollcrest campus. Luke's a high-energy, very confident veteran who knows how to score, but who also has a good sense of where his teammates are on the floor.

--Alec Fruin won't wow you with athleticism, but the fact that he played 4 years at a D2 (starting the last two) is quite evident. He just doesn't make mistakes, can defend multiple positions well, and is a physically strong kid.

--Calvin appears to be a nine-man deep team. Their overall team size is pretty decent for a D3, but it would be nice to have a big banger to compete with the top-tier teams, as pretty much all good D3's seem to have one. Maybe next year.

--The preseason poll put Calvin 3rd which is about right, but I believe that spot is this team's floor. I think the Knights are good enough to challenge Trine and Albion for the crown.

--Bill Sall is a good learner, and exhibited commendable and solid self-control in the Elmhurst game. With over 10 minutes left in the first half, Elmhurst's agitated head coach was nearly teed up by the official, but apparently was only warned. Coach Sall immediately turned to his team and told the players (as best I could hear the exchange) "Don't say anything to the refs--they're not in the mood for it right now and we don't need a call that lights a fire under Elmhurst." The refs didn't call a single foul against Elmhurst the last 10-plus minutes of the half despite having several opportunities to do so. Neither Coach Sall nor the players gave the officials any opportunity to change the character of a game that had been going Calvin's way. The Knights never really let their opponent get back into the game. In addition to keeping any possible total depravity in check, Bill set a solid example for his players, and the team responded by just playing the game as it was presented, not as they wished it to be.

[HOPEful]

--The preseason poll put Calvin 3rd which is about right, but I believe that spot is this team's floor. I think the Knights are good enough to challenge Trine and Albion for the crown.

I felt similarly when the preseason rankings came out and didn't articulate it near this well. I think that's a very good way to put it, although, I would say Calvin has clearly moved ahead of Albion (as has Hope) and is firmly in the top two. I think Hope will compete with Calvin and Trine this year, but there is a gap between the Thunder and Knights at the top and everyone else.

[ziggy]

--Calvin appears to be a nine-man deep team. Their overall team size is pretty decent for a D3, but it would be nice to have a big banger to compete with the top-tier teams, as pretty much all good D3's seem to have one. Maybe next year.

Jordan Katje is a great post defender pound-for-pound. Problem is he is often giving up 4 inches and several pounds. I'm not sure the story of Brandon Paul not returning but as much as I like the potential of this Calvin team they would look even better having Paul and Katje down low. Good news is looks like Bult may develop into a really solid defender. I'm also hoping that "maybe next year" at the end was some veiled foreshadowing.

[Gregory Sager]

In addition to keeping any possible total depravity in check, Bill set a solid example for his players, and the team responded by just playing the game as it was presented, not as they wished it to be.

It's sentences like these that make me wish that oldknight posts weren't so infrequent nowadays.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

No Clayton Dykhouse for Hope today - anyone know why?

[oldknight]

In addition to keeping any possible total depravity in check, Bill set a solid example for his players, and the team responded by just playing the game as it was presented, not as they wished it to be.

It's sentences like these that make me wish that oldknight posts weren't so infrequent nowadays.

I normally access this board through one of two computers, or occasionally with my cell phone. I spent a good portion of the fall trying to gain entry to my account on all 3 devices, but was denied multiple times. Requesting a new password was useless, as every time I requested the ability to do so, I received no email replies from my "friends" at d3hoops. It seemed to me the suits who manage the board had relegated me to board posting purgatory, if not permanent banishment. Apparently the purification process was at least partially completed as, for reasons totally unknown to me, one of my two computers has allowed me (at least for the moment) to post once again. I'm hoping this temporary licensure will have permanence. Of course, once I gained access again, it took me 48 hours to figure out that the Great Lakes Region no longer exists, and that the MIAA is in Region 7. Please don't tell my kids. They already laugh far too much at my technological incompentence.

[maroonandgold]

In addition to keeping any possible total depravity in check, Bill set a solid example for his players, and the team responded by just playing the game as it was presented, not as they wished it to be.

It's sentences like these that make me wish that oldknight posts weren't so infrequent nowadays.

I normally access this board through one of two computers, or occasionally with my cell phone. I spent a good portion of the fall trying to gain entry to my account on all 3 devices, but was denied multiple times. Requesting a new password was useless, as every time I requested the ability to do so, I received no email replies from my "friends" at d3hoops. It seemed to me the suits who manage the board had relegated me to board posting purgatory, if not permanent banishment. Apparently the purification process was at least partially completed as, for reasons totally unknown to me, one of my two computers has allowed me (at least for the moment) to post once again. I'm hoping this temporary licensure will have permanence. Of course, once I gained access again, it took me 48 hours to figure out that the Great Lakes Region no longer exists, and that the MIAA is in Region 7. Please don't tell my kids. They already laugh far too much at my technological incompentence.

Glad to have you back since I find your comments especially thorough and insightful.  The problem you had is one I ran into some time ago.  After some time had passed I no longer had the problem.  I was missing your comments when you were not able  to get in.

[HopeConvert]

In addition to keeping any possible total depravity in check, Bill set a solid example for his players, and the team responded by just playing the game as it was presented, not as they wished it to be.

It's sentences like these that make me wish that oldknight posts weren't so infrequent nowadays.

If it can be kept in check, then it's not really total, is it?

[AlwaysHope]

Not sure if he played basketball at Hope, but former Hope College pitcher Jim Kaat, a first team All-MIAA pitcher in 1957, was elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame today!  Hello, Cooperstown.

[pointlem]

In addition to keeping any possible total depravity in check, Bill set a solid example for his players, and the team responded by just playing the game as it was presented, not as they wished it to be.

It's sentences like these that make me wish that oldknight posts weren't so infrequent nowadays.

If it can be kept in check, then it's not really total, is it?

Also great to have HopeConvert return. In years past, the commentary and the repartee between Old Knight and HopeConvert, by itself, warranted visiting this Board.