MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[HOPEful]

The long camera angle from the corner gave a very unflattering shot of how empty Van Noord was.

Despite being a season ticket holder, I have not attended a game in person since the start of the pandemic.

This is tremendous discourse!

One can both understand the complications of playing games in the midst of a pandemic and still make observations on the attendance at those games. You can choose to believe or not whether my original motivation was meant as a jab, but I can tell you it wasn't. My third and fourth points both applauded the quality of the game and the Calvin announcers, so hardly jabs at Calvin as a whole. 687 688 is a very low number and it seemed as much in a stadium that size. If it's due to health conscious Knight fans not wanting to risk transmitting the virus, I applaud your efforts as an institution. 

[ziggy]

What if I told you the attendance of an athletic event may not have been a primary reason for the size and seating capacity of Van Noord Arena?

[HOPEful]

What if I told you the attendance of an athletic event may not have been a primary reason for the size and seating capacity of Van Noord Arena?

It wouldn't change anything. I always think weddings at Dimnent Chapel at Hope look funny. Even weddings with 200+ only fill 20% of the pews. Sure, photographers work the angles and make sure the pictures don't show it, but It looks empty. Never mind that the primary function of the chapel is to serve a student body of 3000ish. It still looks empty for weddings.

I'm well aware that the arena functions as a concert venue, indoor graduation space, etc. and is often at capacity for other campus events. The observation of how empty it appeared on Saturday stands, regardless of the primary reason for its capacity.

[wiz]

What if I told you the attendance of an athletic event may not have been a primary reason for the size and seating capacity of Van Noord Arena?

What if I told you attendance at Hope is much higher because there really isn't anything else to do in Holland on a Saturday afternoon, except for the farmers market.  Trust me, I live in Holland.
I am concerned that those Hope girls can't get a full crowd for their weddings.  Maybe we just need better women...like those Calvin girls. https://youtu.be/jrQtFKcjpIE

[oldknight]

Heading into VNA tonight I learned that Olivet had only 8 available players, including being down two starters, so a comfortable Calvin win seemed to be in the cards. And indeed, Calvin came away with a 33 point win, by a final score of 89-56. To their credit, the Comet players did not cash it in early, competed hard, and trailed only 44-39 at the break. Calvin helped keep Olivet in the game the first half, getting badly out-shot from the floor, 48% to 31%. The Knights only managed to hold the lead after 20 minutes due to stellar free throw shooting (imagine that), going 12-14 from the charity stripe the opening half of play.

Unlike the opening frame, in the second half Calvin players spent more time taking the ball to the basket, rather than settling for a perimeter shot that wasn't going in. Olivet players understandably started running out of gas and suffered inevitable foul trouble difficulties that an 8-man squad can ill afford. It really wasn't a contest the final 20 minutes with Egekeze, Shymanski and Morrison scoring 15 each to lead the way. No Olivet player reached double digits.

One item of interest to me, was seeing freshmen guard, Logan Van Essen get his first meaningful varsity minutes. The young man from Illiana Christian responded well, scoring 8 points, dishing 3 assists, and snaring 2 steals. 

[sac]

Calvin 89  Olivet 56
Trine 88  Adrian 63
Albion 66 Alma 59


---I don't think Olivet has played a single game with the same lineup since they pushed Platteville to the brink.

----Albion had a 19 point lead on Alma earlier, but most of the second half was played in the single digits.


We've reached halfway

+1 for road win/ -1 for home loss

Albion   6-1  +3
Hope     5-1  +1
Calvin   4-2   0
Trine     4-3   0

Olivet    2-4   0
Adrian   2-5   -1
Kzoo     1-3   0
Alma     1-6   -3

Albion would be in a great spot with a win Saturday.
Hope/Calvin are both road warriors the remainder of the season 5 of 8 for each
Calvin's schedule lines up nicely for them to have just 2 losses going into their last 3 of at Trine, at Hope, Albion
I just don't know how Trine makes up for that home loss to Alma, very damaging.

Albion's next two home games  Hope on Saturday, Trine on Wednesday.  Huge.

[sac]

Kalamazoo is going to attempt to play 10 games in a 20 day window.  This includes finishing the final week with 4 games in 6 days.
https://miaa.org/sports/mbkb/2021-22/schedule?team=Kalamazoo


This includes back-to-back games against Calvin on a Mon/Wed and Olivet on a Mon/Wed

[sac]

Thought some of you might like this amusing call in the Redlands/Occidental game last night.  Apparently players had been slipping on the floor frequently.
My favorite part is the guy casually wiping the floor in the corner nowhere near the action.

https://youtu.be/POdaMyWdl8Y?t=7258

[oldknight]

Calvin beats Adrian 89-77. I always worry about the game that follows a long drive to Lenawee County, and Adrian competed hard, but the Bulldogs never led. Calvin turned a 39-35 halftime score into a double-digit lead the first four minutes of the second half. Adrian gamely fought back to reduce the Calvin margin to 68-64. After a Bill Sall timeout, the Knights ran off nine straight points to retake a 13 point lead that never really got challenged again.

Both teams shot over 50%, but Calvin dominated at the FT line, going 20-23, and out boarding their host 31-24. All five Calvin starters were in double figures, with Morrison leading with 23, Egekeze 19 and Shymanski 18. Kendall Chrismon came off the bench for Adrian, playing a solid game and leading his team in points and rebounds, going for 17 and 6.

A busy and important week for Calvin coming up. The Knights have 3 games, including back-to-back contests vs the Hornets from Kalamazoo, who hopefully won't be buzzing mad after being sidelined for two weeks.

[sac]

Hope 75 Albion 70 F

I enjoyed the parts where these two teams played each other, the rest was free-throw shooting.  A very frustrating game to watch all around.  I should feel better, I don't.   59 fouls, 72 free-throws.  No fun.

Hope had the lead almost all night, at one point it was 17 and then saw that whittled down in ways that only happen in Kresge to the point a couple Dykhouse Ft's were needed to put Hope up 4 with 9 seconds to play.  Usually a good FT shooting team, Hope really struggled today, we'll call it the Kresge juju.

Clayton Dykhouse was sensational and a very big reason Hope won the game.  Second big reason, Jeff Bikus, whose early defense on Albion's bigs was terrific and in a way made Albion change their approach.  Bikus also added Hope's best 3-pt threat.

Hope:  Dykhouse 28pts 7rbs, 5 assists 3 steals, Bikus 14, Thomas 11
Albion:  McAbee 15, Holmes 13, F. Garland 13

I think Hope had the better defensive plan today but its hard to see through all the stoppages and free-throws.  Quite a battle to win, it just doesn't feel like it.

[almcguirejr]

I watched the second half of Hope at Albion today. Hope won75-70. Hope led by double digits most of the second half.
Albion made a late run to make it somewhat interesting but Hope played really well. Dykhouse was great, had 28 points, controlled everything for Hope.  The officials called 59 fouls. 59!  3 Hope players fouled out, Albion had 2 foul out. This win puts Hope in the driver's seat for the MIAA championship. 

[sac]

Hope 75  Albion 70
Calvin 89 Adrian 77
Trine 100 Olivet 48

---Olivet had to  play 4 guys today who haven't played a lot for them this year.  30 turnovers is probably a lot.


+1 for road win/ -1 for home loss

Hope     6-1  +2
Albion   6-2  +2
Calvin   5-2   +1
Trine     5-3   0

Olivet    2-5   -1
Adrian   2-6   -2
Kzoo     1-3   0
Alma     1-6   -3


Trine at Albion on Wednesday night is the big one of the week.  Hope at Trine the following Wed, the Thunder have a good chance to reshape the final couple weeks of the season.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope 75 Albion 70 F

I enjoyed the parts where these two teams played each other, the rest was free-throw shooting.  A very frustrating game to watch all around.  I should feel better, I don't.   59 fouls, 72 free-throws.  No fun.

Hope had the lead almost all night, at one point it was 17 and then saw that whittled down in ways that only happen in Kresge to the point a couple Dykhouse Ft's were needed to put Hope up 4 with 9 seconds to play.  Usually a good FT shooting team, Hope really struggled today, we'll call it the Kresge juju.

Clayton Dykhouse was sensational and a very big reason Hope won the game.  Second big reason, Jeff Bikus, whose early defense on Albion's bigs was terrific and in a way made Albion change their approach.  Bikus also added Hope's best 3-pt threat.

Hope:  Dykhouse 28pts 7rbs, 5 assists 3 steals, Bikus 14, Thomas 11
Albion:  McAbee 15, Holmes 13, F. Garland 13

I think Hope had the better defensive plan today but its hard to see through all the stoppages and free-throws.  Quite a battle to win, it just doesn't feel like it.

Just finished watching this one after being stuck in airports and many flights all day yesterday.  Clayton was really great and his 12-13 from the line was really key (rest of the team was 8-20 for .400 - ugh!).  I also agree about the defense inside.  Ken Thomas really had his way in the Briton's win at Hope (22pts on 10-14), but Hope denied him the ball so well yesterday (2pts on 1-2).

That officiating was well, awful (seems too soft a word to use, but wow).  As many fouls as they called, and yet missed so many calls (boths ways) as well.  Only thing worse than the officiating was the play by play call on the video.  I initially thought it was a student (and I'd be a bit more understanding of the "homerism", etc.), but he did identify himself as the Albion golf coach.  He literally never saw a foul by an Albion player (constantly shocked by calls, "they never touched him", etc.) and wasn't familiar with some pretty basic rules of the game.  Might need to stick with golf.

[sac]

Rewatched it myself this afternoon.

----The last 12 minutes of game time took just over 40 minutes to play.

----Lilja also played a great defensive game, he had MJ Barnes a lot

----Didn't mention it last night buy Khy Winston gave Albion a real late spark.  Khy warmed up wearing a Washington Wizards t-shirt

----The Albion announcer does deserve a lot of credit for knowing all of Hope's players, he rarely made a mistake when calling out player names.  That's not easy to do when you only see a visiting team once in your own building.

[ziggy]

----The Albion announcer does deserve a lot of credit for knowing all of Hope's players, he rarely made a mistake when calling out player names.  That's not easy to do when you only see a visiting team once in your own building.

This was a problem during the Adrian broadcast for the Calvin game. Morrison was called Warner a few times. On the plus side, I don't think they ever misidentified Shanski, Frunin, or Ezeekee.