MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Here's what I'm thinking for Hope locations and opponents.  (when I say East/West draw a mental line from Buffalo through Pittsburgh then along the Appalachian Mts. South.)

I think we're pretty set on  Oshkosh, Wheaton, North Park, Case Western, Mt. Union as hosts.  John Carroll looks good as well but I'm a little iffy on that one.  We'll get one in Texas and I think there might be one more like WashU or Whitewater.  WashU can't host so that gets moved somewhere like they did a few years ago awarding Hope a first round pod but WashU was the highest seed.   I'm not sure where host site 8 would come from to complete our two relevant quadrants, but probably out East that can reasonably connect to the Ohio pods.

This is a weird year where there are more teams and higher ranking teams from the East than West .  IF we think of pods as #1, #2, #3, #4 seeding I think the committee has to move a number of #2 and #3's maybe even #4's  into the Ohio hosting sites, thus I think its pretty likely Hope goes West to Oshkosh, North Park or Wheaton or WashU/extra site.   Along with the fact that historically since early 2000's Hope has been in a West leaning pod/sectional all but once.

They also have a problem that two #1's out East will have to be #2's and 2 #2's out West have to be #1's.    And this complicates a bit who Hope might play.

I think Hope's right in the middle of the #3 seeds, but in strictly the West Hope's almost a #2



IF Hope goes West to Oshkosh/North Park/Wheaton/WashU-extra site, sticking with correct seeding its a pretty small list
WashU---maybe a host so probably not likely
Wabash
Carleton
LaCrosse--needs a C
Whitewater  --reg season rematch, not likely

mostly requires flights into a venue not very likely but possible
St. Thomas, Tx ---think probably a Tex pod host
Mary Hardin Baylor
Pomona-Pitzer
Emory
Whitworth  ---would be a slight mis-seed
CMS  --would need a Pool C bid which might not happen

So going West I think your two most likely opponents are Carleton or Wabash


Being sent to the Ohio pods really opens up the possibilities since nearly the entire Eastern field can reach our 3 likely Ohio sites.

First those either in the tournament or most likely
John Carroll if a  #2
Williams
Keene St.
Oswego St.
Hampden-Sydney
Hamilton

Require a C bid, our D3 twitter experts are mixed on who makes the tail end of the C field
Tufts
Mary Washington
NYU
Utica
Guilford
Montclair St.
Wooster
Rochester
Nazareth
Hamilton

These would be minor mis-seeds, ie a #3 playing a #3
Albertus Magnus--not positive they can get to Ohio
St. John Fisher
Widener
Scranton
Nichols
Babson  --reg rematch not likely
Whitworth --  would require flight into location
St. Lawrence
Lancaster Bible --- probably not



I think the most obvious pairing is Hope/Wabash and probably at North Park who might get the #1 seed out of Region 8  that sort of matches seeds, but that could just as easily be played at Wheaton.  If Hope is sent to Oshkosh they'd likely get Carleton.

[Grutte Dirk]

Add to that Calvin's history of losing underclassmen, both with the program and the institution...

Could you share a list?  You've got me curious.

[Grutte Dirk]

Not the first time there has been weird wishful thinking energy put out there like this regarding Calvin's successful freshmen.
stellar freshman season

I'm not clear on what you're implying.  A little help?

[Grutte Dirk]

I don't think D3 has a portal that operates like D1/D2 but D3 kids can put themselves in the D1/D2 portal so coaches can see they're available.

D3 uses the same portal as D1 and D2. 

[ziggy]

Not the first time there has been weird wishful thinking energy put out there like this regarding Calvin's successful freshmen.
stellar freshman season

I'm not clear on what you're implying.  AQ little help?

I think the talk has officially begun. UW-Oshkosh could not handle him...

Can Calvin keep Overway out of the portal?  Will this be the test case for MIAA NIL?

[Happy Calvin Guy]

First, congrats to Hope on taking two tough games from us at Van Noord and not too much doubt in either one. Two weeks ago I thought Calvin had potential to make a deep run in the NCAA tourney but now we will watch from home.

Multiple comments on this board in the last 24 hours have questioned Calvin's guard play and pointed to that as an area for improvement. Yes, their stat line was ugly in the MIAA title game and Hope's guards definitely got the better of them that night. That is all very fresh in our minds. But, looking at their body of work this entire season, I compared Egekeze/Ressler vs Dykhouse/Wourman. (the most likely starting backcourts in 2023-24?)

Calvin's duo shot 50% from the field vs 39% for Hope's. Also 43% on 3PT vs 32%. FTs are a much different story--85% to 55% the other way. Total scoring was pretty much even but it took Hope's duo about 19% more shots to achieve that. Calvin's duo was significantly more efficient in their scoring.

On a per game basis, Calvin's duo had more rebounds, blocks, and steals. Hope's duo had more assists, but also higher turnovers.

These statistical advantages are even more impressive when you consider they did all this in ~8% fewer minutes per game.

One or two tough nights do not define a player. Looking at the big picture I'm 100% ready to go into 2023-24 with these two anchoring our backcourt.

[sac]

Calvin and Trine were similar in that neither really had a true PG, but both had significantly larger guards than the rest of the league which was to me a large part of both teams have excellent defenses that typically shut down the opponents best guards, but versatile and big enough to guard wings and even 1 or 2 of the leagues 5's.  They could really match-up with anyone pretty easily.

But I thought Hope demonstrated what having a true PG or in Hope's case 2 could do controlling tempo, controlling clock and breaking down a defense at key moments.  Neither Calvin or Trine could do that down the stretch in their games with Hope as both teams could only really muster longer jumps shots (time and score deficit having a bit to do with that). 

[HOPEful]

Add to that Calvin's history of losing underclassmen, both with the program and the institution...

Could you share a list?  You've got me curious.

Off the top of my head, Vander Brug, Morrison, Meulenberg... to be fair, those we all KVS.

[HOPEful]

I think the most obvious pairing is Hope/Wabash and probably at North Park who might get the #1 seed out of Region 8  that sort of matches seeds, but that could just as easily be played at Wheaton.  If Hope is sent to Oshkosh they'd likely get Carleton.

FWIW, D3hoops predicts Hope going to Wheaton to play La Crosse.

[wiz]

I think the most obvious pairing is Hope/Wabash and probably at North Park who might get the #1 seed out of Region 8  that sort of matches seeds, but that could just as easily be played at Wheaton.  If Hope is sent to Oshkosh they'd likely get Carleton.

FWIW, D3hoops predicts Hope going to Wheaton to play La Crosse.

Seems strange that Wheaton would be a host site.  They had five losses, were blown out in the semi finals of the conference tournament on their home court by Elmhurst, who in turn was soundly defeated by North Park in the finals.

[Greek Tragedy]

Wheaton was the #1 ranked team in their region going into the week. Geography-wise, Oshkosh, Wheaton and NPU can probably host the "Midwest/West" pods.

[sac]

I think the most obvious pairing is Hope/Wabash and probably at North Park who might get the #1 seed out of Region 8  that sort of matches seeds, but that could just as easily be played at Wheaton.  If Hope is sent to Oshkosh they'd likely get Carleton.

FWIW, D3hoops predicts Hope going to Wheaton to play La Crosse.

I didn't have LaCrosse in the tournament, added them to my list above.  A pretty viable opponent should they make the tournament.

[Gregory Sager]

I think the most obvious pairing is Hope/Wabash and probably at North Park who might get the #1 seed out of Region 8  that sort of matches seeds, but that could just as easily be played at Wheaton.  If Hope is sent to Oshkosh they'd likely get Carleton.

FWIW, D3hoops predicts Hope going to Wheaton to play La Crosse.

Seems strange that Wheaton would be a host site.  They had five losses, were blown out in the semi finals of the conference tournament on their home court by Elmhurst, who in turn was soundly defeated by North Park in the finals.

It's not strange at all. Everything is dictated by the five primary criteria, and Wheaton remains one of the most formidable teams in all of D3 according to those criteria.

[wiz]

I think the most obvious pairing is Hope/Wabash and probably at North Park who might get the #1 seed out of Region 8  that sort of matches seeds, but that could just as easily be played at Wheaton.  If Hope is sent to Oshkosh they'd likely get Carleton.

FWIW, D3hoops predicts Hope going to Wheaton to play La Crosse.

Seems strange that Wheaton would be a host site.  They had five losses, were blown out in the semi finals of the conference tournament on their home court by Elmhurst, who in turn was soundly defeated by North Park in the finals.

It's not strange at all. Everything is dictated by the five primary criteria, and Wheaton remains one of the most formidable teams in all of D3 according to those criteria.

I would like to see the tournament on Kedzie.

[HOPEful]

Hope draws Bethany Lutheran @ OshKosh. Massey predicts an 81-80 Hope win against the Vikings.