MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

MIAA now has an 18-12 record vs D3, which is looking better than that 10-10 start.  Looking at the strength of the opponents unfortunately tells not such a great story at this point (yes, we knew the teams on several schedules were not going to build a great resume).

So while the league is at 18-12 or 0.600, those teams we've played are a combined 21-29 or 0.420 in games not against the MIAA.  Only 6 of the 20 teams to play an MIAA team this year have winning records themselves, and only 4 MIAA wins have been against teams with winning records.

[ziggy]

MIAA now has an 18-12 record vs D3, which is looking better than that 10-10 start.  Looking at the strength of the opponents unfortunately tells not such a great story at this point (yes, we knew the teams on several schedules were not going to build a great resume).

So while the league is at 18-12 or 0.600, those teams we've played are a combined 21-29 or 0.420 in games not against the MIAA.  Only 6 of the 20 teams to play an MIAA team this year have winning records themselves, and only 4 MIAA wins have been against teams with winning records.

This is still all overall good news for the likes of Calvin, Trine and Hope as it pertains to their Pool C resumes. It's a big deal for the rest of the league to be picking up as many wins as possible, even if it's against teams that aren't winning many games. The top of the league will benefit from the OWP portion of the SOS calculation more than they will be hurt by the OOWP component.

As a result, the early season SOS projections have been moving in the right direction. It's obviously very early but there is more relevant data going into that projection now than there was in the preseason projections. Calvin and Hope projected SOS have moved into the .530s range while Trine is into the .540s range. Those should be very competitive with solid winning percentages when it comes time to regional rankings and tournament selection. Again, very early but encouraging so far.

[sac]

Because you play conference opponents twice and even three times it really doesn't matter a lot who they beat, they just need to win.   The OOWP factor is pretty minimal in the grand scheme of all that goes into rankings.  And MIAA schools aren't going to get a lot of help in that department anyway.

However it was very important for ranking that Calvin beat Marietta because John Carroll and Mt. Union will have the same head-to-head comparison and that now swings Calvin's way and could be an advantage if JCU or MTU lose to Marietta.  Basically it gives Calvin an "in" to be ranked ahead of them if all other numbers are similar a loss to Marietta would have been a difficult comparison to overcome.


PS-Altoona is 1-4 now, but they're the pre-season AMCC favorite and will likely rack up a high teens win total and a win % nearing 60.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Thanks ziggy and sac!  Glad to know that winning still matters

[pointlem]

A great weekend for Hope men's basketball.

After a cold-shooting exhibition game against the University of Chicago, Hope has dominated its opponents. After three games, it is hard not to be impressed with every aspect of their game—and of each player's contributions.

Gabe Quillan's footwork and shooting has much improved since his first year. Marcus Wourman is an aesthetic pleasure to watch.  Clayton Dykhouse, Tyler Weigerink, and Ben Wagar continue to excel. And Josh Decker, Parker Hovey, and Justice Mims now add significant value to last year's returning four starters. This looks to be an unselfish team, with no one go-to player, but for which any one of these could lead the scoring on any given night.

It will be tough to sustain 53% (43% 3-point) shooting. A game will come when those 3-point shots aren't falling. Even so, I expect competitive defensive intensity, offensive ball movement, guard speed, and bench depth.

Tuesday's game against Hanover—which last year beat Hope by 11—will provide another good test.

A footnote: Saturday's 772 attendance—the sparsest men's BB crowd I can recall at DeVos—suffered from competition with MI/OSU football. I wonder what that number would be on future MI/OSU game days, given a 4 p.m. instead of 3 p.m. tipoff.

[scottiedawg]

Has it already been mentioned that Eli Schoonveld is now listed on Hope's roster?

[Dutchman17]

Has it already been mentioned that Eli Schoonveld is now listed on Hope's roster?

Eli was voted a team captain even though I don't think he plans on playing this year.  He is listed on the roster, but just with a "C" next to his name and no number

[oldknight]

Calvin's comfortable 75-45 win over Wilmington on Saturday afternoon, contained one surprise, as I expected the Quakers would be a more impressive opponent than the winless Concordia Wisconsin quintet the Knights faced the night before. Such was not the case, and it was obvious early on that Wilmington was not the more talented of the two weekend opponents Calvin faced over the weekend.

It doesn't seem to me that Calvin's offense has gelled yet this season, but for the third time in five games, the Knights held their opponent to sub-30% shooting from the floor. Calvin's defense--led by the tireless Uchenna Egekeze--is really good. One note of disappointment is that for the second game in a row, Calvin tied with their opponent in total rebounds. Saturday afternoon the Quakers came away with an astounding 18 offensive caroms, though admittedly, there were plenty of opportunities as Wilmington missed 44 shots from the floor.

Overway led with 22 and 10, while Egekeze added 15 points. Trevin Winkle played well in limited duty off the bench, netting 8 points and grabbing 4 boards in only 8 minutes of playing time.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Calvin's comfortable 75-45 win over Wilmington on Saturday afternoon, contained one surprise, as I expected the Quakers would be a more impressive opponent than the winless Concordia Wisconsin quintet the Knights faced the night before. Such was not the case, and it was obvious early on that Wilmington was not the more talented of the two weekend opponents Calvin faced over the weekend.

It doesn't seem to me that Calvin's offense has gelled yet this season, but for the third time in five games, the Knights held their opponent to sub-30% shooting from the floor. Calvin's defense--led by the tireless Uchenna Egekeze--is really good. One note of disappointment is that for the second game in a row, Calvin tied with their opponent in total rebounds. Saturday afternoon the Quakers came away with an astounding 18 offensive caroms, though admittedly, there were plenty of opportunities as Wilmington missed 44 shots from the floor.

Overway led with 22 and 10, while Egekeze added 15 points. Trevin Winkle played well in limited duty off the bench, netting 8 points and grabbing 4 boards in only 8 minutes of playing time.

Interesting... I would say pretty much the opposite for the games vs Hope.  Suspect that is more an indication of the influences of travel, quick turnaround, preparation, etc.  than a true measure of the strength of those two teams.

[HOPEful]

Interesting... I would say pretty much the opposite for the games vs Hope.  Suspect that is more an indication of the influences of travel, quick turnaround, preparation, etc.  than a true measure of the strength of those two teams.

I had a similar thought when reading... I refrained, figuring games that Hope won by 24 and 47 probably aren't the best barometer on assessing which team they played was more talented...

It was obvious early on that Calvin would have a more difficult time with Concordia than Wilmington.

It's all pretty moot though as both teams ramp up the difficulty to finish out 2023... (the games against Wilmington and Concordia will be relatively meaningless soon enough...)

[ziggy]

I have a hard time believing Concordia will play much better than they played at Calvin Friday night. That's the thing, each team is capable of a range of performances and Calvin probably saw Concordia's upper end.

The Falcons had their best game so far in terms of three point shooting and assists against Calvin then followed it up with season-worsts in those categories the next afternoon at Hope.

Similarly, Wilmington had a season-low 10 turnovers against Hope and posted season-highs from the free throw line. The next day against Calvin they were a season-low 2-23 on three point attempts.

That was just from a quick look at each team's game log but helps to show why the crowds could have differing opinions on the two visitors this past weekend.

[TUAngola]

It appears the post I made last Saturday recapping Trine's win over Ohio Wesleyan was one of the 'victims' of the website issues over the weekend.  It was a fairly comfortable 10-16 point lead most of the way, then stretched the margin it out in the last 10 minutes to end up victorious 93-58.  Got good minutes from everyone, had 5 in double figures, had a very high assist total, I think I heard it was a top 5 assist production in Trine's history.

It's too bad my post isn't available, I had a really good 'rant' about a OWU 'ref' in the stands that wouldn't keep quiet.  It was so distracting, ugh.  No wonder no one wants to become referees.

Nice to get out to a 5-0 start, got to keep up with Calvin and Hope who are off to equally great starts.

The next 6 games on the Trine schedule are brutal, they have a combined record so far of 19-8.  It begins with a road game at Heidelberg this Wednesday evening.  This will be a huge test for the Thunder.  Then we have UW Stevens Point, Anderson, Elmhurst, Berry and UW Plattville to round out the non-conference schedule.  Calvin will be coming to Angola to also play UW Plattville and Berry.  I'm sure both coaching staffs will take advantage of scouting up close and in person, not that they will gain any knowledge that they don't already know.

[TUAngola]

Coach has hops...impressive mid-air bump with 'Tez.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F_9jPMzXIAEb5rG?format=jpg&name=900x900

[ziggy]

New Top 25 is out. Calvin moves up to 5, Trine enters the poll at 24, Hope also getting votes.

[ziggy]

Kalamazoo 88, Machester 70
Another good non-conference win for the league