MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[KnightSlappy]

Looks like a great draw for Trine, including home court . . . and a tough draw for Calvin--facing a resurgent Elmhurst for the right to challenge a championship-contender on its home floor.

At first glance, it sure feels like Hope got a slightly better draw than Calvin (Anderson and CWRU will both still be tough) Indicative that they finished ahead of Calvin in the final regional rankings?

Seeding should follow the regional rankings. We saw this evening that Calvin finished ahead of Hope and Elmhurst finished ahead of Anderson in their respective regional rankings. This is a seeding miss by the committee in my opinion.

[wiz]

Interesting that Hope and Calvin both travel to Cleveland this weekend. Think the Saturday game at JCU really has a start time of 8:20?

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Interesting that Hope and Calvin both travel to Cleveland this weekend. Think the Saturday game at JCU really has a start time of 8:20?

I was thinking the same thing.  Was this NCAA mandated? On Hoopsville, they were talking about staggered start times, so I wondered if this was forced upon the school. I also wondered if it was a rule that you must start your Saturday game 24 hours after you start your Friday game to avoid forcing visitors to play on short rest ... which would then force the question, "why start so late on Friday?". In short, I am hoping there is some explanation as it makes no sense.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I believe it's a bit of negotiation.  The committee tends to ask for specific times.  I know, in previous years, there have been pushback on some early and some late starts for logistical reasons.  I think some of that information is on the hosting bid proposal - what times are available.

[HOPEful]

Seeding should follow the regional rankings. We saw this evening that Calvin finished ahead of Hope and Elmhurst finished ahead of Anderson in their respective regional rankings. This is a seeding miss by the committee in my opinion.

Agreed. Definitely feels like Hope should be at JCU and Calvin at CWRU. Or at least some tweak that didn't place Elmhurst, Calvin, and JCU all in the same pod.

[HOPEful]

Decided to deep dive this with the top three teams in each of the MIAA pods. Based on their final regional rankings and a little subjective cross regional analysis on my part, I ranked them as follows...

1. CWRU
2. John Carroll
3. Trine
4. Calvin
5. Coe
6. Elmhurst
7. Hope
8. Anderson
9. Wabash

strictly by seeding, that should create...

Trine hosting Calvin and Wabash. Avoid MIAA matchup, swap Calvin with Coe. This is what we got.
JCU hosting Calvin and Anderson.
CWRU hosting Elmhurst and Hope.

Instead, they swapped Elmhurst and Anderson.

[KnightSlappy]

To add another wrinkle, Wisconsin Lutheran was above Anderson in the final Region 8 rankings, they were shipped off to host Wash U. They should be playing Calvin at JCU. Anderson should be playing Wash U.

[Grutte Dirk]

Any predictions to share?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Any predictions to share?

Massey says:

Trine 82  Fontbonne 67

Elmhurst 72  Calvin 71

Hope 76  Anderson 73

IMHO I think those predictions (as far as how close the games will be) are spot on.  Trine should win easliy, but Calvin and Hope both have their hands full.  That being said, I think we see 3 MIAA teams playing on Saturday

[HOPEful]

Trine should win easily, but Calvin and Hope both have their hands full.  That being said, I think we see 3 MIAA teams playing on Saturday

I think and hope so too. Elmhurst has a bunch of 6'3" guards that can shoot, but I'm not sure small ball is going to work against Calvin (they typically start 6'6" Zapinski alone inside). Ocean Johnson plays bigger than 6'3", but Calvin should have size mismatches pretty much everywhere on the court. I feel similarly about Anderson, and just feel like they're going to really struggle against Gabe, Tanner, and TJ inisde.

[wiz]

Congrats to all 3 MIAA teams for advancing today.

[TUAngola]

Congrats to all 3 MIAA teams for advancing today.

If you include the 2 MIAA WBB teams all 5 advanced to the 2nd round.  Way to represent!!

[TUAngola]

Looking ahead to tonight's games, Massey has:

John Carroll over Calvin 77-72
Case Western over Hope 78-72
Trine over Coe 72-69

Should be some great games, Calvin and Hope both have the ultimate test facing highly ranked teams on their home floors.  I'm expecting both the Knights and Flying Dutch to pull off upsets as they both are playing very well.  Trine, on the other hand, is going to have to play better than they did last night against Fontbonne to have a chance against Coe.  I thought both Coe and Wabash looked to be the superior teams at the Trine pod last night.  Coe is very similar to UW-Platteville.  They have a big strong post player in Schnurr who can also step out and shoot it, and they have a great guard in Schmitt who is similar to Pearson at Platteville, loves to dribble drive and also has a smooth stroke.  Supporting cast is really good too.  I've watched a majority of Trine games this year, it seems we peaked in late December and January, the guys look like their tanks are just about running on empty.  I hope I'm wrong though!

[Grutte Dirk]

JCU v Calvin may be decided on the block and the officiating. Offensive fouls, traveling... ugh.

[doc]

Woof.  This livestream play by play guy at JCU is the most apoplectic homer I have heard in a long, long time.