MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

I can't believe I looked this up for you Stinger

They've split 3 times in the last 6 seasons.

01-05 Hope won the first AQ the second

00 Hope actually lost to AQ first, then beat them a couple games later.

Sure seems like its happened more often.  But there have been a few times when Hope lost to AQ badly and completely out of the blue.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Of course last years debacle was without Phillips or Immink - and a team that was very unfocused.  I doubt we see that on Friday

[mrswylie]

I doubt Hope will be looking past Aquinas on Friday.  Much like Kazoo, Aquinas always get up to play Hope.  Unlike Kazoo, Aquinas brings talent.

[AUStudent]

How does Olivet look this year?  What can be expected from them come Sat?

[Stinger]

zing... nice one mrsw.  Glad you could bring that bit of insight into the conversation. 

Thanks for looking that up,  SAC.  I don't see Hope losing this game, but, again. Aquinas is a solid team. It's a neutral floor, and Aquinas' guards could give Hope some issues. 

[mrswylie]

After 15 losses in a row to a "brainfart" team, I guess I'd be a bit on edge as well.

[oldknight]

I just got back from the Calvin/Cornerstone game at the VanAndel won by Cornerstone, I think by a score of 87-79 or something like that. Neither team looked very good and, in addition, Knight fans had to view the depressing sight of Meckes seated on the bench the entire second half in street clothes and with crutches next to him. I'm not sure if it was his ankle or foot but it doesn't look good, especially for a team that was already scratching for interior points.

The players play hard and don't quit but their lack of a reliable inside scorer is all the more evident when the 3 ball isn't dropping as was the case tonight. Draayer couldn't buy a basket and even air balled a wide open 3, something I never thought I would see.  Even with all those offensive woes I think the Knights still might have won if Meckes had been healthy in the second half. Meckes scored 10 in his first half and looked like the best big man on the floor on both ends for either team until going down late in the half. He completely outplayed Jonker who benefited greatly from Meckes' second half absence.

As an aside, it found it interesting to see that Vorhees was at the game--in the stands watching, not on the bench or the floor.

[Stinger]

That really has nothing to do with what I was talking about.  SAC brought up the Hope/AQ game.  Hope seems to have a mental roadblock with Aquinas. There, is that a better term for you, Mrs W? 

K got in the win column against University of Dallas.  Would be a nice win tomorrow to get ready for the AQ tourney.

What is with the Hope broadcast coming back from commercial with Jill Sobule's "I Kissed a Girl"?  Those guys better be careful.  They don't want to go the way of Prof. De La Torre.

[kcrest]

Listened to a chunk of the game tonight on WFUR.  As usual Doug Wentworth was as smooth as Hudsonville Vanilla, in the round carton.  The Knights sounded not so smooth.  Maybe a little sign of trouble when your two freshmen point guards lead you in scoring? 

With Hoekstra and Roelofs not playing this year depth was bound to be an issue.  Big Josh going down in game four will test that theory in a hurry.  Streek said on the post-game show that the trainer told him Josh's injury is not good. 

Old Streek was pretty down and took the sword for the bad performance, blaming himself for not getting the guys to buy into the system and not being motivated to play.  Pretty gallant of him I thought.  It'll be an up and down season for the Knights.  Let's hope Josh is back soon b/c I think this team has some potential and the kids could be all right by the time the MIAA tourney rolls around.

As someone (SAC, Civic Minded?) noted:  four years with the freshmen isn't all bad.  Now we need some big bodies to go with them for the next few years ...

[Mr. Ypsi]

Any reports yet on Hope-Aquinas?

[Stinger]

 67-66 Hope. i tuned it in for the last 1.5 seconds.  Don't know a recap.

[AUStudent]

How does Olivet look this year?  What can be expected from them come Sat?

anyone?

[Civic Minded]

Wow, what an ugly night of basketball!  Oldknight has it pretty muched pegged for Calvin -- neither Draayer or Tewella could hit a thing.  Draayer had 0 threes.  Then when Meckes got injured, ugh.  Neither Cornerstone nor Calvin looked like they had it together, which was telling...

...for the 2nd game.  Hope looked like they were following the Calvin playbook; out of their game, tense, just not themselves.  When you see Immink bobble the ball more than once (and also not hit any threes, and miss free throws) you know it's going to be a long night.  VanderHeide was a strongpoint -- perhaps being new, but not a freshman, he could work his head past the Aquinas jinx.

Ref'ing seemed very biased, but it usually will in a close game.  Voisin came off the bench w/ 3 fouls, and Joppe was waiting for him.  He brushed the jersey of his man (not even with his arm, mind you) within 5 seconds, and tweet, #4.  Sheesh.  Definitely didn't seem like the same stuff was being called on both sides.  Ah, well, play above it, I guess.

At any rate, I'm sure FDF will fill you in on the details.  Once more night of ugly basketball at the VanAndel.  Will it ever get better?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

What a couple of ugly games - as Civic and others have mentioned.  Makes you think the players are all hung over on triptofan or something.

Calvin/Cornerstone looked like the first game of the season for both teams for the first 15 minutes or so.  The only guy on the floor who looked like he new what was going on was Meckes.  I have no doubt in my mind that Calvin wins if he doesn't go down.  I HOPE it's not too serious.  Cornerstone played half-way decent in the second half, to win the game.

Hope/Aquinas - this one was ugly for the entire game.  I would say the final outcome was more Aquinas losing than Hope winning.  Hope missed 4 ft's in the last 15 sec.  Fortunately Aquinas missed 2 shots, and several put back attempts in the same time frame.

Stats for Hope won't look as bad as they played - Phillips with 20, Cramer with 17, and VanderHeide with 12 or so.  Marcus contributed so much more that won't show up in the stats - keeping balls alive, tiping rebounds, and good defense.

Hope definitely looked to have the AQ mental block active - but somehow managed to win.  Well, they say that good teams just know how to win 

Actually - I knew the minute that Calvin lost that Hope would find some way to win - since there seems to be no way Hope & Calvin will ever meet in this tournament.

[sac]

Took one look outside the window tonight and decided it wasn't worth battling the snow and ice, plus I was cozy warm.

Listened in on Hope/AQ and kind of lost interest when they announced Calvin had lost.......ugh, never gonna happen again is it?  But then Hope almost abliged by blowing this one.

To sum up, Hope had two 5 minute stretches without a FG, one to start the game and one in the final 9 minutes.  After falling behind by 7 Hope managed to go up by 11 and then just seemed to run into trouble.  I guess the reports from above suggest it was as ugly as it sounded.

To win a game with your two Sr's missing 4 FT's in the closing seconds is just plain lucky.  But sometimes that's what it takes.  Should be a good final with Cornerstone, the other NAIA thorn in Hope's side lately.

A quick look at the boxscore shows me Hope played excellent defense again, Blicher had zero for AQ, he's torched Hope in the past, and Mayo finished with 10 after opening with AQ's first 6 points.

I'll take a quiet 19 from Steve Cramer every game this year.

Finally is it Tom or Tim Partridge, I've seen and heard both?