MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

1st half stats

Albion shooting 74% from the floor (17-23), 83% from 3 (5-6) and 90% from the line (9-10).  Crawford has 19 at the half.

Adrian shooting 21% from the floor (6-29), 20% from 3 (3-15) and 100% from the line (2-2).

[NW Hope Fan]

Hope worried about recruiting? Whew, thanks for the laugh, mrsw.  Dont get me wrong, I sure as hell want these young kids to open their eyes and ears and realize they wont play (or start as GVW will tell them).  Maybe then Glen can try to get by on his coaching and not talent alone.

The funny thing Stinger, is you always having a bitch about GVW. Did the guy do you wrong personally? I have a few personal issues with the Glen, but I think he is a great coach, and doesn't do anything different than any other recruiter anywhere in the country. You want a kid to come to your school, you'll tell him what he wants to hear. Besides I don't know what it is like at the rest of the MIAA schools, but male student numbers are way down at Hope, and were it not for the recruiting efforts (may they play or not) of GVW and Dean Kreps, there would be hardly a male soul on campus. I'm sure those guys and the other Hope coaches have free reign to get as many male bodies on campus as possible.

[Stinger]

Easy there NW, lighten up a bit. It's the day of the Hope game, I dont like Hope, can't stand most of the people associated with the basketball program, so Im going to talk about it on here.  Is it only Calvin fan thats allowed to no like Hope?

Oh, and by the way, I appreciate you confirming my opinion that Glen is a fake.

[Dark Knight]

Calvin defeated Tri-State 76-63 this afternoon. The knights executed well, especially in the first half. They seemed to ease up the intensity just a bit once the lead got up to 15 points or so.

The knights were led in scoring by their freshman phenom point guard with 18 points, on perfect shooting. Oh, Veldhouse played a good game too.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

My Kzoo brethren. Take a deep breath and stop talking mean because you know you will lose tonight.

[ziggy]

Calvin defeated Tri-State 76-63 this afternoon. The knights executed well, especially in the first half. They seemed to ease up the intensity just a bit once the lead got up to 15 points or so.

The knights were led in scoring by their freshman phenom point guard with 18 points, on perfect shooting. Oh, Veldhouse played a good game too.

Yep, Dustin Smith has opened up his game since his break out performance at Albion.  He's been shooting very efficiently and seems to have himself under control running the offense.  Guess he decided that Caleb can't take all the freshman credit. 

[NW Hope Fan]

Oh, and by the way, I appreciate you confirming my opinion that Glen is a fake.

I only confirmed that Glen is just like the 2 Robs, Kurt, Kevin, Mike, Ed and Buck... and every other coach in the country. Take that as you will.

Why are you so bitter? What did the Hope staff do to you? Is it that you just hate losing to Hope, or losing by 65 to Hope?

[imafan]

Evan has 3 ballooning discs in his back and although Glenn didn't say he's done, it was implied.  They are opting not to do surgery yet, but to treat with therapy and see how he does.

Actually, the mri showed 2 bulging discs in his lower back...he received electrical stim treatment from the Hope trainers and an injection into the affected area at a local pain management clinic.

That treatment has helped and he hopes to contribute down the stretch as Hope shoots for a national championship.

[GoKnights68]

Apologies to picket fence.  Veldhouse actually did play some 2 because of how well Smith and he were both playing.

All the Calvin players shot really well this afternoon.

[albionbritfan]

Good win for Albion today as they put the shine on Adrian.  A 39 pt win--one of the largest MOVs I have seen at Kresge.  Albion shot well from beyond the arc, and Adrian could not stop BC nor click on any cylinders on the offensive end.  It just wasn't Adrian's day.  It was a 30-point lead at the half, and the second half was fairly irrelevant.  Big win leading into a big week for Albion (@TriState & @Hope).

[allsportball]

six more games for Buck and then possibly some hope for Adrian. He is in this situation with this team because of past coaching or lack of it. recruiting or lack of it. He is not able to even see whats happening on the floor anymore and has lost all respect of his team. To set in a zone and just let albion blister you for another 15/20 points is incredidble. If he doesn't want to coach or be a part of what he has created he should have just left. This falls back on what he has done to and for this school,players & team in the last years. This team would have had to play exceptional just to be in this game but with the right coaching they could of kept the game respectable and continued to play hard. This did not happen.
Albion congratulations you are a very well coached team that is playing very well. Keep working hard and good things will continue to come your way.         

[hope1]

hope beat kzoo tonight  91 to  63    immink led them in scoring with 18 points everyone played    now a big 2 home games next week olivet wed and albion sat   

[KnightSlappy]

It was good to see Draayer put down 5 threes including one from Jon Barry range (that is way beyond the line).  Looks like his hammy is better.  Smith played like a man with a chip on his shoulder going 4-4 from downtown.  The young guys (Caleb, Dustin and Tyler) are really stepping it up making their rotation suddenly very solid.  Good things happen when your weaknesses start to become your strenghts.

[bulldogalum]

I simply can't agree with allsportball's analysis of the situation.  As far as I'm concerned, you put Turner, GVW, or KVS in charge of this Adrian team and they wouldn't be doing any better.  Heck, Coach K, Bobby Knight, or John Wooden wouldn't do any better, I don't think. 

What's the problem?  Well, the answers are pretty simple, and the solutions to them are hard.  The problem is they're undersized.  Matching up against teams like Hope and Albion is nearly impossible, because not only do those teams have highly skilled players, but they're also considerably taller.  The probelm is turnovers, and it has been all season.  The biggest problem with the turnovers is, it's not just one guy doing it, it's pretty well spread out.  The problem is scoring.  There are plenty of guys that can score in spurts, but Adrian hasn't consistently had two scorers all year.  Today, Kubish played a great game.  He shot effectively, and found ways to get open and score despite the fact that he was clearly the only guy on the floor for Adrian that could score today.  Other guys have stepped up in other games.  Billy Collins has struggled, in large part because many teams have focused on stopping him as the key to stopping Adrian offensively. 

One thing nobody can fault Adrian for, however, is effort.  Buck Riley's teams have always worked hard, been tough on defense, and have almost always had a knack for staying in games.  You can knock Coach Riley if you like, it's pretty easy to do with the way things are going right now, but you can rest assured that he and his players are going to show up, they're going to work, and they're going to try like mad to beat you.

So where do they go from here?  They've got to just keep trying to gut it out, and find a way to win games.  They've put a lot of emphasis on the free throw shooting problem they had earlier this year, and it has improved for the most part.  Now, the focus has to turn to turnovers.  Are we trying to force too many passes?  Are we being too careless with the ball?  I think that will be a point of emphasis in practices upcoming. 

As for next season, we HAVE to recruit a big guy.  Preferably 2 or 3.  I know that is a priority for the coaching staff.  They realize they're undersized this year, but there's not much you can do in the middle of the season.  Losing Mike Lewis really hurt them this year.  The Bulldogs will be back, but I don't think regime change is the answer here. 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Enough of that, now to today's game.  Congrats to Albion, they are a great team, and they played an exceptional game.  Not very often you see a team shoot over 70% from the floor and over 80% from three point range in the first half, which was essentially the important part of the game.  They succeeded in dominating the post, both with Crawford and with others, and hit timely threes all game long. 

As I said earlier, Kubish played very well for the Bulldogs, and he was about the only one that stood out.  Defensively, even though Albion shot an incredibly high percentage, many of the shots were made with a hand in their face, and many were made from less than optimal positions.  The defense wasn't terrible, the offense was just that darn good.  Offensively, the Bulldogs got plenty of good scoring opportunies, and they just could not get shots to fall. 

Albion also seemed to get all the bounces.  That's not really a complaint so much as it is an observation.  Bailey lost the handle on the ball three times as he was driving the lane in the first half, and each time, the ball rolled around, and even through a Bulldog defender's legs, only to make its way to a player under the basket for an easy Albion layup.  In the instance where it went through the defender's legs, the defender could not see the ball, as he was trying to gain position in the post.  Seems to be the story of the year so far for the Bulldogs:  Poor Shooting, excellent performances from the opposition, and lots of bad bounces.

But when the bounces are going against you, you just have to stay the course, and keep fighting, so that's what I intend to do, and what I hope the Bulldogs will continue to do.

[sac]

HOPE 91 Kzoo 63.

Hope was ahead 12-3 when I walked in so I'll assume they got off to a great start.  Hope was able to go ahead by 18 before Kzoo made a critical run to make the game managale at 13 points at the break.  It seemed like the Hornets could play with the Dutchmen but it also seemed like Hope could have blown them out like in Holland.

Kzoo's comback was aided Andy Phillips sitting a large portion of the half.......apparently its a foul to watch two Kzoo players fall all over each other, and its a foul to stand like a statue and be run over......but I digress. 

The game was around the same margin into the first 5 of the second before Hope showed why they're such a tough team to defemd.  VanderHeide stepped out hit 2 3's, Immink hit a couple 3's and Voisen finished off a couple nice offensive moves and all of the sudden it was a 25 point lead.  Hope also shot a blazing 60% in a very impressive second half.

What made this game strange for me was that I thought Kzoo was 100 % better than they were in Holland.  They played with energy and effort and executed very well at times.  They were simplly out manned..........as one unnamed poster put it "They could have used a couple of our players."

Immink was outstanding with 19 he was shooting into the ocean tonight, Voisin, VanderHeide, Carlson and Phillips all had good games.

Steve Cramers score 23 on Wed, tonight 4 and Hope wins by 28.  Pretty tough team to control I think.

Hope now gets 4 of 6 at home for the stretch run, and I like what I see from the Dutchmen right now.

Am I right when I say Hope has led every MIAA team but Albion by at least 20 points at some point?  That is just incredible.