MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Just peaked at the box scores tonight

3 eye opening stats from the Calvin/Albion game.

Calvin 16-16 from FT line, Albion 10-15
Calvin 9 TO's Albion 21 TO's
Calvin 12 steals Albion 6

Wow thats a lot of empty posessions for Albion and Crawford was still just one RB short of another double/double.


I trust from the score everything went well at DeVos. 

Adrian/TSU threw up 55 treys tonight......they combined to make 17 of them.  Cleary Brandon Giles' return has made Adrian a little better.

K's Konwinski gets high scorer for the night with 22.

Gerald Dozie did not play for the Comets.  ? ? ? ?

Preliminary matchups for next week

Olivet at Calvin
Alma at Hope
Adrian at Albion
Tri-State at Kalamazoo

Adrian vs Alma is the game that can change the matchups the most.  Should Alma win I believe the tiebreaker goes all the way down to a coin-flip.......they certainly aren't ranked.

There are some results this weekend that can change things, and the tie-breakers are a little complicated.

TSU holds the tiebreaker with Kzoo

The only thing in stone is
#1 Calvin
#2 Hope
#3 Albion

[big_yellow_hat]

In defense of Draayer there was one defender (I can't remember his number) that had his hands all over him the entire game.  Normally he is pretty cool headed but I'm sure a few words got exchanged between them.  The ref said to us at the start of the second half that he said something he shouldn't have.  As for the play SAC was talking about, yes Draayer did run right into the guy so there is no way the ref can call the elbow to the face no matter how blatant it might have been.

[MIdoubleA]

Does anyone else see Kzoo over the knights this weekend?

With everyone assuming Calvin wins, it only seems fitting (and HUGELY ironic) for Kzoo to pull off the upset of the year.

The nice thing about crazy ideas like these, is that if you are right, you're right and if you're wrong... well, everyone expected that.

[ziggy]

Can't be upset of the year; I already sent in my MIAA fan poll for this year.  After hearing the post game comments, I really doubt Calvin will come out flat in this game.  They still have a lot to play for in terms of the NCAA tournament.

[GoKnights68]

Plus, it's their homecoming game.  So there will be a strong fan-support, and teams usually play well on their homecoming game.   

Calvin will play well, but they better watch it, because Kalmazoo is the type of team that will never stop quiting at any point of the game.

[goodknight]

goknights68, I also expect Calvin to put together a strong effort on Saturday -- despite the fact that it's Homecoming weekend.  The crowd will be big -- traditionally it's the second largest gate of the year after the Hope game.  But many in the Homecoming crowd pay absolutely no attention to the game.  The team often plays poorly on Homecoming, as well. 
But KVS has these kids playing with purpose and a lot of confidence right now, and the Knights are peaking at the right time.  Kalamazoo will play hard, but I just don't see the Hornets sneaking one out in Grand Rapids.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Calvin will play well, but they better watch it, because Kalmazoo is the type of team that will never stop quiting at any point of the game.

I just love those teams that never stop quiting   

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope V Alma last night...

The final score pretty much sums this one up.  Most encouraged by Phillips going 7-10 from the field - looking like his old self, with some pretty neat moves around the basket. 

Gotta love a game where you have something like 21 asists and 6 turnovers, and shoot 58% from the floor.

I'm looking for the Dutchmen to have similar games the next two - and come back to Calvin ready to roll.  If Hope should winout including the conf tourney, anybody see a chance of them hosting in the NCAA's?

[hornet fan]

I blew it last night, I forgot to put my picks in, thus taking me out of the race...

Congrats to the Hornets for a hard fought win last night.  Thanks to those that have mentioned Rob Passage's coaching performance this year.  In my opinion, this is his best season as a coach.  Yes, his first year produced a better record, but he had a lot more talent.  This season he has had less talent, but he has found a formula for success, at least in the league.  The pre-season schedule was brutal, including only 1 home game against then-ranked Elmhurst.  The Hornets struggled early, but that tough schedule prepared them for the conference season.  Besides Herman and Konwinski, the Hornets have a young nucleus with Clancy, McCain, Kellogg, Worst, and others.  With another good recruiting class, the Hornets could fight their way back to the upper-echelon of the league.  Thats looking ahead, still work to do this season.  Coach P has done much better this season, probably because he got rid of those 2 bum assistant coaches he had last year...

[Carl Yastrzemski]

Looks like the MIAA is back to its post 1981 pre 2003 results. Albion is back to going 1-4 against the two headed monster from the west, and they also drop a game to a non-contender that they should have beat.

Sac what a small world it is, you ran into He-Who-Not-Be-Named at the game, and I stepped over He-Who-Not-Be-Named while he was laying on the groud outside of the Phoenix. From the looks/smell of it, I think he took last nights loss pretty hard.

I was in a store buying a suit yesterday and the place was packed. Curtis Enis who still has to play in the Citrus Bowl was in there with a person who looked to be an agent. I am sure the NCAA won't like that at all. Also there was this short guy  ranging in the 5'6''-5'8'' realm. I heard one of his buddies call him "Ranch", man that is some nickname. Anyway to my amazement this guy is getting a size 52 extra short for his suit. I heard the salesman say that is the first time they have ever had a suit that big for someone under 300lbs. "Ranch" must be one hell of a weightlifter.

[albionbritfan]

After the second one it seemed that KVS put the other two refs in his pocket. Ticky tac calls following the second Tech.

No comment 

No comment for me, too, especially after my ref comments from yesterday.

A couple of observations after a long drive home with thoughts swimming in the old head:
1) Calvin starts two seniors and two juniors.  Are they really baby Knights?  Let's reserve that phrase more appropriately for Texas Tech.
2) "Knight Life"--Not only is it a bad pun for a Homecoming theme, but the styling is reminiscent of "Boogie Nights."  What kind of Caligulan event are you guys throwing?
3) Smothering defense and the refs got to BC early; you could see his frustration the entire game.
4) I thought by the numbers BC should have been consensus POTW last week.  Turner instead decided to honor the efforts of Silas.  After last night's game, I'm glad Coach T made the decision he did.  This is the fourth game that Silas has played really well in, and we will need him down the stretch.
5) Calvin's ballhandling and hustle won the game.
6) Albion's run to start the second half was a thing of beauty.  I wonder if Silas had canned that wide open three when it was 43-41, if it would have changed the outcome.  Oh well, the kid played his heart out.  He singlehandedly kept Albion in the game as long as he could.

[Stinger]

Hornetfan, i'll second that comment on the assistants....

What a great night for the Hornets. Konwinski is playing with a lot of confidence right now.  They are 4-2 in the second half, guaranteed to be at least .500 in the conference. I love it, and I agree that RP has done a great job with the guys this year. 

I believe the Hornets haven't won at Calvin since winning there back to back in '94-'95 and '95-'96.   I think its time they get back in the win column.

If I were Herman or KK, I'd run the frosh PG off screens, and nail him with a couple of solid backscreens. Try and shake him up, punish him a bit.

It's either MSU/MICH or Kzoo/Calvin for me on Sat. Not sure where Im headed yet.

[AndersDY]

A couple of Calvin T's and a frustrated Brandon Crawford flipping the bird to a Calvin fan who observed (with painfully deadly accuracy) that Josh Meckes was eating up the league's putative MVP again tonight.

I didn't see any other posts on this topic, but is this verified that Crawford was flipping off the crowd at Calvin? It doesn't sound like any T's went against Albion so did the crowd see this but not the refs, or did he do something which looked like it might have been flipping the bird but it wasn't clear? If that claim is true, that certainly seems to be a noteworthy storyline.

[goodknight]

The refs could not see BC's bird.  He flipped it to the north bleacher section while on the blocks waiting for a Calvin free throw.  I saw it clearly -- as did many of the fans in the north bleachers. 

[midline]

Class and style, Crawford.

I like the position the Hornets are in right now. At Calvin on Sat will certainly be tough, but hopefully the environment will give the younger players a taste of the atmosphere in the upcoming tourney. Should the Hornets get out of the first round, having just played at Calvin a week earlier might help their chances against their 2nd round opponent.

Passage has done a great job this year. Clearly, his most dangerous team since 02-03.