MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Trailer Dog]

Hope fans should look at the bright side. They have at least two more years to repeat the mantra, "We've got the best basketball venue in D3 hoops." 

Depends on what you mean by "best".  I doubt Calvin will build a hoops only venue to be used by just a few students (50 jv and varsity b'ball players).

[Dark Knight]

As far as I know the previous plan was to refurb the fieldhouse and build a wellness center for general student recreation and sport. But the latest rumor is that the fieldhouse will be remodeled as a wellness facility, and a new arena built. Does anyone know the truth?

[Preto]

But the latest rumor is that the fieldhouse will be remodeled as a wellness facility, and a new arena built. Does anyone know the truth?

I think you have a good handle on the current plan, the one with funding.

[jidji6]

Funding for the new arena has been secured. Guess who?

[Dark Knight]

Wow.

I'll be curious to see how much seating the new arena has. They don't often need the 4500 seats for basketball, but they could use more than the 5000 seats available (when the basketball floor has chairs on it) for graduation and other large events.

Now I almost feel sorry for Hope fans, who are going to have to put up with a year of pre-construction hype, construction progress reports, post construction hype, and a flood of D-I transfers. (And endless reports on condiment choice?  )

[diehardfan]

Funding for the new arena has been secured. Guess who?

Heinz!

[silent_observer]

Off topic, but did anyone else catch college gameday final? Mark May gave a helmet sticker to Adrian for FINALLY playing in their own stadium. Even gave a little "go bulldogs," despite being shut-out 10-0. At least I know where my money is going.....

[academy1]

My first post in the forum and I plan on becoming a semi-regular poster during the year.

The board has been a little dead but students are either in class or just about to start the year.  Here are some thoughts for the upcoming season.

Albion-How will the Britons recover in the post- Brandon Crawford era?  I expect Zac Silas to pick up his game this year and become more of an overall player if he can improve his defense.  With the possibility of Fulse returning from a season long injury and the addition of Andrew Holmes from the freak injury, the Britons should have a very talented backcourt.  Although Bailey was very efficient last year, Fulse should continue how Bailey left off.  Maybe not as good a shooter, but much quicker than Bailey and a better defender.  The question is can Evan Way step up his game to give them an inside look as well.

Adrian-Wow, have the Bulldogs fallen off from the days of Mike Lewis, Brian Shaefer, and Novak.  With the loss of Nokovich, Collins, and Bohlen the team is losing even more.  Hopefully, Steve Thornton and Andy Kubish can step up the load.  I expect the Bulldogs to be toward the bottom of the league again. 

Olivet-The Coments need a new start and will get one with the graduation of Gerald Dozie.  He could've been the most dominant player in the league last year, but he was too busy arguing with coaches, teammates, and referees.  At times he was Brandon Crawford with better skills, other times he was a complete non-factor.  I think the bigger deal will be the loss of Kurtz and Pruitt.  ALthough Kurtz was not a dominant player in any sense, he was consistent and a big reason the team stayed together when Dozie went his own way.  I thought Pruitt had the ability to be the best player in the MIAA when he came in as a freshman, but he didn't live up to the expectations.  A great competititor and tough matchup at 6'6", he will be missed. 

Kalamazoo-The Hornets should be solid again this year.  The question will be can they finally beat the Albions and Calvins in order to move up the standings.  They have played these teams pretty close the last few years (Calvin for about 35 minutes the last 2 years at least) but haven't been able to pull out those hard fought victories that are needed to move up the ladder.  The Hornets had a huge matchup problem with Hope and those were the only league games that the Hornets were not in.  Hopefully this year will be different. 
     Does the team have someone to step up and take over the PG role, a major concern for the Hornets.  Expect 3-man Pat Clancy, Damon Krohn, Roger Garfield, or Thomas Greer to step in and be more of a scoring  guard at the position.  Expect Henry McCain, Brad Brinkman, Tyler Worst, and Mat Kellogg to really up their scoring this year.  The Hornets have struggled to score points at times the last few years, this year needs to be different.  The Hornets could start a taller lineup this year if they start Clancy or Garfield at the 1.

What about Hope and Calvin?  Will the loss of 5th year senior Greg Immink, Andy Phillips, and Voison affect the Dutch or will all the transfers step right in.  It's too bad players like Scott Richardson and Brett Jager will never get the time that they probably envisioned when they first came to Hope.  Those two seniors have worked really hard but the reality is that Hope has too much talent for those guys to get starter mintues.  Expect Van Solkema, Cramer, and Vanderheide to put up some big time numbers this year.
How good will Veldhouse be this year?  He was almost upstoppable at times offensively but was suspect on the defensive end and needs to improve his penetration and creation for others.  Or will Calvin put more of a true PG in that spot and let him get some more shots.  It will be interesting to see how the incoming frosh and other returners can replace Draayer and Trewella.  I  think people underestimated how much those two helped Veldhouse have the ability to go one and one with his man since the help side was hesitant to let either one of those guards have space.  No one expected what the Knights accomplished last year, and there is no reason to believe that they were have a letup this year.

Oct. 15th is not too far away.

[academy1]

My first post in the forum and I plan on becoming a semi-regular poster during the year.

The board has been a little dead but students are either in class or just about to start the year.  Here are some thoughts for the upcoming season.

Albion-How will the Britons recover in the post- Brandon Crawford era?  I expect Zac Silas to pick up his game this year and become more of an overall player if he can improve his defense.  With the possibility of Fulse returning from a season long injury and the addition of Andrew Holmes from the freak injury, the Britons should have a very talented backcourt.  Although Bailey was very efficient last year, Fulse should continue how Bailey left off.  Maybe not as good a shooter, but much quicker than Bailey and a better defender.  The question is can Evan Way step up his game to give them an inside look as well.

Adrian-Wow, have the Bulldogs fallen off from the days of Mike Lewis, Brian Shaefer, and Novak.  With the loss of Nokovich, Collins, and Bohlen the team is losing even more.  Hopefully, Steve Thornton and Andy Kubish can step up the load.  I expect the Bulldogs to be toward the bottom of the league again. 

Olivet-The Coments need a new start and will get one with the graduation of Gerald Dozie.  He could've been the most dominant player in the league last year, but he was too busy arguing with coaches, teammates, and referees.  At times he was Brandon Crawford with better skills, other times he was a complete non-factor.  I think the bigger deal will be the loss of Kurtz and Pruitt.  ALthough Kurtz was not a dominant player in any sense, he was consistent and a big reason the team stayed together when Dozie went his own way.  I thought Pruitt had the ability to be the best player in the MIAA when he came in as a freshman, but he didn't live up to the expectations.  A great competititor and tough matchup at 6'6", he will be missed. 

Kalamazoo-The Hornets should be solid again this year.  The question will be can they finally beat the Albions and Calvins in order to move up the standings.  They have played these teams pretty close the last few years (Calvin for about 35 minutes the last 2 years at least) but haven't been able to pull out those hard fought victories that are needed to move up the ladder.  The Hornets had a huge matchup problem with Hope and those were the only league games that the Hornets were not in.  Hopefully this year will be different. 
     Does the team have someone to step up and take over the PG role, a major concern for the Hornets.  Expect 3-man Pat Clancy, Damon Krohn, Roger Garfield, or Thomas Greer to step in and be more of a scoring  guard at the position.  Expect Henry McCain, Brad Brinkman, Tyler Worst, and Mat Kellogg to really up their scoring this year.  The Hornets have struggled to score points at times the last few years, this year needs to be different.  The Hornets could start a taller lineup this year if they start Clancy or Garfield at the 1.

What about Hope and Calvin?  Will the loss of 5th year senior Greg Immink, Andy Phillips, and Voison affect the Dutch or will all the transfers step right in.  It's too bad players like Scott Richardson and Brett Jager will never get the time that they probably envisioned when they first came to Hope.  Those two seniors have worked really hard but the reality is that Hope has too much talent for those guys to get starter mintues.  Expect Van Solkema, Cramer, and Vanderheide to put up some big time numbers this year.
How good will Veldhouse be this year?  He was almost upstoppable at times offensively but was suspect on the defensive end and needs to improve his penetration and creation for others.  Or will Calvin put more of a true PG in that spot and let him get some more shots.  It will be interesting to see how the incoming frosh and other returners can replace Draayer and Trewella.  I  think people underestimated how much those two helped Veldhouse have the ability to go one and one with his man since the help side was hesitant to let either one of those guards have space.  No one expected what the Knights accomplished last year, and there is no reason to believe that they were have a letup this year.

Oct. 15th is not too far away.

[northb]

Welcome to the board, Academy--good to see someone who takes time to think through and analyze the information.  Looking forward to helpful discussion.

[bball223234]

  Re: Lets Talk MIAA
« Reply #5758 on: September 07, 2006, 06:15:51 pm » 

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

A People at Calvin search shows that there are students enrolled by the names of  Derek Griffin, John Mantel, Brent Schuster, and Matt Veltema -- but no new Van Solkemas or Englesmas.
____________________________________________________________________________



Yes Josh ENGELSMA does attend Calvin .  I saw him playing with the team at their courthouse games and with the team last Wednesday.

[Dark Knight]

Drawings of the new plans for the Calvin wellness center/arena are posted in the fieldhouse.

They show something more or less matching the size and shape of the old fieldhouse as a wellness center, including health services, gymns, dance studios, classrooms, rackeball, swimming pool, etc.

East of that is the new three-level arena complex. Seating is shown as 4500-5000. There are two tiers of seating in a more-or-less horseshoe shape with a stage and a smaller amount of seating at the other end. The seats above the bottom student area have backs.

Between the old fieldhouse area and the arena is an atrium area -- how much glassed in I'm not sure. That area will have weight and exercise rooms, study and seating area, a climbing wall, etc.

The largest new building section in the plan is to the east again of the arena. It has an interior area with a number of tennis courts, also usable as playing fields, etc. Around that is a running track. That replaces the current tennis courts and reaches almost from the existing outdoor tracks to the dorms.

Most of the stand of trees behind the fieldhouse will remain, and the parking will stay the same. The ring road to the east of the fieldhouse will be moved toward the dorms and north hall.

You can see the fieldhouse, tennis courts, and space between them for the arena in this Google Earth link:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=42.933502,-85.588775&spn=0.003079,0.003573&t=k&om=1

[northb]

Calvin and Hope's MIAA dominance explained

http://articles.news.aol.com/entertainment/_a/the-dutch-are-the-worlds-tallest-people/20060915162909990006

[Gregory Sager]

Calvin and Hope's MIAA dominance explained

http://articles.news.aol.com/entertainment/_a/the-dutch-are-the-worlds-tallest-people/20060915162909990006

I realize that you're kidding, but here's a word of advice for those who might've taken your line about Calvin and Hope seriously: Don't. As the article makes clear, the Dutch have only skyrocketed in average height since World War Two. The ancestors of your typical "shoe" came to the United States from the Netherlands anywhere from a hundred to 250 years ago. We will have to fall back upon the previous explanation for the prowess of Hope and Calvin, which is that there's something in the water in western Michigan that makes good basketball players. Or some magic ingredient in Hudsonville Ice Cream, perhaps.

[sac]

Actually Greg..............

I grew up near Lansing which is has nowhere near the Dutch influence as Western Michigan.  In fact I don't think I could even find an RCA or CRC church though I'm sure they exist.  Lansing is a big mix of  Irish, Scottish, English, French, Polish and German.  Some Dutch but not nearly as much.

To get to my point, when the High Schools from the Lansing area meet their counterparts from West Michigan its pretty clear right from the start what the difference is and its not just the higher percentage of blonde hair.

My HS's regional consists of a team from the Lansing area, 1 from in between Lansing and GR and 2 from West Michigan.  I cannot even tell you the last time a Lansing team or even one in the middle was able to get out of that Region.

I'm average in height, but I feel pretty short here in Holland sometimes.

I wouldn't poo poo that article as quickly as you have.

Strangely enough you will often find Hope and Calvin's rosters to be significantly taller than their MIAA counterparts just about every season...........and also significantly more Dutch.