MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[goodknight]

Just a good guess, DK, on the starting 5 -- but thanks for the props.
All in all, a pretty solid performance on the offensive end for Calvin in the Knights' 2006-07 debut tonight.  Mrs. Mantel, sorry you had to miss your boy's coming out party at Calvin, but your son looks as good as everyone expected.  A few jitters, but he is smooth and smart and he just looks like he was born to play basketball with excellence.  Nice to meet John's dad and grandfather after the game. Derek Griffin, the transfer from Muskegon CC, is going to take a lot of pressure off Caleb Veldhouse and appears to be a more than adequate replacement for the graduated Kyle Trewhella.  The Knights are deep, deep, deep on the front line -- and just wore down the plucky but undermanned Falcons of Concordia U (WI) in the second half.
It'll be a relief to avoid the annual Grace Bible game this year -- they fell to Benedictine of Illinois, whom the Knights will play in the Saturday afternoon title game of the tipoff tourney.
KVS was able to clear the bench and it was really great to see Todd Koetsier on the floor and in the scorebook after sitting out almost two full seasons with injuries.  Welcome back. 8)

[sac]

No way to beat around the bush.............awful start to the MIAA season.  Those are some teams MIAA squads should beat.  Nice start by Calvin, and even more impressive start by the Freshman.



Where my interest is focused this weekend.........what can you say about today's events...........it ain't right, it just isn't right.




PS  IF you think its normal to empty all trash dumptsters, remove all parked cars,  remove all couches from porches near the OSU campus, basically make a 4 block area of Columbus off limits  AND distribute pamphlets on how to treat visitors to Ohio Stadium, and oh by the way post police officers on EVERY street corner, and the visitors bring their OWN campus police to protect their Alumni tailgate,  AND the Michigan State Police escorts the team all the way to Ohio Stadium..........you must be a Buckeye.

[CalvinChelseaMom]

Thanks, goodnight.  It was hard to miss the first Calvin game, but my husband called to give me regular updates.  Similiar summary of the game as you gave, rougher first half, much better second half.  I'm looking forward to seeing them improve game by game.  They do have a lot of depth and really enjoy playing together.  Hope to meet you tomorrow or next weekend.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I would certainly hope that Bo's death (afterall, the first half of his life was in Ohio, including being an OSU AC) would mellow out the fans.  If not (and especially if there are any 'boos' during the moment of silence they plan before the game), OSU will take a WELL-deserved PR hit!

[GoKnights68]

No way to beat around the bush.............awful start to the MIAA season.  Those are some teams MIAA squads should beat.  Nice start by Calvin, and even more impressive start by the Freshman.



Where my interest is focused this weekend.........what can you say about today's events...........it ain't right, it just isn't right.




PS  IF you think its normal to empty all trash dumptsters, remove all parked cars,  remove all couches from porches near the OSU campus, basically make a 4 block area of Columbus off limits  AND distribute pamphlets on how to treat visitors to Ohio Stadium, and oh by the way post police officers on EVERY street corner, and the visitors bring their OWN campus police to protect their Alumni tailgate,  AND the Michigan State Police escorts the team all the way to Ohio Stadium..........you must be a Buckeye.

lol! that pretty much describes Columbus on gameday.  You wonder why Texas refuses to play there again?

Go blue!

[KnightSlappy]

Overall the Knights looked good.  A few opening night mix-ups, bad passes, and defensive rotation miscues but nothing unexpected.  Mantel is an absolute beast all over the floor and will only get better as time goes on.  He knows how to score inside and also has a nice shot.  Griffin reminds me a lot of Trewhella, he has a nice 3ball and can also penetrate with the ball.  Meckes looked improved on the offensive side of the ball as well. Don't know what is up with Veltema though.  It looks like the knights offense will be clicking and KVS's defense will come around.

[Pat Coleman]

Poor scheduling on the part of the AD

I agree!  The Ohio State AD should be fired for scheduling a game when Calvin is playing.

Heh, you think the schools actually had some say as to the game time? All ABC baby.

[Dark Knight]

Mantel led the knights in points and rebounds, on 18 minutes of PT. Not bad for a freshman debut. 

As a team, the knights shot 12/23 3-point attempts, with 7 different players hitting threes.

Veldhouse looked as good as ever at point, with a very solid backup in Smith.

As has been mentioned, there's skill, athleticism, strength, and depth in the front line.

All the pieces are there...

[Stinger]

Stinger;  Let me be the first to welcome you to your new status as a starter.  Use your new powers wisely.
Not a great start for the MIAA based on those 2 results. 

Thanks realist. I do believe however that with a karma standing of 3, it doesn't exactly give me a mandate to mess around with others.   

You're right FDF, I forgot about that loss to UM Dearborn last year. They will have to come back quickly and get after a John Carroll team who obviously doesn't have kind memories of Kresge.

The Hornets play North Park in the consolation game this afternoon.  MSJ beat NPU 82-80 in OT. 

Spartans got jobbed last night.

[devossed]

Thanks realist. I do believe however that with a karma standing of 3, it doesn't exactly give me a mandate to mess around with others.   

Spartans got jobbed last night.

Speaking as someone who has hovered in the negative for most of my career, I empathize with your quandry.

At least Idong led the way in rebounds...

[realist]

fwiw:  Calvin won their 8th banner today.  Congrats to the men's cross country team for another national championship.  This makes 4 in 7 years.
Sadly the women's soceer team lost in a shootout to Messiah

[Dark Knight]

Calvin 79, Benedictine 60. Veldhouse had a career-high 29 points.

Next weekend Calvin will see tougher competition in Aquinas and Cornerstone/Hope. Hopefully after this weekend they'll be closer to ready, but it should be a couple of great games!

Hope will have a real challenge playing their first game against Cornerstone, who will have played several games already.

[oldknight]

Having missed  last night's game, and since there are no other sporting events of note going on today ( ), I took in this afternoon's game at the Fieldhouse. It was my first
chance to see this year's edition of Calvin College basketball. It could be a fun season for the Knights who won 79-60. Calvin led 36-31 at the half and then scored the first 12 points after intermission giving themselves a 17 point lead. Benedictine never really challenged Calvin after that with the lead pretty much remaining in the 15-20 point range for the rest of the game.

This year's Knights look quicker, more athletic and definately deeper than last year's team. Mantel is every bit as good as I was led to believe. He has all the necessary tools to be a great player, with good footspeed and the quick leaping ability you like to see in a big man. He made a pretty little drop step move to the basket that reminded me of Dan Aultman. Things got a little chippy in the second half with #40 but have no fear mom, your son was true gentleman and you would have been proud of him. You ought to come to a game sometime and watch John play before he graduates.

Griffin is a nice addition to this team. He gets up and down the floor very well and has good size for a 2 guard. I was also glad to see him disabuse me of the perception we (I?) sometimes have of junior/community college players being nothing more than run and gun types with no interest in playing defense. He works on the defensive end too.  With Mantel and Griffin the Knights have two fine newcomers and we haven't even seen Veltema yet whose ankle injury is said to be healing nicely.

Caleb is--well he's still Caleb, and he hasn't regressed any since I last saw him at DeVos. He had the quietest 29 known to man and seems to be suffering no ill effects from the "phantom" call at DeVos  last March. I must admit I'm not so sure about the new skinhead look he sports though.

This team will score points this year. Their long term prospects for success depends on how much progress they make on defense and how well they rebound. I thought they gave up too many wide open 3's--especially in the first half and it also appeared to me that they played a little soft on the boards at certain points in the game. I also thought they got outrebounded but during the postgame Wentworth said Calvin won the battle of the boards by 12 and that surprised me. But they need to be tougher for the full 40.

It was a pleasure meeting John's dad and sister at the game. You have a nice family and I'm looking forward to meeting mom sometime soon.

[CalvinChelseaMom]

Thanks, oldknight.  I appreciate the kind words.  There is not much that would keep me away from  one of John's games (especially his college debut!).  I had a commitment I needed to keep.  By the way, John doesn't have a sister, so I'm thinking you met his girlfriend, Sara.  (If she was a lovely young woman with long dark hair, that was Sara).  I will be at both games next weekend!  Looking forward to catching up with you.

[oldknight]

John doesn't have a sister, so I'm thinking you met his girlfriend, Sara.  (If she was a lovely young woman with long dark hair, that was Sara).  I will be at both games next weekend!  Looking forward to catching up with you.

Whoops, my bad.