MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[goodknight]

It's doubtful that Hope could play much better than the Dutchmen did tonight.  They were active and effective on defense, and, as Oldknight noted, they shot well because they took good shots.
Hope was very, very good and the Knights were not.
It's never fun to lose to your rival, much less by 22 on your home turf.  The only consolation is that it's a pre-conference game and one would expect that a KVS-coached team will learn some useful lessons from this rueful 40 minutes of smack-down schooling that Hope administered.

[goodknight]

Anyone else think that it was really strange to play The Game without any significant student presence in the stands?

[sac]

HOPE 76 Calvin 54

well, well, well.....this Hope fan was simply shocked at the goings on inside the Fieldhouse tonight.  Pleasantly shocked.

Hope just jumped all over the Knights from the tip and to say Derek Griffen kept Calvin in the game in the first half is a vast understatement.  It could have been really ugly.   But I won't kid anybody, Hope was lights out from the perimeter in the first half 7-13 from trey.   Van Solkema, Cramer and VanderHeide led the way, but Hope got great minutes from Reimink, Kratz and Richardson.  Each did a nice job on the glass and on defense.

Calvin struggled to crack Hope's zone which Hope played for most of the game.  Hope was in charge for a good solid 30-35 minutes setting the pace all game long.  Calvin made a couple of adjustments in the 2nd, mostly just trying to get the ball low and on the board hoping to get some putbacks which they did.....but Hope adjusted and took control.

Caleb Veldhouse looked more like a Freshman tonight than at any point in his freshman season.  But it was definately an off-night shooting for Calvin we all know that.........Hope certainly had a lot to do with that as they challenged most every shot and didn't give Calvin a lot of easy looks, and absolutely controlled the boards.

Hope is not 22 points better than Calvin but they were tonight and despite the game being almost meaningless to the season........it still feels great to see Hope beat Calvin at Calvin.

Griffen with 18 for Calvin, no other Knight had double figures
Van Solkema 21, VanderHeide 20, Cramer 20 for Hope

Hope was 13-25 from 3, Calvin 7-25 but Griffen was 5-10

Hope owned the glass 44-33

Cramer and VanderHeide made the all-tournament team, and Derek VanSolkema was the tournament MVP........and on a personal note with all the crap posted about him and GVW last spring (and continueing) it was especialy nice to see him light up the Knights and take home the MVP.  I'm sure he could care less but I liked it. 

[sac]

Just watched FOX17 sports - FDF, CM and SAC - SMILE, you were on the clip!

Good seats eh?  .....and I was smiling from about 5 minutes in right to the end.  This was a rare beatdown of the Knights and I liked it.

Anyone else think that it was really strange to play The Game without any significant student presence in the stands?

Man, without a doubt, just about equalled the number of empty seats.  Any chance Calvin had to gain momentum wasn't there because the crowd wasn't there to give them a lift.......but hey I got primo seats because of it.

......one would expect that a KVS-coached team will learn some useful lessons from this rueful 40 minutes of smack-down schooling that Hope administered.

Wthout a doubt Calvin will learn alot more than Hope did, but Hope walks away with a truckload of confindence.

[GoKnights68]

Anyone else think that it was really strange to play The Game without any significant student presence in the stands?

Yeah, I now realize how quiet the adults are now.  It sounded like a library in there.

[mjfasteenwolf]

"The Game" went much as expected. I know everyone will ask where I was with my prediction of an easy Hope win before the game, but sorry I didn't have a chance to get that on here between last night and tonight.

The story of the season for Hope is going to be just as the game went tonight. The team will go the way of the big 3, DVS, MVH, and SC. If they continue to play as they did tonight this team can be lights out. If their oppenents continue to give a superb shooter such as DVS as many open looks as he had tonight, whoever owns the 3 point record for a season at Hope might have to relinquish that title. Cramer looked great as always, Vanderheide hit his open shots, these three players will defintely have to carry the bulk of the scoring this season, but it looks as though they are capable. The role players all did their job as well, Rich, Wolfe, Remienk and everybody off the bench played well, I was pleasantly surprised to see the rebounding stats after the game. It seemed at times as though Calvin was owning the boards, but throughout the whole game Hope did better than I though. Osburn defintely helped with that in the 2nd half, hes a great strong body to be able to throw in the game off the bench.

The defense looked great for the Dutchmen. Team defense wins games, I am not sure any one of these guys is an outstanding indivicual defender, but as a team they played scrappy and forced a lot of turnovers and bad passes.

It was definetely nice for the Dutchmen to play in a somewhat quiet Knollcrest without that annoying two game a year student section in the building. Right from the tip Hope made it evident they were the more athletic team. Their ability to take Calvin's defenders off the dribble was the key to the game, that led to many open looks, especially the MVH threes from the corner which he seemed to be hitting about every 2 minutes.

All in all, great effort by the Dutch, was definetely great to see that Veldeouse is actually human.

[pointlem]

Calvin's shooting last night (30% and 50% of free throws) so reminded me of Hope's off-game in the Sweet Sixteen at Wittenberg last year . . . a night when they were bricking even their open shots, including free throws.  Part of that, of course, is attributable to the very tough Wittenberg and Hope defenses.  But Calvin was also off its game, and this weekend Hope---shooting more than 50% of its threes in both games---was definitely on its game.

That said, Hope's defensive plan, the zone and the traps on Veldhouse that seemed to neutralize his speed, worked beautifully.  Six minutes into the game I remarked that "Hope looks very well coached."

A bright spot for Calvin was those two new recruits.  Griffen and Mantel were 26 of Calvin's 32 first half points.  And Mantel showed great agility for a 6' 8" player.  What a great future he has.

Hope won't always drain threes as they did last night.  Still, the team play, defense, and Van Solkema's emergence (his defense and moves to the basket were as impressive as his long-range shots) raise hopes for another excellent season ahead.

[hope1]

yes hope played very good    but i think theu could even play better when dan holt comes back in a week or two   it will  help in the middle more  bench to it could be a tough week  this week with wheaton and carthage   

[knights2000]

A couple of thoughts on the game last night.....

Calvin showed their inexperience last night, but this definately gives them something to build on.

I sat two rows behind Calvin's bench for the first half, and at one point KVS turned around and yelled "Can we do anything more wrong defensively than we have this half?"

I thought Calvin had a chance for the first few minutes of the second half. A good way for them to get back in the game was through hustle plays, and Meckes looked ready to make those plays for a couple possesions in a row, but no one seemed to follow his example when he was subbed out.

Also, does Vanderheide have much to offensive game other than standing on the weak side outside of the arc and shooting threes?  All of his points were on threes, except for one shot (his foot was on the line).

It was also brought to my attention that if Calvin had made the same number of threes as Hope did, and had shot the same FT% as Hope, Calvin would have won by one.

Give Hope credit though, they played an all around excellent game. Here's hoping that the Knights learn from this and build on it.

[realist]

Needless to say the game did not go quite as I expected, and predicted.   The barn did get burned, but one shouldn't set their own barn afire.   One aspect to a team in the "ripening" process is that some times it goes bad, and the end result is stinking up the place.  Hope did a great job on both ends of the floor.  They deserve all the credit, were ready, and came to play.  I think it is fair, and safe to say we saw the real Hope team tonight, and anyone expecting to beat them had better bring their A game.   Not sure what Calvin team we saw tonight  just don't want to see them again anytime soon.  Lots of areas need attention, and no doubt will be addressed shortly.  If you have to have a bad game better to get it over with early, and learn from it.

[sac]

I've kind of ridiculed this holiday tournament over the last few years by calling it the Bank of the Year Classic which goes back to its middle years when 3 different banks picked up the sponsorship of the tournament 3 years in a row.

After seeing the job Select Bank did in setting up the event and in essence moving the entire Grand Rapids Sports Hall fo Fame to Calvin College for the weekend I think they've earned their title as The Select Bank Hall of Fame Classic.  The banners were a nice touch

They did as good a job as possible makeing the venue a neutral court and had no restricted seating which I enjoyed.   A very casual atmosphere.  I'm sure the Calvin people LOVED all those Hope fans in the North endzone.

I did like the comment by one Hope fan "It may be the Select Bank Tournament but it still smells like Calvin."

I really hope the tournament moves back to Van Andel as its supposed to, the venue is what makes this event unique in my opinion even though the atmosphere is lousy downtown and my seats wouldn't have been as good.  There really isn't anything special about these four teams getting together in one another's gyms.

[Civic Minded]

Just watched FOX17 sports - FDF, CM and SAC - SMILE, you were on the clip!

Oh, man!     Like the President and VP, we might have to stop haning around together...   

[Civic Minded]

I've kind of ridiculed this holiday tournament over the last few years by calling it the Bank of the Year Classic which goes back to its middle years when 3 different banks picked up the sponsorship of the tournament 3 years in a row.

After seeing the job Select Bank did in setting up the event and in essence moving the entire Grand Rapids Sports Hall fo Fame to Calvin College for the weekend I think they've earned their title as The Select Bank Hall of Fame Classic.  The banners were a nice touch

I would agree that they (Select Bank) did a good job of making it a well run special event with a relatively neutral atmosphere.  Does this mean I have to stop calling it the "Select-A-Bank" tourney now? 8)

As others have described fully enough, last night was something special for the Dutchmen.  I was very hopeful for this team after the "Meet the Dutchmen" scrimmage, but you just don't know if that will translate well in a real game situation.  Thankfully, it does and did.   They found the stamina and passion to get through the Cornerstone game, and hit a great stride against Calvin. 

Next weekend will be another tough test, but I can't wait to see it.  This team reminds me of pre-Don Overbeek teams, when play was faster and not geared around a big post player.  I loved it then, I'm lovin' it now. 

I'm looking forward to watching Calvin play next weekend just about as much as I am looking forward to watching Hope.  Should be very interesting on both counts.

Gohope, we missed you!  Old Knight -- I didn't realize you were the nice guy hanging around with Goodknight; nice to meet you, unofficially (or to see you again, if my memory has failed).  And, well, my grey hairs remain numbered at only a few more than Friday night -- thanks for asking.   

Have a great week, all!

[Dark Knight]

I've been saying that the knights have a ton of potential and a ways to go to get there, and nothing I saw last night changed my mind. KVS's defensive scheme requires everyone to know their part, time their shifts precisely, and trust everyone else to do the same. It'll come, but it takes time.

The knights hadn't faced defensive pressure and athleticism like Hope's, and they didn't respond well. They looked intimidated. But they have enough offensive options that, with more experience as a team and more confidence, they should be able to score a reasonable number of points against defense like that.

For now, the question is how they will respond to this "whupping" next weekend at Carthage -- with renewed determination and effort?

Let's not forget that Calvin took a couple of whuppings last year at the same tournament and went on to come one oscar-winning performance short of a sweet-16 or better finish... 

I didn't see the news but I did see one man standing in the Hope section, in the 2nd or 3rd row, with lovely orange pants -- anyone here?  Goodknight also pointed out BasketballMom to me from across the gym. Hi! Welcome to the board.

[oldknight]

  Old Knight -- I didn't realize you were the nice guy hanging around with Goodknight; nice to meet you, unofficially (or to see you again, if my memory has failed). 

Who? Me hang out with Goodnight?   Yes, someone has to show some Christian charity and be a friend to the friendless.   The Biblical injunction of "doing it to the least of these" comes to mind.  Of course that leaves open the question of who--in the pairing of GK and OK--is the least of these.

Seriously, next time around I'll officially introduce myself.