MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[bulldogalum]

Adrian falls to 0-7, losing to Montana State Northern today in Florida, 71-63.  I don't know much about the game, but it looks like the Montana State Northern Lights are a pretty good team (now 9-4).  It further looks like Adrian did a better job of holding onto the ball today, with only 12 turnovers, but had a painfully low shooting percentage (39.7 percent overall, 25 percent from 3 point range).  Without having seen the game, I can't say whether that is attributable to poor shooting, excellent defense, or a combination of both.  On the plus side, the Bulldogs are in Florida, and about to go on a cruise.  That should be enough to soften even the toughest blow to one's ego.

[Roughrider]

We're "stuck" in Florida (celebrating our 25th anniversary) so we missed the game at AQ as well.  Figures it would be a barn burner. 

FDF, congrats to you and Mrs. FDF (if she'll pardon the expression     ) on your silver anniversary.  Enjoy the swaying palm trees and tropical breezes while you can.  We'll save some of that famous Michigan wind-chill for you.   

Roughrider

[Roughrider]

One item in the Hope-Aquinas box score caught my eye.  The leading scorer for Aquinas, listed as a forward, earned a technical foul.     Does anyone who was at the game, or listening to the broadcast, know what prompted the T, and at what point in the game it occurred?  Just wondering.

Roughrider

[Roughrider]

I found lots of interesting stats in the Grinnell-Kalamazoo box score.  It must have been a scorekeeper's nightmare.   

Shooting, Grinnell, 44.2% overall, 45.8% on 3's.
Shooting, K'zoo, 62.1% overall, 55.6% on 3's.
Talk about run-and-gun.

Rebounds, Grinnell 27, K'zoo 52.
Turnovers, Grinnell 11, K'zoo 32.
Steals, Grinnell 20, K'zoo 4.
Points off turnovers, Grinnell 37, K'zoo 11.
Bench points, Grinnell 65, K'zoo 41.

Personal fouls, Grinnell 27, K'zoo 23.
Free throws attempted, Grinnell 29, K'zoo 40.
Officials really earned their pay at this game.

According to the play-by-play, the margin was in single digits until 11:27 to go in the game, then stay in double digits the rest of the way.

Roughrider

[Dark Knight]

Last week the MIAA went 3-7, with a Calvin win over Trinity Christian, a Hope squeaker over Aquinas, and a slim Tri-State win over Berea (6-9).

Ratings last week's MIAA games according to Massey's expectation:

Better than expected:
Defiance 61, Olivet 55. Defiance should have won by 30.
Azusa Pacific 82, Adrian 66. NAIA 1 Azusa Pac (7-1) should have won by 45.
Montana St. N 71, Adrian 63. NAIA 1 Montana St. Northern (7-7) should have won by 29.

Worse than expected:
Spring Arbor 79, Albion 58 -- Albion should only have lost by a couple.
Tri-State 71, Berea 68. Tri-State should have won by 18.
Marian 65, Tri-State 55. Tri-state should have won.
Elmhurst 84, Kalamazoo 54 -- Kzoo should have lost by 14.
Grinnell 124, Kalamazoo 104 -- Kzoo should have lost by 10.
Hope 65, Aquinas 62. Hope should have won by 12.
Calvin 72, Trinity Christian 63. Calvin should have won by 15.

[Gregory Sager]

I found lots of interesting stats in the Grinnell-Kalamazoo box score.  It must have been a scorekeeper's nightmare.   

The Elmhurst SID enlisted Wheaton's SID and another person to help him out during Saturday's Grinnell/UW-Whitewater game. The two sidekicks basically identified the players coming in and out of the game -- Grinnell does hockey lineshifts (five in, five out) every minute or so for much of the game -- so that the Elmhurst SID could keep pace with all the other stuff going on. I imagine that he had helpers on Sunday as well. That's really the only way a Stat Crew operator can track Grinnell on the PBP.

Shooting, Grinnell, 44.2% overall, 45.8% on 3's.
Shooting, K'zoo, 62.1% overall, 55.6% on 3's.
Talk about run-and-gun.

Kalamazoo broke the cardinal rule of playing Grinnell, which is to never shoot three-pointers. The Hornets attempted nine treys, five while the game was still competitive (including their very first shot of the game). You beat Grinnell by taking the ball directly to the basket every trip down the floor. For a team with limited talent such as Kalamazoo, a trey attempt, even an open one, is too low-percentage a shot to take; the hyperaggressive Grinnell press and their every-man-hits-the-boards routine make it important to score every time you possibly can, because Grinnell will get a lot more possessions than you. The Pioneers average 21% miore shots per game than their opponents; they out-attempted a clearly better Carthage team, 89-69, and they even out-attempted the vastly better squad from UW-Whitewater, 94-78. Grinnell outpaced Kalamazoo in shot attempts on Sunday by an 86-58 margin, and while that gaudy 62.1% from the field that the Hornets shot probably consisted mostly of layups, it should've been higher -- meaning more layups, fewer trey attempts (although in the long run it wouldn't have mattered much in a 20-point loss).

Coming into Sunday's game the Pioneers had shot 398 trey attempts (almost 57 per game), while their opponent had shot only 29 (barely 4 per game). Carthage didn't attempt any at all when they beat Grinnell.

Stinger, what happened to Henry McCain? Kalamazoo would've lost on Saturday against Elmhurst even if he was in uniform, but they might've hung around longer. I was sitting behind the Hornets bench, and I was disappointed when I saw that he wasn't with the team.

[sac]

I am so thankfull Tri-State ditched the mess of a system Grinnell calls basketball. 

I should know this, however, missed it.  What team cancelled out of Hope's schedule to be replaced by Purdue-North Central?  Just curious; thanks.

Coach Davelaar didn't mention who dropped off but he did say it was a game the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Which answered my question about why Hope didn't have a game prior to the Hall of Fame Classic.

If I remember and get a chance I'll ask tonight.


I don't know much about Purdue North-Central other than they are pretty short, Hope should win tonight by double-digits..........an excellent way to head into Christmas break.

[devossed]

We're "stuck" in Florida (celebrating our 25th anniversary) so we missed the game at AQ as well.  Figures it would be a barn burner. 

FDF, congrats to you and Mrs. FDF (if she'll pardon the expression     ) on your silver anniversary.  Enjoy the swaying palm trees and tropical breezes while you can.  We'll save some of that famous Michigan wind-chill for you.   

Roughrider

Even with the "mild" winter we're having, palm trees sound so nice...

Roughrider/Sac: also what the accounts didn't mention was the BLATANT charge that Lierman put on Richardson to earn his two game-tying free throws. Scott is one of the best at taking them and it certainly seemed to more than a few (albeit biased) fans that Lierman was out of control.

Stinger: what's the word? How did "SYSTEM BALL" look firsthand? Was it worse than 3State a few years ago? Also curious about McCain, too!

[sac]

Roughrider/Sac: also what the accounts didn't mention was the BLATANT charge that Lierman put on Richardson to earn his two game-tying free throws. Scott is one of the best at taking them and it certainly seemed to more than a few (albeit biased) fans that Lierman was out of control.

I'm glad someone confirmed this............the radio guys seemed pretty convinced and even Coach Davelaar mentioned it in the post game(out of charactier for him).  He said something like "biased or not I thought Scotty made a great basketball play".

Guess we got the good karma on that deal though.


PS  I'm still trying to think a last second Hope win that I witnessed..........I wasn't in Wisconsin for Spamans winner.  The few that I can think of were either FT's that led to the other team getting a shot or the "game winning" shot occured with about 30 seconds to go.  It may have actually been at Aquinas many years ago........

Still thinking though........

[hope1]

sac  or at  calvin    derrick   shot  the ball around half court saturday  it was alsome   it felt   like a calvin game where we get beat on the shots so many times 

[oldknight]

PS  I'm still trying to think a last second Hope win that I witnessed..........I wasn't in Wisconsin for Spamans winner.  The few that I can think of were either FT's that led to the other team getting a shot or the "game winning" shot occured with about 30 seconds to go.  It may have actually been at Aquinas many years ago........

Still thinking though........

Well, what about Don Kronemeyer's two free throws after time had expired giving Hope a 104-102 double OT win in 65? A mystery call greater than any ever seen in The Rivalry --even surpassing the phantom call at DeVos last March. Not that I'm bitter about it 41 years later. 

[dothedew]

Sac,

I was fortunate enough to be there for the Spaman winner in Wisc. It was great b/c EVERYONE...and I mean EVERYONE thought they would go to C. Carlson...Rasta Rob was there with me. GREAT GREAT NCAA Playoff game.
After YEARS of watching Calvin game tie/winners drop in...it really was a beauty to witness.
I can't really think of many others...didn't Klingler hit one in Kalamazoo in '99 or '00??? I think it was to break a tie at the buzzer.

GO HOPE!!!

[hoof02]

I was there in Wisconsin too.  That game winning shot was incredible and we rushed the court afterwards.  I was giving my buddy the play by play over the phone and when Spaman hit that shot it was bedlum there!  I wish I could have seen the shot this past weekend. 

[AndersDY]

PS  I'm still trying to think a last second Hope win that I witnessed..........I wasn't in Wisconsin for Spamans winner.  The few that I can think of were either FT's that led to the other team getting a shot or the "game winning" shot occured with about 30 seconds to go.  It may have actually been at Aquinas many years ago........

Still thinking though........

If Title IX is in effect, we can always point to the first of the women's championship runs. It doesn't get much later in the game than Dina Disney. I also recall a very late bucket in one of the games earlier in that tournament at the Dow by Lissa Neinhuis, but I'm thinking that forced OT, it wasn't an outright winner.

[sac]

HOPE 88 Purdue North Central 79

Steve Cramer started out the game with the first 9 points again, that  makes 19 points in the first 5 minutes of 2 straight games.  Odd!

Well I think you can sum up the first half by saying Hope got outworked.  Combine that with a stretch of almost 9 minutes with 1 FG and a Couple FT's, a 6 point lead quickly became a deficit of 5 at the half 36-31 PNC.

Hope needed a good second half and they got it.  Led by a more agressive and hustling Marcus VanderHeide who made several key hustle plays early in the half to give Hope a nice spark and set a very positive tone.  With about 13 min's to go Tyler Wolfe's 3 finally gave Hope a lead they hadn't had since early in the game.  From that point the next 8 minutes belonged to Hope and the lead was suddenly 14, one they wouldn't give up.

Steve Kratz and Ryan Klein playing in the post seemed to really cut off those easy layups the Panthers were living on.  I believe Hope played the last 12-15 minutes with either Kratz or Klein or both on the floor.  Kratz probably played his best half of his young career, a few excellent rebounds and a  timely 3 and just being tough to handle inside.  I really liked what I saw from those 2.

VanSolkema played a solid game and seemed to have a lot less trouble with the defensive pressure than anyone else wearing white.  Hope was disturbingly sloppy with the ball, lots of lazy passes and they payed for them.

The last minutes of the game was like some kind of bad joke for Hope, Horrible just horrible.  Hope turned a 15 point win into a 9 point win by just being sloppy.  They were one missed 3 away from having a 15 point lead trimmed to 5 in about 30 seconds.


Bottom line was Hope shot the ball much better in the second and played much better defense.  Play like the first half and Hope will struggle, play like the second and Hope can be very good.

VanSolkema 19, Cramer 18 

and then it was really spread out, just to illustrate  ...........

Kratz 9, Reimink 7, VanderHeide 7, Richardson 7, Partridge 7, Klein 6, Wolfe 6


This was the kind of game where reading rosters, box scores and stat sheets off the internet will tell you nothing about how hard a team completes.  PNC should be commended for their effort and tenacity on defense and their supperb never quit attitude.  If Hope had a little bit more of an off night PNC goes back home with a W.