MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[NW Hope Fan]

74-58 "The hay is in the barn!"

[ziggy]

45 sec to go and Calvin is pulling away.  Knights increased the lead from 7 to 16 in about a minute and a half.

[realist]

Stats are back.  The stats guy went on an ice cream run.
Big difference is rebounding advantage in 2nd half.  Also depth played a big part for Calvin.    74-58

[NW Hope Fan]

Stats are back.  The stats guy went on an ice cream run.
Big difference is rebounding advantage in 2nd half.  Also depth played a big part for Calvin.

As it should have...

[NW Hope Fan]

I don't have any Hudsonville Ice Cream...

[ziggy]

Here is what I'm liking from the Calvin box score:

Free Throw shooting
Meckes 7-8
DeVries 3-4
Mantel 5-5

When your bigs shoot 88% from the stripe you'll be in good shape

21-25 as a team is a solid FT% overall

Calvin scores the last 11 points of the game and holds OC scoreless the last four minutes.  Thats how you close out a game.

This is a good win for the Knights and probably a bigger win that it might initially seem.  They were able to parlay a solid effort, albeit in a loss, on saturday into a hard fought win on the road.  Next they'll have Albion at home for a chance to get themselves on one of those rolls we've seen the past few years.

[realist]

GK: You called depth as a factor around half time.  However last week at Adrian Calvin's depth  didn't really factor in. 

[knights2000]

Meckes finishes with 18 points and 10 boards for the double-double, while Griffin had 16 and Veldhouse had 17.

Olivet only had 9 turnovers, less than I expected.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Just got back from Adrian (caved in to family pressure and left at the half).  

Hope clearly is a good team, but it was honestly difficult to say how good because Adrian was just downright pathetic tonight!  4 of 25 from the field in the first half, and NOT due mainly to Hope's defense - Adrian missed at least 5 layups and at least 5 wide-open 10 footers!  They also had several passes go at least 5 feet over the intended recipient's head.  I assume they cannot possibly really be this bad, but tonight they were.

[Green Hornet]

Wow! Adrian stunk it up tonight. To bad though, I would have liked them to give the home crowd something to cheer about.

[oldknight]

Calvin won by 16 tonight but the final score was deceiving. It was an even game the first 28 minutes largely fueled by some indifferent Calvin defense. The Knights were repeatedly beaten back door and the help side defense was consistently late. But at the 12 minute mark of the second half the light went on and for the rest of the game we saw the same Calvin team that tested Hope so mightily on Saturday. Olivet really struggled to get off a quality shot, had a shot clock violation on one possession and nearly another on the next. From then on the Comets either turned it over or started taking ill advised shots too early in their possessions. Calvin owned the boards in the second half and Meckes, in particular, was outstanding. When Calvin plays hard on defense they are a very good team and when they don't they're . . . .

[gohope]

Back from Adrian and all I can say is "Holy Sweetness!!"

I'll let the real basketball junkies give you some of the "technical" remarks/highlights, but here are some "Musings from the Merillat:"

*  First of all, Kudos to the "Dawg Pound" for a really good turn-out and support for their team.  I haven't seen that many students at a game - ever!

*  Hope scored their fastest basket - ever (maybe, I don't know where to find this stat, but for the fun of it, let's just say its the fastest ever!) Hope gets the tip-off which turns into a pass, and the next thing you know, Marcus Vanderheide is doing an easy lay-up. Hope 2, Adrian 0, and the Dutchmen never looked back.

*  The prettiest sight of the game took place at 6:39 in the first half. It was a steal, (can't remember by whom) and next thing you know, Air Cramer is doing his thing.  The Hope crowd went wild!  That was a sweet slam by Stephen Cramer.

*  1st Half Stat:  Adrian shot just 16% - ouch.

*  The "I don't understand moment:" At 1:46 left in the game, Coach Riley finally subs the starters for the Bulldogs with the lower part of Adrian's bench. I mean with about 8 minutes left in the game the score was 72-26. Why not give some of his other/younger players some playing time? I just don't get it.

*  Good team play.  Good defensive play.  Balanced scoring.  Balanced playing time.  Hope wins!

*  And... I don't think that Civic Minded passed me on the way home and I KNOW that I left before them..  Maybe I should check my cruise control to make sure it's accurate!

[goodknight]

Key stat from the Upton:
Olivet was held to 21 points in the second half -- and 0 for 9 from 3-ball territory after going 6 of 14 in the first half.
Oldknight is right -- Calvin's success or failure rests with its defense.

[HopeConvert]

Back from Adrian. The question that went through my mind all night was this (no disrespect to the Bulldogs): how did the team Hope played on Saturday lose to the team they played today? Hope's defense was good, but it wasn't THAT good. Adrian couldn't make a thing, couldn't solve the press, didn't look particularly athletic, and simply couldn't match up with Hope. I always like to have low expectations about my teams (part of the psychological damage of growing up a Michigan fan - that way you're never too disappointed), but I'm coming around to Realist's way of thinking. He was clearly more on top of things than I was. Hope was much quicker, more athletic, played better defense, shot better - you name it. As thorough a beating I have seen since the Andrews game last year. In any case, I defer to realist now on all things basketball. I'm convinced.

How about that Cramer dunk? Spectacular.

[HopeConvert]

Hopeconvert:  Much of what you say may possibly be true.  However, if one looks at the stats from last Sat's game, and compares them to previous Hope games, maybe, just maybe last Sat. was Hope's off night.  Yes, Hope can be beaten by several MIAA teams, but it will take a team on a hot night, and Hope not playing even an average game for them.

You may be right. I didn't think Saturday was Hope's best game, and after tonight I'm more convinced that might be the case, when you consider all the variables.