MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[doc]

More of the same story for the knights tonight.  A really sloppy 1st half, horrible shooting, missed puppies, poor defense.  Turned it up in the second half, with Griffin hitting some threes along with a pretty nice in-the-air-scoop lay in off a Meckes miss.  Nice to see Koetsier get some non-garbage time and provide a spark.  Kzoo didn't play very deep and they looked tired in the 2nd half.

Caught a little of KVS on the postgame show and he seems at a loss in terms of getting the Knights to play with energy early. . .

Griffin's pretty nice in-the-air-scoop lay in off a Meckes miss was the best pretty nice in-the-air-scoop lay in off a Meckes miss ever in D-III.

This is true.  And I've seen a lot of Meckes misses in recent past.

[northb]

KVS said that his own coaching was "worthy of dismissal."

I bet the Athletic Director agrees.

Obvious question: WWKVSD?

[gohope]

Just finished reading the Holland Sentinel story on the game last night.  Kudos to the TS Coach for his quote:

Tri-State coach Rob Harmon thought his team was up to the task.... "We fed the beast tonight. They're like sharks smelling blood and when they smell blood, they go after you."

[dumezrules]

To answer some questions posted and a couple of observations:

1. Alfieri played many minutes, came in with about 5 minutes gone in time to see a couple 3-pointers go in.  

2. The ref that gave Glenn the "T" (he deserved it, I thought, he was on the ref from the first whistle) was the oldest in the group and the one that couldnt get up and down the floor real well.  He stopped a couple of Hope breaks himself!  Plus he isnt very good, very inconsistent.

Griffin's pretty nice in-the-air-scoop lay in off a Meckes miss was the best petty nice in-the-air-scoop lay in off a Meckes miss ever in D-III.

3. For a Calvin Knight, that is a pretty funny statement!!!  Even speaking as a Hope fan, the drooling over Cramer has got to stop.  I have seen better dunks in person (literally, Matt Stegeinga sp? right over/through me in HS!!! )  and at the Dow Center in pickup games.  

4. The only reason Calvin was close to Hope the first time is: Hope 4/17 from 3 point range.  They are shooting 45 % as a team from the arc.....even with that 22% thrown in.  They are unlikely to shoot that poorly any more this year.

5. They have a "weakness" inside but they do have VERY athletic 6'4 kids and a 6'7" player who is an outstanding rebounder.  

6. Question:  Did Tri-State ever scout Hope?  They came out in a 2-3 zone......recipe for disaster against a great shooting team.     Went to man at 14-2 but it was OVER already.

7. You know its going good when you worry about having "only" a 10-point lead with about 30 minutes to go!!!!

[AlwaysHope]

Thoughts from last night's game (sorry, got home a bit late and then just got to a computer now!):

*  Player highlights:  Brett Jager:  3/3, 1/1, 3/3ft, 4rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.  He has got to be "the" or one of the most improved players on the team...  Zach Osborn: played 3:05 minutes and scored 8 points. His confidence just grows with each game.

I was also going to comment about Jager's play in a very efficient 14 minutes of PT.  He's been doing this all year.  His 3/3 performance gives him a season FG % of .532, and after his 3 point play his 3 shooting % is now a very respectable .478 for the year.  He retains his 100% FT percentage for this season, while his assists/turnover ratio is a very impressive 43/21.

However, the timing of his field goals was also critical.  Much is made of the 30-9 lead that Hope had with 13:48 left in the first half, but 3State had a nice run after that, and trailed by only 11 at the 8:58 and 8:33 mark in the first half.  Jager responded at these times with a 3 and 2  respectively to eliminate the possibility of only a singe digit lead.  After Jager's 2 point shot Hope was never again challenged, and the lead just kept growing.

Where has Jager been hiding the past three years?  I have never seen such a turnaround in confidence for a player.

As far as Osborn is concerned, in his 5 minutes he looked like he owned the building, although the result of the game had already been determined.

[almcguirejr]

KVS said that his own coaching was "worthy of dismissal."

I bet the Athletic Director agrees.

I don't think AD Jim Timmer Jr. agrees.

[AndersDY]

Alfieri was on the floor quite a bit. He wasn't going to have much of an impact on the outcome starting or not. The only potential difference making I could see from the Tri-State lineup would have been if Brookins or Benford had been able to get their shooting hot (say 6-6 from 3 hot) and keep pace with Hope's scoring. However, Alfieri was visible enough in the game for the Dew Crew to decide he ought to feature the 'Truffle Shuffle' for them ('Goonies' reference for the older fans) while shooting some free-throws.

I did notice that Alfieri was one of numerous freshmen as I went down the Tri-State roster. It appears that Brookins is the one major loss following this year, might there be some potentially strong years ahead for Tri-State as that class matures, or is there more quantity than quality in that freshman crop?

As stated above, the older grey-haired ref was clearly the most frustrating one for all in attendance. He could use a bit of a lesson in what flopping looks like, though that was only the most glaring of his inconsistencies.

[almcguirejr]

I did notice that Alfieri was one of numerous freshmen as I went down the Tri-State roster. It appears that Brookins is the one major loss following this year, might there be some potentially strong years ahead for Tri-State as that class matures, or is there more quantity than quality in that freshman crop?

The Kalamzoo roster is the exact opposite.  It has 8 seniors on it.  I may have missed an earlier posting, but what happened to Henry McCain?

[sac]

Tri-State is very young as noted but having only 3 players taller than 6-3 is simply not going to get it done in a normal MIAA season.  Whats missing from the MIAA this season is post players, there are only a couple true post players on each teams rosters and fewer on a couple others, Calvin has the most.   TSU could finish 2nd this year, but in most years I'd peg this group as a 4th place finisher.

Loosing Brookens is a big loss and unless Harmon comes up with another big scorer, Benford will be easier to defend.  One on one there are very few who can handle Benford though.  A solid recruiting class could help them out next season, but again unless it has height, they'll  continue to lag behind the Calvin's and Hope's.  In two years though TSU could be a handfull, I would call them the 3rd best bunch that I've seen from this league.



Realist----Alfieri played 25 minutes, but I thought Hope handled him rather easily, he scored 8 of his 15 late vs the 3rd unit with Hope up 40.  Also I think Zach Osburn made his 3 best post moves in a Hope uni vs. Alfieri.   He also had only 2 rebounds, most of the time being the tallest player on the floor.  Being his first game back perhaps he was a little rusty.  It would help immensely if TSU had a frontline taller than 6-3 to help him out.  As  a Fr. he seems to have a nice future in Angola.......but he'll always struggle if he's the only player of significant height.

[HopeConvert]

Jager has been playing nice ball. He's been making good decisions, and has made some clutch shots. He's not as active on the defensive end as DVS, but he's been a real asset to the team. I was thrilled to see Partridge really find his form last night. I think he needed the shot of confidence after Saturday's game. It's looking like a good year for orange and blue: Florida and basketball and football, now Hope. Bears fans should take heart.

[hope1]

i think hope played pretty good last  night i think they are better then last year team   i also think tri state will be very good next year or after 

[Carl Yastrzemski]

Last week an emergency meeting was called for the SuperSweetness Hall of Fame Board of Trustees to deal with the sudden news about SAC ending his posting days. First measure brought to the table was waiving the 5 year retirement clause to place SAC on the Hall of Fame ballot for this years class. However, a board member (The Angry Dwarf) brought up a great point dealing with "High Speed Internet" and the inflation of SAC's posting numbers and statistical acquisition for much of the information included in his posts. The Board came to a final decision, and  based on the era of "High Speed Internet", SAC had an unfair advantage over posters from the previous "Dial Up" era. It was ruled SAC must wait for other posters in the "High Speed" era to wrap up their careers before he will be eligible for SSHOF voting.

On to some other news

Stinger, I belive John Stott was the Freighter built and placed into service in 1976 to replace the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior. However, I am only 72% sure!

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Carl - welcome back - we missed ya.  I'm 100% sure.

... and isn't it always The Angry Dwarf who comes back to bite you in the...   

[Civic Minded]

For a man who's placed his computer into storage, Sac has managed to post just fine -- I think it's just his stats that are in limbo.   (Oh my stars, did I just start a theological discussion about limbo, paradise, and other locations fictional and non- in the afterlife?  What did Augustine say about that?  My bad...)

At any rate, don't bury him, bronze him, or immortalize him just yet.     He's still here, just in a less super-sweet form for the moment.   

[wiz]

Hey, does anyone know how Hope did last night?