MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

few thoughts

----Nice crowd at the 'vet tonight, one of the larger ones I've seen or at least can remember, and there was a large Hope contingent.  Probably 60-40 Olivet.  Lots of OC students to, but zero organization and sitting in 3 different locations.   They did go nuts when they JV team pulled off a victory, that was kind of amusing.


----Once again I was reminded how young Olivet really is, no Seniors and most of tonight I bet they had at least 2 Freshman on the floor at all times.  I actually believe there might be some hope for the future for the Olivet program.

----With the 3 game lead, Hope's trip to Albion becomes a little interesting.  This is Hope's last potential stumbling block before the Calvin encounter next Wednesday in Holland.  I believe this will be a pretty tough game for Hope, but it seems as if a little pressure came off the Dutchmen with tonights results.  Tonight's win by Albion has give them a nice boost heading into Saturday........once again I wouldn't have guessed that result.


-----Tonight Hope was 8-16 from 3, but I was really impressed with their selection of 3's.  Not a one was forced and only a couple were taken with defenders in good position.  It was pretty clear a couple guys weren't going to get open looks and Hope seemed real intent and taking good ones.  It would be real easy for a team shooting as hot as Hope is to just start chucking them up.  In the last 3 games they're over 50%.

[realist]

One has to continue to be impressed with Hope's performance.  The thing that impresses me the most is it seems every night a different guy will have the hot hand.  Scoring is well spread around.  That has to make it tough for opposing coaches to make an effective defensive plan.  I expect the margin from Sat's game will  be less than 22.
No surprises from Calvin either.  They really needed a basketball game that was fun.   Should do wonders for the confidence for Sat.  Nice to see them actually concentrate on playing to their strenghts rather than relying on the guards to do it all. 
Very nice to see K get a W.  Bulldogalum was concerned about this game,and he had a right to worry.   Tonights win should also help Albion for Sat. 

[oldknight]

Not to burst any Knight bubbles with their big win and nice start tonight but Hope was ahead of Alma 26-2.

That is just not a very good basketball team.

I don't think there were any bubbles to burst. Just read Al's comments. He posted a full 24 seconds before you did sac.

[sac]

Not to burst any Knight bubbles with their big win and nice start tonight but Hope was ahead of Alma 26-2.

That is just not a very good basketball team.

I don't think there were any bubbles to burst. Just read Al's comments. He posted a full 24 seconds before you did sac.

Yeah I was kind of agreeing with him, .............it does take alot of effort to get big leads early, heck I was impressed as all get out with Hope's 26-2 start, I'd never seen that.

But the ugly truth is Alma is just not good.  I don't want anyone to think I was trying to knock the Knights down a little.  A 56 point win is a 56 point win and is pretty impressive.

Ironicaly, I was pretty sure Hope would hold the edge for biggest win of the year in the MIAA.........the Knights have set a pretty high bar for Hope's trip to Alma in 2 weeks.

[GoKnights68]

You can look at how bad Alma is as the main factor of why the game was a blowout, but I was really impressed with with Calvin's ability to share the ball so well.  Nobody took many bad shots.  I also loved the defensive pressure on every play.  It's already been said, but I just hope Calvin can play with the same intensity they did the rest of the season, and that this wasn't a one time deal.

[KnightSlappy]

It really seemed like the guards were more comfortable tonight.  They didn't settle (for the most part) for forced jumpers and instead threw it into the post and took the open shot.  There was also some nice penetration from Veldhouse and Griffin.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

So after the first Hope/Olivet game, there was much discussion about a heated conversation between GVW and Coach Soderburg.  Well, it seems that it just continued tonight.  In the second half with 14 minutes or so left, and Hope leading 50-32, Soderburg was overheard asking one of the Hope players "why is Cramer still in the game, you guys are up by 20". 

A statement like that just leaves me speachless, and wondering what this guy is doing coaching.  The officiating tonight was horrid, but pales in comparison to this. 

[KnightSlappy]

Your bench players cant play the whole game. Even they need a break every once in a while.  Even in a blowout the starters need to get minutes.

[almcguirejr]

Alma's coach, Ed Kohtala, missed tonight's game because he was hospitalized for cardiac diagnostic testing.

His team needs the same thing. ( yea, I know, I shouldn't make light of the coach's situation, but that team was awful tonight)
 

It really seemed like the guards were more comfortable tonight. 

That's because it looked like they were playing H-O-R-S-E.

Calvin was averaging 12 assists a game in their first 18 games.  Tonight they had 30.  Alma contested nothing.

[GoKnights68]

So after the first Hope/Olivet game, there was much discussion about a heated conversation between GVW and Coach Soderburg.  Well, it seems that it just continued tonight.  In the second half with 14 minutes or so left, and Hope leading 50-32, Soderburg was overheard asking one of the Hope players "why is Cramer still in the game, you guys are up by 20". 

A statement like that just leaves me speachless, and wondering what this guy is doing coaching.  The officiating tonight was horrid, but pales in comparison to this. 

Jees, Soderburg bugs me.  Give me a break.  This isn't a YMCA pee-wee league. Does he really think GVW will take someone out with FOURTEEN MINUTES left just because they are winning?  18 points is a nice margin but not big enough for the opposing team to not be able to make a comeback.  I feel speechless also.  Just as speechless when he shoved his own assistant last season when he was trying to restrain him from attacking the ref after he got tossed from the game.

[Dutch_Man]

Tonights game at Olivet was not a pretty game to watch! The officials were not consistent at ALL! First they decide they are going to let the boys play through just about anything. I told my buddy next to me that I would be very surprised if no one got hurt in this game because the referees had absolutely no control.  Shortly after the officials start calling EVERYTHING! I dont know where they were getting some of these calls! This stat of the game tells a lot about the game.....

Olivet- 25 total team fouls
Hope- 25 total team fouls

with a total of 50 fouls in the game!!! Like I said it was not a pretty game to watch...

I feel that the MIAA officials have had a lot of trouble this year! Does anyone else feel this as well?

[Stinger]

Ah yes, it's a great day to be a Hornet. 

I wish I could've been there for the win last night.  They held off an Adrian charge early in the 2nd half, and pulled away.  Matt Kellogg, Clancy, Worst, Greer and Garfield all in double digits for Kzoo.  They held Young to 9 points on 4-13 shooting.  Here's where I see a huge difference in previous Hornet games, 18 assists to only 11 TO.  Nice work men!

[Stinger]

IK's student section has flat out been awful over the past  5 or so years.  This year,  they had a solid contingent at the Tri-State game, but the kids  just stood there and did nothing.  Gone are the days of the Stingers, coming into AAC single file about 2 minutes before tip,  all painted up, and ready to go nutso on the opposing team.

Gone are the days of your leader... Smokin' Joe! Everything changed when Coach Joe left... He brought toughness to K basketball, and "encouraged/supported" the stingers... no?? On the other hand, I'm sure no one outside of (and maybe some inside) K miss the drunken stupidness...

Im not sure what you mean with "'encouraged/supported' the Stingers."

I would say things were changing quite a bit in the last 5 years of Smokin's career at K.  Coach Haklin would have a very difficult time recruiting in these times.  K has changed quite a bit.  The student body is very different from when I attended the school.   I think Coach Passage and every other coach out at K are doing there best to get more student participation at athletic events.

[flash96]

I concure with the other people the officiating last night at Olivet was terrible.  They weren't even close to being consistent 

Nice fan support from Olivet, it was nice to see the pledges there looking and acting foolish.  Ah pledging where you act like a Middile schooler!

Returned home after the game to find my house broken into!  Thanks to my dad who happened to drive by at the time of the B&E they didn't get anything.  Guess that CCW will come in handy.

[CalvinChelseaMom]

Appearantly noone else in the league has outside of Mantel (who was a "lock" to come to Hope according to those close to the program.  Obviously he changed his mind at the last minute for whatever reason).

Wonder what his mom has to say about that... Not that she will. 

I probably get the same forwarded emails about recruits as the "insiders" and Mantel was NEVER regarded as a "lock", in fact most of the time they seemed to think he was a bit of a longshot.

Thanks, Sac.  Now I don't really have to comment!  You are exactly right on this one.    .  Well, I guess I'll comment just a little to put this thing to rest.  The Hope staff was outstanding in their efforts to recruit John.  They really couldn't have done anything more.  They were a delightful group and I know they were very disappointed in the end that John chose Calvin, though they were very gracious about it.  KVS was much more laid-back, but it was still very clear that he was very interested in John.  In the end, after looking at different schools in all divisions, John never reached the comfort level he had with Calvin (the school, the team, the coaches, everything) from his first visit as a junior and onward.  And we didn't even know about Calvin's plans for a new arena!  (The DeVos Arena and locker rooms are very impressive!)     The end.