MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[KnightSlappy]

Despite its imperfections I think that both the polls and the NCAA's process of admitting teams to post season play is really about as fair as can be. Even though Calvin is clearly a better team than the one we saw a month ago there is undeniable merit to giving higher ranked teams who have been consistent since November an advantage over teams like Calvin who--after a slow and disappointing start--may have caught up with these other teams. Calvin has proven themselves over the last 2-3 weeks to be a very good team. But why should Calvin's recent progress move them into the rankings with teams that have proven themselves to be a very good since November? It shouldn't. Calvin can be thankful that they have been given a second chance to redeem themselves by winning the conference tournament and if they can't do that they have nothing to complain about. The 2005 team seized that second chance after finishing second in the conference and ran with it all the way to Salem. This year's squad is given the same opportunity and Knight fans needn't complain if they can't clear that hurdle. 

I heard that the 2005 St. John Fisher team is going to do some big damage in the tournament.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Undefeated 2006 Lawrence didn't go very far either!

[bulldogalum]

Switching topics for a minute: there has been talk about who should be conference MVP (MOP? whatever).  I'm surprised that there has been no mention at all of Desmond Young.  Adrian was 0-8 before he played, is 8-5 since (8-3 against all teams not named Hope).  I'm not necessarily advocating for him (I only saw him for the first half of the Hope @ Adrian game, and that night he stunk up the place though the raw talent was still apparent), just curious that his name has not come up at all.

I hadn't mentioned it because I really don't get into the whole MVP thing--I'm more of a team first guy myself, and because I have an admitted bias here.  But I can't imagine any player having a greater impact on a team than Desmond has had on Adrian this year.  Take the best player away from Hope or Calvin, and you've still got a team that will finish in the top half of the conference, and in Hope's case, will probably still win the conference.  But without Young, who knows where Adrian would be right now?  That being said, I realize that it's hard to give the MVP to a player on a 3rd or 4th place team, especially when he's only a sophomore.  However, is that vote made before or after the MIAA tournament?  If it's after, and if Desmond leads the Bulldogs to the MIAA finals, I'd say he's very much deserving of the award.

[GoKnights68]

The new poll is out. Hope at 10; no votes for Calvin. I would say this, there are teams that got votes that, if CAlvin were to play them right now, I'd put my money and Calvin (and that is not a shameless attempt to grab some karma either).

I think a lot of people would agree with that sentiment, I'd imagine even some people pretty well informed about D3 on a national scale. The frightened part of me is having flash-backs to a couple years back where Calvin made the Final Four despite having been in a position which required the MIAA tourney victory at Albion to even make the dance. (Didn't Pat or someone even call that shot before Calvin had even earned the conference bid?) I don't think this Calvin team is playing at that level, but the team currently showing up is definitely top 25 worthy at this point.

Right now I'm glad that barring a complete implosion (perhaps not even then), Hope is guaranteed to get the next potential shot at Calvin at home. Assuming that Part IV is almost a certainty, I'll certainly be nervous in the knowledge that Calvin knows beating Hope is their only potential ticket to the tourney. If Calvin does make the bracket, I certainly wouldn't be shocked to at least see them play in the second weekend.

IF Calvin gets in, I sure hope they play Hope later than the second round.  Of course if they met in the sweet 16 or elite 8 and the game was close at the end, then I would probaly be so nervous that I'd have to step outside a couple times.  In last years 2nd round tourney game part IV, my whole body was shaking in the last minute.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

The new poll is out. Hope at 10; no votes for Calvin. I would say this, there are teams that got votes that, if CAlvin were to play them right now, I'd put my money and Calvin (and that is not a shameless attempt to grab some karma either).

I wish we could see the Mose Hole tournament played at this point in the season.  Those were Barometer games for Calvin at a time they really weren't ready for them.

I will agree that Calvin is a better team now than the team that was playing back then, but come on folks, even looking at the last few weeks, blowouts against Alma and Olivet (and to a lesser degree Adrian) all at home aren't that impressive, and I certainly wouldn't say they prove anything about a team being top 25.  Remember all those discussions during Hope's blowout run about it not really proving anything because of the league being down.  Well that hasn't changed.  The win at Hope was a big win for Calvin, no doubt, but the 10 point loss at TSU is only 5 games removed.  Time for a little reality.

[AndersDY]

IF Calvin gets in, I sure hope they play Hope later than the second round.  Of course if they met in the sweet 16 or elite 8 and the game was close at the end, then I would probaly be so nervous that I'd have to step outside a couple times.  In last years 2nd round tourney game part IV, my whole body was shaking in the last minute.

Were the MIAA to get both in with a Calvin auto-bid and Hope at-large, it sure would be nice to give both the chance to survive the first weekend, but we know the odds are never good for that. The one thing in favor of that setup would be that given Hope would rack up another loss, neither team would likely be allowed to host the first weekend. If the committee is able to move both teams around, perhaps someone ends up in CCIW territory (yay, because THAT's good news...) to start with so there is some space between them on the bracket.

I'm certainly not going to root for a two bid year, however. Have we gotten definitive opinions, from those that know best, that Hope is even a safe bet for the dance if they suffer just one more loss in the conference tournament?

[realist]

At this point it hardly makes sense thinking Calvin deserves more mention than it has gotten.  Time has proven they were grossly over-rated to begin the season.  Since then they have had their moments, but not enough to make anyone (other than the most biased Knight fans) give them serious consideration.  Frankly I am more concerned with tomorrow night in Albion  than anything else.  If there was ever a time for a team to take one game at a time it is Calvin now.  Come to think of it that is true for Hope and all MIAA teams.   I tend to agree with Al Mcjr.  the losses to Adrian and Tri State say more about Calvin than last weeks win at Hope.  I thought Hope would get dinged a little worse than they did in the polls.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

  I thought Hope would get dinged a little worse than they did in the polls.

I am not at all surprised by Hope's fall to 10. That's exactly where I thought they'd end up. I think most of the d3 poll voters have a lot of respect for the Calvin-Hope rivalry and as many on this board have noted Calvin is starting to play like many people expected them to play all year. In addition, many of the teams in the 11-16 range of the poll last week did not have particularly impressive weeks either so there weren't a lot of teams ready to move up in the poll.

[sac]

I'm certainly not going to root for a two bid year, however. Have we gotten definitive opinions, from those that know best, that Hope is even a safe bet for the dance if they suffer just one more loss in the conference tournament?

My opinion is Hope shouldn't count on a Pool C bid............and for what its worth they should root hard for Albion to beat Adrian this week and should root for Calvin to win out up to the MIAA Championship game.  This would benefit their QOWI more than any other scenario.  Calvin winning out also increases the point value of the 3 previous Calvin matchups.

[bulldogalum]

Albion and Adrian do not play this week, Sac, and it's not a foregone conclusion that they'll play next week yet, either.

[sac]

Oops, I knew that, I meant next week, which I do think is likely.

Actually, I'm not sure what I meant, I've confused myself over QOWI..........I think I meant it benefits Hope more if Albion wins out and makes the semi-finals, because it would put Albion over .500 in-region, which equals more points.

Shouldn't stress about these things

[oldknight]

Some of you Hope posters heard Myles Brand discuss the possible splitting of D-III into separate divisions. Thanks to a post on the NCAC board by jscwittfan I suggest that you read today's online article about this proposal because it sounds like change is 'acoming. I have no idea where the MIAA or its member schools stand on this issue. You can access it at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/sports/othersports/13ncaa.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

It may require registration but its free and worth the read.

[oldknight]

Oops, I knew that, I meant next week, which I do think is likely.

Actually, I'm not sure what I meant, I've confused myself over QOWI..........I think I meant it benefits Hope more if Albion wins out and makes the semi-finals, because it would put Albion over .500 in-region, which equals more points.

Shouldn't stress about these things

Turnover sac. Cal-vin bas-ket-ball.

[AndersDY]

Turnover sac. Cal-vin bas-ket-ball.

"Back - to - bas - ics..."

[AndersDY]

Some of you Hope posters heard Myles Brand discuss the possible splitting of D-III into separate divisions. Thanks to a post on the NCAC board by jscwittfan I suggest that you read today's online article about this proposal because it sounds like change is 'acoming. I have no idea where the MIAA or its member schools stand on this issue. You can access it at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/sports/othersports/13ncaa.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

What D3 schools are they referencing with enrollments up toward 40,000? I know some of the UW's are large for D3, I think going above 10,000 students, but is there a D3 school as big as a Big Ten campus? I was also surprised when I opened the article that nothing geographic was part of the discussion of re-alignment. Every year the basketball tournament is so skewed by the limitations of travel vs. budgets (first round byes going to mediocre teams because they happen to be located a plane flight from any other D3 teams) and now there may be two separate tournaments which are still national but are funded by two smaller divisions?