MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[ChicagoHopeNut]

The new regional rankings are out.  Here are the Great Lakes rankings:

1  Lake Erie  23-2  19-1
2  Wooster  22-3  17-2
3  John Carroll  17-8  16-6
4  Hope  21-3  14-3
5  Ohio Northern  19-6  14-6
6  Wittenberg  21-4  16-4

I really don't mean to start this conversation again this week so no one has to respond to this vent. But JCU with 6 losses is still ahead of Hope!!! 

No one has mentioned this yet (maybe out of fear) but there is the possibility that the MIAA will go unrepresented in this year's NCAA's. I believe TSU's switch to D3 is not yet complete and they are ineligible for an NCAA bid. If they win the conference tourney and Hope fails to get a Pool C bid the MIAA will be shut out. That would quiet down this board in a hurry. On second thought it might outrage a few in Holland and make it noisier. 

Let's not even talk about such scary things!

[northb]

The new regional rankings are out.  Here are the Great Lakes rankings:

1  Lake Erie  23-2  19-1
2  Wooster  22-3  17-2
3  John Carroll  17-8  16-6
4  Hope  21-3  14-3
5  Ohio Northern  19-6  14-6
6  Wittenberg  21-4  16-4

I really don't mean to start this conversation again this week so no one has to respond to this vent. But JCU with 6 losses is still ahead of Hope!!! 

No one has mentioned this yet (maybe out of fear) but there is the possibility that the MIAA will go unrepresented in this year's NCAA's. I believe TSU's switch to D3 is not yet complete and they are ineligible for an NCAA bid. If they win the conference tourney and Hope fails to get a Pool C bid the MIAA will be shut out. That would quiet down this board in a hurry. On second thought it might outrage a few in Holland and make it noisier. 

We can't send the runner-up?

[HopeConvert]

The new regional rankings are out.  Here are the Great Lakes rankings:

1  Lake Erie  23-2  19-1
2  Wooster  22-3  17-2
3  John Carroll  17-8  16-6
4  Hope  21-3  14-3
5  Ohio Northern  19-6  14-6
6  Wittenberg  21-4  16-4

I really don't mean to start this conversation again this week so no one has to respond to this vent. But JCU with 6 losses is still ahead of Hope!!! 

No one has mentioned this yet (maybe out of fear) but there is the possibility that the MIAA will go unrepresented in this year's NCAA's. I believe TSU's switch to D3 is not yet complete and they are ineligible for an NCAA bid. If they win the conference tourney and Hope fails to get a Pool C bid the MIAA will be shut out. That would quiet down this board in a hurry. On second thought it might outrage a few in Holland and make it noisier. 

We can't send the runner-up?

That's what I would think - that no matter what, the conference is guaranteed a spot in the tournament.

In region, some of these Ohio teams will be knocking each other off. It really is going to come down to whether there are upsets in the other conference tourneys and how many Pool C slots are open. If, as I expect, Calvin and Albion both win tonight that might be enough to push up Hope's QoWI to get enough consideration for a pool C bid even if they lose Saturday. But I go back to what I said earlier: if they can't win the tournament on their home floor they'll have no one but themselves to blame. Sure, Calvin might get hot in a rivalry game, but you still have to be able to win those games.

I'm surprised Griffen didn't get more mention. In the three games I saw him play this year he looked very good to me: athletic, in control, a nice shot, good springs, solid defense. Maybe he is a metonym for the whole team.

I found the MVP vote really difficult. Hope really was about a balanced team this year, and Cramer struggled down the stretch. DVS was shaky defensively all year, in my estimation.

About two hours to tip-off. I won't be wearing my hitherto "lucky" hat tonight. It let me down against Calvin. I'm glad winter break is over so the Dew Crew will be around all weekend.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

The new regional rankings are out.  Here are the Great Lakes rankings:

1  Lake Erie  23-2  19-1
2  Wooster  22-3  17-2
3  John Carroll  17-8  16-6
4  Hope  21-3  14-3
5  Ohio Northern  19-6  14-6
6  Wittenberg  21-4  16-4

I really don't mean to start this conversation again this week so no one has to respond to this vent. But JCU with 6 losses is still ahead of Hope!!! 

No one has mentioned this yet (maybe out of fear) but there is the possibility that the MIAA will go unrepresented in this year's NCAA's. I believe TSU's switch to D3 is not yet complete and they are ineligible for an NCAA bid. If they win the conference tourney and Hope fails to get a Pool C bid the MIAA will be shut out. That would quiet down this board in a hurry. On second thought it might outrage a few in Holland and make it noisier. 

We can't send the runner-up?

That's what I would think - that no matter what, the conference is guaranteed a spot in the tournament.

In region, some of these Ohio teams will be knocking each other off. It really is going to come down to whether there are upsets in the other conference tourneys and how many Pool C slots are open. If, as I expect, Calvin and Albion both win tonight that might be enough to push up Hope's QoWI to get enough consideration for a pool C bid even if they lose Saturday. But I go back to what I said earlier: if they can't win the tournament on their home floor they'll have no one but themselves to blame. Sure, Calvin might get hot in a rivalry game, but you still have to be able to win those games.

I'm surprised Griffen didn't get more mention. In the three games I saw him play this year he looked very good to me: athletic, in control, a nice shot, good springs, solid defense. Maybe he is a metonym for the whole team.

I found the MVP vote really difficult. Hope really was about a balanced team this year, and Cramer struggled down the stretch. DVS was shaky defensively all year, in my estimation.

About two hours to tip-off. I won't be wearing my hitherto "lucky" hat tonight. It let me down against Calvin. I'm glad winter break is over so the Dew Crew will be around all weekend.

Its true that the Ohio teams will beat each other up some this week, which definitely helps Hope. However, I can see where oldknight comes from and agree that it is possible the MIAA is shut out on the off chance Tri-State won the tourney. I think Hope has to win tonight and beat the Albion/Adrian winner on Friday. I am particularly scared of playing a recently improved Albion team. All that said, if Hope just steps up and wins some games it should be able to make sure the committee doesn't have a say.

[Pat Coleman]

On Hoopsville, Tri-State coach Rob Harmon said that if his team wins the MIAA Tournament, the automatic bid was supposed to revert to the regular-season champ. No worries. I'm sure the MIAA wouldn't have let Tri-State in the tournament if they had to risk losing their automatic bid.

[oldknight]

On Hoopsville, Tri-State coach Rob Harmon said that if his team wins the MIAA Tournament, the automatic bid was supposed to revert to the regular-season champ. No worries. I'm sure the MIAA wouldn't have let Tri-State in the tournament if they had to risk losing their automatic bid.

If so, that would render any conference tourney final between Hope and TSU pointless then wouldn't it?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

On Hoopsville, Tri-State coach Rob Harmon said that if his team wins the MIAA Tournament, the automatic bid was supposed to revert to the regular-season champ. No worries. I'm sure the MIAA wouldn't have let Tri-State in the tournament if they had to risk losing their automatic bid.

If so, that would render any conference tourney final between Hope and TSU pointless then wouldn't it?

Oh it wouldn't be pointless - it would be critical in determining the winner of the MIAA tournament pick 'em   

[realist]

OK;  The game is essentially for the conference tournament championship.  The rules were set long ago when Tri State came in to cover the possibility of their winning prior to NCAA complete elegibility.  The conference made the provision for awarding the NCAA automatic qualification in such circumstances (my understanding of the NCAA is each conference sets their own method of selecting who gets the AQ).  This is better than the old 7 team conference with #1 getting a bye the first night, and home court.

[northb]

[I'm surprised Griffen didn't get more mention. In the three games I saw him play this year he looked very good to me: athletic, in control, a nice shot, good springs, solid defense. Maybe he is a metonym for the whole team.

Had to look that one up

metonym

noun
a word that is used metonymically; a word that denotes one thing but refers to a related thing  

still not sure what he meant...

[HopeConvert]

[I'm surprised Griffen didn't get more mention. In the three games I saw him play this year he looked very good to me: athletic, in control, a nice shot, good springs, solid defense. Maybe he is a metonym for the whole team.

Had to look that one up

metonym

noun
a word that is used metonymically; a word that denotes one thing but refers to a related thing 

still not sure what he meant...

Generally, when you allow a part of an entity to stand for the whole of it. If Griffen's performance as a player was inconsistent, that would be reflective of the whole team.

I'm not sure how far back QoWI standings go, but I would be interested to know when was the last time the MIAA average was as low as it is.

[AndersDY]

On Hoopsville, Tri-State coach Rob Harmon said that if his team wins the MIAA Tournament, the automatic bid was supposed to revert to the regular-season champ. No worries. I'm sure the MIAA wouldn't have let Tri-State in the tournament if they had to risk losing their automatic bid.

If so, that would render any conference tourney final between Hope and TSU pointless then wouldn't it?

An extra regional loss certainly wouldn't help in looking to get the best possible matchups out of the tournament committee (compare how far Woo and Witt went last year and why). I think I'm the only person to even speculate about the final being a matchup with Tri-State in the Pick 'Em however, partially to find a scenario in which I'd beat all the brackets with the presumed final matchup and partially because I'd rather not see Calvin's Hope-game-effort get to make another appearance.

[oldknight]

On Hoopsville, Tri-State coach Rob Harmon said that if his team wins the MIAA Tournament, the automatic bid was supposed to revert to the regular-season champ. No worries. I'm sure the MIAA wouldn't have let Tri-State in the tournament if they had to risk losing their automatic bid.

If so, that would render any conference tourney final between Hope and TSU pointless then wouldn't it?

Oh it wouldn't be pointless - it would be critical in determining the winner of the MIAA tournament pick 'em   

You're right! Silly me! And not only the winner but the margin of victory is critical in determining the winner of the most prestigious and sought after basketball award west of the Alleghenies.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

On Hoopsville, Tri-State coach Rob Harmon said that if his team wins the MIAA Tournament, the automatic bid was supposed to revert to the regular-season champ. No worries. I'm sure the MIAA wouldn't have let Tri-State in the tournament if they had to risk losing their automatic bid.

If so, that would render any conference tourney final between Hope and TSU pointless then wouldn't it?

An extra regional loss certainly wouldn't help in looking to get the best possible matchups out of the tournament committee (compare how far Woo and Witt went last year and why). I think I'm the only person to even speculate about the final being a matchup with Tri-State in the Pick 'Em however, partially to find a scenario in which I'd beat all the brackets with the presumed final matchup and partially because I'd rather not see Calvin's Hope-game-effort get to make another appearance.

Actually there are 4 pickers who have a TSU vs Hope final (and here's the shocking part - they're all Hope fans)

[arena]

I was surprised Caleb Veldhouse was a first team selection.  I know it was close between him and Meckes.  I happen to think Meckes had a better conference season than Veldhouse.  Caleb shot the ball poorly (36%).    Meckes only had 3 less assists in league games than Caleb did.  Caleb is a good player but so far I would have to say his play is not at the level it was last year.  I think Meckes will be picked as a first team all conference player by the Coaches.

That's my belief also. I think Veldhouse's game took a step back this year. Among other things, he didn't look as quick to me as he did last year.

Sac - I can't argue against your point concerning Smith. He almost certainly would not have put up those numbers had he been with any other team.

He probably shouldn't have cut his hair.

[AndersDY]

Hope fans, and apparently fan's of hoping (for the ideal scenario).

Though based on Calvin's output this year, I really do see a loss in the next two games as perhaps more likely than a Calvin loss if they get another Hope matchup.