MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[almcguirejr]

Amazing that MVH and Zoerhof both missed wide open layups.  The MVH one turned out to be a 5 point swing when Griffen came down and a converted a 3 point play.

Zoerhof tweaked something as he went up for what surely would have been a solid throwdown and didn't get his normal lift.  He was limping all the way back down the floor.

I know that, but he was stutter stepping trying to get his feet right for a dunk.  Just make the layup.  Remember, a dunk is only worth 2 points.

[sac]

Calvin 78 Hope 76

MIAA Tournament weekend saved.  Pretty good stuff inside DeVos tonight.  This one had just about everything from a typical Hope/Calvin game.....including the hearbreaking loss, and they joyous victory.........heck, we even had a pair of wideopen uncontested layup misses.

Calvin was simply beyond anything they've displayed in any game I saw them this year, not just a little ........a lot.  The early part of the game was just a frustrating 15 minutes for Hope where it just seemed like everything that could go wrong did, some of the to's and out of bounds calls were tough breaks.  Calvin made their own breaks tonight though by just hustling to loose balls and fighting for rebounds, it seemed to take a long, long time for Hope to show the desire necessary in a game like this.  Calvin played with it for 40, Hope for about 25.   In a game that can come down to one point, one shot, one posession you absolutley must fight for every ball for 40 minutes........I hope this is a leason Hope  learned tonight if they need it.

I felt like a million-trillion bucks to see Hope only down 6 at the half, surely the run to put Hope over the top would come...........but Calvin seemed to have answers at every crucial momentum building moment for Hope.  A few of them were just goofy circumstances.

The Steve Cramer and Derek Griffen duel was excellent, unfortunately for Hope I do strongly believe VanSolkema was slowed tonight.......Cramer actually played more point tonight than he has the whole season combined.  DVS seemed to be arming a lot of his shots, just didn't have the legs under his shots and was visibly slower.

Probably my favorite stretch of the second half was the back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back 3's eschanged by the 2 teams.  That was just eye popping.  Vanderheide, Mantel, Cramer, Veltema then Klein........ok so Mantel's was a very long two but it was a great sequence.

In the end the two teams each had a shot to win.......Hope missed theirs, which was a great look and wide open, Calvin hit theirs.

I find it hard to be disappointed with such great competition on the floor in front of me in situations like this.  I mean honestly my jaw hurts a bit from smiling so much.  It really was a great game tonight and coupled with the women's game which was equally as good, it was just a good day.

Griffen 24, Veldhouse 16, Veltema 12..........I don't really know how Veldhouse got 16, I actually applauded when he came back in the game and Griffen sat at one point, I thought he was a ball handling liability at times highlighted by his 5 to's which seems low.  Hope basically picked his pocket 3 straight posession

Cramer 28, Vanderheide 10, Klein 10,  Wolfe 10...........Cramer was amazing but it took him twice as many shots to get to 28 as Griffen took to get to 24.  He was simply Hope's best offensive option tonight.  DVS had scored 20 in the 3 previous meetings, his points were sorely missed and difficult to replace.   Interesting that this is the most points Hope's bench has scored against Calvin this year.  While Vanderheides shot was open, I would have liked to see Cramer get the last shot for Hope.  Hardly a mistake as MVH was wide open.

So basically you say congrats to Calvin on the MIAA Tournament Championship.

[realist]

Fantastic day, and fantastic games.  Even in my dreams I did not think Calvin would handle Hope at the De Vos a second time.  Listening to GVW's comments he felt Hope was "anxious" or overly excited at the start.  I expressed it earlier today that Meckes just doesn't want his season to end.  The way he played tonight I think several other players got the message.  These two teams are about as evenly matched as possible.  I think some Hope fans are being overly critical of GVW, and some of the players.    Hope came back to tie it, and even took a lead.  What more can you expect your team to do?  I still think Hope is the more talented team, but that doesn't guarantee wins.  If both mens and womens teams get into the NCAA I don't know what more anyone could want.

[dothedew]

Sac,
As a Hope grad living in NJ....I just want to thank you for everything you put into Hope Basketball/this site each year. I never turn to the GR Press or the Sentinel for my Hope updates after a big game. I know that what you write will always be unbiased and to the point. I was fortunate enough to listen to the entire women's game on the internet/radio this afternoon....I had dinner with the future inlaws...so only got the score. From reading what you wrote...it really sounded like your typical/awesome Hope/Calvin rivalry game.
Congrats to the Flying Dutch (I was fortunate to see their quarterfinal win last year at Depauw (I think it was) and then to see the Championship game last season.....
HOPEFULLY this won't be the end of the road for the Dutchmen...perhaps they can ship them out East so I can check out a game or two
Anyway....Sac I would +K (karma...not kiss) if I could....keep up the good work.
GO HOPE and remember to DO THE DEW!!!

[sac]

Thoughts.


------3,599  .......the attendance at DeVos, a new record.  It was a great crowd...........Hope fans didn't have much to cheer about for a long, long time.   But it was nice to hear the old Civic Center echos rolling through DeVos tonight.

-------Nice to see there were no felonies amongst our little ones tonight and everyone kept to their side of the gym.    Thats as well behaved a D3 crowd as I think you can get in such an important and intense game.

-------I thought Calvin gifted Hope the game with just over a minute left and after a timeout ran a play to get Meckes an open 3............seriously I've always thought KVS ran great plays after timeouts but that was one his worst.  No offense meant to Meckes.

-------The seemingly minor injuries to DVS and MVH clearly put Hope in a postion of having to scramble to cover some playing time.  Ryan Klein played very well and Tyler Wolfe was outstanding as well.     In fact Tyler probably set the best example for hustling to the ball as anyone in a white jerzey.  Hope seemed to pick things up after he came on the floor.  Having Cramer play the point I thought was a great move.

--------Coming into tonight Hope had won all 4 previous Hope/Calvin meetings in the MIAA Tournament Championship.  About time Calvin won one vs Hope.  So thats 5 in 16 years which puts us just under 1 every 3 years.

--------It will be interesing to see how the Calvin Derek Griffens do in the NCAA tournament.

[realist]

Amen Sac:  Very well said.   (earlier post)
I tend to agree on having Meckes take the 3.  Only logic I can figure is he was not a player Hope was going to guard that far out.  Yes, Calvin dodges a major bullet on that one.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Listening to GVW's comments he felt Hope was "anxious" or overly excited at the start....Hope came back to tie it, and even took a lead.  What more can you expect your team to do?   I still think Hope is the more talented team, but that doesn't guarantee wins. 

I appreciate reading sac's comments because it makes me feel a little better about the disappointing outcome of tonight's game (from my perspective). Knowing that this was Calvin's best performance of the year gives me less to worry about.

As far as criticism of the team. I appreciate all the team has done this year and a 23-4 record is nothing to be disappointed about. Its a good record and Hope was in all 4 games it lost down to the last minute and it should be enough to get them into the NCAA tourney, which is a big part of what it is about.

That said I think the concern is that Hope has come out either flat or "anxious" in the first half of too many games recently. Plus, as realist said, Hope did come back. But for many of us these teams are too evenly matched for Hope to ever be 14 down in the first 10 minutes of a game and that is just frustrating to many people on this board I believe, I know I find it frustrating.

[KnightSlappy]

Meckes doesn't usually show too much emotion but he let it all flow tonight.  He did not want to end his career.  After the game and the handshakes he came over and jumped with the students for a few moments with absolute joy on his face.

I don't think the Meckes' three was that bad.  He was at least as close as Marcus was.

If the Knights play like they have the last two times against Hope.  They can make noise in the tournament.  If they let up at any time at all, I think they will be done.

Stephen Cramer, what can one really say.  He turns tough looks into easy buckets.  He seems to be always in control and has a radar for that hoop.  He showed up playing like an MVP but so did Derek Griffin.

Note to Hope:  Matt Veltema can knock down the three.

[GoKnights68]

I think the key for Calvin tonight is to control DVS.   He can be deadly from the 3-point line and can lay a dagger in the opposing team.  Calvin also has got to keep getting it down low on offense....Also not panick if they get behind.   

I asked this earlier, is this a record...a Calvin-Hope match-up for 8th time in 2 seasons?

bump.  I was right about holding DVS being a key to victory and not panicking(when Hope went ahead), although I do not think Calvin got it down low to the post enough.

[GoKnights68]

2) How was the officiating? I know the Hope announcers were livid over a couple of no calls in the second half, particularly one on a Cramer shot and one on a Wolfe shot.




Officiating I thought was pretty poor, but there wasn't really any favortism to either side much, as both teams had their fair share of questionable calls.  I guess that's what you get with close games.  I'm just glad the last minute wasn't decided by a controversial call.

[GoKnights68]

I have a feeling that Calvin will not advance past the first round of the tournament. They won't be playing against Hope, and therefore won't be able to get up for the game. Without orange and blue staring them in the face they will again be the lackluster team that that really are.

That seems to be the theme, but Calvin has played with great intensity against other teams at points in the season also.  The only problem was is those teams were teams like Olivet and Alma.  It will be interesting to see how well Calvin does against a good d3 team other than Hope.  Tri State, Albion, and Adrian were all descent.  We all know how well Calvin usually plays in the post-season, so we'll just have to wait and see.

[GoKnights68]

some final thoughts:

although I do know think it was the "prettiest" Hope-Calvin game ever, I do think it was one of the hardest faught, all-out intensity Calvin-Hope games.  Those are the ones fun to watch.

I don't think you need to put that much blame on GVW as some people are.  The bottom line is that his team wasn't predicted to win the league, but his team won the league outright.  We'll see what he can do in the big tourney if Hope makes it,and then you can judge him more.  You gotta give KVS credit for having his boys ready to play tonight.

Personally I think Hope deserves an at-large bid(I'm sure most Calvin fans can agree), but I sure hope Calvin doesn't have to ever play them again this year.  A Hope-Calvin V?  Yikes! 

You can't complain much about Calvin's play tonight, but there offense still was shaky at times in the game.  Too many turnovers and sometimes too many guys standing around the perimeter.

My voice is basically gone.

Good luck to Calvin and Hope if they get the at-large bid.

[Dark Knight]

I guess this year, Calvin was the better team.  My assessment of this and the last Hope loss is GVW.  I doubt even Calvin fans would argue the fact that we have more talent, and yet, we get jumped out the gate, and in a close game where we have the lead, are unable to step up with big plays and bring home a victory.  The mistakes were mental, characterized by bad passes and turnovers, and lax defense, and I think that reflects poorly on the coaching staff, specifically Glenn VanWieren.  VandeStreek has dominated VanWieren for the past two Hope-Calvin games.

p.s. DVS moved fine, no limp at all.  He just didn't play well. 

My belief for some time has been that GVW out-recruits KVS on a regular basis, but KVS gets so much more from his players.

I agree, but I also suspect KVS pays more attention to chemistry when selecting players to recruit. He emphasizes finding players that will fit in well, and that reduces the pool a bit.

[wiz]

Maybe we can soon end the talk about how many miles separates the Illinois and the Michigan teams.  A good coach knows the sure way to get in is by being prepared for the automatic bid from a conference tournament championship.  That's the way KVS played it and now, of course, we all know it worked.  He had a young team that needed to be patiently guided to learn the system and be ready to play good ball in February.  Last night it was clear that one team improved greatly as the season went on and one not so much.  KVS proved once again he is MIAA coach of the year.  After the game, a Holland local was asking me some things about Calvin College and then he mentioned "that's a well coached outfit".  I couldn't agree more.

Can't end this post without saying congratulations to Stephen Cramer for a fine career.  He has always been one of the classiest and most talented players in the MIAA.

[CalvinChelseaMom]

Amen to everyone who's talked about what an incredible rivalry game that was.  We invited a good friend who had never been to a Calvin/Hope game.  At one point when it was tied up at 76, I said the same thing someone else posted, "Rivalry tied at 82 games, score tied at 76!"  Can't get any closer than that.  At times, I think the moms felt like we were in labor, the agony of trying to "birth" a victory!  And the results...not a birth, but a berth!! 

Also, an amen to the comments about KVS's coaching abilities.  We were impressed the first time we ever visited and we continue to be impressed.  It's been a challenging year.  I know the coaches and the players have been pretty down at different points this season.  A great coach keeps the team from falling apart and giving up.

Lastly, I was so excited to see Meckes get fired up!  That was the leadership we needed last night.  And seeing Griffin play so well again last night and fire up his team is great news for next year.