MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[dumezrules]

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.

I cant let this sit out there in cyberspace without responding..."a good coach knows the sure way to get in is by being prepared to get the automatic bid....."  I think a good coach doesnt want ONE game to determine whether or not his team gets into the tourney.....I thought this post was a slam against GVW ....KVS is a great coach who obviously taught his kids well.....BUT if VanderHeide hits the 3 or Griffin misses the circus shot at the end (great coaching there...) , KVS's great strategy is gone.....why is it players always get credit for wins and coaches credit for losses?  I heard people saying VW got "outcoached"...maybe he did but I dont think he teaches turnovers and missed shots.....

I do agree about Cramer though, hope he gets another shot at the Knights in the tourney!!!!

[HopeConvert]

Calvin 78 Hope 76



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.

I assume you were referring to MVH's shot as Hope's last shot, and not DVS's. In today's Press GVW was quoted as saying "Griffin made a great shot. Game over." Well, not exactly. There was still 4.3 seconds left. And I'll leave it at that.

I agree that coaches get too much blame when a team loses, and maybe too much credit when they win. I watched the Wittenberg game last year, when Hope was (I don't know the exact number) something like 30% from the foul line in the first half. It wasn't Glen missing those free throws. Marcus had a great look at the 3 last night, and it didn't go in. Glen didn't lose the handle on the rebound. He didn't miss an open layup. If Hope successfully does any of those things, Hope wins and discussions about coaching are moot. Glen runs a first-rate program, helps turn his players into fine young men, and consistently has his team competitive.

My criterion for in-game coaching is simply this: has the coach put his players in positions where they can be successful (and hence the team be successful)? For example, some of the comments about Meckes' 3-point attempt are predicated on the assumption that Meckes shooting threes is not where he is most likely to be successful. Neither is the team likely to be successful if Meckes is shooting 3s. My question simply is this: in the last half minute of the game, which coach did a better job putting players into positions where they could be successful? The execution I leave to the players, and if they experience failure, well, that is part of life and I think we should all be ok with that.

On the upside, there is a good chance now (see Pat's Pool C predictions) that the MIAA will have two teams in the tourney. So we got that going for us, which is nice.

All that said, it was a great and exciting day of basketball, and a fine time in the Fieldhouse. A great atmosphere. My son, a freshman at Hope, called me after the game and, despite his disappointment, talked about how incredible it was, how exciting it was, and what a great time he had. He was ebullient in defeat, and what parent can ask for more than that?

[ChicagoHopeNut]

I am very happy to see that Pat et al. has predicted Hope will get a Pool C bid as the D3hoops guys have been pretty accurate in the past with their selections, usually being off one or two teams. It will be a long day waiting to hear about the selections.

A question for anyone with the answer. I believe that the QoWI is being abandoned by the NCAA at the end of the year (I don't recall with any certainty why I think this though). Can anyone confirm that fact? And if so, what is replacing the QoWI? The BCS, RPI? A monkey throwing darts?

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Also lets all start pulling for Mississippi College, WPI, Centre, Amherst, and John Hopkins today! Any one of those teams loses and they are capable of stealing a pool C bid.

[northb]

Where was Dutch tonight?  I was hoping for a mascot battle tonight but the sausage and the neckbeard were absent.

You could ask that of a lot of the crowd, including the students! Who would have thought that something as liberal as dancing would come back to haunt us as student support for the basketball team (against a school that doesn't dance) was mediocre at best. 

Oh-we're dancing!

[oldknight]

When thinking back on this year's three conference games between Calvin and Hope one thing that impresses (and surprises) me a lot is how well Calvin's two freshmen played and how critical their roles were in these games. I remember when Dan Aultman played in the Rivalry for the first time he remarked how surprised he was at how intense and competitive the game turned out to be--and he was a junior when he first played. I think its common for a player new to these games to be a little overwhelmed the first time they play in it, but both Mantel and Veltema played a lot of good minutes for the Knights. Mantel had 16 in Hope's three point win at the Fieldhouse and Veltema scored in double figures all three games. Both were on the floor at critical times and I thought Mantel's defense last night was outstanding. He had two blocks and helped shut off a lot of Hope's interior play with his presence. Calvin will definately miss Meckes next year and his defensive prowess but it looks to me like John is likely to be a force to be reckoned with over the next three years.

[sac]

So KVS is a genious again I see.......

Takes a real great coach to have Derek Griffen take and hit a bomb from 28 feet. 

Sorry but I don't see a great coaching effort from KVS this year, Calvin should have been right in the MIAA race and they played themselves out of it and were completely uncompetitive against good teams like Carthage, Wheaton, Lax, Wooster and once vs Hope.  Despite the great win last night, thats still mostly a 1 on 1 team, without Derek Griffen's fortunate transfer to Calvin the Knights have a miserable season by Calvin standards.

That is just how I see it.

[Grutte Dirk]

Interesting comments:

With 24 seconds remaining and the game tied, Griffin received the inbound pass, dribble off some time on the clock and then drove past a defender hitting a floater in the lane to give Calvin a 78-76 lead with 4.3 seconds remaining.

"To make that shot here in this building, it's an unbelievable feeling,"
Griffin said.  "I had tried a cross over on Stephen Cramer and he had picked
my pocket.  Marcus Vanderheide (who was guarding him) is a smart defender and I
knew a crossover wouldn't work.  So I went with a fake crossover; I just
wanted to create a little space and take it strong to the hoop."

[sac]

A question for anyone with the answer. I believe that the QoWI is being abandoned by the NCAA at the end of the year (I don't recall with any certainty why I think this though). Can anyone confirm that fact? And if so, what is replacing the QoWI? The BCS, RPI? A monkey throwing darts?

I read somewhere on this site its being replaced by something that sounds alot like RPI, but using in-region records.

[oldknight]

                                                  Calvin should have been right in the MIAA race and they played themselves out of it and were completely uncompetitive against good teams like Carthage, Wheaton, Lax, Wooster and once vs Hope. 

But the Knights were completely competitive in the other three--and really competitive in the last two. 8)

[sac]

"We were trying to get Cramer open off a screen. He wasn't open and (Scott Richardson) found Marcus and he had a great shot. That was probably our third option, but we'll take a look like that in that situation any time."-------GVW

[Harrier]

SCORES
MIAA Men's tournament

WEDNESDAY - quarterfinals
Hope 89, Alma 49
Calvin 69, Olivet 39
Tri-State 60, Kalamazoo 47
Adrian 66, Albion 64

FRIDAY - semi-finals at Hope
Calvin 82, Tri-State 66
Hope 77, Adrian 61

SATURDAY - championship at Hope
Calvin 78, Hope 76

[ChicagoHopeNut]

In what could be very bad news for Hope both Amherst and WPI are in very tight games with just a few minutes remaining

[CalvinChelseaMom]

So KVS is a genious again I see.......

Takes a real great coach to have Derek Griffen take and hit a bomb from 28 feet. 

Sorry but I don't see a great coaching effort from KVS this year, Calvin should have been right in the MIAA race and they played themselves out of it and were completely uncompetitive against good teams like Carthage, Wheaton, Lax, Wooster and once vs Hope.  Despite the great win last night, thats still mostly a 1 on 1 team, without Derek Griffen's fortunate transfer to Calvin the Knights have a miserable season by Calvin standards.


That is just how I see it.

Sac, once again your frustration seems to turn into sarcasm and putting words into other people's mouths.  No one said that KVS is a genius.  Regarding my own comments, I said that I think KVS did a great job of keeping his team fighting during a rocky season.  I know Calvin lost some very good talent and leadership from last year.  They are a very young team.  They were (I think) way over-ranked at the beginning of the season.  They lost 7 of their first 14 games, BUT they won 11 of their last 13 games (and the two they lost, they should have won!).  They played consistently inconsistent, but KVS has done what his stated goal was and that is to continue to make this team a better team. 

[ChicagoHopeNut]

A big bubble pops as Williams upsets #3 Amherst in the NESCAC championship game. Amherst jumped to a 15-0 lead in this game and ended up losing 70-69. Very bad news for someone.

WPI is struggling against the Coast Guard Academy as well.

EDIT: WPI just lost as well and in a matter of 5 minutes 2 Pool C bids have disappeared. WPI and Amherst are top 5 QoWI teams and locks for Pool C bids. According to d3hoops predictions there are 6 teams lower than Hope getting in so right now there is a good chance it'd be 2 of those 6 on the outside looking in. I'd guess Guilford is one of those two. But if there are more upsets today its big trouble.

GO MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE!