MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Dutch_Man]

What a game it was tonight!!! I am so glad Hope actually came to play tonight against Calvin unlike the last two times! Hope is starting to look like the team they were back in early January.

I do want to take this time and point out a true class act from DeVries. After Calvin came out of the locker room he came over to us Dew Crew members and shook our hands and said thank you for being a class act tonight and for all the years we cheered hard. While saying all this he had tears in his eyes. I am still in aww that he had it in him to come say that after his season was just ended. So heres to #50 for showing true class and having a great career at Calvin College! You were a class act both on and off the court! Congrats on a GREAT season!

[hope1]

WAY TO GO HOPE ON THE WAY TO THE SWEET 16 

[northb]

Just want to beat Sac to this.  "Guess it is going to be quiet in here for the summer now".

Bound to happen either way...

[northb]

A sincere congratulations to the Hope team and fans.  Represent the MIAA well, and bring the league another National Championship banner!

[Titan Q]

It was great to see my first Hope/Calvin game.  I see that Aurora didn't list attendance, but there was a terrific crowd there last night.  Assuming the capacity at Thorton Gymnasium was 1500 for the tournament (and it was basically full Friday night), I'd estimate about 1100 last night.  As I told some people I sat with, there just are not two other small colleges (NCAA Division II, III, or NAIA) in the country that could draw 1100 total fans to a neutral court that far away.

What was neat was that the gym was basically 50/50 Calvin vs Hope fans (with a few stragglers in Switzerland like myself, Greg Sager, etc).  It is not often you see a basically full gym that is 50/50 like that.  In the 1st half when both teams made 2-3 runs and the game was close, there'd be a ton of noise in my left ear (where Hope had half the gym) and silence in my right ear (Calvin's half)...then a few minutes later the noise would all be to my right.  It was just very cool.

The atmosphere was great, but the game was just so-so.  Hope is a lot better team than Calvin - I felt that way after Friday night and I became sure of it after Saturday - and I have no idea how Calvin won twice in Holland.  The difference between the two teams is Cramer -- Hope has that one guy they can always go to when they need a basket.  Calvin does not.  While Calvin is a good, solid team, when they got down in the 2nd half, you just knew they were going to have big trouble coming back, because they didn't have that Cramer-type player.  It seemed like there were 5 guys on the floor trying to figure out who was supposed to shoot.  Last night I compared Calvin to a typical Big Ten football team that pounds the ball on the ground and is great while leading, but has trouble mounting a comeback due a lack of passing game.

Hope is a good team and can go as far as Cramer takes them.  It will not surprise me one bit if they win two games this weekend (regardless of Sectional location) and make it to Salem.  Of the Division III teams I have seen this year, Hope is right up there with Elmhurst, Wash U, and Augustana...all very different teams, but extremely even when stacked up vs each other. 

Best of luck to the Flying Dutchmen...it'd be nice to see you get your banner.  I'll be pulling for you.  Congrats to Calvin on a great run to end the season -- the Knights are going to be a ton the next couple of years with all of those good young guys.  That go-to guy Calvin was lacking last night is actually on the roster -- Caleb Veldhouse is going to be a great player. 

Hope/Calvin game checked off list of things to do.....gotta get to one in Michigan next though.

[oldknight]

It was great to see my first Hope/Calvin game.  I see that Aurora didn't list attendance, but there was a terrific crowd there last night.  Assuming the capacity at Thorton Gymnasium was 1500 for the tournament (and it was basically full Friday night), I'd estimate about 1100 last night.  As I told some people I sat with, there just are not two other small colleges (NCAA Division II, III, or NAIA) in the country that could draw 1100 total fans to a neutral court that far away.

Thornton Gymnasium's listed capacity is 2200 so if the game fell 400 short of a full house it attracted 1800--pretty impressive but not suprising to veteran observers of the Rivalvry. And it would have attracted 1801 if the weather in west Michigan had been better.

Congratulations and best wishes to Hope and the league MVP on their big win

[Titan Q]

It was great to see my first Hope/Calvin game.  I see that Aurora didn't list attendance, but there was a terrific crowd there last night.  Assuming the capacity at Thorton Gymnasium was 1500 for the tournament (and it was basically full Friday night), I'd estimate about 1100 last night.  As I told some people I sat with, there just are not two other small colleges (NCAA Division II, III, or NAIA) in the country that could draw 1100 total fans to a neutral court that far away.

Thornton Gymnasium's listed capacity is 2200 so if the game fell 400 short of a full house it attracted 1800--pretty impressive but not suprising to veteran observers of the Rivalvry. And it would have attracted 1801 if the weather in west Michigan had been better.

Congratulations and best wishes to Hope and the league MVP on their big win

The tournament capacity was 1500 per the Aurora S.I.D. - that is the exact # of tickets they sold for Friday night.  2200 may be the listed capacity of Thorton Gymnasium, but in the tournament you find that listed capacity and "real capacity" (when the NCAA makes you figure out exactly how many tickets you can sell) are two different things.

[Grutte Dirk]

A sincere congratulations to the Hope team and fans.  Represent the MIAA well, and bring the league another National Championship banner!

From what I've seen at DeVos they'll be hanging some type of banner this winter.  For Two NCAA Wins in Illinois or Winning the 5th Calvin v Hope Game of the Year .... or in honor of some great accomplishment from this season.

Best of luck to the Flying Dutchmen...it'd be nice to see you get your banner. 

Hope already has a healthy number of banners hanging.

[Titan Q]

Hope already has a healthy number of banners hanging.

Not the biggie though...

http://www.iwuhoops.com/banners.jpg

[Civic Minded]

Well, it was quite a night in Aurora (and quite a drive home).  Great to meet HopeConvert, hope81 and Greg Sager in person!   

I loved watching Calvin play Friday night -- I was really proud of the MIAA.  And it was great to have such a close, exciting game, and not be emotionally vested in it -- less trouble for my blood pressure!  I felt badly for Aurora, who obviously didn't realize until too late that Griffen and Veldhouse must be watched like a hawk.   

The Rivalry part 5 lived up to all expectations.  For a neutral, distant site, there was plenty of noise and emotion to go around.  Loved the Dew Crew and us old folks cheering back and forth, and the same thing happening with the Calvin students and "old folks."  This is what it's about, people.

I was grateful to see, as others have mentioned, that Hope came to play.  They did indeed look much more like themselves -- at least their early-in-the-season selves.  They played up to their potential, finally took care of Griffen effectively, and earned the "w."

I also had to smile at the intensity of defense that both these teams play -- again, hats off to the MIAA.  I didn't see that kind of defensive effort in either Chicago or Aurora.

I was a little sad that the game did not present an opportunity to salute Calvin's seniors.  I would have loved to have been able to give a standing O to Snoeyink, Meckes, and DeVries.  We may "hate" seeing them out on the court, but we respect what they bring to the game, and it's hard to see the season, and careers, end for any of them.  Hats off to each of them -- thanks for many great memories!

Well, on to Wisconsin, grateful to get to watch the Dutchmen play one more game...

[Dutch_Man]

Come on Civic Minded! Didn't you meet me to!!! Way to go last night I loved how you helped get all of the "old folks" up and cheering last night! I look forward to going it again this next weekend!

[oldknight]

It was great to see my first Hope/Calvin game.  I see that Aurora didn't list attendance, but there was a terrific crowd there last night.  Assuming the capacity at Thorton Gymnasium was 1500 for the tournament (and it was basically full Friday night), I'd estimate about 1100 last night.  As I told some people I sat with, there just are not two other small colleges (NCAA Division II, III, or NAIA) in the country that could draw 1100 total fans to a neutral court that far away.

Thornton Gymnasium's listed capacity is 2200 so if the game fell 400 short of a full house it attracted 1800--pretty impressive but not suprising to veteran observers of the Rivalvry. And it would have attracted 1801 if the weather in west Michigan had been better.

Congratulations and best wishes to Hope and the league MVP on their big win

The tournament capacity was 1500 per the Aurora S.I.D. - that is the exact # of tickets they sold for Friday night.  2200 may be the listed capacity of Thorton Gymnasium, but in the tournament you find that listed capacity and "real capacity" (when the NCAA makes you figure out exactly how many tickets you can sell) are two different things.

Titan Q:

I guess I need some clarification on your comment ". . . 1500 per the Aurora S.I.D. - that is the exact # of tickets they sold for Friday night." If this comment means Aurora sold 1500 themselves then 2200 was tournament capacity because approximately 700 tickets were given to Calvin, Chicago and Hope for distribution. That makes sense because it is my understanding that the home teams gets to keep 2/3 of the tickets and must evenly distribute the remaining 1/3 among the other three participating schools. I doubt Aurora distributed 700 tickets to the other schools and only kept 800 for themselves.

[diehardfan]

oldknight: The host gets half (ie, 3/6ths). The rest of the teams split the other half (or 3/6ths)... so Aurora got 3/6, Hope got 1/6, Calvin got 1/6, and Chicago got 1/6 which equals 6/6... make sense? Hope, Calvin, and Chicago got a third of the tickets each from the ones that were remaining after Aurora got their share.

[oldknight]

oldknight: The host gets half (ie, 3/6ths). The rest of the teams split the other half (or 3/6ths)... so Aurora got 3/6, Hope got 1/6, Calvin got 1/6, and Chicago got 1/6 which equals 6/6... make sense? Hope, Calvin, and Chicago got a third of the tickets each from the ones that were remaining after Aurora got their share.

Thanks.

[Titan Q]

It was great to see my first Hope/Calvin game.  I see that Aurora didn't list attendance, but there was a terrific crowd there last night.  Assuming the capacity at Thorton Gymnasium was 1500 for the tournament (and it was basically full Friday night), I'd estimate about 1100 last night.  As I told some people I sat with, there just are not two other small colleges (NCAA Division II, III, or NAIA) in the country that could draw 1100 total fans to a neutral court that far away.

Thornton Gymnasium's listed capacity is 2200 so if the game fell 400 short of a full house it attracted 1800--pretty impressive but not suprising to veteran observers of the Rivalvry. And it would have attracted 1801 if the weather in west Michigan had been better.

Congratulations and best wishes to Hope and the league MVP on their big win

The tournament capacity was 1500 per the Aurora S.I.D. - that is the exact # of tickets they sold for Friday night.  2200 may be the listed capacity of Thorton Gymnasium, but in the tournament you find that listed capacity and "real capacity" (when the NCAA makes you figure out exactly how many tickets you can sell) are two different things.

Titan Q:

I guess I need some clarification on your comment ". . . 1500 per the Aurora S.I.D. - that is the exact # of tickets they sold for Friday night." If this comment means Aurora sold 1500 themselves then 2200 is capacity because approximately 700 tickets were given to Calvin, Chicago and Hope for distribution. That makes sense because it is my understanding that the home teams gets to keep 2/3 of the tickets and must evenly distribute the remaining 1/3 among the other three participating schools. I doubt Aurora distributed 700 tickets to the other schools and only kept 800 for themselves.

Page 36, "Four-team sites":

http://www.ncaa.org/library/handbooks/basketball/2007/2007_d3_m_basketball_handbook.pdf


The gym capacity was designated at 1500.  Per NCAA guidelines, Aurora University got half on Friday (750) and then had to split the other 750 among Calvin, Hope, and Chicago (250 each).  I'm sure Calvin and Hope got to purchase more via returned Chicago tickets and some unsold Aurora tickets.