MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[NW Hope Fan]

Maybe if I can find a cheap plane ticket for late afternoon...

Not much of a chance of that. Besides, save your money for the following weekend if they make it.

[HopeConvert]

Some Calvin poster - oldknight or goodknight perhaps - had earlier this year opined that this Hope team reminded him of the 2005 Calvin team. Not flashy, solid, great chemistry. That is looking more and more like an apt comparison.

[HopeConvert]

Maybe if I can find a cheap plane ticket for late afternoon...

Not much of a chance of that. Besides, save your money for the following weekend if they make it.

They aren't mutually exclusive...

[HopeConvert]

Maybe if I can find a cheap plane ticket for late afternoon...

Not much of a chance of that. Besides, save your money for the following weekend if they make it.

They aren't mutually exclusive...

Just checked out some prices. Turns out they are.

[NW Hope Fan]

I was looking for you as well... Grand Rapids- anywhere is normally a looser ticket, but to go to the middle of WI... not a good combination. Strangely, I could do it from Portland for about $500, leaving tomorrow early and returning on Sunday... Makes no sense!

Maybe one of the local pilots is planning a quick trip across the lake. That has happened before.

[scottiedawg]

Leading scores left in the NCAA tournament

Strong-Guilford-37.33
Cramer-Hope-29
Ruths-Washington U-21.67
Harris-Brockport St.-20
Adair-VA Wesleyan-17.33
Nading-Washington U-17.33
Snipes-Guilford-17.33
Cooper-Wooster-15
Wheeler-Amherst-14.5
Port-Wooster-14
Durgin-Rhode Island Col-13.67
Baskauskas-Amherst-13
Hill-Rhode Island Col-12
Vanderheide-Hope-11.33
Balenga-VA Wesleyan-11
VanSolkema-Hope-10.67

[Civic Minded]

Well....greetings from Stevens Point.  It has been quite a night!

Got to meet Old School and diehardfan, and got to hang out with sac, gohope, and hopefan (especially good to see him again!).

Hope fans were loud and excited, but wary.  We'd been warned about Carroll, and no one was taking anything lightly.  As mentioned, Hope started a little slowly, but nothing too serious (well, at one point a 10-point deficit serious, but that was quickly rectified).

Someone, somewhere hereabouts thought that Carroll toughened up their defense in the second half.  Not so.  Hope was running the clock down for most of the last 10 minutes (which drove us Hope fans nuts -- Carroll was getting some easy baskets from this strategy as Hope ran the clock down intentionally but then couldn't convert when the shot was taken).

Exciting, blood--pressure elevating, and the ending we HOPE for.  Hurray!

Carroll definitely looked frustrated with Hope's defense very early on -- they kept looking at each other like "what the heck is going on?"  The defense in the Wash U/UWSP game wasn't stellar either -- at least not in the first half.  Interesting.

Having watched the first half of the second game, we left thinking we'd rather play UWSP.  I still think so -- they must have really had an off game.  The advantage to playing Wash U will be that the place won't be filled to the rafters with Wash U fans.  Hope fans, get in your cars and head on over!!

MVH did have impressive stats.  He laid it all out there, and did a great job.  I would hasten to add, however, that he's played impressively all season -- he's just been given a different role in many games this season.  He's been groomed into a defensive monster, holding many top scorers to few points.  This has limited his scoring and to some extent rebounding, as he's been concentrating on being an asassin (sp) in many games, and doing so well.  Still in all, tonight was a terrific night for him.

I've enjoyed reading all of your posts from this evening -- Hopeconvert, we miss you!  And tniem -- we've really missed hearing from you all season!  Good to see you posting tonight!

Glad to see Calvin's women knock off those bullies from So. Maine -- they were a  tough, agressive team last year -- and just obnoxious enough that they were hard to take.  Kneepad chick was something else.  Congrats, Lady Knights!

Well, I think I might finally be able to sleep now...

On to tomorrow night -- more deep breathing will be required.  Can't wait!

[House]

Hope fans, get in your cars and head on over!!

You've got it. My wife and I will make the drive from Minneapolis tomorrow and see you all at the game.
Go Hope!

[HopeConvert]

NWHF: Thanks for the thought and effort. Funny that you could do it cheaper from Portland. If only the ferry were running, with its deceased equines aboard.

CM: I missed being there with y'all as well. This after I have practiced high 5's all week. To be fair, though, in terms of awkwardness, lack of coordination and flush contact, spontaneous enthusiasm, and looking ridiculous, my and sac's high five was no worse than the one Tiger and Stevie enjoyed on 16 in the '05 Masters - so we got that going for us, which is nice. And ours wasn't on TV, although rumor has it that it might make an appearance on youtube coupled with Holt's dunk. Anyway, thanks for the game report. I'm hoping like crazy we'll have reason to go to Salem next week, in which case HopeConvertRedux has made it known she is definitely going as well (I think her exact words were "No way we're not going!").

[goodknight]

Some Calvin poster - oldknight or goodknight perhaps - had earlier this year opined that this Hope team reminded him of the 2005 Calvin team. Not flashy, solid, great chemistry. That is looking more and more like an apt comparison.

I'm old enough so I can't remember the drivel I posted two days ago, much less two months ago.  I felt the 2005 Knights were overachievers, and I can't say this year's Hope team comes across that way, at least not to me.  Cramer is by far the most talented player in the league, and the supporting cast is deep and strong compared to the rest of the league.  I think there's a huge talent gap between Hope and the rest of the league this year -- and I remain giddily amazed that the Knights won both games in the DeVos.    8)
The gap in talent between the Final Four Knights of two years ago and the 07 Dutchman would be much less -- although Cramer is the X factor.  When he's on, it's pretty much game over.
It'll be interesting to see if he continues to slice up the opposition the way he has thus far through the D3 tourney.

[HopeConvert]

I've been sitting here going over some of the numbers from last night's game.  Hope obviously didn't shoot that well compared to Carroll:

                          Carroll            Hope             
Total FG%               .443                         .425
3-pt%                     .318                         .194
FT%                        .727                         .840

One of Hope's worst 3-point shooting percentages of the season. 5-19 in the first half, 1-12 in the second. Perhaps one of the attendees can enlighten us as to how good the looks were. Fortunately for Hope, they did a good job hitting their free throws down the stretch.

For the game, DVS was 3-10(1-7 from 3) from the field, Reimink 1-6(1-5), Cramer 9-15(1-5), and Marcus 7-16(0-2). Jager was the only Hope player to hit more than one three, going 2-3 from behind the arc. 6-31 will not get it done against WashU. And it's not as if Hope held Carroll to a low shooting percentage either. Carroll shot .467 in the second half. Only 10 turnovers for Carroll as well. Clearly the story of the game was rebounding. 52-28 for Hope, but 23-8 on the offensive glass. At the 11:00 mark in the second half:

REBOUND (DEF) by Marcus Vanderheide             11:39              MISSED 3 PTR by MISSED 3 PTR by Ryan Klein                                11:07
REBOUND (OFF) by Marcus Vanderheide             11:07
GOOD! LAYUP by Marcus Vanderheide [PNT]         11:03  66-48  H 18
                                                                            10:44  66-50  H 16 GOOD! [PNT]
                                                                           10:44             
MISSED JUMPER by Marcus Vanderheide             10:16
REBOUND (OFF) by Marcus Vanderheide             10:16
MISSED JUMPER by Marcus Vanderheide             10:14
REBOUND (OFF) by Marcus Vanderheide             10:14
GOOD! JUMPER by Marcus Vanderheide              10:11  68-50  H 18
REBOUND (DEF) by Marcus Vanderheide

I suspect that sequence tells a lot of the story. Marcus had seven offensive boards for the game, along with 7 on D, 3 assists, no turnovers, 16 points. Statistically a great game. Hope's assist-to-turnover ratio last night was 9-11: another number they'll probably need to correct for tonight's game. Interestingly, Hope only took 3 more foul shots than Carroll: given the foul-a-thon at the end, I would have assumed it would have been more than that.

Attendance was listed at 836. Does that sound right to those who were there?

[ChicagoHopeNut]

What great news to see that Hope won after I nearly died skiing, sorry, no video available of my face plants. Cheer loud for me tonight because I want to be in Salem next weekend!!!

[HopeConvert]

Last night's game was one of their worst, if not the worst, shooting performances (statistically) of the season. Previous lows (3pt % in brackets):

1/13 against Calvin: .446(.235)
1/27 against Kzoo: .346(.300) (Hope won this game 86-48)
2/7 against Calvin: .369(.321)

Otherwise they varied from ok, to respectable, to great shooting. Against Calvin on 1/13 (their previous worst 3-point shooting game, and a game Hope won), the Dutchmen shot 4-17 behind the arc, still much better than the 6-31 they shot last night.

[realist]

Not to steal anyone's thunder, but I have been saying all season long that this Hope team is unique in that they have a chemistry that works.  Previous Hope teams may have been more talented, but this year Hope is playing like a real team.  That is what Calvin did in 05.  They are doing the things that count, when it counts. GVW is reacting very well to game situations, as long as he doesn't get cautious in the stretch runs.  Hope will definitely have their hands full tonight.  Washington U seems to have a varied offense, and several very good players.  After all we heard about the WIAC it is hard to understand what happened to UWSP.  Beating UWSP will energize Washington U so Hope had better come out ready to play the game of the year.
Thanks for the first hand reports.  It sort of confirms what we were hearing most of the announcers telling us.

[dothedew]

ONE GAME AT A TIME....but I did already mention to my boss in NJ that I will be MIA this Friday if my Dutchmen can get through this weekend.
Nice job Hope...and I'm already calling people in Chicago and telling them they need to get up to Wisconsin to fill the void of my not being there. I'm not saying I'm anthing special.....but I am REALLY loud.

On another note...T.J. Duckett just signed a one-year deal with the Lions....time to see if my Lions gear from middle school still fits.....I think not

GO HOPE!