MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[devossed]

Major kudos to the seniors...thanks for the memories and all your hard work these last 4 years.

Richardson - such the hustler. Nobody took the charge better.

Jager - consummate floor general. Hope's 2nd unit would've been lost without you on the floor.

Woolpert - always nice to see your grittiness. You played the role well, whether it was starting in the early part of the "suspended" season two years ago or coming off the bench for mop-up minutes this year. Thanks for your passion.

Partridge - tough situation to transfer to and play out of position your 1st year, especially when you could've started for 7 other teams in the league. Props for how you handled yourself both on and off the floor.

Mike Aldrich - Ranks right up there with the best Glenn ever had. Following in the footsteps of predecessors Josh Wolfe, both Lawtons, Ammeraal, Redell, Kopas, Leitz, Bekkering, McKee, Schoonveld, Pederson, and Morehouse: you took it up a notch. Good luck at MSU next season!

and Steve Cramer - finishing the season with 526 pts (9th best all-time) and career with 1455 (12th all-time), your tournament run was Holstege-esque and an amazing thing to behold. Good luck in Europe!

[almcguirejr]

In the MAC, Akron was shooting free throws with just over six seconds.  The rebound bounced around without any time coming off the clock allowing Miami to get up the court and hit a last second three.  Clearly there was no time on the clock as the ball went through the basket (if the clock started on time, it would have been close for a score).  Yet the refs (after about 10 minutes of looking at the monitor) put .6 seconds on the clock.  Akron inbounded out of bounds.  The clock ran out after the clock should have stopped.  The refs never checked the monitor to see if time should be left on the clock.  Leaving a baffling ending where Akron should have never had the inbound opportunity but if they were given it, there should have been more time for Miami to inbound with a crazy foul and heave situation still possible.

These two games ended within 15 minutes of each other during the Hope game (I was watching while listening) and in neither case were the refs even close to right.  Of course, the outcomes would have probably been the same but the calls were just simply baffling and wrong.

Lamont Simpson was one of the officials.  He did the Calvin-Tri-State game in the MIAA tournament.

[tniem]

In the MAC, Akron was shooting free throws with just over six seconds.  The rebound bounced around without any time coming off the clock allowing Miami to get up the court and hit a last second three.  Clearly there was no time on the clock as the ball went through the basket (if the clock started on time, it would have been close for a score).  Yet the refs (after about 10 minutes of looking at the monitor) put .6 seconds on the clock.  Akron inbounded out of bounds.  The clock ran out after the clock should have stopped.  The refs never checked the monitor to see if time should be left on the clock.  Leaving a baffling ending where Akron should have never had the inbound opportunity but if they were given it, there should have been more time for Miami to inbound with a crazy foul and heave situation still possible.

These two games ended within 15 minutes of each other during the Hope game (I was watching while listening) and in neither case were the refs even close to right.  Of course, the outcomes would have probably been the same but the calls were just simply baffling and wrong.

Lamont Simpson was one of the officials.  He did the Calvin-Tri-State game in the MIAA tournament.

He looked familiar.  I assumed it was from Big Ten games.  But that makes sense that he was an MIAA ref.  IIRC, he wasn't the one looking at the monitor, he was trying to calm the Akron coach down.  But if he made the time decision perhaps he didn't have enough experience from the d3 level to be using a taped monitor.

[pointlem]

Tonight's game was, indeed, Wittenberg '06 redux.  Although one might regret the "blocking" foul that flattened Tyler Wolfe with 2 minutes left (giving them two free throws instead of Hope the ball with a chance to pull within 1 or 2), the real story was the exceptionally cold shooting in the first half, even given open looks.  As in the sectional a year ago, the defense was excellent, and had the team even come close to its average (or had Wash U hit its 71% free throw average) the outcome would have gone the other way with room to spare.

Even so, this team has been a huge pleasure to watch this year.  Given that last year's subs were most of this year's players, and given the lack of size in the post, their surprising achievements are a credit to the coaches and, especially, players. 

And devossed aptly summed up the contributions of the seniors, including the Holstege-esque conclusion to Steve Cramer's career.  Even if lady luck prevented what might have/should have been next weekend, each of the seniors, and the team as a whole, realized their potential. . . . and as a fan I couldn't ask for more.  Kudos and thanks to them all.

[mark_reichert]

Great year Dutchmen. We're all proud of you. Congratulations to WashU. 22-24 from the line. Hope 38% from the field, 23% from behind the arc. Hope had 10 more shots than WashU, but 13 less free throws. Sounds like it was a well-officiated game.

That seems to happen a lot in WashU games.  The margin was 18 in free throw attempts in the Stevens Point game and 33 in the first WashU-NYU game of the year.  Somebody maintained there was bad officiating in the latter game even though he wasn't there.  My many thanks to you and the Stevens Points fans for not claiming it these past two games.

[bulldogalum]

Great season, Hope.  It's always tough to face the end of a season, but there is certainly no shame in losing to a good team in the Elite 8.  I was impressed in the couple of times I saw Hope this year how focused and intense they played on both ends of the court, and I know this year's seniors will be sorely missed. 

[realist]

Sad to see the season end for Hope.  I really thought they had a good chance to put it all together. I thought the intensity was there, and the players seemed hungry, and focused.  Just very hard to explain why sometimes things don't end as we want them to or think they should.  Great year for Hope.  Good luck to the seniors.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Wow, what a bummer to wake up and find out there will be no party for Hope in Salem next week. Although I did not get to hear a single NCAA game because I was out of the country it looks from reading the board that Hope made an exciiting and determined run and that Cramer was unstoppable! Cramer is such a great player and I particularly admire his attitude while spending his first two years at Hope coming off the bench when he could have started at almost any other school in the GL Region, yet alone, the MIAA. Classy Player.

Reading the board this game does sound too much like Witt from last year for my taste, at least it was one round later on. Now my one question for anyone at the game or listening. I got an immediate email from a friend when I Cramer was pulled after going for 16 straight in the second half. And I agree with him, if Cramer was pulled that was the wrong coaching move unless Cramer was dying and asked to be taken out. And in a game of that magnitude I don't see Cramer not having the energy to play 40 minutes!!! (And if he didn't have the energy to play 40 minutes at this point in the season that is a whole other issue that the coaching staff needs to deal with!) So my questions are: 1) Was Cramer pulled? 2) For how long? 3) Did he look exhausted so that he needed a rest?

Great season overall and I think the team went farther than anyone expected in November so congrats to Hope and the seniors imparticular. Cramer will be dearly missed in the future.

[hope1]

just got bsack from stevens  point  what a good seasson hope not bad the final 8 could make a aonother run next year with the good players coming in and a good players coming back   good job seniors we will miss you a lot

[Flying Dutch Fan]

So my questions are: 1) Was Cramer pulled? 2) For how long? 3) Did he look exhausted so that he needed a rest?

Great season overall and I think the team went farther than anyone expected in November so congrats to Hope and the seniors imparticular. Cramer will be dearly missed in the future.

I was there, and didn't think there was any problem with the substitutions.

Cramer went out at 10:43 and back in at 9:12.  The guy needed a blow.

I'll post more later, not up to it right now....

[Greek Tragedy]

Great year Dutchmen. We're all proud of you. Congratulations to WashU. 22-24 from the line. Hope 38% from the field, 23% from behind the arc. Hope had 10 more shots than WashU, but 13 less free throws. Sounds like it was a well-officiated game.

That seems to happen a lot in WashU games.  The margin was 18 in free throw attempts in the Stevens Point game and 33 in the first WashU-NYU game of the year.  Somebody maintained there was bad officiating in the latter game even though he wasn't there.  My many thanks to you and the Stevens Points fans for not claiming it these past two games.

Many fans, especially those who don't actually attend the games and base their thoughts simply on boxscores, forget that sometimes there are actual legitimate reasons why there can be differences in free throws.  Washington U. has a stud-in-the-middle in Ruths and a solid forward in Nading.  Both made the All-Sectional team.  Throwing the ball inside or having a solid quick guard like Wallis going to the basket is going to cause fouls that result in the free throws.  For Point, aside from Jon Krull, we don't really have an inside presence.  So, we settle for a lot of jumpers.  I think that's what Hope did last night.  I rarely saw Hope throw it in the middle and have their big guy try to take on Ruths.  That's just my opinion.     Obviously, Hope's stud is Cramer, a shooting guard. 

[HopeConvert]

For the record, I was not making a negative comment about the officiating. Generally speaking, if one team goes to the line more than another, it's because they got fouled more, and are probably better at drawing fouls. WU's record seems to indicate this is the case. The remarkable thing about their performance last night is how much higher they shot than their season percentage. Of course, it was mainly their guards shooting FTs. Credit to WU on that.

Also in my experience, rarely has a game been decided by officiating. There are games that are well or poorly officiated, but only in a rare circumstance will it hurt one team more than another.

The sun did come up today. We worshiped, played games, read the paper, and ate. While I am sad that the season ended, I am confident that Hope's players and coaches, particularly the seniors, as well as the fans, will take pride in what was accomplished this year, and be grateful for a great season.

[HopeConvert]

The thing now is to pull for sac to win the pick 'em contest. He's in second, one point out of first.

[northb]

The thing now is to pull for sac to win the pick 'em contest. He's in second, one point out of first.

Is there a way to monitor our fearless leader's progress?

[sac]

The thing now is to pull for sac to win the pick 'em contest. He's in second, one point out of first.

The near genius of that is that I have 3 of the 4 final four teams, my loan team to not make Salem and my totally homer pick was Hope.   I was pulling for a Hope/Wooster final........that game would have been phenomenal as a fan.


Old School is right on about WashU, maybe the most impressive thing I thought was that all of their players have quick feet, they simply beat you to the spot almost all of the time, and boy do they move the ball well.  By far the best I've seen.  Then they simply don't miss FT's, out of 2 games I saw the starting 5 miss 4 FT's and go 42-46.

PS.........there was no coaching move that would have put the ball in the hoop more.

Is there a way to monitor our fearless leader's progress?

Yes, I have Wooster in the final vs Hope, with Hope winning.........I'm rooting for Wooster and Va Weslyan to knock out the WashU picker. I doubt I can win with Hope out.   I think I'm looking at a top 10 though. 8)

Makes up for a dreadfull national pick'em performance.