MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[HopeConvert]

I've been trying to track that down myself.

[wolverinekeith]

Calvin up by 14 with 12 and a half left. The difference so far? Calvin is shooting 46% from the field, Cornerstone 27%. I'll be interested in hearing from observers whether that is due to Calvin's defense, poor shooting or shot selection, or a combination.

Snuck out with 1 minute left and Calvin up about 10.

Calvin did not play well at all, hold Veldhouse and Veltema at times.  Mantel picked up a dumb foul early swatting at a rebound, had 2 legit foul calls after that, and then had a questionable charge call where his feet got tangled up with Kingshott's.  Without a box score in front of me, it did not seem Mantel had a good shooting night, either.  Lots of missed turnarounds and he wasn't as polished in the post against the shorter Kingshott as I had hoped he'd be.  He's coming along but is still got work to do.    

Calvin's defense we solid for stretches, but C-Stone did grab more than their fair share of offensive boards.  Kingshott wasn't as impressive a post presence as I was expecting, though, and C-stone really seems to lack a go-to guy (this from someone who's seen them once, so bear with me if I'm wrong).  I'd put some of C-stone's shooting on Calvin's perimeter D, and some on C-stone simply not being very good.  Calvin sleep-walked through the first 10 minutes and still had a small lead.  In the second half C-stone cut it down to 5 or so twice and Calvin responded with an inspired few minutes to push the lead back up.  

C-stone's lack of experience shows, though.  No go-to guy, guys playing out of control at times (Caleb Simons, for instance, seemed to have an idea what he was trying to do only about half the time).  The Freshman DeVries from K-zoo is going to be a good player, and I can see why Calvin recruited him so hard (same with Hope) but it could be a long year for C-stone as they have to learn on the fly.

Calvin:

Caleb, as noted, was excellent.  Big threes, excellent getting into the paint, and really controlled the team well.  Griffin seemed off a bit and looked like he tweaked either an ankle or a calf late, although he did return with a noticeable limp.  Veltema hit some big shots and I thought he played well.  He's definitely added some muscle mass from last year.   Katt was alright, although he struggles with the ball down low and I wish he'd be more active on the boards if he's going to start.  Engelsma was active on the boards but had some trouble finishing on his offensive rebounds.  But he's a warrior and I'd be happy to have him on my team anyday.  

KVS seemed to be trying to figure out his rotation, playing guys like McCray more minutes than I expect, even in crucial periods of the game.  Schuster and VanHarn each got a handful of minutes, too.  Calvin is pretty small when Mantel's out of the game, although Englesma plays bigger than his size.  

I guess those are the thoughts that immediately come to mind.  

[knights2000]

I've been trying to track that down myself.

Theres an article on the front page of the Hope athletic page, with a couple of stats, but no details.

[HopeConvert]

I've been trying to track that down myself.

Theres an article on the front page of the Hope athletic page, with a couple of stats, but no details.

Neither can I find anything at Aquinas' website, or the HoF website.

[knights2000]

Coach Vande Streek was not happy at all with the Knights play, from what I could take from his post game interview.

He was displeased with the effort, and said the Knights played without any heart. He gave them Thanksgiving off for the first time in his coaching career, and said it would also be the last time.

We'll see what kind of effort the Knights bring tomorrow.

[MIdoubleA]

Box score can be found here http://www.miaa.org/mbb/stats/0708/halloff1.htm

Seems as though Hope managed to shut down Pedja (6 points) then forgot about a few other guys. Whoops.

Last second three's are quickly becoming all-to-regular. Aren't we due for a few buzzer beaters by now? It always seems like they are going against Hope...

Oh well. Bottom line: basketball season has officially started 

[realist]

I sort of figured after last Sat's game that Calvin might have an off game.  Fortunately they did it against a very game, but under manned CU squad.  Hopefully Calvin will play better tomorrow against AQ.  If they come out flat they might just suffer the same fate that got Hope. 
I think HC said it about right with the "foul-a-thon"at the end of the game. 
Sac:, and some of the other Hope posters noted the lack of any games prior to AQ, and they weren't happy about it.   

[oldknight]

Wolverkeith's post pretty much nails down Calvin's disappointing performance tonight. About the only thing I can add is that the refs seemed to officiate down to the level of play. They weren't very good either.

I did see the second half and overtime between Aquinas and Hope and it was certainly a far more entertaining game to watch. Aquinas clearly benefited from having played several games while Hope is still searching to find its way in this new season. Without Cramer, Richardson, et. al., the Dutchmen are still working on the rotations as they try and bring in the new players. Aquinas looked to be in better shape than Hope, who I thought sagged late in regulation and the OT. I thought Glenn made a mistake by going to zone late in regulation. I thought the Saints were really struggling to get good shots against Hope's defense but when Hope changed to zone it appeared that Aquinas found it much easier to spot up for open looks. Wierzbicki was spectacular,  getting 21 points and 11 boards in 39 minutes of play. Now that's a man's game. Aquinas has a nice starting 5 but not much of a bench so their starter's better not get injured or in foul trouble. Hope did an excellent job on Lazic who only got 2 shots off in 33 minutes of play.

[sac]

Aquinas 78 Hope 69 OT

Very clearly, this was one team who looked like they'd played 4 games and another who was playing their first.  Hope struggled to score points tonight, but most alarmingly in the final 5 minutes of a game again. 

I thought AQ actually won this on the boards, as they were by far the more agressive team getting to rebounds, VanderHeide seemed to be the only Dutchmen who matched the will and desire the AQ players brought.  I think there will be a couple Hope players who when they see the box score will be disappointed in what they see.

Hope did do a nice job a Lazic, but as can be seen this simply opened the door for Wierzbicki and Lierman.  Both did much of their damage down low.   However Mr. Lazic had one of the all-time greatest on court meltdowns I've ever witnessed, which resulted in a deserved technical, and to be honest nobody could have argued if he'd received a second.  I believe those were the only 7 minutes he sat the bench.  He was not much of a factor tonight.

Aquinas' run came late, when the 3 balls started dropping, I think they hit 3 or 4 in a row, then the prayer by Wierzbicki and at least one more in the early moment of OT.  So the outside shooting really came from nowhere after struggling for much of the contest.  But the result in OT was not surprising, the team with the momentum and energy carried it into OT, while the team fatigued and down struggled to find offense.

The result is only disappointing in that it was a winnable game, really just a rebound away from a W.  But I'll caution that it will take some time for this Hope team to develop.  Last season they could rely on a bench that could confidently put points on the board, tonight at least I thought the bench was better on defense but other than Tanis found points hard to come by.  It will take some time to come together and as the schedule is farely challenging there will be some bumps in the road.

VanderHeide 19 and 11 boards, Wolfe 13, VanSolkema 10

Tommorrow actually will be a tough win for Hope.  Cornerstone is ridiculously young but they have some guys who can play, and they matchup much much better vs Hope than they did with Calvin tonight.

[sac]

---There were 56 players on the 4 rosters tonight.  38 of them were Fr or Soph's.


---SAC's ADVICE FOR THE DAY

When backing out of one's driveway its wise to check your chosen path for objects that could fly a remarkable distance when struck by your vehicle.  Like say, a large trash container......hypotheticly.  Said objects may also do remarkable damage to your vehicle and cause now broken objects to fly through the air in your rearview mirror humerously.

So check for objects before you backup.   

[Dark Knight]

Wolverinekeith, thanks for the excellent recap. Though the Knight's play was lackluster over all, there were some bright spots. I don't remember Veldhouse doing so much slashing to the basket last year. He even looked like he was posting up at one point. He showed great determination and the ability to carry the team.

The box score has the Aquinas-Hope game with an attendance of 2100 and Calvin-Cornerstone at 1250. A single ticked got you into both games, and the attendance looked about the same to me for both games. So where do those figures come from?

Any predictions on Calvin v. Aquinas and Hope v. Cornerstone?

[HopeConvert]

Wolverinekeith, thanks for the excellent recap. Though the Knight's play was lackluster over all, there were some bright spots. I don't remember Veldhouse doing so much slashing to the basket last year. He even looked like he was posting up at one point. He showed great determination and the ability to carry the team.

The box score has the Aquinas-Hope game with an attendance of 2100 and Calvin-Cornerstone at 1250. A single ticked got you into both games, and the attendance looked about the same to me for both games. So where do those figures come from?

Any predictions on Calvin v. Aquinas and Hope v. Cornerstone?

The article in today's Press notes there was "a standing room-only crowd inside Cornerstone University's 3,000-seat Mol Arena." Call me crazy, but I take that to mean in a 3000-seat arena you would have a minimum of 3000 persons. So what gives? Interesting that the Hope/AQ game would have significantly higher attendance than the Calvin/CU game, at Cornerstone.

I'm going to assume that the Press report was wrong and it wasn't SRO. Perhaps posters in attendance can correct the discrepancy. I'm also going to assume that it won't be difficult getting tickets for tonight's games. Safe assumption?

http://www.mlive.com/sports/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1195884322260210.xml&coll=6

VandeStreek seems to agree with WK's assessment:
http://www.mlive.com/sports/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1195884303260210.xml&coll=6

[realist]

Hope/CU.  If CU starts to hit some of those 3's they like it could be a long game for Hope.  Calvin did a decent job on Kingshott, but De Vries had 13pts, and 13 rebounds so Hope will have to figure a way to control the boards.  Hope should win this one, but they don't want to let CU hang around to the end.
Calvin/AQ.  Calvin has done a decent job on the opponents big men, but seem to let another player or two loose.  Calvin should do okay if they control the boards, and force AQ to play both ends of the court.  Hard to beat 8 or 9 guys when you just don't have the depth.  Again if AQ can stay in the game to the end they could just sneak out with their first HOF trophy.
The lack of game action clearly hurt Hope, and they looked rather like the Calvin teams of the past several years struggling to figure it all out.  The talent is there, but it takes some time for it to gell.

[oldknight]

The box score has the Aquinas-Hope game with an attendance of 2100 and Calvin-Cornerstone at 1250. A single ticked got you into both games, and the attendance looked about the same to me for both games. So where do those figures come from?

Any predictions on Calvin v. Aquinas and Hope v. Cornerstone?

The article in today's Press notes there was "a standing room-only crowd inside Cornerstone University's 3,000-seat Mol Arena." Call me crazy, but I take that to mean in a 3000-seat arena you would have a minimum of 3000 persons. So what gives? Interesting that the Hope/AQ game would have significantly higher attendance than the Calvin/CU game, at Cornerstone.

I'm going to assume that the Press report was wrong and it wasn't SRO. Perhaps posters in attendance can correct the discrepancy. I'm also going to assume that it won't be difficult getting tickets for tonight's games. Safe assumption?

HC:  I have little formal training on this, and no clinical experience, but I don't think you're crazy. If you weren't at the games last night I understand your confusion. When I arrived at the half of the first game the seats were filled and the railing that circles the arena (actually it ovals the arena) soon was also packed--two or three deep in some places. This is because Calvin fans were arriving for the second game and just awaiting their opportunity to snatch a seat after the first game ended. Most Hope and Aquinas fans did exit shortly after their game leaving ample room for Calvin/Cornerstone fans to find seats. I don't know how the Press arrived at a 1250 attendance figure for the second game. There were empty seats during the second game but in my judgment 1250 is definately too low a number for that second game.

[realist]

RE: the attendance.  The box score probably indicates number of tickets sold up until the tip off of Hope/AQ, and then tickets sold after that point.
Hard in a tournament to say specifically who came to attend which game.