MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Civic Minded]

Defiance 99 Trine 61........just when you think you've got the Thunder figured...??

After watching Trine/Tri-State (jerseys still say Tri-State at this point) in Florida, I'm not surprised to see Defiance dismantle them.  If you know to stay on Benford, and you've got the defense to back it up, you'll do okay.  They are an improved team from a couple of years ago, but they still have some work to do.  They will give some (most) MIAA teams some trouble, and on an off day that could include Hope and Calvin.  I'll be interested to see how they compare in the final standings to Albion.

[HopeConvert]

KS: Thanks for the link. Interesting observations from RS, particularly the judgment that Calvin is "unathletic." Perhaps Griffin's ankle injury has something to do with that, as he is the most athletic player Calvin has. Veldhouse has never impressed with his athleticism so much as with his basketball savvy and the fact that what he does he does well. (By the way, John Lennon never lived in my soul. If that makes me a philistine, so be it.)

Realist: oh, I'm quite confident Calvin will find a way to get it together for the Hope game.

I went to the Fuddrucker's on Hilton Head Friday, and they have some school banners up on the wall. I look up, and the first banner I see is Calvin College. We were down there with a friend of mine who teaches at Calvin, and he gave me the business over this all through dinner. I may have to send them a Hope banner.

[gohope]

Congrats to MIAA Players of the Week:

Co-Players of the Week

Player of the week honors are being shared by Olivet freshman center Michael McClary of Bellaire (Bellaire HS) and Hope senior forward Ryan Klein of Burr Ridge, Ill. (Timothy Christian HS).


Michael McClary was voted to the all-tournament team as the Comets split a pair of games at the Wittenberg tournament. He had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds in a 71-58 loss to host Wittenberg and followed with a 14-point performance in a 65-58 victory over Marian. In the games he committed just one turnover over 59 minutes. He shot 14-for-22 with 22 rebounds, five blocked shots, two assists and a steal.

Ryan Klein was voted the most valuable player as the Flying Dutchmen won their own Russ DeVette Holiday Classic. He scored 13 points in a 97-48 victory over Grace Bible and followed with a career-high 20 points in a 96-77 win over previously unbeaten Mt. Vernon Nazarene. He did not commit a turnover over 55 minutes. He shot 14-for-21, including 4-for-5 from three-point range, and was 4-for-5 on free throws. He finished finished with nine rebounds and two steals.

[GoKnights68]

HC:  From what I heard, and have read in the SIDs daily report Calvin just wasn't focused.  KVS has spoken about, and vented his frustration about lack of intesity, and focus.  He also commented about using multiple combinations in an attempt to get the team to gell.   All the switching hasn't helped, and my (simple) advice would be to put the 5 best guys as starters, and have them play 30+ minutes each (W or L the constant changing strikes me as counterproductive).  It is great to have depth, but the bench has to contribute when they are getting minutes.  Unless things improve vastly over the next 10 days it is going to be a very long season for Calvin.  Perhaps the Knights will manage to gell just in time to give Hope a decent rivalry game.

Yeah the box score is pretty different with comparing Friday to Saturday night, with looking at minutes played.  The bench was played much more Saturday.  Zoerhof and Veltema didn't get near as much playing-time Saturday.

http://www.miaa.org/mbb/stats/0708/class01.htm

http://www.miaa.org/mbb/stats/0708/mb122907.htm


You can't say much about the defense from the stats, but offensively, it looks like Mantel was the only player that stepped it up scoring-wise Friday night, and Dustin Smith was the only one that stepped it up Saturday, with Veldhouse having a pretty good game as well.

Griffin only scoring 3-points definitely won't help.




Even in past years when I question Calvin as a team, I am usually am not too worried that they won' start to gell during  the Calvin-Hope game.  I am confident Calvin will be ready by January 26.

[oldknight]

Hi folks

Just letting you know that we'll be broadcasting the Montclair State Tournament at which Calvin will be this weekend. I know you have a local broadcast, but should you have any difficulties with that, or want to hear the other games, you can tune in.

Link will be on the front page and at http://www.d3hoops.com/audio

+k to d3hoops and to Mark Simon on his broadcasts from New Jersey. I listened to parts of both games and Mark did a nice job in describing the game action for listeners.

I went to the Fuddrucker's on Hilton Head Friday, and they have some school banners up on the wall. I look up, and the first banner I see is Calvin College. We were down there with a friend of mine who teaches at Calvin, and he gave me the business over this all through dinner. I may have to send them a Hope banner.

The Lord certainly does work in mysterious ways and in unexpected places doesn't he? Serves you right for rubbing it in that you were in Hilton Head over the Christmas break. Don't bother with the Hope banner though.

[oldknight]

Now that the preconference season is over it's not a bad time to evaluate where we are. I'll let the other posters do the analysis of the team they follow and limit my comments to the Knights.

Last year at this time Calvin was 5-5, the same record they have right now. Like last year, a lot of people are antsy about their prospects for conference play. I see both similarities and differences in the two teams and their records. Other than having the same records and the habit of showing maddening inconsistency, I see as many differences as similarities in these two teams.

Last year, Calvin lost their five games by a combined total of 79 points. Their closest loss was to UW-La Crosse by 10 but I was at that game and believe me, it wasn't that close. The Knights got whacked pretty good in that game as they did in their other four losses last year. This year, Calvin's five losses have been by a total of 28 points and only the second Aquinas loss (by 16) wasn't really close. The other four losses have been close, winnable games. So just by that measurement that's progress (of sorts).

Calvin also beat Wash U when they were still healthy but it's the losses that have Calvin fans shaking their heads. We just don't know which team will show up on any given night and they have displayed a Jekyll and Hyde personality--even within the same game. From KVS's post-game comments in New Jersey you can tell he's a bit frustrated in trying to get the most out of this team.

From the stat sheet one thing is clear to me--if the Knights start getting consistent shooting from the 3 spot a lot of their problems will go away. I don't think this is a case of a team that can't get good looks. It's just that outside of the guard positions, the Knights haven't gotten consistent perimeter shooting from any other player. On top of that, I am totally mystified by the free throw shooting of Veldhouse and Veltema. In his freshmen and sophomore seasons, Veldhouse shot 85% and 75% from the stripe. This year he's at 66%. Veltema's woes at the line are even more amazing. His senior year in high school he led all Michigan prepsters shooting 90% and he hit 87.5% his first year at Calvin. This year he's shooting 62%. As a team Calvin only hits 65% of their free throws. Such pedestrian numbers are worthy of those of us who post on this board, but not players who have a track record of good shooting.

There is plenty of room for improvement on a team that--with just a little better shooting--could be 9-1 instead of 5-5. And I don't think this inconsistency can be traced to poor shot selection or an inability to find an open shot. We can talk all we want about other factors such as rebounding, focus, and intensity, but if you aren't putting the ball in the hole with some consistency it's a lot tougher to win--especially the close games.

[HopeConvert]

Hi folks

Just letting you know that we'll be broadcasting the Montclair State Tournament at which Calvin will be this weekend. I know you have a local broadcast, but should you have any difficulties with that, or want to hear the other games, you can tune in.

Link will be on the front page and at http://www.d3hoops.com/audio

+k to d3hoops and to Mark Simon on his broadcasts from New Jersey. I listened to parts of both games and Mark did a nice job in describing the game action for listeners.

I went to the Fuddrucker's on Hilton Head Friday, and they have some school banners up on the wall. I look up, and the first banner I see is Calvin College. We were down there with a friend of mine who teaches at Calvin, and he gave me the business over this all through dinner. I may have to send them a Hope banner.

The Lord certainly does work in mysterious ways and in unexpected places doesn't he? Serves you right for rubbing it in that you were in Hilton Head over the Christmas break. Don't bother with the Hope banner though.

I had a hunch I'd get some bad karma for that, but I didn't suspect it would be so immediate, or in such tangible form. On the other hand, it was worth it.

[sac]

I went to the Fuddrucker's on Hilton Head Friday, ................

Serves you right for rubbing it in that you were in Hilton Head over the Christmas break.

I've been to South Carolina once in my entire life for a grand total of 2 days........this guys been there twice in 10 months........AND played golf

Now that the preconference season is over it's not a bad time to evaluate where we are. I'll let the other posters do the analysis of the team they follow and limit my comments to the Knights.

Everything's a-ok! 

[hope1]

happy new years day everyone lets hope michigan pulls a upset win today

[HopeConvert]

I went to the Fuddrucker's on Hilton Head Friday, ................

Serves you right for rubbing it in that you were in Hilton Head over the Christmas break.

I've been to South Carolina once in my entire life for a grand total of 2 days........this guys been there twice in 10 months........AND played golf

It's true. My wife, son and I played three rounds. She laid a pretty good smackdown on us the last round. By the looks of things outside, I won't be playing here for awhile.

As to oldknight's question about our respective teams, I think sac summarized it pretty well. I like the way the bench is developing. This team is playing hard, and with purpose. They still have some work to do in terms of getting everything together on the offensive end, and I was a little concerned with how many open lanes to the basket MVNU got on Saturday. Their big weakness, lack of interior strength, has been compensated for, as demonstrated by the fact they kept both Lazic and Ruch fairly in check. Those are two tough big men. Mind you, Hope's two losses have come against both teams, so that does suggest that the lack of a true post player presents a problem as concerns total team defense. But Hope was also in both those games until the end, which suggests the problem isn't insurmountable. It'll be interesting to see how they deal with Mantel and Engelsma on the floor at the same time.

[almcguirejr]

                         
                          
                                  
                              
                          
                             
                           

[gohope]

                         
                          
                                  
                              
                          
                             
                           

The late Jackie Gleason's immortal words sum up my thoughts regarding the Meeechigan game, "How SWEET it is!!"

SAC - That victory was like chicken soup to your not feeling so good self!!!   GO BLUE!

[gohope]

I went to the Fuddrucker's on Hilton Head Friday, ................

Serves you right for rubbing it in that you were in Hilton Head over the Christmas break.

I've been to South Carolina once in my entire life for a grand total of 2 days........this guys been there twice in 10 months........AND played golf

Now that the preconference season is over it's not a bad time to evaluate where we are. I'll let the other posters do the analysis of the team they follow and limit my comments to the Knights.

Everything's a-ok! 

Short. Sweet. To the point.  You can go to the head of the class!

[sac]

SAC - That victory was like chicken soup to your not feeling so good self!!!   GO BLUE!

Well, I'd been feeling better, but I thought I was relapsing when I saw Michigan come out in a spread offense.............just about passed out when they put themselves in perfect position to lose by 1.   This certainly makes the next 8 months a little shorter and more enjoyable............also makes walking around Lansing more fun.

End of an era at Michigan and in coaching, you have to appreciate the words of a man after such a big victory in his last game.  Not sure how many of the multi-millionaires think like him anymore.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1155394229/bctid1363158601

[Mr. Ypsi]

sac, Thanks for posting that link (I have Comcast which is in a war to the death with the Big Ten Network, so I would have never seen it).

I imagine Rodriguez is certainly glad he doesn't have to deal with Mike "Butterfingers" Hart!   Geez, the guy already fumbled in September of his freshman year; did he have to do it again (and again)?  I wonder if anyone actually keeps the stat on 'touches/fumbles' - 1002 touches between fumbles has got to be an all-levels-of-football record.

His first fumble was definitely not his fault - he fully protected the ball but a monster defender ripped it out of both hands.  But I confess I thought we had lost when he tried too hard and had the second one - 1st and goal on the one beats the hell out of risking another fumble!

What a game - but they should have won by three touchdowns and saved my poor ticker!