MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Hopester]

Hope wins 80-71. Vanderheide with 18 and Wolfe with 17. Two second half runs for Olivet kept the game close. 9-2 at the beginning of the half and 9-3 to close it to 3 points with 3 minutes left. Good win on the road in the end for Hope. It will be interesting to hear what eyewitnesses have to say about the way Hope played.

Congrats Coach Van Wieren on victory number 600!!

[Knight In The Stan]

the old man(someone told me it was his birthday thursday) needs to make them run for the autrocious free throw percentage and rebounding

[hope1]

nice job hope on getting glenn 600  win today and go to 2-0 in the miaa

[realist]

fwiw:  The officiating today was fantastic!!!
Anxious to hear about the Kal. win.  Good win for Hope, and GVW.
Hopefully the Knights are building some confidence, and momentum.

[OC_SID]

FDF, SAC, and any other posters,

It was nice meeting all of you today at the game. It's so much better to put a face with a screen name.

I hope that you enjoyed your visit to Olivet. I thought it was one of our best games in terms of crowd, pep band, cheerleaders and the game itself.

[northb]

you guys are great, thanks for the info it is much appreciated. now if only the packers could not turn it over again so they could dig themselves out of a 14-0 hole three frickn minutes into the game!

no worries!

[Mr. Ypsi]

you guys are great, thanks for the info it is much appreciated. now if only the packers could not turn it over again so they could dig themselves out of a 14-0 hole three frickn minutes into the game!

I trust you have more faith in your buddies than you showed in the Pack!   First 4 minutes: 0-14.  Last 56 minutes: 42-6.

While Tom Brady was deservedly the MVP, there is a reason he was not unanimous, and his name is Brett Favre.  The Lambeau blizzard probably should get an assist as well - I think the Seahawks forgot to bring their Ski-doos!

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Tough win for the Dutchmen today - but it was great to be there for GVWs 600th.  Thanks to OC_SID for his assisting Mr. Renner with the acknowledgment of this occasion once the game was over (and I enjoyed meeting you as well).  The OC pep band was awesome (everything from the Time Warp to Crazy Train to 25 to 6 to 4).  The McClary brothers were also impressive, and I suspect Olivet is going to be "in" a lot of games this year, and may have a few surprises.

Tyler Wolfe was on fire to start the game - 10 points in the first 4:30.  Will Bowser came in and put up 6 quick points, Ty Tanis hit 3 big 3s and Marcus played a complete game (18  points and 9 rebounds). It wasn't pretty, but Hope is 2-0, and won't have to play in that gym again - ever 

[Erm Schmigget]

Great day for a road trip to OC today, and a great game for GVW's 600th W.

Thanks sac for showing us your favorite "dive" for dinner on the way home tonight.  I can say it was unequivocally, without a doubt, the BEST restaurant I've ever been to in Eaton Rapids.    Vera and I had much fun with you, the FDF/CM family, gohope, et. al.

To OC_SID: nice atmosphere for the game today, and a nice touch getting the info to the PA announcer re: GVW's 600th.  Just one thing I have to add:  I gotta have more cowbell!!!   (FDF will get that.)

[Erm Schmigget]

KII:  Good to "hear" from you here.  I wondered out loud about you at dinner tonight, and no one there had much of an idea re: how you were doing lately.  I trust that all's well if one of your biggest concerns tonight was how the Packers were going to fare.

Keep your head down and your spirits up, soldier!  We'll keep you in our prayers.

-Erm & Vera

[sac]

I hope that you enjoyed your visit to Olivet. I thought it was one of our best games in terms of crowd, pep band, cheerleaders and the game itself.

Easily the best atmosphere I've seen at Olivet.  Major thumbs up to the pep band, #1 in the MIAA and closing in on John Carroll fast.

Let me just preface this by saying that Olivet is a much better basketball team than they've been in a long time.  They hired the right coach.  They're more disciplined, they play smarter, and they carry themselves better than I can ever remember.  This is a team that will only improve as the season goes on, even if it may not show up in their win/loss record.

I agree with that 200%, I'll even go as far to say with Calvin, Albion and Adrian still having a road trip to Olivet it wouldn't shock me at all if at least one of those did not make it out alive.   


---Kalamazoo 94 Albion 82    Wow is that far from the normal Albion defense, major kudos to the Hornets.....I hate to say I warned ya, but I did........but Kzoo didn't win this for the reasons I thought they might.

[sac]

Hope 80 Olivet 71

Hope started out the game by makeing their first 3 shots before the Comets were on the board.  The early good play continued giveing the Dutchmen a 15-5 lead 5 minutes in and Tyler Wolfe netting 10 of Hope's next 11 points.

The game was pretty back and forth for much of the half, Olivet really established themselves on the glass especially on the offensive end, it probably kept them in the game to be truthfull.  Hope began pulling away towards the end of the half, over the last 7 minutes Hope only missed one or two shots and a 6 point lead quickly grew to 18.  Brandon Way may have hit the shot of the game for Olivet knocking in a seemingly meaningless 3 to cut the deficit to 15 with :44 seconds left, but if Olivet doesn't score there Hope has the ball for the last shot and looking to build on an 18 point lead.

Tyler Wolfe with 15 and Will Bowser's beautifull 6 points (all deep 2's) were the standouts in the first half.

Few things are more cliche than the 'first 5 minutes of the second half' but it sure rang true for the Comets today.  Olivet just dominated the first 5 of the second half.  After a Marcus VanderHeide layup put Hope up by 17, Olivet scored the next 10 to cut the lead to 7 with a huge lift of momentum.  Here is where it gets good for Hope fans.

Out go the 5 starters and in come Fr. Carter, Fr Tanis, Fr. Bowser, So. Kratz and Jr. Osburn.  Probably the most critical few minutes of the game and these 5 guys were the calming influence on this team.  Carter immediately steps in hits a beauty turn around jumper followed by back to back ice cold 3's from Ty Tanis.   While the lead did not expand during this 5 minute stretch it didn't diminish.  The 5 minutes might have been the 5 most important minutes Hope's played this season.  Beautifull stuff to see from such a young group.

On the other end Brandon McClary was beginning his lessons on how to knock down the 15 foot jumper and repeatedly nailed them with a man in his mug.  15 big second half points for the JR.  Olivet kept fighting back into the game.  Despite all this Hope dug deep enough to keep the Comets from ever having a shot a tying and a crucial turnaround jumper to give the Dutchmen a 5 point lead by Marcus Vanderheide probably put the Comets in a tougher situation than they'd like.

The Comets didn't make any field goals in the final 4+ minutes and Hope was able to knock down enough FT's to put it to far out of reach with to little time for Olivet.  The killer was probably a 52 second posession with 1:30 to go, Tyler Wolfe snagged maybe the biggest rebound of the game and allowed way to much time to expire for the Comets likeing.

VanderHeide 18, Wolfe 17, VanSolkema 10, Tanis 9, Bowser 8

600 was one tough hard physical battle.

[sac]

------The McClary brothers are a handfull for anyone, throw in Kerns crashing the glass and Olivet will make anybody work hard for rebounds.  Not sure if they'll play as well as they did today, but after today I don't want to see them in the MIAA tournament.

------The new athletic complex at Olivet is going to change the athletics atmosphere forever, but I'll tell you, the atmosphere has already been changed from the attitude of those in the athletics office and the coaches.  I can only imagine what this Olivet team would be like with Andy Sierminski had he not left.

-----I doubt anyone will shed a tear playing their last game in Upton, its a dark, dreary, hot place that has rarely been very lively for basketball.  The presense of a pep band really livened the gym up, it helped that they were so very very good.  Thumbs up.   You may enjoy a trip to Olivet this year.

-----"this will really help us latter in the season"---anonymous Hope player


-----Normally I'd be concerned with Hope giving up 63% from the field in the second half, but in this case Olivet just started makeing tough shot after tough shot.  Throw in some nice post moves and it isn't hard to see how they shot so well.  But the key is 71% before the 5 minute mark, 0% after.

-----If the rest of the MIAA season is going to be as physical as the first 2 games have been for Hope, this season might come down to attrition.  Basically expect a war away from your gym.

[gohope]

Hope vs. Olivet game notes:

*  First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to Coach Glenn VanWieren on his 600th Coaching victory. And like others mentioned, kudos to the SID/Staff at Olivet for acknowledging this achievement after the game - that was very classy!  Glenn could do it today, but Bobby Knight has to wait for another game to reach his 900th! Sorry CM.

*  Well that was another hard fought game. Kudos to both teams for not giving up, whether it was the team in the lead or the team trying to cut the lead! Olivet is a team on the move and their new coach has a lot to do with it. He's steady, intense, but has a plan -  and it looks like the players are buying into it.  This was seen when one of the Olivet players was tagged with an intentional foul. The player was replaced by a teammate but when the player sat down, the coach used that time for a teaching moment. The coach chatted with the player but never embarrased him or yelled at him until he was blue in the face.  His coaching experience was very previlent during the game and should continue to help build this team as the season continues.

*  During the first half, it seemed that Hope's defense was much more intense and the players were unselfish. And it might be the first time that Hope has not trailed at all during a game.  Then came the second half. Rebounding.  Looking at the stats, especially the OF rebounds, Hope had 13 and Olivet had 15.  It seemed like a LOT more for Olivet.  But this is the lowest stat for Hope in the MIAA stats. And then looking at free throws, Hope was 15-22. Not the best, but better than expected. Once again, shooting .719 for the season and 2nd in the league.  Maybe some of us are expecting tooooooooo much from the Flying Dutchmen.  When you see good, you want great and when you see great you want excellence. But in the end, a "W" is a "W" so congrats guys for not giving up and staying in the game and giving Coach VW his 600yth!

*  Kudos also to the Olivet band. Nice job and a good addition to a fun atmosphere! And kudos to the Olivet community for coming out to cheer on your team. Looked like the break-down of the crowd was almost 50-50.

*  Brandon McClary was scary, especially the second half. My thought was that he probably scored 1,000 (okay a slight exaggeration!!), but he was truly on fire during the second half. But he ended up with 19 points. Note to self and other teams: GUARD HIM CLOSE!!!!

*  And concluding the day with a side-trip to Eaton Rapids (as the sign states, the only one in the entire United States) for a great dinner with friends was the icing on the cake. Thanks to SAC for his recommendation!  The ride home was also enjoyable listening to Meeeeechigan win over Northwestern - has something frozen over??  

[sac]

on EARTH, ..........the only one on Earth.  <sigh>   


ps  Happy to see everyone made it back to a major freeway.