MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[gohope]

Dunks by Doug Sharples and Dan Holt!!

In the midst of packing, I'm only checking livestats, so... you're not joshing us regarding the dunks are you???

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Dunks by Doug Sharples and Dan Holt!!

In the midst of packing, I'm only checking livestats, so... you're not joshing us regarding the dunks are you???

haha, nope, they really happened. the radio call was great. Wish I could have seen them!

[GoKnights68]

Looks like it was a well-played game by the Knights tonight.  It wasn't just one or two man show in terms of scoring.  Much more balanced.

[oldknight]

Impressive 95-81 win for Calvin over the Hornets. The Knights shot very well hitting 33-62, including 13-25 from the arc. Kazoo also shot over 50% from the floor but made 6 fewer threes and commited 8 more turnovers than did the Knights. Calvin had 5 players in double figures led by Mantel and Veldhouse with 18 each. Since the conference season started I have noticed that John has really improved his lateral movement and he has had two straight excellent scoring efforts. He's becoming a load inside and seems to be rounding into the type of interior scoring threat KVS envisioned he could be.  That bodes well for the Saturday. Calvin got outrebounded 33-24 by Kazoo and that does not bode well for Saturday. I sense a barnburner with the Flying Dutchmen at the Fieldhouse Worship Symposium ( that's for you Greg). I think each team will want to be shooting free throws well this weekend. I'm also curious to see how well Hope's freshmen play in their baptismal Rivalry game. I believe Hope will need them.

[wiz]

Dunks by Doug Sharples and Dan Holt!!

In the midst of packing, I'm only checking livestats, so... you're not joshing us regarding the dunks are you???

haha, nope, they really happened. the radio call was great. Wish I could have seen them!

Those were the two best dunks in the history of DIII basketball!

[AlwaysHope]

Dunks by Doug Sharples and Dan Holt!!

In the midst of packing, I'm only checking livestats, so... you're not joshing us regarding the dunks are you???

haha, nope, they really happened. the radio call was great. Wish I could have seen them!

Those were the two best dunks in the history of DIII basketball!

What do you mean, Division III only?

[sac]

Dunks by Doug Sharples and Dan Holt!!

In the midst of packing, I'm only checking livestats, so... you're not joshing us regarding the dunks are you???

haha, nope, they really happened. the radio call was great. Wish I could have seen them!

Those were the two best dunks in the history of DIII basketball!

Wasn't quite the best smartmouth remark ever, but it was in the ball park.  +k    ......or maybe not.

[sac]

Hope 81 Alma 55

Hope did what needed to be done tonight.  When your smaller at every position on the floor and on the opening posession the opponents 6-7 center knocks down a 3, its going to be a tough night and thats pretty much what it was for Alma.  Hope dominated the initial opening of the game leading 18-4, mostly on simple interior layups and solid D at the other end.  Alma did cut their way back into the game on the backs of 6-10 from 3 in the first half, played some good defense here and there and were certainly playing with some confidence and emotion.  We believe Hope finished the first half on a 19-4 run with the starting 5 back on the floor.  It should be noted that Hope shot the 3 well itself matching Alma's 6-10 performance.  Overall Hope shot over 60% in the half, mostly because they just dominated the paint.

The feeling at the half was pretty much a carbon copy of the Olivet game, so a big key for me was how well Hope started the second half.  Basically they came out and buried the Scots, never let them get an ounce of confidence  11-0 run to start the half and a 27 point lead, which from that point on was about the average for the remaining minutes. 

Derek VanSolkema had a really good stretch in the 2nd half with 3 straight treys.  VanderHeide, Reimink and Klein continued to dominate the  paint.  On the other end, the sizzling Scots cooled down and found it tougher and tougher to get the open looks they wanted.  I think Hope gets alot of credit on  D for that effort.

Once the starters came out it just became a matter of name the final score.  No one really stood out from Hope's bench but it was nice to see Doug Sharples contribute some fine minutes after some recent struggles.  The two kids from Midland, Will Bowser and Kelvin Carter, both pressed quite a bit tonight and it was obvious both were trying to impress the large number of friends and family who made the short trip over.

Alma tried really hard to slow the pace of this one down, despite holding the ball in almost a four corners on about 10 straight 1st half posessions for twenty seconds, Hope still almost scored 50 first half points.  I thought Hope made some nice adjustments to keep the pace up a bit, and the aforementioned dunks were the result of Hope's desire to run more in the second half.  Both Sharples and Holts came on takeaway situations and both were solid two handers.  Holts simply made the drive worth it by itself if you know the history.

Vanderheide 17, VanSolekema 14, Reimink 11, Klein 10
Shattuck with 14 for Alma.

Other stat that stuck out was they have Hope for 5 turnovers, which I think is pretty much just flat wrong.  Alma gets credited with 7 steals.  So for me the numbers simply don't add up.  Hope was not that steller handling the ball tonight, good, but not 5 turnover good.

All in all a pretty good effort on the road.

[sac]

Notes

----My cohorts believe we counted 15 minutes by the starters (first 5, last 5 of 1st half, and first 5 of second half)  or something close to that as a 48-8 run.  18-4, 19-4 and 11-0.  It was just pure domination by VanderHeide, Klein, Reimink, VanSolkema and Wolfe tonight.

----I saw Alma back in December,  they are an improved ball club.  Ryan Dehaan does give them something they didn't have before.  Hope did a pretty solid job on him tonight.  Terry Smith seemed far more settled in his substitutions tonight, it was a far cry from the haphazzard sub-fest I saw last time.  Alma will get right in your face on D, and I didn't think Hope was ready for that, esp the bench.  Alma made a nice run and got some confindence going for about 10 mintutes, then Hope turned the lights out.  I think I'm just impressed with how Alma competed tonight, they played hard for 40 minutes as if it was a 5 point game all night.  Thats a tough thing to get kids to do.

Alma's going to stay in more games than I thought back in December.  Probably the #1 thing thats improved is ballhandling and they seem like they take nothing but good shots.  They certainly have no fear from trey-land.

----From what I saw tonight and in previous games, I would not be surprised to see Hope's starting 5 log big minutes Saturday.  That just seems the way this team is leaning right now.  At this point in the season the 2nd group isn't getting it done on either end of the floor the way the team needs.  Tonight the six who comprise the "bench" combined for 4 of 22 from the floor and a less than stellar 13-6 Alma run in the first half.   Its certainly not from a lack of talent, just some lacking confidence maybe.    We shall see of course but thats what I expect to happen for Hope Saturday.

[hope1]

good win for hope now  we can think about playing calvin saturday 1 game at a time

[HopeConvert]

DCHN: So, which would you rather play: an angry Calvin team coming off a second consecutive loss, or a confident Calvin team coming off an impressive victory over a solid Kalamazoo club?

OK: I agree, it will be interesting to see how Hope's freshmen respond. This will be unlike anything they've experienced this year. Of course, in the last few years, Veldhouse, Veltema, and Mantel have all shown up big as freshmen in THE GAME. Methinks there are some confidence issues with Hope's freshmen at the moment.

Based on what I've seen, and comments others have made (OK's discussion about Calvin's inability to adjust to the refs, for example), this game may well come down to how closely it is called. Hope is a physical team, and Calvin doesn't seem to be. If the refs don't call a tight game early, that could be a real problem for Calvin. If they do, Hope might end up with some early foul trouble, and then we'll really see how the freshmen respond. If Reimink and Marcus have early foul problems (they're the mostly likely to), it could mean a long afternoon for the Hope faithful (charitably).

My feeling at this point of the season, having watched about 8 or 9 Hope games, is that this team is going to go as far as Marcus will take them. Speaking of which, I don't recall reading any discussion of his wrist injury. According to the Sentinel, he will need surgery on it as soon as the season is over. He was wearing some sort of brace during the Adrian game. Anyone have any more information on that, and how it's affecting his game? (Based on last night's performance, it seems not too much.)

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Regarding the stats for the Hope/Alma game last night - it would appear that whoever was doing the stats is not familliar with a number of the rules about what constitutes a turnover.  I'm guessing that to get the real number of turnovers in the game, you need to add turnovers + steals by the other team.  If you do that, you get Hope with 12 turnovers, to Alma's 22.  Might also have to add in any offensive fouls, but 12 vs 22 feels about right.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

DCHN: So, which would you rather play: an angry Calvin team coming off a second consecutive loss, or a confident Calvin team coming off an impressive victory over a solid Kalamazoo club?

Assuming I can't add a depressed and short-handed Calvin JV team as a third option I'd rather play a confident Calvin team coming off a good win. I just fear a team coming off two losses in a row as the sort of trapped wild animal up against a wall. Three consecutive losses would effectively end their conference season title chances and so I'd expect them to play like a team possessed. That said I am not too excited about seeing a Calvin team that is finally hitting shots and playing like a team.

[dumezrules]

DCHN: So, which would you rather play: an angry Calvin team coming off a second consecutive loss, or a confident Calvin team coming off an impressive victory over a solid Kalamazoo club?

Assuming I can't add a depressed and short-handed Calvin JV team as a third option I'd rather play a confident Calvin team coming off a good win. I just fear a team coming off two losses in a row as the sort of trapped wild animal up against a wall. Three consecutive losses would effectively end their conference season title chances and so I'd expect them to play like a team possessed. That said I am not too excited about seeing a Calvin team that is finally hitting shots and playing like a team.

Didnt Hope beat the same KZOO team 88-60 last week??  How are they that much improved in a week? 

Doesnt matter when or where this game happens (or what happened in the previous league games) ....no one takes a play off....therefore anyone can win.....

[realist]

Based on last nights performance I am a bit more optimistic going into Sat's game at the fieldhouse.  Calvin's balanced scoring, and the points from the bench bode well for Sat.  I am concerned if Hope gets or is hot early, plays physical, and Calvin finds itself in the all to common position of having to play catch up.  At this point I would expect to see KVS stay with his typical rotation, and if (as several point out above) Hope's bench struggles it could come down to a real fight at the end.  However, having said all that Hope still should be considered the favorite by 7-9 points  A key factor will be rebounding, and Calvin just doesn't control the boards enough to be able to knock off Hope.