MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[hope1]

i just heard that ex hope player  folyd   brady  passes away  this weekend what a great guy he was and still young was hope all time leading scorer

[hopehoopfan]

A lot of posts here disceting the Hope loss to Albion.  I'm not sure why it's such a big deal.  Hope lost to a very talented and well coached, as usual, Albion team which is clearly one of the best teams in the nation.   The MIAA is a strong league and you won't see much better plan than what you get to see right here, year in and year out. 

And speaking of the MIAA, congratulations to Derek Griffin, this year's most likely MVP, for being named player of the week.  Good to see his unselfish play, his great athletic talent, and his ability to play through injury, be rewarded in such a way.

Two things, just because Albion beats Hope does by no means make them, "clearly one of the best teams in the nation", and secondly, you may not have noticed but last week the poll question at the top had MVH of Hope the clear mid-season MVP. Griffin is an awesome shooter when hot, but speaking of hot, he'll have to have a mighty hot second have to be considered for the MVP.

The MIAA is a very strong division and usually has a team or two that is capable of making a long run in the DIII tournament.  Just because a team is not ranked in the polls does not mean they are not a strong national contender.  Albion is tested, they have played a heady schedule and they defeated Hope, which is a highly ranked team.  So, unless you think Albion's victory was simply a fluke, they are a national contender by the mere fact that they defeated the Dutchmen.  Teams need to learn from early season games and improve as the season goes on.  The Brits are showing signs of a team that has learned, may peak in February and be all set for a run.  This league is tough.  Take it as a compliment that some of the better teams in the nation are playing in the MIAA.

With respect to MVP, I didn't know that had been determined already and I guess I'm surprisedd to learn that MVP is decided by a D3Hoops poll.  I thought the coaches or the SIDS did that and that they wait until the season is over.  As is the case in many years, the award will probably go to a player who scores a lot of points and comes from a winning team.  That could be a number of people.  But, there are those who do even more than what shows up in the stats.  There are guys that are able to show team leadership and lift a team when they need it.  There are a number of people who fill that role and MVH could well be one of them.  And, after he mandhandled Calvin's pourous defense, he seemed like a lock.  In my mind, more for the way he distributed the ball than for how many points he scored.  I just happen to think that when it's over and Calvin wins the league tournament, that Derek will be the guy.

This season is far from over and there is no sure thing that Hope, Albion or Calvin will win the thing.  So just relax a little and enjoy beauty of this thing called the MIAA.

I wasn't implying that the voting had been done, but that an informal poll had been conducted, much as a "straw vote" gets conducted to get the general feel on an issue before a final vote gets tallied.  It merely showed that the general consenus was that MVH was the mid-season overwhelming leader for conference MVP. There is a lot a bbll left to be played, and therefore, alot can happen.

[sac]

I've never commented on player of the week much in the past.......

While Griffin had a good week, I thought Matt Brown of Alma might get this weeks honors, he had 22pts, 11 rebs, 4 assts in an OT loss to Albion, 15 pts, 10 rebs in a victory of Kalamazoo.  Back to back double-doubles should get you something in this league.

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The poll for MVP was about who was the leader at the halfway turn, I had no idea the English language might be so difficult for some to follow. 

[sac]

Here is the piece from the Holland Sentinel about Floyd Brady, there will be more tommorrow.

Floyd Brady, the all-time leading scorer in Hope College men's basketball history, died over the weekend, the school announced.

Brady played between 1964 and 1968 and scored 2,004 points. He is the only Hope player to reach 2,000 points.

Brady also holds the single-season scoring record by averaging 31.0 points during the 1967-68 season.

[realist]

I am very sorry to hear of the death of Mr. Brady.  For those who never got to see him play you missed one of the great ones ever to play in the MIAA.  In many ways he was a man "playing with boys" when he was on the court.  Hope has had many great players over the years, but Floyd definitely has to be the best IMHO.   He was a great athlete, and (to my knowledge) never did anything to try to draw attention to himself.   He was content to just play the game win or lose, and never did anything that would hurt or demean another player.   Though we never meet I recall hearing at the time, from family at Hope, that he was a very classy person.

[Bob MacKenzie]

I've never commented on player of the week much in the past.......

While Griffin had a good week, I thought Matt Brown of Alma might get this weeks (sic) honors, he had 22pts, 11 rebs, 4 assts in an OT loss to Albion, 15 pts, 10 rebs in a victory of Kalamazoo.  Back to back double-doubles should get you something in this league.

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The poll for MVP was about who was the leader at the halfway turn, I had no idea the English language might be so difficult for some to follow. 

...or to write!

[Hopester]

Looking at the current poll, I am sort of shocked at the fact Kzoo has no votes. Aren't they the only team to have beaten on of those teams outside of those three. I voted Adrian as well, but I thought there would have been some love for Kzoo.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Looking at the current poll, I am sort of shocked at the fact Kzoo has no votes. Aren't they the only team to have beaten on of those teams outside of those three. I voted Adrian as well, but I thought there would have been some love for Kzoo.

I voted Tri-State and Adrian was a close second in my mind. Kzoo would be third. My theory for what its worth is that Tri-State and Adrian are due for the upset win. They both have the talent and they both have played well against Albion and Calvin, if not Hope.

[bulldogalum]

Looking at the current poll, I am sort of shocked at the fact Kzoo has no votes. Aren't they the only team to have beaten on of those teams outside of those three. I voted Adrian as well, but I thought there would have been some love for Kzoo.

I voted Tri-State and Adrian was a close second in my mind. Kzoo would be third. My theory for what its worth is that Tri-State and Adrian are due for the upset win. They both have the talent and they both have played well against Albion and Calvin, if not Hope.

Ummm, my memory might fail me, but I think Adrian played Hope pretty close at DeVos earlier this season.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Looking at the current poll, I am sort of shocked at the fact Kzoo has no votes. Aren't they the only team to have beaten on of those teams outside of those three. I voted Adrian as well, but I thought there would have been some love for Kzoo.

I voted Tri-State and Adrian was a close second in my mind. Kzoo would be third. My theory for what its worth is that Tri-State and Adrian are due for the upset win. They both have the talent and they both have played well against Albion and Calvin, if not Hope.

Ummm, my memory might fail me, but I think Adrian played Hope pretty close at DeVos earlier this season.

That is correct they did, 74-70 Hope. I did not phrase that well. What I meant was Adrian and Tri-State both played pretty well against Albion and Calvin. Only Adrian played well against Hope.

In other news the new Top 25 is out and Hope has dropped to 6th. Considering all the losses in the Top 10 last week that seems reasonably and a much shorter drop than you'd normally expect.

[sac]

As far as the poll goes, Hope's been fortunate that both weeks they lost there were numerous losses around them.  Funny how that works sometimes.

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While Calvin led Adrian for the majority of the game by double digits, Adrian was within 5 with 9:30 to go .

[sac]

Believe it or not but 2000 was the last time that Albion was unable to win at least one game from Hope or Calvin.

During the last 8 seasons Albion has beaten both at least once in 6 seasons.  Only in 2006 (Calvin) and 2007 (Hope) did they fail to beat both.

During the regular season
vs Hope at Albion 4-4
vs Hope at Hope 3-5

vs Calvin at Albion 4-3 (game later this season)
vs Calvin at Calvin 6-2

Albion actually has a winning regular season record of 17-14 over the past 8 MIAA seasons vs Hope and Calvin.

In the post season they are 0-1 vs Hope, 0-4 vs Calvin........all but 1 in MIAA tournament play, the one was the NCAA Sectional Final in 2005.


Our triumverate of teams vs each other in the regular season.

Albion vs Hope/Calvin 17-14
Hope vs Albion/Calvin 16-15
Calvin vs Albion/Hope 13-17

Including post season games
Hope vs Albion/Calvin 22-17
Albion vs Hope/Calvin 17-19
Calvin vs Albion/Hope 19-22

[gohope]

Here is the piece from the Holland Sentinel about Floyd Brady, there will be more tommorrow.

Floyd Brady, the all-time leading scorer in Hope College men's basketball history, died over the weekend, the school announced.

Brady played between 1964 and 1968 and scored 2,004 points. He is the only Hope player to reach 2,000 points.

Brady also holds the single-season scoring record by averaging 31.0 points during the 1967-68 season.

Unfortunately I never saw Floyd Brady play, but heard so much about him. My greatest moment of late was meeting him in person. What a special man. He was the epitome of humbleness. As they say, heaven just got richer. My sympathies to the Brady family.

[sac]

From Hope's athletic website about Brady.

http://www.hope.edu/pr/pressreleases/content/view/full/17649

[MIdoubleA]

I met Brady a little more than a year ago... what a guy! It's a shame others will no longer have the pleasure of meeting him.


This is slightly off-topic, but I couldn't believe that Lisa Winkle nor Bria Ebels failed to make any of the all-decade teams. Considering their accomplishments on the court, I was very surprised.