MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[oldknight]

Do any of you who are commenting on seeing Brady, Veenstra, DeHorn, etc. remember seeing Mickey Phelps play at Calvin.  He was first team all-conference as a junior in '69 and was league MVP in '70.  He is in the top 10 all time on Calvin's scoring list.  My expectation is that he was fun to watch, but I have never talked with anyone who saw him.

I saw Mickey play numerous times when he was at Calvin, and I played a fair amount of rec league ball against him as well. If Calvin ever puts together an all-time team he has to be the point guard on it. He was an unlikely looking star, standing (if he stretched as fully as possible) only 5'10". His jump shot was more of a push off the front of his head and he barely jumped when putting it up but he was deadly. Watching him play you couldn't imagine how he could get it off against taller, stronger defenders but he did and rarely got his shot blocked because he was deceptively quick and had that uncanny sense of knowing when his defender was out of position. He was also a pest on defense who had the knack of knowing when to go for the steal. I saw him set the Calvin scoring record of 53 points in one game, a record I saw broken by Mark Veenstra who got 56 against Adrian. Come to think of it, I also saw Honderd's 61 against Kazoo (sorry about the reminder Stinger), so I have seen the top three scoring efforts in Calvin hoops history. I don't know if there is anyone else on God's green earth who can say that. But no, I didn't see Duane Rosendahl's 52 point game in 1952--I'm old but not that old.

P.S. In addition to being the league MVP in hoops, Phelps was also the league MVP in baseball--I think the only MIAA athlete to ever accomplish that double.

[Stinger]

Come to think of it, I also saw Honderd's 61 against Kazoo (sorry about the reminder Stinger)

I was at the game on a recruiting visit.  Still part of my top 5 games that I have witnessed.

[HopeConvert]

Interesting Top 25 this week. I'm not so sure I don't like the teams ranked 6-10 better than those ranked 1-5. Clearly the UAA is the cream of the crop, and those teams just keep beating on each other. #4 is a nice ranking for Hope, but I doubt they'd be 17-3 if they were in the UAA.

[realist]

Thealmascot.  Oldknight has given you a pretty good summation of how Mikey P. played.  He was just unconcious sometimes with his shot.  I also saw his record seting game, and he was in a zone.  Again this was before the 3 pt. shot, and Mickey would have done real well from that distance.
Again it is a mattter of personal preference, but to me to be top 5 it is necessary that opposing teams had to figure their game around the big gun.  Even with Gugino and Elliot Hope had to account for Honderd all the time, just like Calvin never did come up with an answer to Holstege or Brady with the possible exception of De Horn.

[wiz]

Do any of you who are commenting on seeing Brady, Veenstra, DeHorn, etc. remember seeing Mickey Phelps play at Calvin.  He was first team all-conference as a junior in '69 and was league MVP in '70.  He is in the top 10 all time on Calvin's scoring list.  My expectation is that he was fun to watch, but I have never talked with anyone who saw him.

I saw Mickey play numerous times when he was at Calvin, and I played a fair amount of rec league ball against him as well. If Calvin ever puts together an all-time team he has to be the point guard on it. He was an unlikely looking star, standing (if he stretched as fully as possible) only 5'10". His jump shot was more of a push off the front of his head and he barely jumped when putting it up but he was deadly. Watching him play you couldn't imagine how he could get it off against taller, stronger defenders but he did and rarely got his shot blocked because he was deceptively quick and had that uncanny sense of knowing when his defender was out of position. He was also a pest on defense who had the knack of knowing when to go for the steal. I saw him set the Calvin scoring record of 53 points in one game, a record I saw broken by Mark Veenstra who got 56 against Adrian. Come to think of it, I also saw Honderd's 61 against Kazoo (sorry about the reminder Stinger), so I have seen the top three scoring efforts in Calvin hoops history. I don't know if there is anyone else on God's green earth who can say that. But no, I didn't see Duane Rosendahl's 52 point game in 1952--I'm old but not that old.

P.S. In addition to being the league MVP in hoops, Phelps was also the league MVP in baseball--I think the only MIAA athlete to ever accomplish that double.

There's at least one more guy on God's green earth that saw all three of those milestones.  The Phelps record was interesting in that the team knew he was close to breaking Rosendahl's record and late in the game Bob Wyma, from Chicago Christian, was at the free throw line with only a few seconds left on the game clock.  He intentionally missed the free throw, got his own rebound and whipped the ball to the corner where Phelps was standing unguarded and launched a jumper to set the record.  Had the three point stripe been around I imagine he would have scored in the low sixties that day, although a lot of his points were layups on the fast break.

[wiz]

And speaking of history in the Fieldhouse, Todd Hennink's 12 - 14 three point goals in 1990 wasn't bad either.

[thealmascots]

Hennink was an unbelievable pure shooter, but that was his senior year in '91.  How about the 25 foot fade away at the buzzer by Hennink to beat Hope and win the 1990 MIAA championship outright.  Actually there was still one second left.  They had to clear about 2,000 fans off the floor to play that last second.

[dumezrules]

Hennink was an unbelievable pure shooter, but that was his senior year in '91.  How about the 25 foot fade away at the buzzer by Hennink to beat Hope and win the 1990 MIAA championship outright.  Actually there was still one second left.  They had to clear about 2,000 fans off the floor to play that last second.

AHHHHHH  did you have to remind us of that?  All-time biggest HOPE killer was Todd Hennink. 

[ChicagoHopeNut]

I can't wait until we have some 2008 games to talk about again. Tomorrow night's slate of games should be very exciting and has the potential to really muddle up the MIAA race.

[hope1]

yes  there are going to be some great games wed night 

[sac]

I love the walks down memory lane.  I enjoyed the video about Calvin, I had really forgotten how athletic that team was, didn't we see every Calvin player dunk at least once.

......and who knew that I'd get a very brief glimpse of Steve Sheckell from Albion, that guy was a horse in the paint.

The all-MIAA team from 1992 was pretty darn good.

1992
Colly Carlson, HO
Steve Honderd, C (MVP)
Wade Gugino, HO
Mark Lodewyk C
Steve Sheckell, AB
Brian Witkowski, K

In 1991 Albion also had Dave Marcinkowski, another strong big guy in the paint, Kzoo had 6-9 Ron Barczak, and Hope had 6-9 Wade Gugino.  There were some big boys playing in the MIAA in those days.

[northb]

Although some of those games were blowouts, I am reminded about how many games were barnburning close calls that could have changed the direction of that season.

[thealmascots]

Ron Barczak was a tough player for Kazoo, but he was an off guard.  The big guy you are thinking of was Mike Buss.  I believe he was closer to 6'11"  Not a ton of talent, but definitely a difference maker in the MIAA, which doesn't see many 6'11" guys.

[MIAAFAN3002]

anyone want to put together an all decade MIAA team?

[thealmascots]

Aaron Winkle - Calvin
Travis DePree - Albion
Jeremy Veenstra - Calvin
Stephen Cramer - Hope
Andy Phillips - Hope