MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Hopester]

Big win for Albion. They showed a lot of guts today, winning at Adrian. Adrian had a chance to win it in regulation, but once again the end of regulation seems to be when Albion plays best. With now a third team on the list of teams they have beaten with late game heroics. (Hope and Calvin the other two)

Well now it is time for me to head over to watch the Hope Alma game tonight on Senior night. When I get back afterwards I HOPE I will be treated to seeing at least page 1000 on this board.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

I didn't hear the first 2 minutes of the game. Anyone know why Dan Holt started in MVH's place? I know its senior night but both are seniors so I wonder if there is another reason?

[sac]

I didn't hear the first 2 minutes of the game. Anyone know why Dan Holt started in MVH's place? I know its senior night but both are seniors so I wonder if there is another reason?

6 Seniors, 5 starting spots.  Holt and Glaser both started, Marcus took a seat.  Just a Senior thing.

[wiz]

Final note on the Calviln game.  I appropriately bring up this subject after a Calvin blowout so no one will think it's sour grapes.  The MIAA needs to retire Todd Geerlings.  Once again his bias showed through.  This afternoon he decided John Mantel would sit.  Geerlings personally called all four fouls on Mantel and did it in very short order.  They were all questionable and Mantel was only able to play 10 minutes.  Geerligs should not be allowed to ref any Calvin games. 

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Alma 43
Hope 92
Final

Hope wins convincingly on senior night. 14 players scored led by MVH's 13. Another mediocre night from the FT line 11-18. Hopefully, we'll see a much higher percentage on Wednesday.

[sac]

Hope 92 Alma 43.........ho hum game if ever there was one.

I think it was more impressive that Hope drew 3,573 for Alma.


VanderHeide 13, Wolfe 11, Bowser 10

Hope hits 13 treys

[Hopester]

I am disappointed not even to 1000 yet?!?! Guess thats what we get when we have a blow out like this one. Every player scored. Nothing big to note. Dominant performance over an obviously inferior team. We are ready for Calvin. They seem to be as well. I am ready for this game!!!

[sac]

Tonight's top performers

Double-double's
Drew Yancy, Albion 11 pts, 10rebs vs Adrian
Michael McClary, Olivet 15 pts, 14rebs vs Tri-State

Scoring
Tony Benford, Tri-State 31 pts vs Olivet
Derek Griffin, Calvin 24 pts vs Kzoo
Caleb Veldhouse, Calvin 23 pts vs Kzoo
Desmond Young, Adrian 23 pts vs Albion
Ryan Gallus, Adrian 17 pts vs Albion

Today was Albion's 4th OT game of the season, they are 3-1 the lone loss coming to D2 Hillsdale, counting the OT's its the 7th game this season Albion's played decided by 5 points or less. They are 6-1

First multiple overtime game for a league team since the 2006 season.  Kzoo v Elmhurst.

First multiple overtime game in a league contest since the 2003 season.  Adrian 84 Olivet 79 2OT at Adrian

First multiple overtime game for Albion since the 2003 season, Kzoo 89 Albion 82 2OT at Kalamazoo.

Adrian had won 6 overtime contest in a row.

[HopeConvert]

I was nervous reading about Calvin's game, but I don't care how poor your opponent is, doubling them up is pretty impressive. If Griffin is back to form and playing with confidence, it could be a real interesting game on Wednesday. With Albion's win, Hope will need a victory. I'm pretty sure we'd rather have the tournament on our home floor.

Question: let's say Hope loses to Calvin, beats Tri-State, and then loses in the tournament. That gives them five losses (four in-region) on the year. I assume that would still be good enough for a Pool C bid - wouldn't it?

[Happy Calvin Guy]

The Happy Calvin Guy is quite happy about today's convincing win heading into Wed's big game.  Nice to see the leaders step up and put the Hornets away early. 

Yes it took nearly a 50 pt win, but looks like GVW finally decided that his starting five didn't need to play the whole game.  12 players in double figures minutes. 

At the risk of being admonished for daring to mention a women's game on this board, I will say that GVW's effort today was upstaged by the Hope women.  All 16 players on the roster played between 9 and 16 minutes.  http://www.miaa.org/wbb/stats/0708/0216adrw.htm Check out that crazy boxscore!  And congrats to the Hope women on clinching the MIAA crown.   

I predict that Wed's game will be another classic.  Go Knights!

[sac]

  All 16 players on the roster played between 9 and 16 minutes.  http://www.miaa.org/wbb/stats/0708/0216adrw.htm Check out that crazy boxscore!  And congrats to the Hope women on clinching the MIAA crown.   

Thats actually a pretty standard boxscore for the women.  Typically everyone plays.

The starters average 20, 20, 16, 16 and 20 minutes per game.  Everyone avg's at least 5 min per contest.  Just the way Mo has chosen to go with that team.  Their depth is unbelieveable.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

While all the players are young and have plenty of time to rebound I think its great Hope had an easy game tonight that allowed the starters to play fewer minutes than normal. I think Hope will need a huge effort to win on Wednesday. I expect with this being a home game we'll see more from Hope's bench both in minutes played and points contributed.

[Happy Calvin Guy]

1000 pages!  Thanks to everyone for great discussion and being welcoming to a new poster like me.  MIAA fans are the best d3 fans in the country.

[KnightSlappy]

Let me begin by saying that, even though I am a stout Hope fan, I cannot and will not dispute the fact that Kevin VandeStreek is a great coach.  (He does have one more national championship than Glenn)  However, that does not excuse him from critique or criticism.  For the third straight time while I have been closely following it, Calvin's season will hinge largely, if not entirely on whether they win the MIAA tournament and the automatic NCAA bid.  Their talent is unquestioned, evidenced by the beating of a Washington University squad that had Sean Wallis, and is clearly one of the best teams in the country. IMHO, the logical connection I make is if an extremely talented team loses eight games (and not playing a UAA type schedule) the blame falls on something other than the players themselves, namely the coaching staff, and specifically the head coach.  You can mention Griffin's ankle, Mantel's partial stagnation, Veltema's sophomore slump, Veldhouse's illness during the Hope game, etc, but I see inconsistent effort, especially defensively, lack of leadership, and poor ball movement, which would all point to the coach.  If I were a Calvin fan, I would be frustrated knowing that by the end of the year my team would be playing well enough to make a legitimate NCAA run, but their early and mid season play gave them a small chance of even making the tournament.  Yes, teams take a while to gel, but 3/4+ games into the season?  Something is amiss here.  Thoughts, questions, comments to put me in my place, docking of my karma?

I believe Calvin has 4 in-region losses now.  A 1 point loss to Wheaton (I believe Wheaton is in-region this year), a 1 point loss to Albion, a 3 point loss to Hope, and a 5 point loss to Albion.  While coaching is especially important in close games I don't think you can blame KVS for Calvin not being in the running for a Pool C tournament bid.  They have only really had one game that they weren't in (a 16 point loss at AQ)  the coach can only get you so far but the players have to win the games.  This season just show how important it is to win the close games.  This season may be seen as mediocre by Calvin standards but their 4 in region loses only total 10 points!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Unless the NCAA has re-measured, Calvin and Wheaton are not in-region (by about 2 miles).