MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Nobody's really talked much about the Adrian-Hope match-up.  Will Adrian give Hope a game?  Thoughts?  They came within four at the DeVos earlier in the year.  My prediction would be Hope by 17.

True, Adrian gave Hope a real fight on the road but lost to Hope rather convincingly at home. I expect a closer first half before Hope wins by at least 15.

[Happy Calvin Guy]

Nobody's really talked much about the Adrian-Hope match-up.  Will Adrian give Hope a game?  Thoughts?  They came within four at the DeVos earlier in the year.  My prediction would be Hope by 17.

True, Adrian gave Hope a real fight on the road but lost to Hope rather convincingly at home. I expect a closer first half before Hope wins by at least 15.

I'm guessing that Adrian is not resting on their laurels to capture a Pool C bid so they'll come out to play.    However reality will set in and I agree with the prediction of Hope by 15-20 on the home floor.

[dumezrules]

GRCH: when I graduated from Holland Christian about a third of my graduating class went to Calvin. I don't know what the current numbers are, but I know they're much lower. One big reason: Grand Valley. For student-athletes, the price tag might be prohibitive (even if I think it ought not be; as far as I'm concerned the additional $30K of debt you might accrue at an MIAA school versus a state school is money well spent and never to be regretted - even if I expect someone to note that's easy for me to say  ).

Maybe because annual average salaries (inflation-adjusted of course) have not really appreciably changed since 1990 (about 27000) while (I will speak of Hope since I have experience there....) tuition plus room and board has increased by 200-300%!!!  (1990 tuition, fees, room and board about 13,000; today about $30,000)

[scottiedawg]

GRCH: when I graduated from Holland Christian about a third of my graduating class went to Calvin. I don't know what the current numbers are, but I know they're much lower. One big reason: Grand Valley. For student-athletes, the price tag might be prohibitive (even if I think it ought not be; as far as I'm concerned the additional $30K of debt you might accrue at an MIAA school versus a state school is money well spent and never to be regretted - even if I expect someone to note that's easy for me to say  ).

One of my friends went to Holland Christian, and he reports that 38% of last year's class went to Calvin. 

[sac]

One of my friends went to Holland Christian, and he reports that 38% of last year's class went to Calvin. 

0.45% of my graduating class went to Hope.  0% went to Calvin and 32% thought it was cool to go to college.

[KnightSlappy]

When did KVS bashing became so cool?   I know that there was a post from a current Calvin student expressing his disappointment in KVS's player rotations and coaching but I have to disagree with him.  KVS is not usually one to play a short bench.  Even in the most crucial games he plays his rotation the same way he always does and sometimes that means taking out a "hot hand" (John Mantel asked to be subbed out in the game in Holland).  I think that this consistency helps Calvin down the stretch.  We can point fingers all we want but last I checked the Knights have made the Tournament 4 years running with a Final Four in there.  In first year at Calvin I was very frustrated by KVS's bench rotations.  To me it seemed like he would mix it up so much that the best players were never on the floor at the same time.  What I realized later that year is when you play the players the same no matter how "big" the game is they get comfortable with it and by the end of the year when it really counts you can win some big games.

[KnightSlappy]

GRCH: when I graduated from Holland Christian about a third of my graduating class went to Calvin. I don't know what the current numbers are, but I know they're much lower. One big reason: Grand Valley. For student-athletes, the price tag might be prohibitive (even if I think it ought not be; as far as I'm concerned the additional $30K of debt you might accrue at an MIAA school versus a state school is money well spent and never to be regretted - even if I expect someone to note that's easy for me to say  ).

Maybe because annual average salaries (inflation-adjusted of course) have not really appreciably changed since 1990 (about 27000) while (I will speak of Hope since I have experience there....) tuition plus room and board has increased by 200-300%!!!  (1990 tuition, fees, room and board about 13,000; today about $30,000)

I don't think this phenomenon is exclusive to Calvin, Hope, or the rest of the MIAA.

[sac]

 Plenty of various Christian High kids have played for Hope.  

But far fewer than people realize.  But you might say, and I think I would agree that some of Hope's best teams (95-98 and 06-08) had at least 4+ Christian school kids on the roster.

2008
Ryan Klein, Timothy
Cody Canan, Calvin
Scott Glaser, Lenawee
Marcus Vanderheide, Calvin
Derek VanSolkema, South
only 1 on the JV from Lansing

2007
Ryan Klein, Timothy
Brett Jager, Kalamazoo
Scott Glaser, Lenawee
Marcus Vanderheide, Calvin
Derek VanSolkema, South
Tim Dykgraaf, South

2006
Ryan Klein, Timothy
Brett Jager, Kalamazoo
Marcus Vanderheide, Calvin
Derek VanSolkema, South

2005
Brett Jager, Kalamazoo
Danny Brown, South
Peter Overbeek, Holland

2004
Peter Overbeek, Holland
Nate Weaver, South

2003
Don Overbeek, Calvin

2002
Jason Kingma, Grand Rapids Baptist
John Veldt, South
Don Overbeek, Calvin

2001
Kyle Maas, Tri-Unity
Don Overbeek, Calvin

2000
Kevin Van Timmeran, Grand Rapids
Kyle Maas, Tri-Unity

From the 90's, back to 1993
Kyle Phelps, Holland
Joel Holstege, Covenant
Josh Canan, Holland
Brandon Goodyke, Unity
Jason Vander Woude, Grand Rapids
David Meulenberg, Covenant
Duane Bosma, Calvin
Brad Duistermars, Holland
Jim Klinger, Grand Rapids

In 17 years the total number of kids from Christian schools who played varsity for Hope = 24 and about 6 or 7 were no more than bit players or practice guys.
South Christian =5
Holland Christian =4
Calvin Christian =4
Grand Rapids Christian =3
Covenant Christian =2
Kzoo =2
Unity Christian =1
Tri-Unity =1
Lenawee =1
Timothy =1

Hope's only had 2 kids come dirctly from Holland Christian to Hope, 3 from South, and 2 from Calvin Christian.........and I'm not so sure about a couple others.  Obviously these do not include JV players, but I'm sure that list is also not as long as some might think.

[Gregory Sager]

yes maybe 2 great games friday night with albion and calvin  at  6.00  8.15 hope and the adrian  can albion beat calvin 3 times in a seasson 

I don't know its pretty hard to beat a team 3 times in one year.      

[shortshorts]

Reason #2851 why DIII is better than DI:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/grant_wahl/02/26/abusive.fans0303/index.html

Let's hope it never gets like this.

I'm a first time poster, but regular visitor. I just had to respond to the link above.

I wouldn't necessarily say DIII is better. I attend the Witt-Woo game (at Witt) every year with my father-in-law and have consistently been appalled at fan behavior. Two years ago it escalated into the entire Wittenberg student section chanting "F--- you, Wooster!" Unsportsmanlike conduct at it's best. The worst was after the game when a large majority of the Wittenberg students (mainly football players) flipped off (among other things) the Wooster fans as they left the arena (while wearing their conference championship rings on their middle fingers). The Wooster fans, mind you, weren't much better.

The Wittenberg A.D. stood between the two sides and watched the entire thing. The bottleneck at the door pretty much brought the crowd to a standstill. He could have taken a picture of each student with all the time he had. Now, before I get bashed by any Witt or Woo fans, let me just say that not all the fans acted like this. Many acted maturely, but it didn't seem like anyone was too upset about the ugly behavior after the game.

A.D. Honderd (A.D. when I attended Calvin) would have dished out a lot of suspensions (as I'm sure Hope's A.D. would have). Then again, I know it would have never gotten to that point. During my 4 years at Calvin, I don't remember a single incident that was a bad as that one night at any of the games I attended. At that moment, I was pretty proud to be a part of the MIAA and the Calvin-Hope rivalry.

[dothedew]

I recall being brought into the office of Ray Smith with a few other Dew Crew members to....question a few things back in the day...which we changed for him. It makes things difficult b/c someone looking from the outside doesn't always understand that there are a LOT of kids playing in the MIAA that went to high school with members of the cheering section. That means we have dirt/inside jokes/etc on those players...and it's all in good fun.
My favorite moment in the Dew Crew was singing a Macy Gray song to Mike Dyson from Olivet when he was shooting free throws. Looking at it from the outside that might look wrong on our part...but Mike and I go back to grade school together in Kalamazoo.
On the DePauw/Hope argument that has been "put to bed" I was also at that game and I don't want to talk about it anymore....but the thing to consider is that the Regional Rankings are out...and it looks like the Hope women will be in for ANOTHER trip to that "environment"
I think that is something that needs to be considered.
But Sac is right...we will cross that bridge when we get there.
HOPE PLAYS
HOPE WINS

[northb]

Reason #2851 why DIII is better than DI:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/grant_wahl/02/26/abusive.fans0303/index.html

Let's hope it never gets like this.

I'm a first time poster, but regular visitor. I just had to respond to the link above.

I wouldn't necessarily say DIII is better. I attend the Witt-Woo game (at Witt) every year with my father-in-law and have consistently been appalled at fan behavior. Two years ago it escalated into the entire Wittenberg student section chanting "F--- you, Wooster!" Unsportsmanlike conduct at it's best. The worst was after the game when a large majority of the Wittenberg students (mainly football players) flipped off (among other things) the Wooster fans as they left the arena (while wearing their conference championship rings on their middle fingers). The Wooster fans, mind you, weren't much better.

The Wittenberg A.D. stood between the two sides and watched the entire thing. The bottleneck at the door pretty much brought the crowd to a standstill. He could have taken a picture of each student with all the time he had. Now, before I get bashed by any Witt or Woo fans, let me just say that not all the fans acted like this. Many acted maturely, but it didn't seem like anyone was too upset about the ugly behavior after the game.

A.D. Honderd (A.D. when I attended Calvin) would have dished out a lot of suspensions (as I'm sure Hope's A.D. would have). Then again, I know it would have never gotten to that point. During my 4 years at Calvin, I don't remember a single incident that was a bad as that one night at any of the games I attended. At that moment, I was pretty proud to be a part of the MIAA and the Calvin-Hope rivalry.

Welcome to the board S.S.--may you have many Calvin wins to post about over the next few weeks.

[AndersDY]

Sadly, during my 4 years in Ohio, I managed to miss far too many of the Witt games, but can back up the other posters based on the games I did go to in saying that the Calvin-Hope game is not at risk of being anywhere within the same realm of behavior as Woo-Witt crowds. One of my favorite things, outside of the game itself, that I saw at the last Calvin matchup was Calvin's warm ups right in front of the Dew Crew during which the students were handing out a whole bunch of joking and prodding, but it was all in fun spirits and guys like Veldhouse and Griffin were slapping hands and joking back with them. While there might be back and forth "hate" on the basketball court and in the MIAA standings, that rivalry does not disintegrate into full on hate.

I could tell some stories, but they mainly involved the football games rather than basketball, so I won't risk more chastising about being off-topic, but unlike my Hope/Calvin feelings, I can say that I HATE Witt.

[Civic Minded]

Not many Albion tickets have been sold for tonight, which seems weird.  Some big event in Albion tonight that is keeping folks at home?

[sac]

Not many Albion tickets have been sold for tonight, which seems weird.  Some big event in Albion tonight that is keeping folks at home?

Every 4 years on Feb 29, Ashabi throws a blowout party..........this year he invited other people.

Albion's home attendance I think is the lowest avg I can remember in awhile.  I'm not sure if high school basketball would affect their attendance numbers (probably not) but Jackson Lumen Christi and Marshall play each other in a district final tonight, with Albion playing another in nearby Homer.

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One of my funny memories from last year at Aurora was all the security personel on hand to keep the rivalry in line.....................and seeing how relaxed they were about 20 minutes into the game.