MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Dew Nation]

I agree with SAC that was a hard but great game to watch.  It felt like we were playing 3 on 5 in the first half offensively with Jesse sick / not shooting well and Wolf appearing to be allergic to the ball.  When the scoring balanced out in the second half it was obvious that Hope would prevail.

A few interesting moments:

- About 5 minutes in when Hope starts their run.  MVH tries to reinact his Calvin low post dominance against a much better post defender in Wiele.  IT worked for a few buckets and his energy was contagious, but he couldn't keep it up.

- I have never heard the boos reverberate in the Devos quite like last night.  The ref were disliked by both sides last night for some crazy second half calls against hope and non calls that hurt Wheaton in the 1st half.  We were all over raymond all night and he got very few calls to go his way. 

Congrats to these Dutchmen.  They have been clutch all season and it is great to see them rewarded.  How many teams have clutch shooters at all 5 starting positions.  Makes them pretty hard to match up with in Salem.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Without question Hope did a terrific job on Raymond, a real team effort with Van Solkema, Carter and Ryan "Kryptonite" Klein teaming up and trading off on him most of the night.

Absolutely awesome nickname, sac - and appropriate.  Someone posted earlier about how Klein has really affected the other teams top scorers over the last few games, and last night was equally inpressive - holding Raymond to 6 second half points.

A couple of intersting signs in the Wheaton section last night...

"Everybody loves Raymond" - might be true, but that show has been cancelled

"Hope is a girls name" - may be true, but that "girl" handed your team it's only two double digit losses this year.

[Dew Nation]

I might be wrong but I think at least 4 of those 6 were free throws.  maybe all 6.  great senior year for Klein who has had a rollercoaster career at hope.

[usee]

I might be wrong but I think at least 4 of those 6 were free throws.  maybe all 6.  great senior year for Klein who has had a rollercoaster career at hope.

Raymond had 4 free throws and 1 FG in the second half. He also shot the ball very few times and had 3 assists. Wheaton scored 38 pts in the second half. I actually don't think Hope's defense of Raymond was that surprising. When you run 2 defenders at a guy every time he touches the ball he isn't going to get many shots. Wheaton did everything they wanted to do last night and played great. Hope played better.

When a team like Hope shoots 62.5% from the arc including 10-13 in the second half no one is going to beat them. The reality is this game was won on offense, not defense. Wheaton scored 38 pts in the second half but Hope scored 49 (30 from the land of 3).  If Hope simply shoots a little closer to their season average from the arc, this is a tossup game down the stretch.

Congrats to Hope for a well deserved victory and good luck in Salem.

[HopeConvert]

Some additional thoughts from last night's game:

*Hope did hit an amazing percentage of its 3-point shots, but part of that was because a fair number of those shots were nearly uncontested, and part of that was due to the fact that Wheaton appeared to wear out in the second half. The lack of depth on Wheaton's bench really showed (only about 10 minutes of bench play until garbage time). Hope got really important minutes from Osburn, Tanis, and Carter (33 minutes total), and simply looked fresher at the end of the game.

*Wheaton shot a solid 50% in the second half. A lot of that was a result of close-range shots because the defense had rotated over on Raymond. I count 6 Wheaton turnovers in the second half, four of them by Raymond. More importantly, Hope did a great job denying him the ball. With Jahns bringing the ball up the floor, the Sonic Disturbance had difficulty getting the ball into Raymond's hands where he could do something positive with it. As Usee pointed out, Wheaton did post 38 points in the second half, but I think were quite gassed on the defensive end.

*I was afraid things were getting a little too chippy between Marcus and Wiele. I thought the refs did a nice job talking to the players about the physical nature of the play, and keeping things under control. Sure, there were questionable calls, but I thought they were fairly evenly disbursed. At least no official missed a double dribble that happened right in front of him! Derek did an amazing job on a bad knee (according to Sentinel report, he could barely walk when he woke up) handling the relentless pressure Jahns put on him (Jahns reminds me a lot of Veldhouse, down to the number, but with a better defensive game) and going without a turnover.

*Poor sac. At one point, with about 5 minutes left in the game, I looked over at him and he had his hoodie pulled up over his face so that only a small slit of his eyes were showing. He didn't look like he was enjoying himself. 

*I know Stinger is going to roll his eyes over this one, but I have to say that in my four years of following Hope basketball, this is the best coaching job I have seen. I hadn't been a fan of the substitution patterns the last couple of years, but I thought the last half of the season has been really well-handled. I like the way they run their offense and defense. I sure didn't see Hope going to Salem this year, and I think the coaching staff deserves a lot of credit.

[hope1]

ticket annoucment   monday     

and for anyone that would like to take a fan bus for hope can call  616-395-7250  no earlier  then  10.00 am   monday

[AndersDY]

Well, one thing we learned is that no one should challenge Wheaton in a half-court shot contest ever. That first shooter actually had a hand right in his face at the time and the second half shot didn't count but was far more than half court. I wasn't quite as nervous about it at half as Sac; I would have preferred the 5 or 7 point lead at the half, but any lead looked just fine following the 10-0 start.

I don't know which conference refs we had either night, but there appeared to be reason for a lot of that booing. We almost lost Wolfe to a knee-injury on a non-foul call. And I think Klein has now been called for the first "catching a ball that happened to bounce to you" foul in basketball history. I'm pretty sure I'm remembering this right: has anyone ever watched two consecutive basketball games with a total of 0 travelling calls? I guess this just teaches us to remember next conference season that the grass is not necessarily greener elsewhere.

A lot to love about the D3 basketball atmosphere this weekend. After both games, including before the full-on Final Four celebration with the Dew Crew last night, the two teams engaged in about the slowest, most-talkative handshake lines I've ever seen. Raymond gave the Wheaton crowd a standing-O on the way out (I thought he was a Sr, with him and Wiele back next year, yikes). Anyone who listened to the end of the ladies game after the men heard a nice little post-game prayer huddle tradition that HPU has, the WHTC announcer was whispering like he was announcing on the 18th green as the whole scene paused for a silent moment. Who needs the big time tourney? (Well, certainly not a UM fan in recent years  )

[Mr. Ypsi]

Since Raymond skipped his sophomore year for personal reasons, he has a year of eligibility left, but he is a senior academically and it has been widely reported that he will not be coming back.  A shame for pure fans of the game (though a relief to those of us who are fans of other CCIW teams ).

With Wiele and Panner a year older, and Jahns no longer an enigmatic freshman, they'll still be a dangerous team, but probably not a tourney team.  (Unless they recruit a freshman who can do what Raymond did as a freshman - shudder!)

[hope1]

raymond is a good player   i think he will do very good over seas  playing basketball

[Mr. Ypsi]

raymond is a good player   i think he will do very good over seas  playing basketball

I'm sure he would, but reportedly he already has a job lined up in his field in Chicago.

[sac]

Thought I'd pass on that former Olivet grad and basketball alum Darren Zwick coached his Lansing Catholic Central team to the Class B State Championship yesterday.

Its the first 'B' title for the Lansing area in 26 seasons, Okemos '82 (which was the year #1 Okemos beat #3 Eaton Rapids by 2 in the first round of districts, and went on to win every game by 20.......not a sore spot though )

[Titan Q]

Since Raymond skipped his sophomore year for personal reasons, he has a year of eligibility left, but he is a senior academically and it has been widely reported that he will not be coming back.  A shame for pure fans of the game (though a relief to those of us who are fans of other CCIW teams ).

With Wiele and Panner a year older, and Jahns no longer an enigmatic freshman, they'll still be a dangerous team, but probably not a tourney team.  (Unless they recruit a freshman who can do what Raymond did as a freshman - shudder!)

Wheaton is going to have a really good recruiting class.  I think one of their top recruits - a kid they're close to getting - is from Michigan.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Thunder are very good next year behind Wiele, Panner, Jahns, and youngsters.

[AndersDY]

Thought I'd pass on that former Olivet grad and basketball alum Darren Zwick coached his Lansing Catholic Central team to the Class B State Championship yesterday.

Did they revoke his status as a graduate for some reason?

[hopehoopfan]

[/quote]

Wheaton is going to have a really good recruiting class.  I think one of their top recruits - a kid they're close to getting - is from Michigan.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Thunder are very good next year behind Wiele, Panner, Jahns, and youngsters.
[/quote]

Well, not much has been said about Hope recruits for next year, but with making the final four and very possibly first or second in the nation, look for Hope to reel in some quality freshman as well(maybe even the kid from Michigan  ). Combined with this year's freshman/sophomores, Hope stands to be right back in the mix of things for the next few years.

[usee]

Most recruiting classes are baked by now so its doubtful any new recruits would choode Hope as a result of this year. It could certainly impact the decisions of their current crop. Either way replacing 4 srs in the starting lineup will be a tall task.