MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[hoopdreams]

I spoke with a former Calvin great yesterday and he too, said that Engelsma was done.  Have to say that its nice to see a kid with his priorities in line and focused on the next phase of his life.  It sure beats hearing about kids getting booted for breaking laws/codes, constantly partying, not graduating,etc...

He also mentioned that he's not getting too excited about the big kids hs stats, coming from what looked to be against really small schools.  But the size, if it's legit will be welcome.

i was asked if i knew anything about Hope getting a big man last minute.  Had heard he was from out west of something.  Anyone know about this rumor?  I'm starting to wonder if Hope will have to play with two balls to keep everyone happy next year.  Offensively, they are going to be exceptional once they gel and learn how to win without wolfe, dvs, marcus, and klein carrying them. 

If all these players are actually coming, their jv team would finish in the top half of the MIAA

[realist]

hd  "I'm starting to wonder if Hope will have to play with two balls to keep everyone happy next year."
I really can't believe you lobbed that easy one up there.   
I had about 25 zingers typed and ready to post than remembered some  posters fail to see the humor in any post that has Hope as the object.

[wolverinekeith]

i was asked if i knew anything about Hope getting a big man last minute.  Had heard he was from out west of something.  Anyone know about this rumor?  I'm starting to wonder if Hope will have to play with two balls to keep everyone happy next year.  Offensively, they are going to be exceptional once they gel and learn how to win without wolfe, dvs, marcus, and klein carrying them. 

If all these players are actually coming, their jv team would finish in the top half of the MIAA

For those of us out of the loop on these things, can you enlighten?  Bunn & who else?  I'm continually amazed at how Hope consistently slaughters Calvin in recruiting. 

[devossed]

i was asked if i knew anything about Hope getting a big man last minute.  Had heard he was from out west of something.  Anyone know about this rumor?  I'm starting to wonder if Hope will have to play with two balls to keep everyone happy next year.  Offensively, they are going to be exceptional once they gel and learn how to win without wolfe, dvs, marcus, and klein carrying them. 

If all these players are actually coming, their jv team would finish in the top half of the MIAA

For those of us out of the loop on these things, can you enlighten?  Bunn & who else?  I'm continually amazed at how Hope consistently slaughters Calvin in recruiting. 

keith, this post below may help a little...and i'm not sure but i think the "out-west" guy might be luke taylor, a transfer from (montana state? but didn't play there) -- he's probably about 6-4 to 6-5, but built like a defensive end...hope had a one-year JV'er like that about 8-10 years ago named duane mccollum, who went on to star on the gridiron...from the talk of the old dutch faithful at monday night rec leagues, this taylor guy makes him look small.

of course, that doesn't mean there isn't another big guy i haven't heard about yet.

i think SAC and FDF have really hit it on the head with their thoughts on the transfer situation at Hope...the reality is, nearly every one of those kids who transferred over has earned (or is on pace to earn) a degree from hope (hogeboom being the 1 exception). they first come for and get a great education, but the other reasons are compelling: to play for a legendary mentor, and because hope showed an interest in them out of high school, and because basketball is sometimes secondary to life.

that being said, this could be the most wide-open roster hope has seen in years:

+ 8-9 returnees (depending on canan trying out, as sac mentioned)
+ 7 JVs who i could see trying out (boersma, carroll, cox, guimond, keyser, nelis, wiese)
+ 3-4 transfers (cornerstone's boys + jorin scott) (NOW + BUNN)
+ a host of freshman with talent: krombeen, king, neil, ross, parkes, wilmers

**easily 25 guys who can vie for 13-15 spots? should be an interesting summer league, to say the least.

[Civic Minded]

Taylor is the mystery man who played at the Courthouse a few weeks back.  He had been in town helping with Hope's camps.  Muscular, quick, 6'-4" or so; they tell me he's a good friend of Reimink.  Looks like he would be a great addition...if they can find the room.  It's going to be an interesting elimination process.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Interesting tryouts for sure, with some difficult decisions to be made. 

Consider the point guard position.  Coming back from last years team are Brandon Bosch and Kelvin Carter.  Brandon proved to be a valuable player off the bench last year - brining great quicknexx and a nose for the basket.  Carter, despite battling through several injuries, showed flashes of greatness and good court vision.  Add to that two transfers - Peter Bunn and Scott Jungling.  Both very capable of running this team as well.  But you don't carry 4 point guards on a team, so maybe you move one of the to the two guard, but you have the same kind of situation there...

At times like this, I'm thankful I'm not the one who has to make those decisions.

[realist]

wk:  I understand your point about Calvin seemingly being out recruited than I just think about last year,   Remember all the "superstars", "fab 4 or 5 fr", etc.  talk we heard about Hope getting last year, and than I recall who was getting all the pt at the end of the year for them.  I wouldn't worry too much until the whistle blows at a possible HOF game in Nov. or Jan 17th.  Unless of course Hope figures out how to play more than five guys at once, or they find their other "ball" (I told hd this was just to easy, and I am weak, and yielded unto temptation)  
Frankly, at this point in time I see Hope doing much better in the MIAA next season than Calvin, and for that matter everyone else as well.  

[Stinger]

Peter Bunn is a damn good  player and should own that position when it comes down to it. 

And FDF, GVW has been making decisions like that for years with 3-4 deep at each position. I doubt if it's that big of a deal in his eyes.   Whatever it takes, right?

[NW Hope Fan]

And FDF, GVW has been making decisions like that for years with 3-4 deep at each position. I doubt if it's that big of a deal in his eyes.   Whatever it takes, right?

As long as the kids buy into the TEAM mentality of it.

Whatever it takes... Darn straight!!!

[sac]

So I tuned in the British Open this afternoon and for some reason they were replaying the 1998 Open with Greg Norman and David Duval, heck I even saw David Frost..........anyone know when they're going to show this years open?

<whisper, whisper, whisper>


What do mean that was live?

[wolverinekeith]

wk:  I understand your point about Calvin seemingly being out recruited than I just think about last year,   Remember all the "superstars", "fab 4 or 5 fr", etc.  talk we heard about Hope getting last year, and than I recall who was getting all the pt at the end of the year for them.  I wouldn't worry too much until the whistle blows at a possible HOF game in Nov. or Jan 17th.  Unless of course Hope figures out how to play more than five guys at once, or they find their other "ball" (I told hd this was just to easy, and I am weak, and yielded unto temptation)  
Frankly, at this point in time I see Hope doing much better in the MIAA next season than Calvin, and for that matter everyone else as well.  

Recruiting is a numbers game.  Bring in 4-6 highly regarded players every year and simple rules of probability shows us you're going to get a couple guys who really succeed. 

Calvin, as of late, has been in the tougher position of absolutely needing their recruits to pan out.  Scharps, for instance, is, as far as I'm aware, the only big man in his class, along with a wing and the guard from Cadillac (I forget their names...they're posted a couple pages back).

Seems like there's not as much pure competition for kids between the schools as there used to be, too.  Hope scours the state while Calvin seems to have a slightly more developed national recruiting base (well, in all the Dutch enclaves, of course) plus looks at the kids in metro Grand Rapids. 

[sac]

Some rare Lansing area love for a D3 player toinght.  From NBC WILX TV-10 of all places, who mentioned Ben Jerome of Kalamazoo as one of their top performers of the week for his 32 point performance in a Lansing Pro-Am game this weekend.

WILX was there doing some summer reports on MSU players and must have spotted Jerome tearing it up.

The Pro-Am league was mentioned on here before, I don't know who Jerome's team was playing.   Here's the link to the rosters 

http://michiganstate.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=313&mid=113782063&sid=951&tid=113782063&style=1

From the highlights I saw, not much D being played as you'd suspect.  Peter Bunn was supposed to be playing for one of those teams.

+k to WILX

[hoopdreams]

 If I had to take a guess based on what i've seen these kids do in hs/college, here it goes!  Feel free to  to respond, i'm sure you will...

Bunn will be the pg, carter will backup, bosch will be kept because of his work ethic and intensity,although he is not the best option as a pg (jungling, keyser karrol, krombeen)

tanis at the 2. the other 2 spots could go to either- jungling ( he has shown this summer to be as good, if not better, on the perimeter than boersma), ross (who I haven't seen play in two years), or Neil- who can play the 3 as well, with canan sitting below.  Cody is a great pickup/gus macker player, but doesn't look comfortable in a "structured" enviornment.  Plus this is a spot to get a youngster some experience. Boersma limitations other than being a solid spot up shooter may hurt his chances

i would love to see carter, bunn and tanis/riemink at the same time. 2 of the best slashers in the conference with a couple of shooters, oh the possibilities

Bowser, nelis, neil, reimink, montana boy can play the 3

Reimink may play a 4 at times and will definitely have to defend therer,sharples, jorin scott if he comes, is very limited on O but athletic, bowser if he gets stronger could be a more athletic version of klein at the 4, nelis/montana

Vennema, osburn and wiese (15th man, big body for practice, good attitude it seems).  I know i'm missing several names and options but i'm starting to get a headache.  have fun trashing this...

[hopehoopfan]

If I had to take a guess based on what i've seen these kids do in hs/college, here it goes!  Feel free to  to respond, i'm sure you will...

Bunn will be the pg, carter will backup, bosch will be kept because of his work ethic and intensity,although he is not the best option as a pg (jungling, keyser karrol, krombeen)

tanis at the 2. the other 2 spots could go to either- jungling ( he has shown this summer to be as good, if not better, on the perimeter than boersma), ross (who I haven't seen play in two years), or Neil- who can play the 3 as well, with canan sitting below.  Cody is a great pickup/gus macker player, but doesn't look comfortable in a "structured" enviornment.  Plus this is a spot to get a youngster some experience. Boersma limitations other than being a solid spot up shooter may hurt his chances

With the number of quality point/shooting guards(that can all hit from the perimeter) and lack of real height, maybe GVW ought to take a page out of Grinnell College's playbook. (Tongue somewhat in Cheek)  Check it out if you don't remember reading the piece or have never seen it! 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/stewart_mandel/01/31/grinnell.preview/

[Flea]

I've read about this guy and that guy.  Has anyone put together a list of 2008 men's basketball newcomers to the MIAA schools?