MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Mr. Ypsi]

I was also surprised to see Hope in the Top 25. I think a lot of that is respect for the program as a whole and an expectation that Hope can keep reloading. While I think Hope can reload I fear the team is too young and inexperienced. I think by the MIAA season the team has the potential to be very solid but I expect some growing pains in the first few months.

I took a lot of ribbing on CCIW Chat for my optimism about IWU (which will get the overwhelming majority of its performance from sophomores and freshmen).  I responded in a way that should resonate even more on Lets Talk MIAA: "I'm also a UM fan.  Two words: Fab Five."

Yeah, but most MIAA schools can't pay enough for players like that... 

True, but fortunately neither can their d3 opponents!

[sac]

I was also surprised to see Hope in the Top 25. I think a lot of that is respect for the program as a whole and an expectation that Hope can keep reloading. While I think Hope can reload I fear the team is too young and inexperienced. I think by the MIAA season the team has the potential to be very solid but I expect some growing pains in the first few months.

I took a lot of ribbing on CCIW Chat for my optimism about IWU (which will get the overwhelming majority of its performance from sophomores and freshmen).  I responded in a way that should resonate even more on Lets Talk MIAA: "I'm also a UM fan.  Two words: Fab Five."

Yeah, but most MIAA schools can't pay enough for players like that... 

Michigan's still paying

[GoKnights68]

Calvin's roster has been posted.  In addition to Griffin and Engelsma gone are Koetsier, Schuster and Van Harn.  This leaves 6 seniors, 3 juniors and 5 listed sophs.
One of the juniors, and two of the sophs are "dare I say the word" transfers.     
Hopefully one of the transfer will be able to play some time at center or Mantel is going to see alot of minutes. 
Interesting to see Hope at #20.  That MIAA/CCIW matchup with Wheaton will provide a pretty good indication if it is too high. 

Maybe because everyone that came off of Hope's bench last year knew how to shoot the lights out.

[hoopdreams]

I may be in the minority, but I don't think the youth of Hope will be much of a factor. Obviously, the early games (wheaton/AQ) may not be pretty at times, but Wheaton will be a top 10 team this year and possibly make it to VA. And truth be told, the MIAA top to bottom, is not the most challenging schedule and will allow them to grow throughout the conference season. 

Hope has arguably the most valuable player in Reimink (not the best numbers nor carrier of a team=veldhouse).  Their backcourt will be outstanding (trust me), they will have decent size the the paint (it is helpful but not necessary), and long, athletic wings. 

The inexperienced youth is very talented, period.  There were many times last year in practice, where they sounded outplayed the starters in scrimmage situations. 

Rankings at this point in the season are meaningless and pointless.  Simply to get the chatter started, which thankfully it did.

[KnightSlappy]

And truth be told, the MIAA top to bottom, is not the most challenging schedule and will allow them to grow throughout the conference season. 

Hope has arguably the most valuable player in Reimink (not the best numbers nor carrier of a team=veldhouse). 

The MIAA may not be the BEST conference top to bottom but they can hold their own.  You can usually count on Calvin, Hope, and Albion to be VERY solid and of course, Trine has superior speed and athleticism  .

Not the most convincing argument that Reimink will be the MVP.  Usually the MVP either has the best numbers or is the carrier of a team. 

[calvin_grad]

Calvin's roster has been posted.  In addition to Griffin and Engelsma gone are Koetsier, Schuster and Van Harn. 

Any insight from Calvin fans (or anyone else) as to why Koetsier and Schuster are not on the team this year?  Injuries? Cut? Just decided they were done w/ hoops?

[ChicagoHopeNut]

And truth be told, the MIAA top to bottom, is not the most challenging schedule and will allow them to grow throughout the conference season. 

Hope has arguably the most valuable player in Reimink (not the best numbers nor carrier of a team=veldhouse). 

The MIAA may not be the BEST conference top to bottom but they can hold their own.  You can usually count on Calvin, Hope, and Albion to be VERY solid and of course, Trine has superior speed and athleticism  .

Not the most convincing argument that Reimink will be the MVP.  Usually the MVP either has the best numbers or is the carrier of a team. 

I take your point but I can see what hoopdreams is saying. I think if you took Reimink away from Hope it would cost Hope more victories this year than taking Veldhouse from Calvin would. I think his leadership and experience are critical. Moreover, he has the ability to step up and score 30 to carry the team. He won't do that every game but he is capable and I suspect we'll see a couple games this year where he does that very thing.

[MIdoubleA]

Maybe because everyone that came off of Hope's bench last year knew how to shoot the lights out.

Whoa, preseason compliments! Thank you sir

I see the use of long athletic wings as the new "spread" offense for basketball. It used to be all about two guards and one bigman, but  I think that idea has slowly been changing.

I also enjoy seeing a starting 5 where their height differential is 6 inches. It generally means you are getting some explosive team that's fun to watch and plays "bigger" than they actually are.

And my final meandering thought of today: welcome back everyone!

[ChicagoHopeNut]

I also enjoy seeing a starting 5 where their height differential is 6 inches. It generally means you are getting some explosive team that's fun to watch and plays "bigger" than they actually are.

Explosive maybe but can Hope match the superior speed and athleticism of Trine.  Can anyone? These are the question I ponder at night. (Oh, and at work).

[CalvinChelseaMom]

Calvin's roster has been posted.  In addition to Griffin and Engelsma gone are Koetsier, Schuster and Van Harn. 

Any insight from Calvin fans (or anyone else) as to why Koetsier and Schuster are not on the team this year?  Injuries? Cut? Just decided they were done w/ hoops?

Koetsier due to injuries. Schuster due to health issues; hopefully he'll be back next season!

[sac]

An interesting aspect to Hope's season will be just how much attention Jesse Reimink draws.  Last season he certainly benefited from teams playing mucho defense on Vanderheide, VanSolkema and Wolfe......those 3 typically drew the 3 best defenders (but not always) which left Reimink on the 4th or 5th guy, which was usually poison for the opponent.  I don't expect Jesse to get anywhere near the number of wide open looks he got last season.  He's most certainly going to draw one of the top 2 defenders, unless Hope gets some unexpected good play in the middle, which has been a big giant donut for several years, or their guards prove to be more than most can handle, which is actually more likely.

The way things set up this year, Reimink is almost always going to draw the other teams best defensive forward, in most cases that will mean a height disadvantage for Jesse, and a mobility advantage for Jesse.    How well he takes advantage of that mobility and finishes the play is going to determine whether he's in MVP category.

I would certainly call Jesse an MVP candidate, he's not my favorite, but I suspect he'll be in the conversation at the midway point of the season.

-------------------------------

Touching on Hope's youth.........

Hope will be learning how to win on the fly,  Reimink and Osburn are the only two players on the team who were on the floor at the final critical minutes that win games last season.  Maybe Tanis some too.  The rest of this team has never faced the final 5 minutes in a tight game with the ball in their hands as Hope players.

One of the biggest strengths of last years starting 5 was their knowing how to win.  I can think of about 5 games that were won on experience alone.

The games early (cstone, Aquinas, wheaton, carthage) should provide ample tests in ability to see exactly what Hope has and what they need to work on.  Getting some wins out of those games would be positive, obviously.  I'm hopeing at least two of those come right down to the wire in the last 5.

The games in mid and late December aren't the most difficult, Hope should come out of those five 4-1 (loss at Aq)  with maybe a surprise struggle with Davenport or Madonna

I don't doubt Hope's talent to win, its just going to take a little time to get the inexperience out of their systems.

[oldknight]

These may be uncertain economic times, but like some others, I'll throw my two cents into the pot on the issue of conference MVP.

It's difficult to predict a conference MVP, particularly since we don't know who the conference champion will be. Historically, the best player on the best team has a huge leg up when it comes to the MVP award. Hope has been the best team the last two years and both Cramer and VanderHeide were deservedly named MVP.

I don't believe Hope will prove to be the best team in the MIAA this year. At this point I believe Albion and Calvin are the favorites because they have the most talented experienced players returning. Having talent and experience usually wins out. If Calvin wins the conference, Veldhouse seems to be an obvious choice, although if Mantel has a monster season, he could edge out the senior (unless Caleb wins as a sort of "lifetime achievement" award).

Though I do respect Hope's Reimink,  to me he is an unlikely choice. When I saw him play in high school, I thought he was the prototype of a Mike Turner role player, and I still do. The last three years he has benefited enormously from being around skilled upperclassmen who drew the most attention, freeing up Reimink for tons of open jumpers around the perimeter and the free throw line. To his credit, Reimink consistently hit those open jumpers.

I agree fully with Sac's analysis, that Jesse will find the going a lot tougher this year. The most unnoticed skill on Hope's team of the last two years was their interior passing which was outstanding--VanderHeide in particular. Marcus had an uncanny ability to recognize the double team and make the defense pay--sort of like a good quarterback who recognizes the blitz and then executes the proper countermeasure. Reimink will notice the absence of VanderHeide's ability and unselfishness in dishing the ball out to Reimink when the double team came. Reimink will probably score more than his 11 point per game average of last year, but his shooting percentage will go down.

[hopehoopfan]

Info out of Holland has besides the obvious players(Tanis, Carter, Sharples, Bowser, Reimink, Bosch, and Osburn) from last year making it,  Cox, Warren and Nelis from last year's JV will join them, as will Snikkers, Bunn, Venema, Scott, and two freshman, Kroombeem and King.  Boersma, Kratz and Canan out, along with sophomores Porter and Wiese from last year's JV out. Only 3 sophomores left on this year's JV: Stegman, Keyser and Carroll. Kratz and Wiese both surprise me! Not sure on Jungling yet.

[MIdoubleA]

kratz out?!

Wow.

[hoopdreams]

Kratz is out because had would have had to sit a substantial part of the season...so i've been told
Fr- King, Krombeen
Soph- sharples, tanis, carter, bunn, bowser
jr- cox, warren
sr- bosch, riemink, osburn, bosch
venemma, snikkers, scott as well
I am stunned that jungling got cut. 4 pg's, or are they going to have bunn play both spots.