MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Olivet 68 Aquinas 67

http://www.aquinas.edu/athletics/aqm1119-Box.html

Ordinarily a good win, I'll still count it as a good win.  However AQ is now 0-3 and is missing two of its better players.  John Lierman played just 3 minutes tonight, didn't play in either of their first two I think.  He's been a Hope killer the last couple years.   James Telman is sitting out this semester to play in the WHAC conference games, his final semester of eligibility.  I hardly recognize this AQ lineup.

Regardless no one will care at the end of the year if AQ had its full lineup.  Good win.

MIAA now 4-3

[oldknight]

Team --- Minutes Played
Calvin --- 9036
Albion --- 4966
Adrian --- 4955
Hope --- 4312

That's a lot of experience for the knights, but if they are starting three transfers who don't know the system, doesn't that almost negate the experience factor?

In fact, I have no idea what to expect. I'm even a little nervous about the game against Grace Bible, who come in with several games' experience and a close loss to a D-I team.

Based upon a lot of cautious commentary I've observed on the preseason board this year, I think you have a lot of company. While I do agree with the coaches' pick of Calvin as the favorite, the perception of underperformance that many have of last season's squad continues to linger. Until the Knights string together a series of wins, that concern will remain.

I do sense that this season will be an atypical year for the MIAA. Despite the usual optimism MIAA fans have of their favorite team each season (this the year the Cubs finally win it all), in the end it almost always boils down to Albion, Calvin and Hope. I wouldn't be surprised if this season we see a three way championship where at least one of the co-champions is not from the usual group. I also wouldn't be surprised to see a 10-4 record be good enough to get you a first place finish.

Of the outsiders, I think Adrian and Olivet are the most likely suspects to break into the top spot--Adrian because they have the best offensive player in the conference in Desmond Young and for my money that's always worth a lot. Desmond is a gamer who can score on anyone, he's durable, and he can play 40 minutes without any noticeable loss in production. If he gets any help at all this year, the Bulldogs will be one tough opponent.

Olivet has the McClary brothers and that's a pretty good start on a team. Sac is right that Aquinas is currently playing with an injured Lierman (I've been told a slight MCL tear), but they still have Lazic and Torres and that's a pretty decent inside-outside pair. Also, if you check the box from that game, you'll notice that Olivet won despite a miserable 31% shooting performance vs. 45% for the Saints. Olivet only made 7 turnovers in their first game of the season. Pretty impressive.

BTW Sac, my 75 year old Aunt Millie--retired Calvin English professor--was pleased to hear that she "schooled" a Hope alum. If you aren't careful, she threatens to visit this board sometime so if you see a poster named oldknightprof, you'll know the grammer police have shown up.

[goodknight]

BTW Sac, my 75 year old Aunt Millie--retired Calvin English professor--was pleased to hear that she "schooled" a Hope alum. If you aren't careful, she threatens to visit this board sometime so if you see a poster named oldknightprof, you'll know the grammer police have shown up.

Ahem, it's grammar police.
And the chief is always on the lookout.

[oldknight]

BTW Sac, my 75 year old Aunt Millie--retired Calvin English professor--was pleased to hear that she "schooled" a Hope alum. If you aren't careful, she threatens to visit this board sometime so if you see a poster named oldknightprof, you'll know the grammer police have shown up.

Ahem, it's grammar police.
And the chief is always on the lookout.

Since grammar typically deals with the forms and structure of words, I guess we'll need a separate spelling police officer.

That's what I get for taking spelling lessons from my cousin Kelsey.

[sac]

Don't forget Wierzbicki. 

Wierzbicki graduated.



By the way this sweet old woman wasn't drooling............thats the best clue she wasn't a Calvin grad.


("captain, captain...............a little more to port, she's listing horribly sir")



.......and just in case anyone thinks I'm a loon





I just don't see the resemblence

[Hopester]

Did a little lookup on Indiana South Bend in preparation for tomorrow night's game.

IUSB is 2-5 with nothing impressive about anything they have done. 2 point victory over Goshen and a solid margin victory against Purdue Calumet. Other than that double digit losses to all other opponents including the former MIAA star's team Bethel College.

http://www.bethelcollege.edu/sports/Mens/Basketball/Box/?articleID=3209

Interesting to note: Tony Benford has not had any minutes yet with Bethel who are currently ranked number 2 in NAIA D2.

Seems like tomorrow nights game should not be a problem for the Dutchmen. As this will be one of the few times where we will appear to be the bigger and more athletic team. You never know though they have already had 7 games experience to Hope's 0. We will see. Should be fun, season is finally about to start... HALLELUJAH!!!

[MItwoA]

Just wondering if anyone can post the link to HopeTV on here and if that is something just for league games or not?  Please let me know!

[goodknight]

Interesting to note: Tony Benford has not had any minutes yet with Bethel who are currently ranked number 2 in NAIA D2.

Bethel's website indicates Tony is redshirting.

.......and just in case anyone thinks I'm a loon





I just don't see the resemblence

And sack (sic), I don't see the resemblence (sic), either.
But I am drooling for the games to begin.  :-*

[HopeConvert]

Reason #5836 why DIII is better than DI:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?id=3710807&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos1

[Dark Knight]

Calvin's Tip-Off Tournament includes Grace Bible, Baldwin-Wallace, and Spring Arbor, and it should be quite revealing.

Grace Bible has a 3-2 record, and based on those games, I'd put last year's Calvin team at about a 10-point favorite. However, Grace Bible comes in with five games under their collective belt, while this will be the opener for Calvin.

Bald Wally is also something of a question mark. Last year they finished 12-15 including 8-10 in the OAC, but this year they have a new coach. They've played one game so far, an 80-68 victory against Case Western, who finished 8-17 last year. I would have pegged Calvin as about a 4-point favorite over BW last year.

Spring Arbor may be the favorite of the tournament. Last year they finished as NAIA-II runner-up, and they returned almost their entire team. In addition, they picked up the class D player of the year and three other recruits including Junior transfer Andy Sierminski, a tough post player who averaged 23 points per game at a JC last year. Their record is 7-1 with wins over Berea, Asbury, Siena Heights, Aquinas, and others. Their only loss was a 93-90 decision against Cornerstone.  Based on this year's games, I'd peg Spring Arbor as a 4-point favorite over last year's Calvin team. And in this case, the Arbs will have nine games on the books to Calvin's one, if they end up playing.

[bball223234]

What time does Calvin play tomorrow night??

[Stinger]

Spring Arbor may be the favorite of the tournament. Last year they finished as NAIA-II runner-up, and they returned almost their entire team.

Spring Arbor was runner up in the NCCAA last year, not NAIA-II. 

[KnightSlappy]

I believe that many of the NAIA II Christian Colleges hold a sort of dual membership with NAIA and NCCAA.  If they do not qualify for NAIA II post season play they often can play in the NCCAA tournament.  This must have been the case for Spring Arbor last year.

Spring Arbor is most likely a very quality team and could come away with 2 wins but IMO Calvin is still the favorite for this weekend.

I'm still not sold on Grace Bible.  They have shown much improvement over the last few years and playing The Citadel so close looks nice, but they also only beat Andrews by a single point and as I understand it, Andrews does not necessarily have the most notable program. 

[calvinite]

What time does Calvin play tomorrow night??

The website says 7:30 (http://www.calvin.edu/sports/ -- scroll to bottom of page); Two different people told me the game started at 8:00, however.

[sac]

Spring Arbor may be the favorite of the tournament. Last year they finished as NAIA-II runner-up, and they returned almost their entire team.

Spring Arbor was runner up in the NCCAA last year, not NAIA-II. 

Not only that, they are NCCAA-I which is different from Grace Bible's NCCAA-II designation.

Most if not all of the NCCAA-I schools have dual membership in NAIA, with a couple D3's (Bethel, MN and Simpson, IA)

There are about 50 schools in each division.  Most of the NCCAA-II level schools are bible college's.