MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[goodknight]

By the way, Calvin's "home" games this weekend are being played at The Quest Center, at Grand Rapids Christian High School, a gem of a gymnasium by any measure.  It seats about 1850.  Nice crowd tonight for the Calvin-Grace game -- but it was difficult to determine if many Calvin students showed up. 
There was, however, a Tom Davelaar sighting.
He did not appear to be drooling when he left the premises about the time the end of Calvin's bench took off their warmups.

[scottiedawg]

Some thoughts on Hope's first game.

Jesse will be very tough to defend this year.  He can create his own, hits the open ones, and rarely forces shots.  He has the best hands of anyone I have ever seen, often just taking the ball away from players who face-up on him.  He's always in the right place.  He was obviously the focus of IUSB's defense, and he still garnered 30.  He simply imposes his will on opponents.  I'm glad he's on our side, because few players can defensively match up with him. 

Bowser suffered from foul trouble and I think displeasure from Glenn, and played few minutes. 

Bunn played well, in spite of four turnovers.  A few times, with the shot clock running down, Bunn easily took it to the rim and scored.  Added comfort and confidence will make him a force.  He's easily better than VanSolkema when Derek joined Hope.  Bunn may also currently be better than Derek when Derek left Hope......

Excepting a strong drive-and-double-pump finish, Carter was unimpressive.  Following a 1-6 effort from the line against the Berghorst All Stars, he missed both attempts against the Titans.  Glad to see his hard fall had no ill effects.

Warren played very well, showing defensive intensity and an overall sound game.

Tanis played a sound game, only forcing a few shots, committing zero turnovers, and playing good defense.

I still love Krombeen, who brings controlled speed to the floor.  Krombeen is the antithesis of complacency.  A poor pass out top cut his minutes down.

I loved the pick-n-roll combination of Bunn and Jesse.  Both are potent from three, from midrange, or going to the hoop.  That combo sent Hope from down 67-68 to up 72-68. 

Hope seemed overly aggressive on defense.  Many times we were leaping at shooters, leading to easy shots.  There was also lots of overplaying on the sides, with a heavy reliance on weak-side defense.  We continually bodied up far from the basket on Werner and Kunde, who showed little willingness to take jumpers.  Even though we suffer from a lack of height, I'd like to see Hope stay in their spaces more, picking their spots to trap.  We have enough athleticism to shut teams down without double teaming

Hope showed no desire to either feed it to the post, or penetrate with the guards.  We relied on Jesse and the 3 for most of our offense.  (Not that I mind relying on Jesse)  I think a lot of it, if not most, is due to youth and first-game jitters.  How quickly Hope's young talent grows up will determine their success.  We have some pretty amazing talent starting with Bunn, Bowser, and Carter who are still feeling out their game. 

Go Hope!

[scottiedawg]

Except for a small run by Grace Bible early, which cut Calvin's lead to 5, Calvin absolutely  dominated. 

Mantel looked great tonight, although he passed out of the post a couple times when he should've just taken it to the basket.  It's hard to find fault with his game right now; at times he is too unselfish and lacks a killer instinct.  If he ever realizes that he can score on almost anyone, even double teams, watch out. 

Veldhouse took what was given to him; he knew there was no reason to force anything.

Veltema also played a great game.  I was surprised to find out he scored only 14 points.  He was able to hit the open jumper as well as create his own shot.

I'll be interested to see how teams defend Salo, who shows little desire to shoot or drive.  He has a solid handle, which he why he gets court time. 

Schnyders did not impress me.  At 6'6, 180, he's pretty thin.  He did not show good court awareness and looked lost on defense.

Rodts played well.  He's built more than Schnyders. He hit the boards hard and showed a polished jumper.

I was mystified with the Zoerhof, Kaat, Zwier, Veltema, and Smith lineup.  Zoerhof and Zwier are not offensive presences in the least, rarely willing to take even open jumpers.  Smith and Kaat have the ability to score when open.  That leaves Veltema, who bailed out this group repeatedly.  This group will defend and rebound well enough, but will have a hard time scoring.  Maybe KVS just wants to buy some time for Caleb and John. 

I do have a very hard time envisioning Grace Bible hanging with the Citadel.  Maybe Calvin made them look bad, but Grace brought very little to the table tonight. 

Calvin should have little trouble tomorrow.

A good beginning for Calvin, clearly showing more polish than Hope did last night.  Of course, this is directly attributable to Calvin's superior experience. 

[KnightSlappy]

Nice game from the Knights.  There were lots of good things to take away from the game but also lots of room for improvement.  I think they will be able to use their depth to their advantage this year.  It was nice to hear the buzzer sound as the first round of Calvin subs came in and see Smith, Veltema, and Zoerhof.  Lots of experience off of the bench.  The new guys will need some time to jell with the old guys but there were times where they seemed to play well together.

Schnyders didn't impress and seemed to be pressing at times.  Veltema made a big push for some of his playing time.  I think Schnyders (who looks more like 6'4" not 6'6")will be fine once he gets a couple games under his belt.

A few opening night mistakes from the Knights but the good news is there were no "gitter" sightings at the Calvin game tonight.

[bulldogalum]

Adrian       79
Marygrove 72 F(OT)

I'm pleased to announce that, with each admission ticket this season at the fabulous Merillat Sport and Fitness Center, the patron will receive a free checkup from a heart specialist.*

If the rest of the games this season are anything like this one was, many doctors will need to be on hand to attend to the fans.  

The best thing that can be said about this game was that it was a win.  Adrian played sloppily for long stretches, but ultimately got it together enough to sneak out of there with a victory.  Let it be noted that Marygrove is much improved from last season.  If memory serves me, Marygrove basically got run off the court in the Dawson tournament last year, but they've got most everyone back and they're an athletic bunch.  Nonetheless, it shouldn't have been this close.

I'm operating without the benefit of a boxscore, but I'd bet that Adrian had over 20 turnovers for the game.  For long stretches, especially in the first half, they struggled defensively.  Offensively, some bad shots were taken, and early season impatience was on display.

That said, as the game wore on, the defense tightened, and if Adrian had 20 or so turnovers, I'd wager that Marygrove wasn't far from that either.  I believe Desmond Young had 26, and Mike Staley had 28 and 9 assists.  And even with all that, Adrian trailed by three with 7 seconds left andthe ball under the Marygrove basket.  Staley drove down the floor and hit Dwight VanHoesen in the corner, and Dwight knocked down a tying three at the buzzer to send it to overtime.  Once the Bulldogs made it to the extra period, they seized control and escaped with the win.

Next up, a Sunday matinee with Marietta for the Dawson Tournament title.  Here's hoping there's reason to celebrate Sunday evening.

*Standard fees apply

[northb]

By the way, Calvin's "home" games this weekend are being played at The Quest Center, at Grand Rapids Christian High School, a gem of a gymnasium by any measure.  It seats about 1850.  Nice crowd tonight for the Calvin-Grace game -- but it was difficult to determine if many Calvin students showed up. 
There was, however, a Tom Davelaar sighting.
He did not appear to be drooling when he left the premises about the time the end of Calvin's bench took off their warmups.

Should tickets still be readily available for the game this afternoon?

[oldknight]

I'll be interested to see how teams defend Salo, who shows little desire to shoot or drive.  He has a solid handle, which he why he gets court time. 

There's no question Salo is a pass-first sort of point guard, which is a distinguishing feature from Dustin Smith who has much more of a scorer's mentality when he's at the point. That's not a criticism of either player, I'm merely pointing out one of the differences in how each runs the team.

From the little I've observed of Salo, it's pretty clear that he sees his role as the person who is supposed to take care of the ball and set up the other players on the team for scoring opportunites. He makes a Calvin fan feel quite comfortable when the ball is in his hands because, despite his small stature, he sees the floor well and makes very few mistakes. He's a confident ball handler and I'll be surprised to see him lose the ball off the dribble all year to a one-on-one defender. I don't sense that he's afraid to shoot the ball if you leave him wide open and dare him to do so--it's just that he doesn't feel the need to look for his shot. I thought the team responded well to his leadership.

Having both Salo and Smith gives KVS options we haven't seen on a Calvin team for a long time. Not only does Calvin have two very quick point defenders that gives Calvin 10 fouls at that position, they also showed Grace how the Knights can create havoc when both Salo and Smith are in the game together--something KVS did late in the first half when he decided to see what would happen with a small lineup. Grace made an incredible 19 first half turnovers and that was primarily the result of Calvin's defense forcing the action and not Grace's carelessness. I was particularly pleased to see how Calvin started the second half when they really put the foot to the accelerator early and took out whatever heart Grace had left in them. Grace looked frustrated and intimidated. Certainly there are many areas where the Knights need to show improvement but it's been some time since I've seen a Calvin team put their knee to an opponent's neck and keep it there. That was heartening to see.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

There had been a decent amount of chatter on this board about an improved Grace Bible team. Well I think Calvin is going to be good all year I don't think they are that far improved and last night showed Grace is probably in about the same spot relative to Hope and Calvin as they have been for the last 5 years.

[oldknight]

There had been a decent amount of chatter on this board about an improved Grace Bible team. Well I think Calvin is going to be good all year I don't think they are that far improved and last night showed Grace is probably in about the same spot relative to Hope and Calvin as they have been for the last 5 years.

We'll know for sure at about 10:00 pm on December 12.

[KnightSlappy]

Grace is a better team than they were 5 years ago but they still aren't great.  They have a few good players but I didn't see a whole lot of a team game from them.

I think Caleb is going to be good at the 2 spot for the Knights this year.  He will probably be the main focus for defenders so he should draw some attention away from the ball and help other guys get some open looks.  On the hand, Caleb will take a little more abuse from defenders in the two spot.  Most of the night the Grace defenders were pushing/pulling/grabbing/holding Veldhouse but it was good to see that he didn't back down from the physicality.

Mantel should be a beast this year.  He needs to focus on rebounding on the defensive end but his offense has few flaws.  John needs to be prepared to go up to the hoop strong with or without contact.  He seems to expect contact when he makes a move to the hoop and seems to almost get caught off guard if the contact doesn't come.  If he can make those moves in the paint more smoothly, he will be tough to stop in the MIAA.

[goodknight]

Of possible interest to MIAA followers:
Grace Bible 67
Baldwin Wallace 62
Final

[realist]

It is definitely going to be an interesting year.  In the first couple games we have had one "gitter", and two beast sightings.
Caleb has 17 already in the first half against what appears to be a very solid Spring Arbor team.
GK: That score may be of more interest to the folks down in Ohio than to the rest of the MIAA.
KII I think Doug has learned the proper way to say Salo.
Calvin 36 SA 27  Calvin a 22-10 rebound advantage.

[realist]

S.A. with 18-4 run to take lead after Calvin was up by 10.  Calvin seems to be having a to problem.

[wiz]

Calvin went up by 10 early in the second half and then Spring Arbor came roaring back and went up by 4.  KVS called a strategic timeout and had the trainer come over and remove their "gitters".  Then the Knights quickly went back up by 10.  Now leading by 12 with less than 3 minutes to play.

[realist]

S.A. made a nice strong run to take a lead, but Calvin just had to much depth in the long run.
Calvin        71          Spring Arbor  61

Most impressive state for me is Calvin 41 S.A. 23 rebounds.