WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

Started by MJA, February 24, 2005, 06:38:32 AM

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Dark Knight

There was an interview with Calvin's coach John Ross on Hoopsville. You can listen at  http://www.d3hoops.com/audio/07/hoopsville11407a.mp3. The interview appears just over half way through the program.

Flying Dutch Fan

Quote from: sac on January 15, 2007, 08:02:46 PM
I personally wasn't at that game so I don't know.

I was, and IIRC everyone was pretty much there right from the start.
2016, 2020, 2022 MIAA Pick 'Em Champion

"Sports are kind of like passion and that's temporary in many cases, but academics - that's like true love and that's enduring." 
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Dark Knight

#527
The new d3hoops.com Top 25 is out. Hope dropped from #2 to #4 and Calvin climbed from #11 to #8.

The latest Massey rating has it the other way around, with Calvin #2 behind Howard Payne, and Hope at #7!

Calvin, #2
Hope, #7
Albion, #74
St. Mary's, #134
Olivet, #145
Alma, #168
Adrian, #169
Tri-State, #231
Kalamazoo, #247

The Massey rankings listed above are based on past results and difficulty of schedule as well as power. To predict future games, you look only at the power rating, and there Hope is slightly ahead.

But only slightly -- on a neutral court, Hope would be an 0.2-point favorite!

WWWRHH

Dark Knight:

I am already looking forward to the next match up.  I expect it to be at least as exciting as last Saturday's game.  Calvin is a better team than last year and probably the only one that will seriously challenge Hope until the playoffs.

When these two teams meet, comparable point spreads, power rankings and polls do not mean a lot - both have the ability to blow the game open if they execute well and the other team is not prepared to play.

I hope the Dutch finally learned they have to start the game with some intensity if they want to remain successful.  They may be able to turn it on and recover from an uninspired start and still win by 30 against most teams on the schedule, but it is not going to happen against a very good team with something to prove.

Who knows, Hope may even show something a little different than the standard game plan and rotation if it is necessary to counter Calvin's strengths and strategy. 

February 10 can not come too soon.

Oval

scores
Jan 17

Calvin 87, Olivet 63
Tri-State 82, Kalamazoo 71
Hope 69, Alma 46
Albion 71, Saint Mary's 68 (OT)


Oval

scores
Jan 20

St Marys 84, Adrian 72
Calvin 85, Kazoo 67
Olivet 56, 3State 50
Albion 82, Hope 75

Dark Knight

What happened?!?


atn alum

I joked to our publisher that I should auction my top 25 first-place vote off this week?

I have no idea who to pick, from among 7 to 8 deserving teams...

Anyone with a good argument as to why I should give Calvin a big bump up?


Dark Knight

#534
Quote from: atnwriter on January 21, 2007, 05:23:13 PM
Anyone with a good argument as to why I should give Calvin a big bump up?

I'd be a little forgiving of Calvin for their early-season 3-point loss at Wheaton. They have a couple of freshmen and two transfers who are getting lots of minutes, and it takes time to fit them into the rotation and teach them their roles. 

Those new players are settling in and the team is playing stronger now. Their offense runs through a powerful front court including Harris and all-American Winkle. Last year this gave them a legitimate top-15 team, ending at #14 in the d3hoops.com poll. The big difference with this team (besides an added year of experience) is outside shooting. Last year it was pretty poor, last in the league; this year their three-point percentage is something like 6-th best in DIII, thanks to the new players and the added year of experience.

That said, I don't see much on the results sheet to separate the top few teams. Massey Ratings have Howard Payne as a strong #1, well above the rest--but they've played one of the weakest schedules of the top teams and no ranked competition. The remainder of the top teams are pretty close, with Calvin at #3. However, Calvin has played the toughest schedule of the top 8, according to Massey, and as far as I can tell, Calvin is the only team of the top 8 with two wins against ranked competition.

Sill, I'm glad I don't have to try to put them in order!

sac

Quote from: Dark Knight on January 20, 2007, 05:18:21 PM
What happened?!?


I saw the first Hope/Albion game in Holland, in that one the Britons got a quick early lead and played with Hope right up to the end of the first half.  The Britons got in some foul trouble, namely one of their two big girls, Hope went on a nice run to lead by 20.  But Albion played Hope even or a little ahead for about 25 minutes of that game and they didn't shoot particularly well.

It was obvious last week that Hope is going through a little bad spell, in the course of the season your likely to hit one or two, they just weren't good enough to overcome a very poor stretch of basketball vs a very good Calvin team and generally seemed out of synch on offense. 

Calvin had a poor game vs St. Mary's and pulled out a win, Hope didn't at Albion its those kinds of games that often separate Champions from runner ups.

Hope/Calvin should get at least 2 more shots at each other and they should be very good games, they matchup very well and there really isn't much difference in overall personel.


PS Knights got a nice jump in the poll as they should, Hope took a big tumble to 11.  The differences in the men's and women's poll is pretty striking, there are alot of really good records on the women's side and not much to separate teams.  While on the men's there are quite a few teams with multiple losses.......maybe a lot of reputation voting, team and league.

Dark Knight

Quote from: sac on January 22, 2007, 07:33:30 PM
PS Knights got a nice jump in the poll as they should, Hope took a big tumble to 11.  The differences in the men's and women's poll is pretty striking, there are alot of really good records on the women's side and not much to separate teams.  While on the men's there are quite a few teams with multiple losses.......maybe a lot of reputation voting, team and league.

Women's basketball isn't as competitive as men's -- there is more spread between the top teams and the bottom teams. The top teams in women's basketball always seem to have one or two, or at most three losses, while top teams in a men's conference such as WIAC or CCIW can have five or six at the end of the year.

I agree that Hope's women's team is still top notch and could even repeat if they peak at the right time, like they did last year. However, it's very hard to keep the same keen edge of hunger -- and get the breaks that a championship run takes -- two years in a row.

sac

.........and do it without Bria Ebels. ;)

Oval

scores
Jan 24

Hope 91, Tri-State 56
St Marys 66, Alma 58
Adrian 63, Kazoo 55
Olivet 47, Albion 34
Calvin 99, Rochester 36 (non-MIAA)

sac

Hope inserted Fr. Philania Green into the starting lineup tonight, while I'm not sure it had a big impact tonight, its possibly gotten the ladies attention some.

Tri-State might be the youngest college team I've ever seen, they have 10 Freshman on the roster.  Seems like 3 or 4 started, with a Soph.

The first half probably resembled Hope's last outing with Albion in some ways, though I can't be sure not having seen that game.  However I got the sense Hope found  a little something in the 2nd half on offense and defense and really dominated the Thunder.

Maybe they'll catch a little momentum and get out of their malaize in the next week or so.