Quote from: pointlem on January 31, 2026, 05:50:05 PM

Quote from: oldknight on January 31, 2026, 04:57:47 PMAlbion beats Calvin 73-69 as the Knights go 5-24 from the arc for the second straight game. Tough to win when you do that, particularly when your opponent hits 8 of 16.

Tell me if I'm wrong, OldKnight, but my reading of Calvin v Hope matchups has been that, when posting up, Overway requires Hope to double him . . . which means someone is free on the perimeter. If those perimeter shots fall, then I can't see Hope (or hardly anyone) defeating Calvin. If they don't, well today. . .

I think that about covers it.

Albion beats Calvin 73-69 as the Knights go 5-24 from the arc for the second straight game. Tough to win when you do that, particularly when your opponent hits 8 of 16.

Olivet thoroughly dominated Calvin in the first half at VNA, and led 46-28. I can't remember the last time I saw the Knights so totally outplayed. The Comets started 9-11 vs Calvin's 1-8 from the floor, with Olivet building a lead as large as 20 before settling into their half time edge. Calvin was better in the second half, once cutting the deficit to four. But the home team seemed to tire from their efforts, Olivet recovered, and finished with a 76-69 win. Nathan Richardson who seemed to have an answer every time the Knights closed the gap, was player of the game with 29 on 11-15 from the floor, including 4-6 from long range. Overway had 30 for Calvin. I believe Olivet is the team to beat for the conference title.

Other than reviewing the box score from the Calvin loss to Trine on Wednesday (did the Thunder really shoot 72% from the floor in the second half?), I know nothing about the Knights debacle in Angola. In tonight's must win against Hope, and following an up and down first half (more down than up for the visitors), I think most Calvin fans were "happy" to only be down 2 at the break.

Calvin mostly dominated their rival in the final 20 minutes of play, though some late sloppiness made the game seem closer than it really was, as the Knights shut down the Flying Dutchmen, 80-65. Hope only shot 23% from the floor the second half, a performance I think was largely due to the home team's persistent habit of abandoning any attempt at running an organized offense in favor of going one-on-one. Calvin did an excellent job on Hope's star, Parker Hovey, limiting him to one basket and 2 rebounds. After Parker went down early in the second half, I feared his night, and possibly his season, was over but it was nice to see him return from the locker and get back into the game. However, he clearly was not 100%. Wourman led Hope with 16, but only shot 3-14 from the floor. I came away pretty impressed with freshmen Brendan Cargill who scored 13 points.

Every Calvin starter scored in double figures and the winners were led by Jalen Overway with 21 points and 16 rebounds. I don't understand how a player can take 20 shots--almost all of them in the post--get constantly double teamed, yet wind up shooting only one free throw. Head scratching. So at the mid-point of the season, we have a 3 way tie at the top with Calvin, Hope and Olivet sitting at 6-1.

Saturday's highly competitive, nerve-wracking, and thrilling Albion/Calvin contest was one that made me think how it would have been much more fun to watch if I had been a visitor at VNA with no dog in the fight. But in the end, I must admit that the Knights' nail-biting 80-77 win over the Brits was the best basketball game I've seen in a while.

Jody May is a very good coach who had his guys ready. Albion proved to be competitive, hard-working and unintimidated by the conference favorite. Of course, it helps when your team goes 8-12 from the arc, and then follows that up by hitting 2 of their first three triples early in the second half. The visitors from Calhoun County built their biggest lead (43-33) one minute into the second half and things started to look grim for the Knights. Albion still led 66-59 with less that 8 minutes left but the home team showed some grit of their own. Calvin eventually took their first second half lead on two Trevin Winkle free throws with just over four minutes left. After Albion retook a one point lead, Jalen Overway simply took over the game in the paint, scoring 8 straight (6 of them from the stripe), followed by 2 free throws from Winkle to stake Calvin to a 79-74 lead with 19 seconds left. Calvin avoided being taken to overtime when an off-balance 30 foot heave by Mayes at the buzzer went wide.

Overway led all scorers with 32 points and 11 rebounds, Winkle added 18 and Parker Swartz ended with 12. Michael Umeh had a dandy game for Albion, leading the visitors with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Now Calvin enters a challenging week vs Trine and Hope. If the Knights expect to come away with 2 big wins next week, they will need a better performance from the arc than the 3-19 they put up today.

The Alma/Calvin game had a weird start, with the Knights seemingly ready to run away with it, forging an early 17-3 lead over a Scots team that seemed overmatched early on. But the visitors then righted the ship with an 18-3 run of their own to take a 21-20 lead. The rest of the half was back and forth with Calvin ahead 40-38 going into the locker room. Calvin never trailed the second half, but didn't really start to take full control until only 8 minutes were left in a 66-60 game. At that point, the Knights scored 11 straight over the next 3 minutes to salt it away. Winkle was terrific all night long and finished with 20, as did Jordan Scott, with Jalen Overway netting 18 and grabbing 17 rebounds. Korbin Heitzman was terrific for Alma, played the full 40 minutes, scored a game-high 25 and snared 13 boards. Overall, the game struck me as an inconsistent 91-78 victory for Calvin, but a win is a win.

Quote from: goodknight on November 28, 2025, 09:20:35 PMComfortable win for Calvin (4-1) on Black Friday over Heidelberg, 74-49.
Solid defensive effort to control the Berg's talented backcourt.
Trevon Winkle led the Knights with 21 points. Jalen Overway and Luka Ressler chipped in 13 each.
Calvin hosts UW-Oshkosh next Saturday afternoon.

The only thing to add is the great job Calvin defenders did on Heidelberg's Markell Johnson-Nichols, who came into the game shooting 76.9% from 3 point range. Calvin defenders limited the sharpshooter from Reynoldsburg Ohio to a mere 66.7% night from the arc, and the young man's 3-point average has now plummeted to 75% (12-16) shooting this season. Markell's 3-point shooting career started slow as the Heidelberg junior is now shooting 52.9% from the arc, going 39-74 the last 3 seasons

Calvin comes aways with an 81-66 win over Wisconsin Stout at VNA on Saturday. On the strength of excellent 3-point shooting and going perfect from the stripe, the visitors pretty much controlled the opening 20 minutes, leading 43-37 going into the break. The first part of the second half was back and forth, but beginning at the 12 minute mark, Calvin dominated. The domination began with a 21-1 run that saw a 54-51 deficit turn into a 72-55 Calvin lead, thus terminating Stout's hopes. Calvin played a lot better in the final 20 minutes, and the visitors shot far more poorly from the arc and the free throw line. I don't that was an accident as Stout looked to tire the longer the game lasted. Jalen Overway was his usual beastly self, scoring 21 and grabbing 16 rebounds. Ressler was terrific adding 18, Winkle 12, and Zion Ruckard, who continues to impress, came off the bench to net 11 in 21 minutes.

Calvin with an 85-70 win over Colorado College. I was impressed with the Tigers. The Tigers never quit, living up to their nickname. Calvin led at half 45-27 and looked poised to finish the game with a comfortable win. Not so, as the visitors from the Centenniel State never gave up, ratcheting up their defense with a ferocious full court press in the final 20 minutes to close within 7 with five minutes left. It helped the visitors that the refs choked on their whistles, nearly losing control of the game. You know the refs have lost control when the normally mild-mannered Jalen Overway--after suffering from yet another hard foul (a foul that was finally called)--pushed the defender and began jawing with him before finishing off a three point play that put the Knights up by double digits again. Wow! Never seen that kind of anger flashed by the big guy.

Overway led with 30 points and 10 rebounds, Luka Ressler (who played a nice second half), followed with 14, and Parker Swartz added 12. Nofziger, Colorado's superb big guy, led his team with 24. While Calvin's opponent put on a lot of pressure, forcing 19 turnovers, the Knights were also sloppy with the ball a lot which helped make the game closer than it otherwise would have been.

Quote from: goodknight on November 09, 2025, 10:28:26 PMAnother early commit for Calvin: 6-4 wing Jack Kamminga will join his Unity Christian teammate Owen VanderWal as an incoming freshman in the 26-27 academic year.

A second good pickup for the Knights from Hudsonville Unity Christian. Unlike VandeWal, I expect most of Kamminga's first year PT will be on the freshmen team, but he's got a lot of potential down the road. A lights out shooter, quite athletic, and a pretty versatile 6'4" kid with good footspeed.

I didn't watch any of Calvin's loss to Denison but while disappointing (and as Greek Tragedy correctly noted), a close 2 point loss to the NCAC preseason favorite on their floor is hardly cause for alarm. The Big Red were 24-4 last year, and they are likely as good or better this season. From Friday night's box score, it looks like Denison won by grabbing 18 offensive rebounds and committing only 3 turnovers, thus maximizing their scoring opportunities.

I watched a fair bit of last night's Calvin road win over OWU. Much of it was frustrating to watch as it appeared to me that Calvin was the superior team, but couldn't seem to pull away. A combination of lackadaisical passing (17 turnovers), and a mystifying unwillingness to take the open jumper at the free throw line helped lead to a lull in scoring. Calvin's offense finally started clicking the final 10 minutes, and the Knights ended the game on a 26-10 run.

I thought Calvin's defense was stifling, as OWU struggled throughout the game to find an open look. The home team was repeatedly left with an off-kilter and/or well defended three point attempt late in the shot clock. Calvin was led by Jalen Overway's 24 points and 13 rebounds. Nobody else hit double figures but I thought newcomer Zion Ruckard looked terrific off the bench, netting 6 points, grabbing 5 boards, and getting one nifty steal in 22 minutes of PT. I think we're going to see a lot of the transfer-in this season.

Quote from: calvin_grad on November 02, 2025, 03:45:13 PMI don't know anything about D3 football, but with Calvin's 50-20 win over Olivet yesterday, they have guaranteed themselves a winning season in just their second year of football.  This seems like a pretty big accomplishment.  Long ways to go before they are challenging the teams at the top of the league, but win 1 of their last 2 games, and they will finish 4th with a 7-3 record, 4-3 in conference.

When Calvin announced the beginning of football at the school, I asked a knowledgeable person at Calvin how long it would take for one of its teams to have a winning record in a season. "Five years" was the answer I got. Both Trent Figg and the Calvin community should be delighted to see this prediction was far too pessimistic.

Quote from: sac on October 06, 2025, 11:39:43 PM

Quote from: ziggy on September 21, 2025, 02:47:55 PMCalvin is on the board for 2026 with a commitment from Owen Vander Waal from Unity Christian.
https://x.com/Owen_VanderWaal/status/1969828577102217414?t=ZdAGTdrpnG6APH6iSqjSDQ&s=19

Is there a league bylaw in which if the league contains one VanderWal it must contain a second?


Kyle and Jon of different VanderWal'l' spellings played at Hope and Albion at the same time.  Quirky.

Yes there is, but only if the second one to come in the league spells his name with a double "a" in the final syllable.

Quote from: ziggy on July 15, 2025, 12:44:24 PM

Quote from: Flying Dutch Fan on July 15, 2025, 11:19:36 AMOlivet schedule has beem posted:  https://www.olivetcomets.com/sports/mbkb/2025-26/schedule

Non-cons at home vs Heidelberg and UWSP

Non-cons on the road at Ohio Northern, Northwestern Ohio (NAIA), Central MI (D1), Rose-Hulman, and Findlay OH (D2)

Non-cons at neutral sites with John Carroll, Ohio Wesleyan, Muskingum, and WashU

The more I look at this the less I like it. Maybe Olivet takes a nice step forward this year (very possible!) but as I sit here now I'm wondering if Olivet would be favored in any of these non-conference games. Not a great development for those of us wanting to see the league develop a better "middle class" with more of the league hitting conference play with a .500 or better record against D3 opponents.

Curiously, the CMU and Findlay games are marked as exhibitions but you have to include them in the overall count to get to 25 games overall. Maybe there is more to come.

Quote from: ziggy on July 15, 2025, 12:44:24 PM

Quote from: Flying Dutch Fan on July 15, 2025, 11:19:36 AMOlivet schedule has beem posted:  https://www.olivetcomets.com/sports/mbkb/2025-26/schedule

Non-cons at home vs Heidelberg and UWSP

Non-cons on the road at Ohio Northern, Northwestern Ohio (NAIA), Central MI (D1), Rose-Hulman, and Findlay OH (D2)

Non-cons at neutral sites with John Carroll, Ohio Wesleyan, Muskingum, and WashU

The more I look at this the less I like it. Maybe Olivet takes a nice step forward this year (very possible!) but as I sit here now I'm wondering if Olivet would be favored in any of these non-conference games. Not a great development for those of us wanting to see the league develop a better "middle class" with more of the league hitting conference play with a .500 or better record against D3 opponents.

Curiously, the CMU and Findlay games are marked as exhibitions but you have to include them in the overall count to get to 25 games overall. Maybe there is more to come.

I dunno. Olivet has a pretty good team coming back with a lot of size, and this schedule may be a reflection of Sammy's hope that a tougher non-conference schedule will prepare them well for the MIAA season. Olivet was 8-6 in the conference in 2024-25. Other than Calvin, the Comets may be the best team in the league in 25-26.

Quote from: KnightSlappy on April 17, 2025, 11:30:15 AM

Quote from: TUAngola on April 17, 2025, 08:26:11 AMI think the Trine program is in a spot where they can easily attract a coaching candidate with a lot more experience. 

I definitely agree -- I would have to think this is an attractive job to a lot of candidates.

Like Jon VanderWal, possibly? He's a good and experienced coach with an MIAA background.