Now the NESCAC can finish their double round-robin.

Hope's tournament options. 

Seeding pods 1,2,3,4

Hope NPI is #49 that should make them a #4

as a #4 you're looking at playing a host school
Host schools in our half of the country should be Chicago, Illinois Wesleyan, UW-LaCrosse, WashU, Gustavus Adolphus.  I've penciled in Mt. Union as a host, because there should be an Ohio host to help with East/West geography and Mt. Union is #18

Hope to Gustavus Adolphus is over 500, so that's out.
Chicago should get Bethany Lutheran, so Hope "shouldn't" draw Chicago

IWU/WashU/LaCrosse are all plausible matchup

If Hope were sent to Mt Union and they're the #3 and don't play Mt Union the possibilities of opponents is too long to mention.  Anywhere from NY, NJ, PA all the way to Virginia.



The geography issue we always get means Hope is straddling that 3seed/4seed line
As a #3 Hope would be a weaker one and will probably draw Mt. Union if they don't host, Whitewater or Stevens Point

Other options that wouldn't follow strict seeding closely but seem plausible would be Platteville, John Carroll, Otterbein

Less likely 3 vs 2 matchups would be Grinnell or Loras

Hope won't play Bethany Lutheran, Heidelberg, PSU Behrend or Transylvania and shouldn't play Aurora, Wash & Jeff.  If they do they did something wonky or geography made it happen.


There's always the possibility, though highly unlikely, they fly Hope somewhere like Cali or Texas. 


As a side, with 4 WIAC's and 1 hosting. None of them can get to Mt. Union, so Whitewater, Stevens Point and Platteville will go one each to IWU, Chicago, WashU or Gustavus

You want the one without the WIAC school. 

Quote from: Dutchfan on March 01, 2026, 12:15:03 PMThank you, sac! That is the best recap I've ever read! If only more sports writers would write up their recaps like that.

I don't believe a single media outlet was in Olivet.  Just a shame.



Olivet did a great job hosting, same as last time.   Crowd was down a bit, those Friday games are tough, but man put your phones away, turn off the tv and get out and watch some live basketball.  These were great games.

 I really enjoyed having Hargraves on the video broadcast, great insights on the game, players.  A nice feature for future MIAA Tournament games, though I doubt host schools want to be available for that.  I'd love to hear more from the leagues coaches about other teams.

Hope 72 Trine 65 F

I was there, I don't know how.

Parker Hovey in a boot.
It was 18-6 Trine 10 min into the game and it should have been worse
Brady Miller, hasn't played much in 3 weeks casually makeing big plays
It was still Trine by 7 with 3:30 left in the 1st half 26-19
It was Hope 31 Trine 26 at halftime

With 6:47 left in 1st half Trine had 24
The second half began, slow
Marcus Wourman said yo we're play defense today and stuck on his man like glue
still on him
still on him
still on him
People noticed, it was contagious, half the gym went crazy
5 minutes into the second half Trine had 29, just 1 FG in 11 minutes
Mitchell wanted offense
Brady Miller said I got ya G and scored 8 points in 1:02
Hope down 12 was now up 12, impossible
Trine's whole lineup on the court scored
4 minutes later it was 2
every possession became a mini War
Danny Flood did some things
4 more minutes later Hope's lead had never went above 5 or below 2
Then Justice Mims shot from the hip, his mom danced
Cargill said I can do that to, it was 11, separation again
Jayden Bradshaw thundered a "we ain't going away dunk"
They didn't go away
Jayden Bradshaw willed another one home being fouled from a position no shot should come from
Lewis in the paint, it was 3 again
Time is getting late, things are crunching
Wourman dish to Mims 5
Tucker nails a middie, its 3
Yant slashing like Superman banks one in 5
Bradshaw carrying Trine, 2 more ft's, its 3 again.
My gum is taking a beating
I remind myself to make that appointment about my blood pressure

40 seconds Hope ball, Trine plays it out, score to win, defend to get a shot to tie
Wourman penetrates right, Trine plays it perfectly and cuts him off, first corner outlet isn't there, he finds Cargill behind him, but he's somewhere near Bellevue (look it up), the clock ticks and he rainbows a 3pt shot that will vary in length from 28 feet to half court in Hope fan lore.  It hangs forever, no one is breathing.  Half the gym erupts, the other half is stunned.  We're all stunned just in different ways.

Bradshaw doesn't quit
a ball is inbounded, some final accounting takes place
the clock runs out.

Bro hugs all around.  Scenes!


Parker holds the trophy, turns and says we won or something like that.


I approach the guru, how?

"Its what we do"

Quote from: KnightSlappy on February 28, 2026, 11:37:15 AM

Quote from: sac on February 28, 2026, 11:08:32 AMHope found a few ways to slow him down and make him a less efficient player and that probably turned 3 games in Hope's favor, but it was never easy.

Mostly just hold him and hope for the best. 

If we're honest here, in a pickup game against him that would be most of our strategies.

Hope went 5-4 vs Calvin with Jalen Overway on the floor.  I consider 5 of those meetings "close", Hope won 3 of them.

Career Pts/game 20.2
vs Hope Pts/game 17.7

Career FG% 57%
vs Hope 40.5%

Jalen's size, touch, court awareness and excellent footwork made him a very tough matchup in D3.  He's been one of the best players to come through the MIAA and Calvin.  1697 points in 3 seasons is really strong.

Hope found a few ways to slow him down and make him a less efficient player and that probably turned 3 games in Hope's favor, but it was never easy.


If this is it, best of luck to Jalen wherever he plays next year, less luck if its back at Calvin but a strong appreciation for that talent and ability.

Quote from: AlwaysHope on February 28, 2026, 12:02:09 AMThe key to tomorrow's Hope-Trine game is the status of Hope's Parker Hovey, who injured a leg and had to be helped off the court with about one minute remaining in the game.  After the game he was absent as the MIAA awared him an first team trophy for being selected as a first team MIAA player.

Trine's Logan McKenzie took an awkard fall late in the Olivet game, as a veteran of back ailments he looked like his back muscles quit doing their muscle things as he attempted to go up for a shot and just fell hard to the ground.

I'm more optimistic McKenzie will play.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on February 27, 2026, 10:53:18 PM

Quote from: ziggy on February 27, 2026, 03:20:37 PMI believe at some point the NCAA changed the allowable gameday bench size.

I don't recall D3 ever having a scorebook cap. Trust me, speaking as someone who used to be his alma mater's scorekeeper, there were a lot of nights when I had to draw multiple extra lines in the scorebook to accommodate a lot of guys whom I knew wouldn't see the floor even in a blowout.

My recollection, which probably isn't great, is that the NCAA tournament had or still has a limit on number of players who can dress, 16 maybe.  And I think the MIAA had a restriction for a period of time but I can't exactly remember when if or if that really was a thing.

Hope 73 Calvin 63 F

Hope played a really outstanding team defensive game, nearly led the whole way but Calvin was always within reach until very late.  Felt like another miserable 3 point shooting performance then all the big ones fell the 2nd half.

Great offensive set to free up Sanchez with just under 3 to play that put Hope up 7, all free throws after that and what felt like a bunch of good defensive plays on the other end.



Trine 86 Olivet 69

Trine lit up Olivet for 14 3's but it was there defensive energy that carried them to a big first half lead that was never really threatened.  They seemed to have Olivet tied up offensive for long stretches.

Nate Tucker is just playing great basketball.


Trine vs Hope tomorrow night in the Championship game, they split with Hope winning a close one in Holland and Trine winning in overtime in Angola in a game that probably shouldn't have ended up close.

Cole Charter  6-5 G  Clarkston will attend Calvin

I was surprised to see him out there until I thought about it later.  Four years at Calvin, degree in hand, get a pretty free Masters somewhere else.  Easy choice really.

"A D2 school" was the very uncomfirmed scuttle butt in the nearly vacant Hope end.

Calvin 96 Hope 88 F

Geez that's alot of points.

Today I thought Hope played one their better games, Calvin just matched them shot for shot and a little more.  It mostly felt like Hope was just clawing to stay close all afternoon.  A theme in most of their losses.  They had a couple chances in the 2nd half to get it close enough to pounce but just couldn't quite do it. 

The empty extra possession on the dunk/foul with Overway/Hovey colliding was killer, went down hill quick from there.  Also had a steal in the backcourt with two missed bunnies.  Possession down 4 and turnover in front of their bench after getting a crucial and rare defensive stop.  All potential game swinging possessions.

3 of 4 of Hope's leading scorers were Freshmen.  Wesolek's career high prior to tonight was 8, also against Calvin, he's scored 21 of his 34 career points in this match-up.



Hope vs Calvin in little ol' Olivet. 

Right around 2 hours 17 min you can watch Olivet huddled around someone's phone waiting for the Hope/Calvin game to finish on the court at Trine.

https://www.miaasportsnetwork.com/?S=site5416&B=3632243


Congrats to Olivet, Congrats to Sam Hargraves.


Alot of people forget this but....
In 2016 Sam had Alma on the brink of an MIAA Championship.  9-0 and 1 game ahead of Hope before losing in Holland, they split that year.  Had they won that game it would have been all but over, 2 game lead 4 to play.  Instead both teams were tied at 9-1 with 4 games to play.  Hope won its next two, Alma won its next two.

Then on Wednesday night of the final week, Hope beat Kalamazoo to maintain its share of first.  Alma had to travel to Kresge Gym and face the Britons.  With 7:51 to play Alma led the Brits 55-48 in a game that had been tight the whole way,  In less than 4 minutes Albion scored 10 straight points to grab the lead, one they wouldn't relinquish to upset then ranked #14 Alma 71-66.  Alma was now 1 game back in the standings.

Hope would go on to win at Calvin the following Saturday 65-61 in a game that never got above a 7 point margin to win the MIAA over Alma by 1 single game. 

Wasn't quite the same circumstances but history didn't repeat itself, congrats Sam, well deserved.

Curious about anyone's thoughts on this foul on Cam Mayes.  Hope's possession starts at -40:21 or almost right on the 10 minute remaining to play mark

https://www.miaasportsnetwork.com/acbrits/?B=2941717

Pivotal moment in the game maybe, Mayes 4th foul and Hope took the lead and control in the remaining minutes (it was already happening anyway but...).  Its a 50/50 ball and I can see cases for a foul on either player.  I think it would have been fine as a no call.

Mostly I was amused by the commentary, because I don't think it was that simple.  Also a great example of physics with mass in motion and energy transfer.

Standings
Hope 11-2
Olivet 11-2
Trine 10-3
Calvin 9-4
Albion 6-7
Adrian 3-10
Alma 2-11
Kzoo 0-13

Title chase
Hope win, Olivet loss = Hope is Champion
Hope win, Olivet win =  Hope/Olivet Co-Champions
Hope loss, Olivet win = Olivet is Champion
Hope loss, Olivet loss, Trine win =  Hope/Olivet/Trine Co-Champions
            *It would be first 3-way tie since 1981 (Albion, Hope, Calvin)

The most important thing to remember here is Calvin cannot win the Championship.

Hosting the Semi-finals
Hope hosts with a win
Olivet hosts with win and Hope loss
Hope hosts with loss and Olivet loss/Trine win

Its also not trivial that Calvin cannot host, or Trine


Seeding
Hope win, Olivet win
1. Hope
2. Olivet
3. Trine
4. Calvin
5. Albion
6. Adrian/Alma

Hope win, Olivet loss
1. Hope
2. Trine
3. Olivet
4. Calvin
5. Albion
6. Adrian/Alma

Hope loss, Olivet win
1. Olivet
2. Hope
3. Calvin
4. Trine
5. Albion
6. Adrian/Alma

Hope loss, Olivet loss, ie Trine win
1. Hope
2. Trine
3. Olivet
4. Calvin
5. Albion
6. Adrian/Alma

6th seed note:  Adrian is #6 seed with win or Alma loss, should they tie I think that tie-breaker will go to 2nd half record and I'm not sure how they'll exactly do that.

Kalamazoo is eliminated and they'll either have 1 win or be the first winless in conference team since 2003.