MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[randomthoughts]

A few notes on the Albion-Kzoo game yesterday...

The tone was set on the very first possession when Albion (big surprise) threw the ball into the post to Brandon Crawford.  He subsequently traveled, only to see the officials call a foul on Kzoo's Mat Kellogg.  Just the way the day went.  Just check the stats to see the free throw discrepancy.

However, without bashing the way the game was called too much, the real turning point occurred in the 2nd half with about 4:30 to go when after a turnover, Kalamazoo's Tim Herman was assessed with a technical foul for bouncing the ball towards an official.  At the time, The Hornets held a 50-49 lead.  Michael Bailey calmly hit both free throws to give Albion the lead, and more importantly, all the momentum.  I am not sure there was more than one person in the gym who felt that Herman deserved that technical, especially at that time of the game.

The game, which was a classic college basketball game, deserved a better effort than what one certain official gave yesterday.  And a shame to see two classy kids, Herman and Konwinski, end their home career on such a sour note.

[bulldogalum]

Bulldogalum I will spell it out for you.
1. Every year same **** player having bad game and coach not able to see it leaves them in the game giving their team nothing. Look at BC olivet stats and minutes just one of  many examples.
2. Rebounding that is embarassing Buck puts a lineup of 5'6 to 5'8 players on the floor. Cory 5'7  guarding a 6'9' person. 6 offensive boards on one shot then Look at the Olivet game tape
3. Pressing and burying  yourself. Press has not worked at all this year only to create larger spreads in the game. Why? 

The President was there last night noticed several people having conversations with him?
 

I've quickly scanned the stat lines from yesterday's games and here's what I've come up with:
0  1   0  0   1  2   0  1  1   4   1  0  0  0  1  11(Kzoo)
0  2   0  1   0  0   0  3  3   1   0  1  1  1  0  11(Kzoo)

1  4   0  2   0  0   0  1  1   0   2  0  0  0  0  12(Albion)

1  1   1  1   0  0   0  2  2   1   3  1  0  0  1   9(Hope)

0  0   0  0   0  1   0  0  0   2   0  0  0  0  0   8(Calvin)
0  2   0  0   0  0   0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  1  10(Calvin)
0  3   0  1   0  0   0  4  4   0   0  1  1  0  0  19(Calvin)

0  2   0  1   0  0   0  2  2   1   0  2  0  0  1  11(Olivet)

0  0   0  0   0  0   0  3  3   2   0  1  1  0  0  18 (Alma)
0  1   0  1   2  2   0  0  0   2   2  2  1  0  0  10 (Alma)

Now, just for the record, that's TEN players on SIX teams other than Adrian, including 3 nationally ranked teams, that have players with similar stat lines to that of Reinhard.  Calvin has 3 guys that got significant minutes and didn't really contribute all that much on paper.  Does that make KVS a bad coach?  What about the other coaches that couldn't see that their players were having bad games?  Should they all be fired?  First thing we do, let's kill all the coaches

As for BC's stat line at Olivet, I'm not even going to look at it.  The guy is the leading scorer on Adrian's team right now, and probably their most explosive player.  You don't bench your best player just because he's off to a slow start.  If Crawford went scoreless for the first 10 minutes of a game, do you think Turner would exile him to the end of the bench for the rest of the game?  I highly doubt it.

As to point 2, I addressed that earlier.  It's not like Coach Riley had a lot of bigger guys to put in, and the guys he had spent the middle of the game in foul trouble.

I wasn't there yesterday, so I don't know the answers to some of your questions.  I don't recall the internet broadcast talking about Adrian's press, so I really can't comment on that.  However, judging from your past criticisms of the program, you may have just copied and pasted that from before.  I did not see President Docking at the game, nor did I see him speaking with anyone.  If he was, so what?  He's the president of the college, it's his job to chat people up.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

bulldogalum - I was at the game yesterday and can tell you I see an improved Adrian team.  The effort was great, and they relaly pushed Hope hard. 

Your friend (I only call him that cause he supposedly supports the same team - and that might be debateable) obviously has little or no basketball knowledge and should be treated as such. 

The press Adrian used was only employed in the second half when Hope had opened up a sizeable lead.  It did have the effect of changing the tempo of the game, and I don't remember Hope scoring directly off the press.  Your assesment (based solely on listeneing) was dead on!

During the time that Buck put the smaller lne-up in, they were actually making Hope work harder on offense, I think the right thing to do if you're trying to come back from a fairly large deficit.

I think it's time to let the troll go crawl back under the bridge - and maybe he could learn a little bball while he's under there

[Flying Dutch Fan]

My thoughts on the Hope/Adrian game yesterday:

- The effort from the Bulldogs was greatly improved over the last time we faced them.  Thorton was a force inside early on, until the Hope defense woke up.

- Hope - as predicted by many - was flat in the first half - mostly on defense (it's hard to call 56% shooting flat - but allowing Adrian to shot 54% is definitely flat defense).

- Marcus VH - seems like he has games where you don't think he did all that much, and the you look at the stats and see 13 points and 6 rbs.

- Phillips for wahtever reason is struggling from the floor - but continues to be the hardest worker out ther, and is huge on the glass - 10 boards

- Cramer can make the most unbelievable shots and puts the ball up so soft that even the so-so shots sometimes go in

- Nice to see Derek VS on the floor and give the Dutchmen a little boost in the 1st half - boy is his first step quick - and that's saying something when Nokovich is guarding you

Looking forward to a couple of wins this week and a Calvin loss would be nice too) 

[bulldogalum]

FDF, thanks for the support.  I'm still hoping to get a chance to see the Dutchmen sometime this year, I may even make a trip to wherever the MIAA tournament is.  Sounds like they've got a good, tough team, and have the potential to make an impressive tournament run.  Hope you had a good time in the Maple City yesterday!

[northb]

I'm still hoping to get a chance to see the Dutchmen sometime this year, I may even make a trip to wherever the MIAA tournament is.

this link to a map will help you find the semis and finals

http://www.calvin.edu/map/

[hope1]

not so fast north b i think calvin will lose wed night the leage race is not over yet 

[goodknight]

hope1, I think you thought Calvin was going to lose last Wednesday, too.
So did I. 
But I'll be picking the Knights against the Brits this week.
It's good to see a few of the former faithful start to show up.  Welcome back, northb. 8)

[Civic Minded]

Isn't it funny how when Calvin...   nah, better not go there.

I will agree with FDF that the Adrian team looks much improved from earlier in the season.  My guess is that Nokovich is playing a big role in leadership -- you could see it on the floor.  And speaking of Jeff, man did he play well yesterday.  If I didn't like the guy, I'd have hated him -- he made us work hard.  But ya gotta like a guy who can flop like that, and make it work!   

Hope did start off flat, but obviously took care of business.  It was interesting to see VanSolkema get to play -- he's difinitely got something to offer.  I hope this will allow Partridge to play to his strengths, although no one should complain about what he's brought to the team already.

Sac, you're rubbing off on me -- I found myself doing 90 on I-94.  Oops!    On to Wednesday...

[GoKnights68]

Isn't it funny how when Calvin...   nah, better not go there


Don't make it too obvious what you were about to say!

[albinomascot19]

Albion is in a must win mode on Wednesday against Calvin.  A loss, basically would keep them from the NCAA Tournament.  A win would definitely help their chances.

[bulldogalum]

Well, don't forget that even if Albion loses Wednesday, they could still win the MIAA tournament to make it into the NCAA field.  But you're absolutely right, a win would go a long way for the Brits right now.

[NW Hope Fan]

I just read on Pat's Blog about NCAA Tournament selection this line:

"• Contest versus provisional members in their third and fourth years shall count"

Does this mean that in reality a loss to Tri-State could hurt? And wins help?

I just don't totally understand... Anyone??? Anyone???

[sac]

Isn't it funny how when Calvin...   nah, better not go there


Don't make it too obvious what you were about to say!

Fortunately the archived posts before February 1 speak volumns.........or in the Knights case.........pamphlets.


The show Survivor had the original premise of putting people on an island with Chuck Norris. There were no survivors, and nobody is brave enough to go to the island to retrieve the footage.

[arena]

Isn't it funny how when Calvin...   nah, better not go there


Don't make it too obvious what you were about to say!

Fortunately the archived posts before February 1 speak volumns.........or in the Knights case.........pamphlets.

Well, I can't speak for other Calvin College fans, but I've been incredibly busy with work and haven't been to as many games as I'd like to.  But I did see the last Calvin/Hope edition.  Wonderful game.