MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[pointlem]

Great synopsis as usual, OldKnight. It was a game of runs . . . Calvin scores the first eight, then Hope outscores Calvin 30 to 10 to take a 12 point lead . . . then Calvin outscores Hope 43 to 19 to take its own 12 point lead with 7.5 minutes left, and coasted home from there, making for one of Hope's only not-nail-biter games (no thinking later, "If only....").

Credit Calvin for great defense on Hovey, who I gather may be out for a while, and for all the putbacks by the taller Calvinites. Hope has no answer for Jalen Overway's size and strength.

Calvin is an excellent junior-led team, which likely will be even better next year. Hope has an excellent core of frosh/sophs, which should leave Hope fans optimistic about the future. And before the league season started would we have been happy with being tied for first with one loss at the midpoint? Indeed, yes.

[sac]

Hope's energy and intensity seemed to dip sometime after the first 8 min timeout and they never really got it back.  A little bit of an issue that seems to show up alot at home for some reason.  They did get some nice floor time from guys who haven't played much or contributed lately, Wesolek returning from injury, Blauch also returning from injury and Bishop who seems to just be one good play from breaking out. 


I think Hope will be a better team by the end of February the caveat being if Parker Hovey isn't out for a period of time, fingers crossed.  That 2nd meeting probably won't mean a lot for the standings.  Despite being tied for first Hope's in a dogfight for top 4, reverse those two 2 point wins and its 3-3 and looks and feels alot different.

Now they face the toughest finish in the league, 5 games remaining against Albion(2), Olivet, Calvin, Trine, 3 on the road.

The opportunity for a shock lead in the MIAA was last night, didn't take it.

[Happy Calvin Guy]

Great win for the Knights in Holland. One note...as the final seconds ticked down, Wourman missed a shot, and Luka Ressler grabbed the rebound. This happened with ~4 seconds remaining in the game. However, Hope's official scorer inexplicably credited it as a "team rebound," leaving Luka with 9 rebounds--one shy of his first career double-double.

I'm sure Luka doesn't care about individual stats in light of the win over Hope but given how he's put his body on the line for the team these last few games, it would have been nice for him to get the double-double he earned.

[KnightSlappy]

I will admit, DeVos Fieldhouse remains a very nice venue to watch a game. I will say though, as a very-soon-to-be-40-year-old, the music is a bit loud most of the time. 

[scottiedawg]

However, Hope's official scorer inexplicably credited it as a "team rebound," leaving Luka with 9 rebounds--one shy of his first career double-double.

I've wondered how much auditing happens of the livestats -> box score. 

It's pretty common (across the nation) to see incorrect player or play attributions in the livestats, especially for the opposing team, and I wonder if anyone audits it for accuracy before it goes into the box score.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

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.

That's some interesting knighty math there old dude - the three way tie is at 5-1 with one more game before the midway point.

[sac]

Hope 95 Albion 72

This is what happens when a 27% 3pt shooting team shoots 11-22 from 3. It was going to happen at some point, and poor Albion was the victim.  Brendan Cargill tops his career high he set in game 1 of 29 with 30 tonight.  He was 8-11 from 3, if I'm not mistaken that ties him with several Hope players for 2nd most in a game behind little Chad Carlson's 10.

Hope played without Parker Hovey.  Great team play from a lot of different sources, can only take them one at a time but that kind of effort tonight will go a long way.

Hope's next 3
at Adrian
Kalamazoo
at Alma

If they can navigate those without a slip they'll be right in this before their final four games of Albion, Olivet, Trine, Calvin.


Back in a tie for first with Olivet, because of course.

(anyone notice Olivet looked alot like that 2016 Alma team tonight.) 

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope 95 Albion 72

This is what happens when a 27% 3pt shooting team shoots 11-22 from 3. It was going to happen at some point, and poor Albion was the victim.  Brendan Cargill tops his career high he set in game 1 of 29 with 30 tonight.  He was 8-11 from 3, if I'm not mistaken that ties him with several Hope players for 2nd most in a game behind little Chad Carlson's 10.

Everyone (except for WashU fans) always seem to forget that the same season Chad Carlson made 10 threes (10-17) at Olivet in the old gym, so did Cody Stuive (10-11), vs WashU @ De Vos in the NCAA tournament.  That Hope team finished the season shooting 0.382 from 3!  This season with last nights great shooting we are up to 0.283 but the trend is in the right direction

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Halfay point so a quick look at where we are compared to the coaches pre-season poll:

Predicted - Actual - Record
1 Calvin - T1 Hope - 6-1
2 Trine - T1 Olivet - 6-1
3 Hope - T3 Calvin - 5-2
4 Olivet - T3 Trine - 5-2
5 Albion - 5 Albion - 3-4
T6 Adrian - 6 Alma - 2-5
T6 Kalamazoo - 7 Adrian - 1-6
8 Alma - 8 Kalamazoo - 0-7

Any prdecitions out there about how many wins it's going to take to win the league? I say a record of 11-3 might just be enough.

[oldknight]

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.

[pointlem]

Comparing Cargill's achievement to prior records does compare today's 22+ foot 3-point line to the 20 foot 9 inch line when Cody Stuive shot 10 of 11 . . . though still, as I remember, a jaw-dropping performance. Tell me if this isn't right (making it harder for a team to shoot 38% from 3-point land than pre-2019):

*1986–87: 19′9″ (original NCAA men's line)
*2008–09: moved back to 20′9″
*2019–20: moved back again to 22′1¾″ (current)

[sac]

When the line was its shortest, it seemed rare to see kids chuck one up from more than a foot behind that line, now we see kids shooting from 24 and 25 or more with regularity, kind of crazy.



I realized later after posting it was sort of disingenuous to say Hope shot the 3 ball well as a team.  Cargill was 8-11 the rest of the team was its now pretty standard mid 20's percentage at 3-11.

Beware the hot hand.

[sac]

I believe Olivet is the team to beat for the conference title.

Its sort of a toss up between Hope and Olivet on which has the more difficult finish.  Both have to play 3 road games vs the other top 5 teams.  And Hope being very vulnerable to Kzoo, Adrian, Alma

In its last 5 Olivet has
@Albion
Calvin
@ Hope
Adrian
@ Trine

Hope's last four
@ Trine
Olivet
@ Albion
@ Calvin