MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Trine MBB 2026 commit:

Brogan McNiece  6'5 F  Homestead HS  Ft Wayne IN

So Trine has 3 commits thus far, all 6-5 - interesting. 

Kalamazoo also has a 2026 commit:

Dylan Gross 5-9 PG Rockford (MI)

[TUAngola]

Trine MBB 2026 commit:

Brogan McNiece  6'5 F  Homestead HS  Ft Wayne IN

So Trine has 3 commits thus far, all 6-5 - interesting. 

Kalamazoo also has a 2026 commit:

Dylan Gross 5-9 PG Rockford (MI)

Trine has four commitments, all 6'5 or over.

Connor Stevens 6'5 Concord HS MI
Jake Holcomb 6'5 Holland Christian HS MI
Caleb Claerbaut 6'7 Zeeland East HS MI
Brogan McNiece 6'5 Fort Wayne Homestead HS IN

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope wins a pretty ugly game (47 fouls and 69 FTs) over Adrian last night 86-76.  There was a little extra energy in the house as Josh and Jace (social media/internet sensations from the UK) were in attendance for their first college basketball game.

Parkey Hovey ended his streak of 5 games with over 20 points, scoring 17 (2-6 from the floor, 13-18 FTs) and just missed a triple double with 12 rebounds and 9 blocks!  That coupled with a shocking 32% shooting from 3 (painful that 32% is a "good" shock vs the season average of 26%) for the Dutchmen was enough to get the win.  Wourman with 17 and Mims with 14.

Interesting factoid about Justice Mims:  He has played in 90 games in his career for Hope.  In games where he scores 9 or fewer points, Hope is 40-27 0.597.  When he scores 10 or more points, Hope is 19-4 0.826

Wourman and Hovey both have a chance to hit the 1000 point mark this season.  Marcus is at 915 and Parker at 736

[Gregory Sager]

Hope wins a pretty ugly game (47 fouls and 69 FTs) over Adrian last night 86-76.  There was a little extra energy in the house as Josh and Jace (social media/internet sensations from the UK) were in attendance for their first college basketball game.

Those two blokes are the best thing to happen to western Michigan tourism since Holland started the Tulip Time Festival back in 1929. They're all over my Facebook feed.

[oldknight]

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.

[TUAngola]

Hope commit:

Kaden Grau, 6'4 wing, Westview HS, Topeka IN.  Hope is getting a good one, with Kaden being a local kid that I was hoping would commit to Trine.  1000 point scorer, team is currently 12-1. 

Kaden had offers from Trine, Wheaton, Wabash, DePauw and others, along with NAIA schools St Francis, Taylor and Goshen in Indiana.  Hope was on him very early.

[AlwaysHope]

Not directly related to basketball, but here's an amazing accomplishment for a 2007 Hope Grad and all MIAA baseball player:

If you watched the College National Championship game last night, you saw Michael VanderVelde working as the Referee, leading the Big 12 officiating crew assigned to the game.  According to the Holland Sentinel, Michael began his officiating career as a Hope student-athlete, following in his Dad's footsteps.  We knew him and his father from church years ago.

Here is the Sentinel article with a great story:  https://athletics.hope.edu/news/2026/1/19/general-michael-vandervelde-07-to-referee-college-football-playoff-national-championship-game.aspx  I did not realize he also officiated at the 2024 Rose Bowl national semifinal between the Michigan Wolverines and Alabama Crimson Tide, which Michigan won in OT on the way to the National Championship.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Kalamazoo gets another commit for next season:

Brennan Elling 6-5 F Oxford (MI)

Brennan also had offers from Adrian, Alma, Albion, Calvin, and Olivet

[TUAngola]

Trine 88 Calvin 68

The Thunder shoot a blistering 72% from the field in the second half to pull away from the Knights after leading by 4 points at halftime.  I was lamenting about Trine's lack of defense in December but they probably played their best defensive game of the year tonight.  We made things tough on Overway, every time he touched the ball we ran a second guy at him, and then he collected all 5 of his fouls in the second half and was visibly frustrated with the refs on a few of the calls.  The game certainly was choppy with the teams combining for 48 fouls and 57 free throw attempts, but both Calvin and Trine shot it well at the line with Calvin at 82% and Trine at 86%.  One of the keys to the game I thought was the depth of Trine's bench as we outscored Calvin 27-0.

Trine: Bradshaw 17, McKenzie 17, Tucker 15, Brenner 15
Calvin: Winkle 18, McIllwain, 16, Overway 15, Ressler 12

Big games coming up Saturday with Hope hosting Calvin and Olivet hosting Trine.  Hope is 5-0 in conference play with Calvin, Olivet and Trine all at 4-1.

[sac]

This league is boring.

We all saw Saturday's matchup between Hope and Calvin coming a mile away.  One team unbeaten in first place and the other desperate to avoid falling 2 games behind their arch rival.

Like clock work.

[sac]

Hope 74 Kzoo 66 F

I don't understand how Kzoo is just 3-14 with a win over Wabash.  I kinda do, but I mostly don't.


Hope had to tough this one out, a short deficit and a couple brief 10 point leads were pulled back and this was a one possession game late, but Hope seemed to make all the plays in the last couple minutes.

Its a toss up between offensive rebounding, break out fast break points or defensive thievery and blocked shots that made the difference.  Parker Hovey and Orion Yant had some nice dunks in this game.

[pointlem]

Its a toss up between offensive rebounding, break out fast break points or defensive thievery and blocked shots that made the difference.  Parker Hovey and Orion Yant had some nice dunks in this game.

Agreed, Sac...enabling Hope to survive despite another 20 percent (5 for 25) 3-point shooting night (not to mention 27% on free throws). Parker Hovey's athleticism--including 9 blocks against Adrian and 6 blocks last night--continues to amaze me. It's not like he's 6' 10".

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Its a toss up between offensive rebounding, break out fast break points or defensive thievery and blocked shots that made the difference.  Parker Hovey and Orion Yant had some nice dunks in this game.

Agreed, Sac...enabling Hope to survive despite another 20 percent (5 for 25) 3-point shooting night (not to mention 27% on free throws). Parker Hovey's athleticism--including 9 blocks against Adrian and 6 blocks last night--continues to amaze me. It's not like he's 6' 10".

The dunks were pretty amazing (I think Hovey had 4 of them), the most impressive was this one with Hope clinging to a 2 point lead:  https://youtu.be/WOqla8qPiDk?t=7087

The 3pt shooting is (I think) what we have to live with this year.  The FT shooting on Wed night, well that was completely out of character.  Coming into the game Hope was at 73% fromm the line this year.  Versus Kazoo 3-11, and that includes 2 by Cargill with 5 seconds left and the game already decided.  1-9 in crunch time isn't going to cut it.  It's one game, so let's leave it there Hope (please) and move on to face CU.  Not like a rivalry game needs any extra fire, but I suspect the Knights are not coming in feeling too good about their last game and will be ready to prove that was an anomoly.  We will be ready - Go Hope!

[pointlem]

The 3pt shooting is (I think) what we have to live with this year.

I'm a bit more optimistic, FDF. Apart from new players Cargill and Sanchez, Hope has made 22% of its 3-point shots this year, down from 31% last year. I think they're capable of better, but we shall see . . . .

[oldknight]

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.