MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Hope 73 Albion 70 F

Another tough gritty win for Hope.  Down 8 at halftime, slow grind to an 8pt lead and held on.  Avery Sanchez with some quality minutes at PG with Marcus Wourman on the bench in foul trouble.   Zero turnovers from Wourman, Sanchez, Mims

Hope, Trine and Olivet won in Kresge and thats a pretty good reason the standings look like they do.

[sac]

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.




 

[pointlem]

Very helpful breakdown, Sac. It looks like all scenarios, should Calvin win their first-round league tournament game, would lead to a Hope v. Calvin semi-final game? The only variable is whether that game will be played at Hope or at Olivet. Yes?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Very helpful breakdown, Sac. It looks like all scenarios, should Calvin win their first-round league tournament game, would lead to a Hope v. Calvin semi-final game? The only variable is whether that game will be played at Hope or at Olivet. Yes?

Yes that is correct.  Hope is guaranteed a bye (top 2 seed) and that barring an upset in the 1st round they will play the Knights again (so back to back games from Hope's perspective)

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Looking ahead to the MIAA tournament (no, not overlooking some fabulous games coming on Saturday) I found this tidbit interesting.

I think I see that we have previously had 5 MIAA tournaments with 6 teams (all the others were either 8 or 4).  In those 5 tournaments, the 1 & 2 seeds of course get a bye.  Here are the records of those teams in the semi-finals (coming off the bye):

#1 Seed: 4-1
#2 Seed: 1-4

Really want the #1 seed and hosting!!!!

Team recordsin the history of the MIAA tournament (I'd normally post this next week but I'll be gone):

School	Years Qualified	Quarters Record	Semis Record	Finals Record	Overall Record
Adrian	30	12-14	4-11	1-3	17-28
Albion	30	17-7	7-15	2-5	26-27
Alma	28	1-24	1-3	1-0	3-27
Calvin	33	18-0	23-9	13-10	54-19
Hope	35	20-2	22-10	15-7	57-19
Kalamazoo	22	7-15	3-4	0-3	10-22
Olivet	27	6-19	1-6	0-1	7-26
Trine	22	4-6	5-10	1-4	10-20

[sac]

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.

[TUAngola]

Another forward commit for Trine:

Jaron Witcher    6'6 F    Southview HS, Sylvania OH

Would like to see some ball handling guards coming soon.  I think that is one big area of weakness for this team.  Hope exposed our ballhandling in the frenetic 15 pt comeback in the last 5 minutes at Trine.

[oldknight]

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.

When I watched the live action, I immediately thought it should be a no-call since neither player had position for the loose ball. After watching the replay (twice) I felt confirmed. I don't know how you can call a foul on either player. The Albion announcers may have sounded like homers, but Jody May and his Brits had every right to be upset that Mayes was assessed a foul on the play.

[pointlem]

A competitive high-octane 96 to 88 Calvin win in GR, with a likely third matchup to come next Friday evening in Olivet. With Jalen Overway holding fort in the paint--today scoring 28 and supporting his teammates with five assists--Calvin is a tough matchup.

Hope has grown this season, with the emergence of sophomore Orion Yant...plus outstanding play from the three frosh—Cargill, Sanchez, and Wesolek—who today combined for 42 points. Hope's future prospects are bright, with the frosh and sophomores today scoring 62 of Hope's 88 points.

[TUAngola]

Final from Angola: Olivet 84 Trine 80

Olivet wraps up the regular season MIAA championship, congrats to the Comets!

Olivet is very impressive.  I think they have the best balance in the league.  They aren't deep, just play 2 guys off the bench, but everyone is capable of hitting big shots, so you can't just key on a couple guys.  What makes them problematic for other teams is their size.  They play 2 bigs and can rotate in a 3rd big.  Richardson is the catalyst that makes them go.  Easily the best ball handler and quickest guard I've watched play.  And guess what, they are all back next year too.

Trine shot themselves in the foot multiple times in the game.  In the first half Flood hit a 3 in front of the Olivet bench to put us up 29-20, but then turned around and woofed at the Comet bench and got T'd up.  Just dumb.  That turned the momentum around and Olivet outscored the Thunder 23-10 the rest of the way to go up 43-39 at half.

Second half was a game of runs, but Trine never overtook the Comets.  Olivet would get up by 10 pts and then we'd cut it to 1-2 points, but could never get the big shot to get the lead back.  Missed free throws were huge.  Bradshaw missed 5 in a row at one point.  Other times we'd just split from the line.  If we hit free throws the outcome may have been different.  Tucker also had 3 big turnovers in the last 4 minutes or so.  The last one when we were down 2 with a chance to tie or take a lead with 6 seconds left.  I feel bad for Nate, he's such a good kid.

No first round bye for Trine, will have to go the long route in the tournament.

[oldknight]

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.

I hate it when OldKnight is right. The inestimable Mrs. OldKnight hates it even more.

[sac]

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.

[oldknight]

A competitive high-octane 96 to 88 Calvin win in GR, with a likely third matchup to come next Friday evening in Olivet. With Jalen Overway holding fort in the paint--today scoring 28 and supporting his teammates with five assists--Calvin is a tough matchup.

Hope has grown this season, with the emergence of sophomore Orion Yant...plus outstanding play from the three frosh—Cargill, Sanchez, and Wesolek—who today combined for 42 points. Hope's future prospects are bright, with the frosh and sophomores today scoring 62 of Hope's 88 points.

Well stated. I told someone that if a general basketball fan without a dog in the fight would had wandered into VNA this afternoon to watch some hoops, that person would not have been disappointed in the quality of competitive play on display this afternoon. Great atmosphere.

[sac]

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. 

[Happy Calvin Guy]

Overway to enter portal?

Behind paywall so I can't view the full article