Coaches Poll

The MIAA released its coaches poll this past Thursday and it looked like this:

1. Hope (6)          9 points
2. Adrian             15
3. Calvin (2)        17
4. Trine                23
5. Albion             31
6. Alma               39
7. Olivet              42
8. Kalamazoo      48

My first reaction when seeing this was surprise but after a few hours of logical thinking and letting it sink in I was able to accept it.

Hope has dominated this league the past two seasons so it really shouldn't surprise anyone they are picked again.  Reputation goes a long way sometimes and Hope is returning a pretty good core of players, though losing a couple good ones.  The real question is does Hope come back to the crowd enough to the point they aren't challenging for the league title?  Any coach, even all the relatively new guys kind of figure Hope's not going anywhere.  So there they are, like it or hate it.  I don't hate it, but I'm not sure I like it.

Adrian in the second spot I'm sort of ok with, its the kind of respect Albion used to receive 6 or 7 years ago when they were winning MIAA titles.  I think it might be a touch high but honestly they've earned this sort of praise, lest we forget they've beaten Calvin four straight times on the floor where it matters most.

Calvin returns everyone.  Perhaps its because most of the MIAA coaches have never seen the 3 guys returning to the roster or Kevin VandeStreak gave the most unconvincing impression of his team (I'd actually buy this) but this seemed a little ridiculous.  But I suppose someone has to be 3rd and this is one spot above where they finished last season and behind one team they haven't beaten in two years and the other team that's beaten them 5 straight times.  See logic.

I'm sure the two guys happiest with this poll were VandeStreak and Albion's Jodi May who have some solid motivation for a couple teams that maybe underperformed a year ago and can play that lack of respect angle all season.  Otherwise most everything fell in line.

I should note Kalamazoo has probably been picked last 2 or 3 times over the years and they've never finished there.  I actually don't feel what they have returning is as grim as what some might think (grim being relative) and it doesn't look worse than in those other years.  They might fall victim to a league that gets better above them and an Olivet squad that might string together a roster equal to theirs.  

When I did my  Way to Early Preview back in April I picked 1. Calvin 2. Hope 3. Adrian 4. Albion 5. Trine 6. Alma 7. Kzoo 8. Olivet and I'm still comfortable with that, but I don't think I'm as rock solid convinced with Calvin or Adrian's places in my thoughts.  

So we've crossed one more hurdle to the start of the season, less than two weeks now.