Box Score
Hope started Gardner, Seiler, Eidson, Snuggerud, VanArendonk. Ben Gardner becomes the 11th different Dutchmen to start a game this year. Neil and Benson played the most off the bench, Byers and Denhem in for short spells. Neither team used much bench as both teams stuck with their primary starting 5 and 2 others.
Game Recap:
I gave myself a night off from chasing basketballs around the state, a dodgy weather forecast and just a feeling I kind of needed to rest kept me home. As a result, these obviously aren't eye-witness thoughts.
Adrian scored the first basket of the game and would only lead one other time on the night. Hope was never able to get to much of a first half lead as both teams struggled to score and the ugly betty ballgame I predicted seemed to be coming to fruition. Adrian was looking to make it a 2 point game just before the half when Ben Gardner stole the ball and converted the layup to give Hope a 6 point halftime lead.
Adrian did cut it down to 2 early in the second half before Hope scored the next 7 to grab their biggest lead of 9. Alex Eidson knocked down back-to-back triples one to put them up 9 the other 10, psychologically that had to hurt Adrian. They just don't spend much time being down double-digits. The Bulldogs scored the next 5 to get it back to 5 only to see Hope score the next 8 as both teams stole the momentum from each other.
The lead was 15 before Adrian made one last run to cut it to 8 all scored by Eric Lewis, in fact he scored 13 straight. Asked to execute its offense in the final 5 minutes to preserve the victory after a stretch of turnovers Hope answered with 10 points in 6 possessions with 8 from Snuggerud, 2 from Seiler. Hope's second half execution proved to be the difference as Hope gets this much needed win.
Hope really needed to play well and win this one if nothing more than to prove to themselves they could still be a good team without Colton Overway. I still consider Adrian a pretty good team and to beat them by 13 at home in a game they themselves really needed is an outstanding effort. Beyond just the win though this game might really lift some spirits.
With 5 league games to play Hope now has a 3 game lead over the 4th and 5th place spots, while nothing is clinched tonight's win at least moves them closer to having a spot in the tournament. It also at least keeps them within striking distance of Calvin should the Knights do something goofy and lose one they shouldn't in the next couple weeks.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
Turnovers: 8 for the game, Hope had 1 team turnover with 10 minutes to play. That is outstanding. Unfortunately as soon as I pointed this out to someone they turned it over 7 times in the next 7 minutes. Between the two Fr. PG's it was 4 turnovers and 5 assists on the night. Overall though they probably did alright, given the game pace and Adrian's TO rate I would have expected about 13 turnovers, so they finished ahead of that.
Blocks: Hope threw a block party last night with 12 in the game (apparently a DeVos record), gradually over the last 2 or 3 games Hope's interior has been starting to assert itself both offensively and defensively. Half of their blocks in league play have come in the last 3 games. That is a lot of potential points being erased from the scoreboard.
FG shooting: Hope made 13 of 19 shots in the second half. Obviously an excellent shooting percentage and efficiency. In both games against Adrian the Bulldogs have limited Hope to 17 and 19 fg attempts in the second halves. Points in the paint was 36-22 to Hope, that 14 points difference is pretty much the margin in the game.
Nate Snuggerud: 24 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists........this is a couple good games in a row now.
Alex Eidson: 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4-8 from three...... coming into this one Alex had made just 3 of his last 13 3-point attempts.
Nate VanArendonk: 7 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks.....I put this here to point out the similar stat line to last years Adrian game in Holland 10 points, 6 rbs, 9 blocks.
Efficiency:
Estimated number of possessions: Hope 63 Adrian 64
That is 10 less for each team vs the first meeting. Also predictable.
Offensive Efficieny: 106.39
This is pretty much Hope's season average. The first half was the ugly slugfest I figured it would be with an eff of 88. Hope's impressive second half was around 125, probably the best half anyone's played against Adrian this year. For the season Hope has 2 of the best 3 efficiency performances allowed by Adrian, that's saying something against that defensive team.
Defensive Efficiency: 83.07
This is out-defending the defenders, the first-half was a 70 which is outstanding even against an offensive team that struggles sometimes. Things returned to a more normal rate of 97 in the second half.
At least from an efficiency point of view both teams defended each other a little better this time, Hope actually quite a bit better.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 30.0% of available offensive rebounds
Adrian: 22.3% of available offensive rebounds
This is below both teams season average so both did a pretty good job keeping the other off the offensive glass, not much for either team. The rates for both halves were the same. Second chance points was 10-7 to Hope.
Moments or Keys to the Game:
This was an 8 point game with 5 to play and Adrian had just scored 7 in a row, when they were really asked to preserve the lead Hope went inside 6 straight times, scoring 5 times with the one miss being a dunk. It sealed the deal.
My Game Ball Goes To:
Alex Eidson's contributions in this one can't go unnoticed, all of his 3's seemed timely and important and provided a cushion Hope could use defensively. Hope really needed Nate Snuggerud to step up tonight with a big game and he delivered with a 24 point effort. Consider for a minute the first game in Adrian he played just 6 minutes and barely registered in the stat book. Much needed indeed so Nate gets my game ball.
Standings
Snuggerud - 5
Overway - 4
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Gardner - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
VanArendonk - 1
Benson - 1
Going Forward:
I suppose with Colton's injury this was the game that brought the most anxiety to the Hope faithful. You can never be sure how a team will respond to a big injury to a teams point guard, let alone having to replace him with a couple Freshmen even if they are good ones. It was good to have them respond in a positive way and hopefully this game builds some confidence for these next couple weeks. A spot in the MIAA Tournament now seems a lot more secure and they can continue to try and chase down Calvin. If you don't mind me being a cheerleader, this isn't over.
Saturday the Britons come to Holland fresh off a 20-point loss at Calvin. At this point I really am not quite sure what we'll see from Albion. The game down there was the typical tight affair these games usually have been. If Hope wants their shot at Calvin to mean more than just the rivalry stuff protecting the home court is paramount.
Up Next: Me vs relaxing
Sat. Feb 2, Hope vs Albion at DeVos Fieldhouse
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Weeks in Review: Weeks 10 and 11
Weeks 10 and 11 already, sheesh.
MIAA
Calvin won the big showdown over Hope in a big way almost two weeks ago, a subsequent loss by Hope the following Saturday opened up a 2 game lead for Calvin. Meanwhile Adrian held on for dear life against Alma to remain in contention before losing a tough one to Calvin this past Saturday. Trine's moment of truth revealed they aren't quite up to Hope or Calvin's level just yet or at least this time.
On the other end of things Albion's misery continued leading to thoughts of a historical losing streak and losing season. Alma narrowly missed getting into the top half of the league and Olivet continued its impressive play at home.
Placements for the MIAA half-tournament began to take shape
1. Calvin -- In
2. Hope -- probably in but where?
3. Trine -- looking good, still work to do
4. Adrian -- lots of work to do
5. Alma -- have a real shot
6. Olivet -- also a real shot, but a tough road schedule
7. Kzoo -- no not really
8. Albion -- no not really, but it would be just like Albion to go 7-0 this half
Adrian 15-4, 4-4
Adrian 74 Alma 73
Adrian 77 Kalamazoo 46
Adrian 63 Albion 49
Calvin 50 Adrian 47
Adrian kind of sort of righted things after their 1-3 start. That 1 point last second win over Alma looms pretty large and is the difference between them and Alma switching spots in the standings. Their second shot at Calvin went much like the first with Calvin hitting a late 3 to pull off the win. Ben Rodak returned from where ever it was Ben was to play against Calvin, this will help their depth. Adrian's really pushing their starters high minutes, this team might start to wear down soon. Big week for them this week.
This Week: @ Hope, @ Trine
Next Week: Olivet, @Alma
Albion 5-14, 1-7
Kalamazoo 78 Albion 71
Alma 78 Albion 76
Adrian 63 Albion 49
Albion 71 Olivet 58
The Britons miserable stretch of games since Christmas continued with 3 more losses including a 2 point loss at Alma and tough but competitive road losses at Trine and Kalamazoo. Albion won their first game in over a month by running away from Olivet late. With their chances at making the MIAA Tournament probably gone its really just about pride now for the Britons and they usually have loads of that. I don't think Hope or Calvin should feel to comfortable about their home games with the Britons. All those tough road losses are back at home in Kresge this time, the game that might determine the final number in front of Albion's name at the end is probably the Kalamazoo game.
This Week: @Calvin, @Hope
Next Week: Trine, Kalamazoo
Alma 8-11, 3-4
Adrian 74 Alma 73
Alma 78 Albion 76
Alma 92 Kalamazoo 66
Hope 92 Alma 74
That one point loss to Adrian looms large without that they'd be sitting in 4th place with probably a little more 'buzz'. That loss to Hope was a much closer effort than the score indicates. If Alma can get a win out its next two they'll get a shot to host Calvin and Adrian with a great chance to win one of those and put themselves in a position to make the tournament. Overall though, Alma's going to have to win some road games.
This Week: @Trine, @Olivet
Next Week: Calvin, Adrian
Calvin 17-2, 8-0
Calvin 75 Hope 49
Calvin 56 Trine 43
Calvin 73 Olivet 57
Calvin 50 Adrian 47
This was Calvin's toughest 4 games stretch of the league season you'll find. The Hope game wasn't nearly as close as that score indicates, the next 3 were all on the road to teams playing well. Despite spotting Trine a 9 point lead they came away with a comfortable win, won at Olivet which Hope couldn't do and then hit a late 3 to survive Mark White's defense. If the odd loss were going to happen it probably would have happened in this stretch I think.
This Week: Albion, Kalamazoo
Next Week: @Alma, @Hope
Hope 10-8, 5-2
Calvin 75 Hope 49
Olivet 68 Hope 65
Hope 76 Trine 61
Hope 92 Alma 74
After the thumping in Grand Rapids Hope found itself in a tight game with Olivet and lost that battle when Olivet hit two big 3 point shots in the final minute of the game. Hope came back with a solid win over Trine and more comfortable than it really was win at Alma. Things just got a lot harder for Hope though with an injury to Sr. pg Colton Overway, he's easily been worth 3 or 4 wins alone this year. The last six games just became a lot harder.
This Week: Adrian, Albion
Next Week: @Kalamazoo, Calvin
Kalamazoo 5-14, 2-5
Kalamazoo 78 Albion 71
Adrian 77 Kalamazoo 46
Alma 92 Kalamazoo 66
Trine 63 Kalamazoo 51
The Hornets got their win over Albion to keep them out of last place but weren't really competitive in their next two and trailed Trine pretty much all the way. Whether they stay out of last probably depends on the return trip to Albion. Any other win would be a bonus.
This Week: @Olivet, @Calvin
Next Week: Kalamazoo, @Albion
Olivet 8-11, 3-5
Trine 81 Olivet 77
Olivet 68 Hope 65
Calvin 73 Olivet 57
Albion 71 Olivet 58
Olivet has been great at home and won their second big home contest of the year beating Hope. So far at least the good play at home hasn't followed them on the road or at least they haven't won those close ones. Olivet has a shot to make the tournament but they're going to have to win on the road at Calvin, Hope and Adrian, no easy task. Any loss at home during this final stretch would be too costly to overcome.
This Week: Kalamazoo, Alma
Next Week: @ Adrian, Trine
Trine 12-7, 5-3
Trine 81 Olivet 77
Calvin 56 Trine 43
Hope 76 Trine 61
Trine 63 Kalamazoo 51
The majority of Trine's wins this year have been close games that come down to the final minutes, in league play they've won all but one of those types of games. Trine seems like a pretty good team to me that just can't rebound well enough to contend with Hope and Calvin. Right now they sit in pretty good position for the tournament, the task for them is to make sure the last week of games with Calvin and Hope don't mean anything to them.
This Week: Alma, Adrian
Next Week: @Albion, @Olivet
MIAA Efficiency
Alma's improvement is all offensive. Trine and Olivet coming down probably comes from playing Hope and Calvin in this two week period, similarly Adrian's leveling off is probably from not playing Calvin and Hope these two weeks. Albion's slide has probably leveled off a little. The gaps make it pretty easy to see why a Calvin, Adrian, Hope, Trine tournament is most likely.
Hope's the wild card here now, with Colton Overway out I'd expect Hope's efficiency to drop a little and consequently they might lose a game or two more. Calvin could find themselves with a nice margin going into next week.
The Neighbors
Ohio Athletic Conference
Marietta won the big showdown with Capital in dramatic last second shot fashion to tie for the OAC lead, one week later they threw it away losing to Otterbein, currently in a tie for 7th. Baldwin-Wallace followed suit winning their big game with Capital and 4 days later losing at Ohio Northern, currently tied for 7th. Capital picked themselves up off the mat and won their next two over Heidelberg and Mt. Union. Wilmington rose to 4th by themselves because someone has to be 4th.
Standings
Marietta 10-2
Capital 10-2
Bald-Wally 9-3
Wilmington 7-5
Wilmington, John Carroll and Mt. Union will have a nice battle for 4th and 5th which will actually be 3rd and 4th seeds in the tournament because of BW's self-imposed post-season ban. This week not much happens involving the top 3 head-to-head. The fun begins next Wed. when Capital goes to Marietta followed by BW at Marietta on Saturday. John Carroll probably figures in this somehow because they always do, they have games with Capital, BW and Wilmington
Key Game: Feb 6, Capital at Marietta
Northcoast Athletic Conference
Nobody among the potential ranked Great Lakes teams had a rougher two weeks than Ohio Wesleyan. The Battling Bishops lost to Hiram leading up to their big NCAC showdown with Wooster then dropped that close one. This past Saturday they dropped their 3rd in just over 10 days in OT at DePauw. Just like that their margin for Pool C error took a big hit.
Meanwhile Wooster kept trucking along avoiding the same upset minded Hiram and now sit pretty a top the NCAC standings by 3 full games. To this blogger Wittenberg has been hanging on a string for some time and finally dropped a couple to Hiram and DePauw to fall 4 back. Hiram took all those good feelings of beating Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg back-to-back and lost to Allegheny in their next game. The rest of the league continued to be the rest of the league and beat each other up without reason.
Standings
Wooster 10-0
Ohio Wes. 7-3
DePauw 6-4
Wittenberg 6-4
The next couple weeks has a renewal of the Wabash/DePauw rivalry, Ohio Wesleyan has to play Wittenberg and next Wed. travel to Wooster where the league race might get settled. In two weeks Wooster hosts Witt and it might already by over by then.
Key Game: Feb 6, Ohio Wesleyan at Wooster
Presidents Athletic Conference
Thiel was already probably on the outside of the conference race looking in but a 1 point loss to 2-16 Geneva made sure of that. Bethany took two big losses losing their showdown with Thomas More by 12 at home and then losing to Waynesburg. St. Vincent and Thomas More have kept winning and now have a 2 game separation to third place Bethany.
Standings
Thomas More 9-1
St. Vincent 9-1
Bethany 8-3
Thiel 7-4
The 3 top teams all play each other in the last 3 game days of the season culminating in the potential PAC Championship showdown with Thomas More and St. Vincent on the final Saturday of the regular season. In the next two weeks its really about Thiel vs the top 3 as they play all 3 in succession followed by the first of the current top 3 playing each other..
Key Game: Feb 9, St. Vincent at Bethany
Region Rankings
1. Calvin
2. Wooster
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. Thomas More
5. Marietta
I rewarded Calvin who now has two wins over Adrian, which is two more than Wooster has. Margins of 6, 3 and 1 between those 3. Its that tight. After that its not tight and a big drop, despite OWU's horrendous 2 weeks accumulating 3 losses they remain number 3, though tenuous. Thomas More moves in the 4 spot which I'm kind of uncomfortable with, the Great Lakes just isn't very deep this year. Marietta with the head-to-head over Capital, a last second 3-point shot btw.
Five to watch: Adrian, St. Vincent, Capital, DePauw, Baldwin-Wallace
Great Lakes Efficiency
Straight Efficiency.
1. Calvin
2. Wooster
3. Bethany
4. Ohio Wesleyan
5. DePauw
6. PSU-Behrend
7. Thomas More
8. Adrian
9. Baldwin-Wallace
10. Marietta
Hope actually came in at number 10, but my rage against games against internet schools not counting slips Marietta in there. Seems like Bethany should have a better record, they currently sit 3rd in the PAC. They are also a good example of why math will never rule the sports world. DePauw has been in and out of these floating near the top 10 all season and it didn't make sense to me, then they beat Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg.
Strength of Schedule Adjustment.
1. Calvin
2. Wooster
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. DePauw
5. Adrian
6. Baldwin-Wallace
7. Marietta
8. Bethany
9. Capital
10. Hope
DePauw's excellent week shoots them into the top 10. From about 4 to 13 the teams are all jammed together pretty good, DePauw added Wittenberg and Ohio Wesleyan to their schedule strength and along with beating them they passed a lot of teams. Consider them the best of the rest for now, this is about as high as any of those 4-13 teams can get without Ohio Wesleyan losing some more games. Not sure DePauw will stay this high.
An even higher emphasis on schedule strength.
1. Wooster
2. Calvin
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. Hope
5. Capital
6. Baldwin-Wallace
7. Adrian
8. DePauw
9. Marietta
10. Wittenberg
The 'jamming together' of teams here is 5-11. I'd consider Hope more within that group but their schedule strength really helps them here. Notice no PAC schools.
Just for fun, the bottom 5 in the region with straight efficiency
38. Kalamazoo
39. Oberlin
40. Muskingum
41. Geneva
42. Franciscan
Oberlin's overall record and competitiveness within the NCAC is defying their efficiency. Thiel gets the award for 'worst loss of the year' by a mile, seriously how did you lose to Geneva? Franciscan is a bad basketball team in a bad conference.
The next time I do this I imagine the MIAA and NCAC races will be settled, maybe even the OAC.
MIAA
Calvin won the big showdown over Hope in a big way almost two weeks ago, a subsequent loss by Hope the following Saturday opened up a 2 game lead for Calvin. Meanwhile Adrian held on for dear life against Alma to remain in contention before losing a tough one to Calvin this past Saturday. Trine's moment of truth revealed they aren't quite up to Hope or Calvin's level just yet or at least this time.
On the other end of things Albion's misery continued leading to thoughts of a historical losing streak and losing season. Alma narrowly missed getting into the top half of the league and Olivet continued its impressive play at home.
Placements for the MIAA half-tournament began to take shape
1. Calvin -- In
2. Hope -- probably in but where?
3. Trine -- looking good, still work to do
4. Adrian -- lots of work to do
5. Alma -- have a real shot
6. Olivet -- also a real shot, but a tough road schedule
7. Kzoo -- no not really
8. Albion -- no not really, but it would be just like Albion to go 7-0 this half
Adrian 15-4, 4-4
Adrian 74 Alma 73
Adrian 77 Kalamazoo 46
Adrian 63 Albion 49
Calvin 50 Adrian 47
Adrian kind of sort of righted things after their 1-3 start. That 1 point last second win over Alma looms pretty large and is the difference between them and Alma switching spots in the standings. Their second shot at Calvin went much like the first with Calvin hitting a late 3 to pull off the win. Ben Rodak returned from where ever it was Ben was to play against Calvin, this will help their depth. Adrian's really pushing their starters high minutes, this team might start to wear down soon. Big week for them this week.
This Week: @ Hope, @ Trine
Next Week: Olivet, @Alma
Albion 5-14, 1-7
Kalamazoo 78 Albion 71
Alma 78 Albion 76
Adrian 63 Albion 49
Albion 71 Olivet 58
The Britons miserable stretch of games since Christmas continued with 3 more losses including a 2 point loss at Alma and tough but competitive road losses at Trine and Kalamazoo. Albion won their first game in over a month by running away from Olivet late. With their chances at making the MIAA Tournament probably gone its really just about pride now for the Britons and they usually have loads of that. I don't think Hope or Calvin should feel to comfortable about their home games with the Britons. All those tough road losses are back at home in Kresge this time, the game that might determine the final number in front of Albion's name at the end is probably the Kalamazoo game.
This Week: @Calvin, @Hope
Next Week: Trine, Kalamazoo
Alma 8-11, 3-4
Adrian 74 Alma 73
Alma 78 Albion 76
Alma 92 Kalamazoo 66
Hope 92 Alma 74
That one point loss to Adrian looms large without that they'd be sitting in 4th place with probably a little more 'buzz'. That loss to Hope was a much closer effort than the score indicates. If Alma can get a win out its next two they'll get a shot to host Calvin and Adrian with a great chance to win one of those and put themselves in a position to make the tournament. Overall though, Alma's going to have to win some road games.
This Week: @Trine, @Olivet
Next Week: Calvin, Adrian
Calvin 17-2, 8-0
Calvin 75 Hope 49
Calvin 56 Trine 43
Calvin 73 Olivet 57
Calvin 50 Adrian 47
This was Calvin's toughest 4 games stretch of the league season you'll find. The Hope game wasn't nearly as close as that score indicates, the next 3 were all on the road to teams playing well. Despite spotting Trine a 9 point lead they came away with a comfortable win, won at Olivet which Hope couldn't do and then hit a late 3 to survive Mark White's defense. If the odd loss were going to happen it probably would have happened in this stretch I think.
This Week: Albion, Kalamazoo
Next Week: @Alma, @Hope
Hope 10-8, 5-2
Calvin 75 Hope 49
Olivet 68 Hope 65
Hope 76 Trine 61
Hope 92 Alma 74
After the thumping in Grand Rapids Hope found itself in a tight game with Olivet and lost that battle when Olivet hit two big 3 point shots in the final minute of the game. Hope came back with a solid win over Trine and more comfortable than it really was win at Alma. Things just got a lot harder for Hope though with an injury to Sr. pg Colton Overway, he's easily been worth 3 or 4 wins alone this year. The last six games just became a lot harder.
This Week: Adrian, Albion
Next Week: @Kalamazoo, Calvin
Kalamazoo 5-14, 2-5
Kalamazoo 78 Albion 71
Adrian 77 Kalamazoo 46
Alma 92 Kalamazoo 66
Trine 63 Kalamazoo 51
The Hornets got their win over Albion to keep them out of last place but weren't really competitive in their next two and trailed Trine pretty much all the way. Whether they stay out of last probably depends on the return trip to Albion. Any other win would be a bonus.
This Week: @Olivet, @Calvin
Next Week: Kalamazoo, @Albion
Olivet 8-11, 3-5
Trine 81 Olivet 77
Olivet 68 Hope 65
Calvin 73 Olivet 57
Albion 71 Olivet 58
Olivet has been great at home and won their second big home contest of the year beating Hope. So far at least the good play at home hasn't followed them on the road or at least they haven't won those close ones. Olivet has a shot to make the tournament but they're going to have to win on the road at Calvin, Hope and Adrian, no easy task. Any loss at home during this final stretch would be too costly to overcome.
This Week: Kalamazoo, Alma
Next Week: @ Adrian, Trine
Trine 12-7, 5-3
Trine 81 Olivet 77
Calvin 56 Trine 43
Hope 76 Trine 61
Trine 63 Kalamazoo 51
The majority of Trine's wins this year have been close games that come down to the final minutes, in league play they've won all but one of those types of games. Trine seems like a pretty good team to me that just can't rebound well enough to contend with Hope and Calvin. Right now they sit in pretty good position for the tournament, the task for them is to make sure the last week of games with Calvin and Hope don't mean anything to them.
This Week: Alma, Adrian
Next Week: @Albion, @Olivet
MIAA Efficiency
| Off Eff | Def Eff | Total | change | ||
| Calvin | 108.88 | 84.94 | 223.94 | -0.34 | |
| Adrian | 97.46 | 84.02 | 213.44 | 0.8 | |
| Trine | 103.35 | 96.48 | 206.87 | -3.03 | |
| Hope | 104.56 | 98.84 | 205.72 | -1.46 | |
| Olivet | 100.17 | 101.85 | 198.32 | -2.09 | |
| Albion | 99.09 | 104.24 | 194.85 | 0.17 | |
| Alma | 101.07 | 107.59 | 193.48 | 3.07 | |
| Kzoo | 91.73 | 107.82 | 183.91 | -1.73 |
Alma's improvement is all offensive. Trine and Olivet coming down probably comes from playing Hope and Calvin in this two week period, similarly Adrian's leveling off is probably from not playing Calvin and Hope these two weeks. Albion's slide has probably leveled off a little. The gaps make it pretty easy to see why a Calvin, Adrian, Hope, Trine tournament is most likely.
Hope's the wild card here now, with Colton Overway out I'd expect Hope's efficiency to drop a little and consequently they might lose a game or two more. Calvin could find themselves with a nice margin going into next week.
The Neighbors
Ohio Athletic Conference
Marietta won the big showdown with Capital in dramatic last second shot fashion to tie for the OAC lead, one week later they threw it away losing to Otterbein, currently in a tie for 7th. Baldwin-Wallace followed suit winning their big game with Capital and 4 days later losing at Ohio Northern, currently tied for 7th. Capital picked themselves up off the mat and won their next two over Heidelberg and Mt. Union. Wilmington rose to 4th by themselves because someone has to be 4th.
Standings
Marietta 10-2
Capital 10-2
Bald-Wally 9-3
Wilmington 7-5
Wilmington, John Carroll and Mt. Union will have a nice battle for 4th and 5th which will actually be 3rd and 4th seeds in the tournament because of BW's self-imposed post-season ban. This week not much happens involving the top 3 head-to-head. The fun begins next Wed. when Capital goes to Marietta followed by BW at Marietta on Saturday. John Carroll probably figures in this somehow because they always do, they have games with Capital, BW and Wilmington
Key Game: Feb 6, Capital at Marietta
Northcoast Athletic Conference
Nobody among the potential ranked Great Lakes teams had a rougher two weeks than Ohio Wesleyan. The Battling Bishops lost to Hiram leading up to their big NCAC showdown with Wooster then dropped that close one. This past Saturday they dropped their 3rd in just over 10 days in OT at DePauw. Just like that their margin for Pool C error took a big hit.
Meanwhile Wooster kept trucking along avoiding the same upset minded Hiram and now sit pretty a top the NCAC standings by 3 full games. To this blogger Wittenberg has been hanging on a string for some time and finally dropped a couple to Hiram and DePauw to fall 4 back. Hiram took all those good feelings of beating Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg back-to-back and lost to Allegheny in their next game. The rest of the league continued to be the rest of the league and beat each other up without reason.
Standings
Wooster 10-0
Ohio Wes. 7-3
DePauw 6-4
Wittenberg 6-4
The next couple weeks has a renewal of the Wabash/DePauw rivalry, Ohio Wesleyan has to play Wittenberg and next Wed. travel to Wooster where the league race might get settled. In two weeks Wooster hosts Witt and it might already by over by then.
Key Game: Feb 6, Ohio Wesleyan at Wooster
Presidents Athletic Conference
Thiel was already probably on the outside of the conference race looking in but a 1 point loss to 2-16 Geneva made sure of that. Bethany took two big losses losing their showdown with Thomas More by 12 at home and then losing to Waynesburg. St. Vincent and Thomas More have kept winning and now have a 2 game separation to third place Bethany.
Standings
Thomas More 9-1
St. Vincent 9-1
Bethany 8-3
Thiel 7-4
The 3 top teams all play each other in the last 3 game days of the season culminating in the potential PAC Championship showdown with Thomas More and St. Vincent on the final Saturday of the regular season. In the next two weeks its really about Thiel vs the top 3 as they play all 3 in succession followed by the first of the current top 3 playing each other..
Key Game: Feb 9, St. Vincent at Bethany
Region Rankings
1. Calvin
2. Wooster
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. Thomas More
5. Marietta
I rewarded Calvin who now has two wins over Adrian, which is two more than Wooster has. Margins of 6, 3 and 1 between those 3. Its that tight. After that its not tight and a big drop, despite OWU's horrendous 2 weeks accumulating 3 losses they remain number 3, though tenuous. Thomas More moves in the 4 spot which I'm kind of uncomfortable with, the Great Lakes just isn't very deep this year. Marietta with the head-to-head over Capital, a last second 3-point shot btw.
Five to watch: Adrian, St. Vincent, Capital, DePauw, Baldwin-Wallace
Great Lakes Efficiency
Straight Efficiency.
1. Calvin
2. Wooster
3. Bethany
4. Ohio Wesleyan
5. DePauw
6. PSU-Behrend
7. Thomas More
8. Adrian
9. Baldwin-Wallace
10. Marietta
Hope actually came in at number 10, but my rage against games against internet schools not counting slips Marietta in there. Seems like Bethany should have a better record, they currently sit 3rd in the PAC. They are also a good example of why math will never rule the sports world. DePauw has been in and out of these floating near the top 10 all season and it didn't make sense to me, then they beat Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg.
Strength of Schedule Adjustment.
1. Calvin
2. Wooster
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. DePauw
5. Adrian
6. Baldwin-Wallace
7. Marietta
8. Bethany
9. Capital
10. Hope
DePauw's excellent week shoots them into the top 10. From about 4 to 13 the teams are all jammed together pretty good, DePauw added Wittenberg and Ohio Wesleyan to their schedule strength and along with beating them they passed a lot of teams. Consider them the best of the rest for now, this is about as high as any of those 4-13 teams can get without Ohio Wesleyan losing some more games. Not sure DePauw will stay this high.
An even higher emphasis on schedule strength.
1. Wooster
2. Calvin
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. Hope
5. Capital
6. Baldwin-Wallace
7. Adrian
8. DePauw
9. Marietta
10. Wittenberg
The 'jamming together' of teams here is 5-11. I'd consider Hope more within that group but their schedule strength really helps them here. Notice no PAC schools.
Just for fun, the bottom 5 in the region with straight efficiency
38. Kalamazoo
39. Oberlin
40. Muskingum
41. Geneva
42. Franciscan
Oberlin's overall record and competitiveness within the NCAC is defying their efficiency. Thiel gets the award for 'worst loss of the year' by a mile, seriously how did you lose to Geneva? Franciscan is a bad basketball team in a bad conference.
The next time I do this I imagine the MIAA and NCAC races will be settled, maybe even the OAC.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Hope 92 Alma 74
Box Score
Hope started Overway, Seiler, Eidson, Snuggerud, VanArendonk for the second game in a row. Off the bench Gardner, Neil, DeMaagd, Benson with the majority of minutes. Colton Overway left the game with an injury early in the second half, hard to say what it is other than in hockey terms a 'lower body injury'. Fingers crossed it isn't serious.
Game Recap:
Hope and Alma traded blow for blow for most of the first half and early second half. A late first half sequence of Hope points put the Dutchmen ahead by 12, only to see Alma close out the half with 8 straight points. Alma spent much of the half running high ball screens trying to get a switch with a guard against one of Hope's big men. This was pretty successful for a good part of the game. Greg Silverthorne had a terrific first half for Alma as he hit several long fg's, including an incredible 3 standing on the little 's' in 'Scots' on the floor. Easily over 25 feet.
For Hope it was Colton Overway leading the first half charge scoring in a variety of ways. Mostly though Hope spent the first half and really the entire game patiently breaking down Alma's defense and most often ending up with layups, if they missed the layups they were right there to put it back in. The degree of difficulty on Hope shots was pretty low last night.
Defensively Hope did a really good job limiting DJ Beckman and Isiah Law, Alma's two leading scorers. Neither ever really was able to get into the flow of the game much and combined only took 10 of Alma's 57 fg attempts. Once Hope adjusted to Silverthorne they seemed perfectly happy to let Alma try and beat them with their other guys.
It was a 63-61 game with 11 minutes left, Colton Overway had left the game with his injury and Alma had scored 6 straight points. Over the next few minutes Hope began to make some defensive plays including a couple good blocks while executing well on the offensive end. Most of Alma's looks at the basket were no where as good or as open as they had been.
This is the part of the game where Hope really focused on getting the ball inside either to Snuggerud or Benson. With a little over six to play it was still just a 4 point lead at 73-69, over the next 3 or 4 minutes Hope scored 11 points in a row from their 2 Fr., Benson and Gardner and 15 of the next 17. Within those points was a couple good post moves by Benson, a nice pass or two and a couple really good drives to the basket by Gardner. All while Hope held Alma to just one ft. It seemed to happen really fast and even caught me off-guard when I looked up at the scoreboard and was shocked to see a 16 point lead.
In all I think this score is really deceiving, its an 18 point win but it really wasn't an 18 point game at all.
(As game recaps go, this one sucked. Its been a long tiring week)
Streak? 40 in a row now.
Colton's injury will be the big concern over the next couple days. I imagine it will require an expert opinion, like say a doctor. He tried to play again but came right back out and spent the rest of the game on the bench. Its a shame to because he was having an outstanding game, perhaps the best of his Hope career. Alma had a tough time guarding him. Ben Gardner was pretty outstanding in his place but Hope needs Overway.
This was my first live look at Alma. Sam Hargraves is getting there. If this team had any size at all they would be one tough team to beat because offensively they have outstanding potential. The real problem for Alma has been defense and rebounding, and that might also come down to size. Its just a little too easy to get the ball in close for easy baskets against them. Alma graduates a couple pretty good players in Silverthorne and Williamson but the majority of these guys return, including their PG Brandon Krause who seems pretty underrated. At least for now the days of Alma being the doormat of the league seem to be over.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
Assists: Its always been a running theory of mine that Alma has the stingiest scoring table in the league. Seems fishy Hope had just 12 assists on 33 baskets when most of those baskets were layups. I remember seeing a boxscore from up there years ago when Hope practically led D3 in assists, scored something close to 100 points and were credited with 5 assists.
3-point shooting: Both teams laid a goose egg in the second half. For Alma theirs were a little less wide open and a little more rushed than the first half. For Hope its kind of the continuation of the last 4 games where they are now just 16-63 or 25%. Hope's not a great 3-point shooting team but I think they're better than 25%.
Free-throws: A good night at the line 23-30, and that's with 5 misses from two guys shooting 79 and 76 percent, even after the misses.
Nate Snuggerud: 24 points, 7 rebounds.....looked a little more like his old self. Interesting to note his two best performances since Florida have come against Alma.
Colton Overway: 20 points, 7-9 shooting, 3 rebounds.....was really having a very good game. Defensively was asked to deal with all those high ball screen switches, not easy.
Brock Benson: 17 points, 4 rebounds......when Hope really needed someone to step up in the low post late in the game it was Brock last night.
Ben Gardner: 10 points........box scores just never quite really cover his total contribution. Excellent job taking the pg duties over and most of these points came in the decisive few minutes.
Efficiency:
Estimated number of possessions: Hope 71 Alma 69
It felt like more watching the game, a lot more actually. High ft numbers may have brought it down a little.
Offensively Efficieny: 129.12
That's ridiculous. It's the second highest Alma's given up this year (Ohio Northern), and the second best Hope's had this year (Internet College). The first half was a completely bonkers rate of 139. Hope had the same number of fg attempts against Olivet (55) and scored 65 points. This is what happens when almost everything you shoot is within 2 feet of the basket, truthfully this could have been a little worse with a little better finishing.
Defensive Efficiency: 107.60
For the most part Alma had a really good night shooting the ball. I certainly would liked to have seen Hope do better but having witnessed it in person I'm not sure the defense itself is much to blame and in the end it was defense that helped turn the game in Hope's favor. The second half Hope held them to a rate of 91 (this is mostly the weird fg attempts math). Sometimes teams just make a lot of shots in their own gym and Alma ran a lot of good plays to get mis-matches. This was Hope's 2nd worst defensive efficiency in league play (Calvin) and 7th time this season over 100, lost the previous 6.
Hey you think the former Calvin player head coach watched the Calvin tape?
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 54.5% of available offensive rebounds
Alma: 32.4% of available offensive rebounds
Hope gave up probably something around a normal average, its a little high given Hope's season performance but only by 1 or 2 boards. On their own glass Hope dominated as they should considering they had a 6-8 or 6-10 guy out there almost all night against not 6-8 or 6-10 guys. Second chance points was 18-9 in Hope's favor it certainly helped.
Moment or Keys to the Game:
The last 10 minute stretch Hope played its best defense, holding Alma to only 1 lone made fg. On the other end Hope converted nearly every possession into points and gradually expanded a lead from 2 to something I didn't even realize was happening.
My Game Ball Goes To:
I could pick one of four guys and feel comfortable, Colton Overway was on his way to the best game of his Hope career maybe, Brock Benson really stepped up big down the stretch with his interior offensive play, Ben Gardner was again in the middle of turning a game in Hope's favor by just doing all kinds of things that don't make it into a boxscore. But Nate Snuggerud was the difference tonight, Alma just really couldn't match-up with him and stopped him very few times once he got the ball near the paint, and a few times he looked like his old self. Nate it is.
Standings
Overway - 4
Snuggerud - 4
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Gardner - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
VanArendonk - 1
Benson - 1
Going Forward:
I'm glad that's out of the way. Road trips to Alma are no longer the lazy Saturday afternoons where you can name your final score and hope no one gets hurt. Alma can play now and play well. This night could have been much different but Hope did a great job controlling the game and never really let Alma get that momentum to carry them to a bigger lead, like the 10 point lead they had in Holland. Last night Alma led by 2 a couple times and that was really it.
In the immediate future is Adrian, a team that has given up 145 points in its last 3 games total. They gave up 81 to Hope the first time, that won't happen again. I expect a brutally ugly game Wed. night and Hope is going to have to match Adrian's defensive effort. When they last met Adrian was still figuring out who would be on the team this semester, now they've had some time to work that out and no one will walk off the floor in the middle of the game this time.
Hope's still in this thing called the MIAA Championship, still kicking, still in with a shout. They simply need to keep winning and keep progressing for the MIAA Tournament.
Up Next: Every Hope fan holding their breath.
Wednesday, January 30 Hope vs Adrian at DeVos Fieldhouse
Hope started Overway, Seiler, Eidson, Snuggerud, VanArendonk for the second game in a row. Off the bench Gardner, Neil, DeMaagd, Benson with the majority of minutes. Colton Overway left the game with an injury early in the second half, hard to say what it is other than in hockey terms a 'lower body injury'. Fingers crossed it isn't serious.
Game Recap:
Hope and Alma traded blow for blow for most of the first half and early second half. A late first half sequence of Hope points put the Dutchmen ahead by 12, only to see Alma close out the half with 8 straight points. Alma spent much of the half running high ball screens trying to get a switch with a guard against one of Hope's big men. This was pretty successful for a good part of the game. Greg Silverthorne had a terrific first half for Alma as he hit several long fg's, including an incredible 3 standing on the little 's' in 'Scots' on the floor. Easily over 25 feet.
For Hope it was Colton Overway leading the first half charge scoring in a variety of ways. Mostly though Hope spent the first half and really the entire game patiently breaking down Alma's defense and most often ending up with layups, if they missed the layups they were right there to put it back in. The degree of difficulty on Hope shots was pretty low last night.
Defensively Hope did a really good job limiting DJ Beckman and Isiah Law, Alma's two leading scorers. Neither ever really was able to get into the flow of the game much and combined only took 10 of Alma's 57 fg attempts. Once Hope adjusted to Silverthorne they seemed perfectly happy to let Alma try and beat them with their other guys.
It was a 63-61 game with 11 minutes left, Colton Overway had left the game with his injury and Alma had scored 6 straight points. Over the next few minutes Hope began to make some defensive plays including a couple good blocks while executing well on the offensive end. Most of Alma's looks at the basket were no where as good or as open as they had been.
This is the part of the game where Hope really focused on getting the ball inside either to Snuggerud or Benson. With a little over six to play it was still just a 4 point lead at 73-69, over the next 3 or 4 minutes Hope scored 11 points in a row from their 2 Fr., Benson and Gardner and 15 of the next 17. Within those points was a couple good post moves by Benson, a nice pass or two and a couple really good drives to the basket by Gardner. All while Hope held Alma to just one ft. It seemed to happen really fast and even caught me off-guard when I looked up at the scoreboard and was shocked to see a 16 point lead.
In all I think this score is really deceiving, its an 18 point win but it really wasn't an 18 point game at all.
(As game recaps go, this one sucked. Its been a long tiring week)
Streak? 40 in a row now.
Colton's injury will be the big concern over the next couple days. I imagine it will require an expert opinion, like say a doctor. He tried to play again but came right back out and spent the rest of the game on the bench. Its a shame to because he was having an outstanding game, perhaps the best of his Hope career. Alma had a tough time guarding him. Ben Gardner was pretty outstanding in his place but Hope needs Overway.
This was my first live look at Alma. Sam Hargraves is getting there. If this team had any size at all they would be one tough team to beat because offensively they have outstanding potential. The real problem for Alma has been defense and rebounding, and that might also come down to size. Its just a little too easy to get the ball in close for easy baskets against them. Alma graduates a couple pretty good players in Silverthorne and Williamson but the majority of these guys return, including their PG Brandon Krause who seems pretty underrated. At least for now the days of Alma being the doormat of the league seem to be over.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
Assists: Its always been a running theory of mine that Alma has the stingiest scoring table in the league. Seems fishy Hope had just 12 assists on 33 baskets when most of those baskets were layups. I remember seeing a boxscore from up there years ago when Hope practically led D3 in assists, scored something close to 100 points and were credited with 5 assists.
3-point shooting: Both teams laid a goose egg in the second half. For Alma theirs were a little less wide open and a little more rushed than the first half. For Hope its kind of the continuation of the last 4 games where they are now just 16-63 or 25%. Hope's not a great 3-point shooting team but I think they're better than 25%.
Free-throws: A good night at the line 23-30, and that's with 5 misses from two guys shooting 79 and 76 percent, even after the misses.
Nate Snuggerud: 24 points, 7 rebounds.....looked a little more like his old self. Interesting to note his two best performances since Florida have come against Alma.
Colton Overway: 20 points, 7-9 shooting, 3 rebounds.....was really having a very good game. Defensively was asked to deal with all those high ball screen switches, not easy.
Brock Benson: 17 points, 4 rebounds......when Hope really needed someone to step up in the low post late in the game it was Brock last night.
Ben Gardner: 10 points........box scores just never quite really cover his total contribution. Excellent job taking the pg duties over and most of these points came in the decisive few minutes.
Efficiency:
Estimated number of possessions: Hope 71 Alma 69
It felt like more watching the game, a lot more actually. High ft numbers may have brought it down a little.
Offensively Efficieny: 129.12
That's ridiculous. It's the second highest Alma's given up this year (Ohio Northern), and the second best Hope's had this year (Internet College). The first half was a completely bonkers rate of 139. Hope had the same number of fg attempts against Olivet (55) and scored 65 points. This is what happens when almost everything you shoot is within 2 feet of the basket, truthfully this could have been a little worse with a little better finishing.
Defensive Efficiency: 107.60
For the most part Alma had a really good night shooting the ball. I certainly would liked to have seen Hope do better but having witnessed it in person I'm not sure the defense itself is much to blame and in the end it was defense that helped turn the game in Hope's favor. The second half Hope held them to a rate of 91 (this is mostly the weird fg attempts math). Sometimes teams just make a lot of shots in their own gym and Alma ran a lot of good plays to get mis-matches. This was Hope's 2nd worst defensive efficiency in league play (Calvin) and 7th time this season over 100, lost the previous 6.
Hey you think the former Calvin player head coach watched the Calvin tape?
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 54.5% of available offensive rebounds
Alma: 32.4% of available offensive rebounds
Hope gave up probably something around a normal average, its a little high given Hope's season performance but only by 1 or 2 boards. On their own glass Hope dominated as they should considering they had a 6-8 or 6-10 guy out there almost all night against not 6-8 or 6-10 guys. Second chance points was 18-9 in Hope's favor it certainly helped.
Moment or Keys to the Game:
The last 10 minute stretch Hope played its best defense, holding Alma to only 1 lone made fg. On the other end Hope converted nearly every possession into points and gradually expanded a lead from 2 to something I didn't even realize was happening.
My Game Ball Goes To:
I could pick one of four guys and feel comfortable, Colton Overway was on his way to the best game of his Hope career maybe, Brock Benson really stepped up big down the stretch with his interior offensive play, Ben Gardner was again in the middle of turning a game in Hope's favor by just doing all kinds of things that don't make it into a boxscore. But Nate Snuggerud was the difference tonight, Alma just really couldn't match-up with him and stopped him very few times once he got the ball near the paint, and a few times he looked like his old self. Nate it is.
Standings
Overway - 4
Snuggerud - 4
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Gardner - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
VanArendonk - 1
Benson - 1
Going Forward:
I'm glad that's out of the way. Road trips to Alma are no longer the lazy Saturday afternoons where you can name your final score and hope no one gets hurt. Alma can play now and play well. This night could have been much different but Hope did a great job controlling the game and never really let Alma get that momentum to carry them to a bigger lead, like the 10 point lead they had in Holland. Last night Alma led by 2 a couple times and that was really it.
In the immediate future is Adrian, a team that has given up 145 points in its last 3 games total. They gave up 81 to Hope the first time, that won't happen again. I expect a brutally ugly game Wed. night and Hope is going to have to match Adrian's defensive effort. When they last met Adrian was still figuring out who would be on the team this semester, now they've had some time to work that out and no one will walk off the floor in the middle of the game this time.
Hope's still in this thing called the MIAA Championship, still kicking, still in with a shout. They simply need to keep winning and keep progressing for the MIAA Tournament.
Up Next: Every Hope fan holding their breath.
Wednesday, January 30 Hope vs Adrian at DeVos Fieldhouse
Friday, January 25, 2013
Halfway - grades and stuff
We've reached the halfway point of the MIAA rotation, time to look at some key stats, grade the teams and some awards. Here's a handy link to the MIAA conference only stats for reference. MIAA Stats
The MVP
Tom Snikkers, Calvin - He's 3rd in scoring, 2nd in rebounding, not great dominating numbers but they don't need to be. Statistically he's improved nearly every part of his game from a year ago, he's shooting it better, has grabbed more rebounds, is on pace for a higher number of assists and steals and has shed nearly a turnover per game. He's doing everything you expect a Sr. leader to do include lead.
One aspect of his game almost no one has even mentioned on the D3 boards is that Tom has improved his 3 point shooting dramatically this year. Last year he made just 3 in all of conference play shooting only 20%. He struggled so bad he kind of quit shooting them. This year through half the conference games he's already made 8 and is shooting at 46%.
The podium.....
Ian Jackson, Trine - Ian has been been exactly what he's been his four years at Trine, difficult to contain and the primary focus of everyone's defensive efforts against the Thunder. Currently leads the league in scoring.
Garner Small, Olivet - Is actually the leagues leading scorer right now at 21.6 pts. but not eligible because he missed the last two games with an injury. That was a shame because I would like to have seen what he could do against Hope and Calvin.
Eric Lewis, Adrian - I'm not sure there is a more dangerous scorer in the league than Lewis. If he were a little better 3-point and ft shooter he would be leading the league in scoring.
I don't think any of the podium guys are really in a position to win the MVP, especially if none of their teams finish better than 3rd in the league. Someone would have to do something pretty crazy to catch Snikkers, or Calvin completely fall apart (I'd be in favor). If Hope were to do something crazy and catch Calvin and win the league you'd have to look at Colton Overway but if Hope gets in that position it probably wouldn't be from something Colton did as much as it would be other guys doing something.
The First Team All-MIAA
Tom Snikkers, Calvin
Ian Jackson, Trine
Garner Small, Olivet
Eric Lewis, Adrian
Colton Overway, Hope
Blake Krum, Olivet *
The Second Team
Mark Ghafari, Kzoo
Isiah Law, Alma
Bryan Powell, Calvin
Scott Rogers, Trine
Cody Barnes, Adrian
Tyler Kruis, Calvin
* I gave this spot to Krum over Bryan Powell. Krum is just one of those kids you root for, 6-2, if that, and inside battling for and winning rebounds repeatedly. In close wins over Adrian and Hope he hit clutch 3's in the final possessions to lift his team to wins. Plus his stats are just better.
Coach of the Year
Chris Coles, Olivet - easy, I don't think anyone expected Olivet to be very competitive this year and maybe even more notable improve as much as they have since the beginning of the season. They hold wins over Albion, Adrian and Hope.
Depending on what happens with Olivet the rest of the way, Vande Streek at Calvin could win this mythical thing, especially if his team rolls through the second half of the league. It would be quite a bounce back from last season.
Team Grades
Based mostly on league play and pre-season expectations.
Calvin 16-2, 7-0 Grade: A
Picked third by the coaches, sitting in first. Have come pretty close to defensively dominating the league. One horrible weekend in Wheaton seems a long, long time ago.
Hope 9-8, 5-2 Grade: C+
That grades a little influenced by their overall struggles on the season. Yet even with those struggles still sit in second place with a shout at sharing the title.
Adrian 15-3, 4-3 Grade: B-
An excellent non-conference didn't carry over to the conference mostly because the roster didn't. Painfully close to dropping two other league games, the patchwork has held so far but this ship feels rickety.
Trine 11-7, 4-3 Grade: B
Probably right where everyone expected them to be, didn't beat Calvin, Hope or Adrian though played well against the prior 2 with a shot to win at Adrian.
Olivet 8-10, 3-4 Grade: A
I don't know what else it could be they've kind of been the feel good story so far and much better than pre-season expectations. They have a real shot at making the MIAA Tournament if they can find a way to win on the road. Seriously last April I thought they'd win 1 or 2 games this year.
Alma 8-10, 3-4 Grade: B
Nothing to noteworthy and sit where expected, all of their big games are at home the second half of schedule. A last second 3-point shot defeat at Adrian from being 4-3
Kalamazoo 5-13, 2-5 Grade: C-
Four of their 5 losses have been with substantial margins. Won two home games which is more than expected, schedule tilts against them in the second half.
Albion 4-14, 0-7 Grade: D
Some people, including me, expected Albion to contend for a tournament spot. None of those people, including me, expected Albion's roster to be so decimated. Competitive games with Calvin and Hope kept this from being a failing grade.
Efficiency:
All stats will be conference play only.
| Offense | Defense | Total | ||
| Calvin | 107.19 | 83.22 | 223.97 | |
| Hope | 101.37 | 92.13 | 209.24 | |
| Adrian | 96.13 | 90.79 | 205.34 | |
| Olivet | 101.12 | 100.68 | 200.44 | |
| Alma | 106.27 | 106.48 | 199.79 | |
| Trine | 98.62 | 100.47 | 198.15 | |
| Albion | 93.30 | 108.28 | 185.03 | |
| Kzoo | 91.16 | 111.79 | 179.37 |
If current efficiency performance continues this is what you would expect the final standings to look like. I don't necessarily agree with that mostly because I'm not sure its what my eyes are telling me. You can see there's a substantial gap between Calvin and everyone else, which really shouldn't surprise anyone. Then a little more gap between Hope/Adrian and Olivet/Alma/Trine.
A couple other things to point out, Adrian has struggled on offense and that has kind of been the story of the Mark White regime so far, great defense, mediocre offense. Defensively Hope has actually been just fine in the league, that 92.13 includes getting trounced by Calvin. They've actually been good on defense, not so good on offense.
Albion's 185 doesn't suggest there's much hope for improvement in their plight, they are really, really struggling to score and stop people. They get a better home schedule to finish. Kzoo is kind of in the same boat, only they have wins.
Rebounding Efficiency:
The way I've been calculating this only takes into account rebounds during action, in other words not after ft's. I'm ok with this because I'm more interested in the rebounding during the course of the action anyway, not when its 4 v 2 from a stand still position. FT rebounds could skew the numbers one way or the other by being a team that gets to the line frequently, infrequently or send the opposition to the line frequently or infrequently. How many offensive rebounds do you really see on ft's anyway.
| Off % | Opp. % | |||
| Hope | 43.8 | Calvin | 21.9 | |
| Calvin | 41.4 | Hope | 28.1 | |
| Adrian | 35.7 | Adrian | 32.3 | |
| Albion | 34.9 | Kzoo | 32.5 | |
| Kzoo | 30.1 | Albion | 33.7 | |
| Trine | 25.6 | Olivet | 35.7 | |
| Olivet | 24.1 | Trine | 37.4 | |
| Alma | 21.8 | Alma | 37.6 |
On their own glass Hope and Calvin have been really good at gaining offensive rebounds. Adrian probably not as good as they were in the non-conference. Alma, Olivet, Trine and Kzoo have been pretty weak at rebounding their own misses.
At the other end Calvin has been just dominating allowing only 1 offensive rebound every 5 misses. If the saying 'Trine doesn't turn the ball' over is true, so is 'Calvin doesn't give up offensive rebounds'.
Between these two charts you can really see Alma, Olivet and Trine are pretty bad rebounding teams. In fact if you want a good reason Trine doesn't get mentioned in the same breath with Calvin, Hope and Adrian this is probably why.
Turnover Rate
| TO Rate | Opp. TO rate | |||
| Adrian | 21.40 | Adrian | 21.60 | |
| Albion | 21.90 | Albion | 17.40 | |
| Alma | 17.40 | Alma | 18.00 | |
| Calvin | 19.00 | Calvin | 17.60 | |
| Hope | 23.40 | Hope | 23.20 | |
| Kzoo | 20.70 | Kzoo | 14.90 | |
| Olivet | 15.10 | Olivet | 20.40 | |
| Trine | 15.70 | Trine | 18.70 |
If you want one reason Olivet has improved so much its probably from dropping their turnovers significantly from the non-conference while still creating a good number on defense. Hope games have been kind of sloppy and they've looked it, but Hope probably has the most room to improve its turnover rate given this is 4 points higher than their non-conference. One thing saving Hope has been their ability to create turnovers..
Pace of Play
Average possessions per game
| Hope | 73.14 |
| Kzoo | 71.61 |
| Alma | 71.25 |
| Albion | 67.21 |
| Olivet | 67.10 |
| Trine | 66.49 |
| Adrian | 65.54 |
| Calvin | 65.44 |
The real shocker here to me was seeing Calvin the slowest, most likely this is from their opponents trying to be more deliberate and if you're frequently ahead by large sums you are frequently trying to milk the clock. I'm pretty sure all of these numbers are lower than the non-conference. Hope's been involved in the two fastest paced games played so far with Kzoo and Olivet.
The second time through the schedule is always more difficult and also kind of more fun for the fan. History says Calvin probably won't go through the league undefeated, all of the numbers above are kind of saying differently. Calvin does have to play two road games at Adrian and Hope and those are probably the best and really only chances for a loss. It only takes one loss for this race to really change and pressure to become a factor, its really just a question of will that happen.
Thus far home teams are 20-8, six of those road wins belong to Hope and Calvin. If the season is about protecting your home court and getting as many road wins as you can than the fight for the MIAA Tournament should start to heat up here pretty quick, especially if somebody, maybe just anybody, can go on the road and get a win. From 3 to 6 there isn't much separation between the teams and it wouldn't take much to draw Hope into that mess and make it a 5 team battle for the tournament spots like we had last season.
One final authors thought.......wouldn't you have loved to see a #1 or #2 seed Hope or Calvin have to deal with hosting #7 or #8 seed Albion in the first round on the MIAA Tournament? Yeah, me too.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Hope 76 Trine 61
Box Score
Hope started Overway, Seiler, Eidson, Snuggerud, VanArendonk. If that looks different to you, yet close to what you expected all year, join the club. Gardner, Neil, Byers, Benson picked up the majority of bench minutes. Substitutions seemed less frequent and more purposeful, one for one type stuff, a lot less multiple subbing it seemed to me. Ray, DeMaagd, Holwerda, Wittenbach, Denham, McMahon all saw small minutes, mostly late.
Game Recap:
I lived in Holland for nearly 18 years and survived every nasty winter storm the big lake could throw at it. Last night I got a healthy reminder of just how vicious those Lake Effect snow events can be and now I remember. My shortish drive turned to almost exactly 2 hours with several thoughts of 'this is crazy' and 'I should just turn back' but I didn't. Memories of a mountain pass snow storm in Wyoming kept me going, this was just a little Lake Effect snow right. I jogged the last 100 yards or so from my parking spot and took my seat just before tip with my lungs blazing from basically not jogging for many years and the searing pain of 10 degree air burning my lungs. I caught my breathe by halftime, thanks.
Hope juggled its starting 5 again going a little something closer to what most of us thought they'd have all year long. The impact last night was fairly immediate as Nate VanArendonk played perhaps his best stretch of minutes in a Hope uniform. His first nearly 7 minute stint saw 6 points and a couple rebounds, he rested for a couple and then came right back on the floor and within a couple more minutes had a couple more baskets and about 3015 people were starting to feel all tingly.
The game itself was actually pretty tightly contested early on as the teams traded baskets and neither was able to get more than a 2 or 3 point lead. Ben Gardner checked in with 11:39 remaining in the first half and Hope trailing by 2. Gardner scored 13 points over the next 8 minutes and assisted on an Overway 3. It was an impressive few minutes that also included a couple of other near steals. Ben stayed on the floor until halftime, by then Hope had a 16 point lead thanks largely to his and Van Arendonk's great play those last 11 minutes.
The second half was really going to be about Hope protecting its lead, which a couple few times this year hasn't been easy for Hope to do. Trine played a little better for the first 8 or 9 minutes of the 2nd half using a little different lineups and rotations themselves. They had it down to 12 points at 56-44, Hope scored the next 8, not surprisingly Ben Gardner was in the middle of it again recording 3 steals and actually biffing a couple layups. It was for all purposes over though at that point.
Overall it was a good win, they played better than last week, passed it better and I thought their overall effort and energy was better. Its hard to say if Hope found a little something tonight and probably not even fare to ask that question. The challenges ahead remain basically the same.
Another streak, Trine has yet to beat Hope since joining the MIAA in 2005, that's now 18 games including an MIAA Tournament game. Hope played Trine twice in 2004 before they were officially a member and won both game, making this streak 20 in a row.
Ian Jackson came into this game leading the league in scoring. Hope's been able to slow him down or contain him the last 3 meetings where he scored 9, 4 and 8 points. It looked to me like Trine's using him a little different this year, less dribbling, more shots off passes and more action in the paint. Last night he had 14 points on 16 shots, all 2's and no trips to the ft line. Overall Hope did a pretty good job on him. Its been Sr. F Scott Rogers that has been able to get loose against Hope, but last night he had only 8 while Fr. C Jared Holmquist was saddled with foul trouble all night. This turned out to be a pretty good defensive effort.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
3 point shooting: Trine attempted about their average number of 3's which given Hope's previous defensive difficulties was a little surprising. I'm not sure we can definitively say Hope was better defending the arc because they really weren't challenged. Hope attempted 24 3's, only made 7, that attempts number surprised me when I saw it. Second highest attempts of the year (Mississippi), kind of strange for a winning team
FT shooting: I love you and we should totally hang out more. I hope those last 3 misses weren't the equivalent of going to bed angry. See you Saturday?
Turnovers: It wasn't a huge win but Hope forced a couple more turnovers from Trine than their avg. and committed a few less themselves, this was certainly key but didn't really become that much of a factor given the outcome. Better passing was the primary reason Hope kept theirs down.
Ben Gardner: 15 points, 3 steals.......was really the catalyst for turning this game in Hope's favor with his excellent stretch of first half play
Nate VanArendonk: 14 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks.....Nate was really good last night, hustled and played hard when on the floor.
Colton Overway: 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals.....was kind of overshadowed by the play of the above 2 characters but this was another good night for Colton.
Efficiency:
Estimated Number of Possessions: Hope 67 Trine 67
In league play Hope's been the most uptempo team, I'm sure by design. Trine has been one of the slower teams. Tonight felt much more controlled from Hope with less emphasis on speed and more on working the offense. I was not surprised to see the fast-break points was 2-0, which means Hope has exactly 2 in its last 2 games.
Offensive Efficiency: 113.56
Welcome back high efficiency, we missed you. Trine is actually a pretty decent defensive team though I think they've struggled a little in league play. This is the 3rd highest they've given up on the season. Hope's first half was a 130, second a 98. They spent a lot of the second half missing some of the same shots they made the first half.
Defensive Efficiency: 91.59
Hope has actually been pretty steady in league play, only Adrian, Calvin, North Central and MSOE have held Trine to a lower scoring rate. Trine was better the 2nd half though not a lot better, more like right at Hope's defensive average.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 52.8% of available offensive rebounds
Trine: 30.3% of available offensive rebounds
Second chance points was 13-11 in Trine's favor, all of Hope's came in the second half. If these numbers seem a bit fishy consider Hope had a number of multiple rebounds on their own misses and also backed out the ball a few times, any resulting points are not recorded as '2nd chance'. So Hope dominated its own glass but probably not to the degree that number suggests and they probably actually scored more points as a result of getting another possession. This was a factor but not the factor.
Moment or Keys to the Game:
Kind of a weird one where there wasn't one single play or shot that stuck out. Just one long stretch of good play from Hope that turned the game and one mini-stretch in the second half that made the margin insurmountable. Otherwise quite a bit of even play.
My Game Ball Goes To:
Hardest one of the season, I really want to give it to Van Arendonk because he was really good last night but Ben Gardner's contributions turned the game in Hope's favor and then was part of slamming the door when a flicker of life remained. Ben it is.
Standings
Overway - 4
Snuggerud - 3
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Gardner - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
VanArendonk - 1
Benson - 1
Going Forward:
If we imagine the league season is just about protecting your home court and winning as many as you can on the road then all Hope really did last night was protect their home court. Albeit in a much easier fashion than most people probably thought. But, the truth is this Hope team was broken after last week, not much was working. I think we leave this one feeling like maybe something has been repaired or at least the repair is in progress and the early results are positive. Pretty much everything last night was better.
Saturday they head North to Alma for 'the rivalry' with a ridiculously long winning streak against them and frankly, yes, it terrifies me. Alma is similar to Olivet in that they play freely and with purpose and at home they will be trouble, to this point they have yet to win a 'big' one and are probably overdue. Hope was down by 10 at one point and trailed the Scots for 30 minutes before turning the first meeting into a 14 point win. I would gladly take being wrong but this seems like it won't be easy.
In the meantime I'll be spending the next 2 days reviewing all the moments that led up to my incredibly poor decision to drive halfway across the state into the teeth of what amounted to a mini-blizzard. Smart!
Up Next: Me vs poor decisions which I will inevitably lose again
Saturday Jan. 26 Hope at Alma
Hope started Overway, Seiler, Eidson, Snuggerud, VanArendonk. If that looks different to you, yet close to what you expected all year, join the club. Gardner, Neil, Byers, Benson picked up the majority of bench minutes. Substitutions seemed less frequent and more purposeful, one for one type stuff, a lot less multiple subbing it seemed to me. Ray, DeMaagd, Holwerda, Wittenbach, Denham, McMahon all saw small minutes, mostly late.
Game Recap:
I lived in Holland for nearly 18 years and survived every nasty winter storm the big lake could throw at it. Last night I got a healthy reminder of just how vicious those Lake Effect snow events can be and now I remember. My shortish drive turned to almost exactly 2 hours with several thoughts of 'this is crazy' and 'I should just turn back' but I didn't. Memories of a mountain pass snow storm in Wyoming kept me going, this was just a little Lake Effect snow right. I jogged the last 100 yards or so from my parking spot and took my seat just before tip with my lungs blazing from basically not jogging for many years and the searing pain of 10 degree air burning my lungs. I caught my breathe by halftime, thanks.
Hope juggled its starting 5 again going a little something closer to what most of us thought they'd have all year long. The impact last night was fairly immediate as Nate VanArendonk played perhaps his best stretch of minutes in a Hope uniform. His first nearly 7 minute stint saw 6 points and a couple rebounds, he rested for a couple and then came right back on the floor and within a couple more minutes had a couple more baskets and about 3015 people were starting to feel all tingly.
The game itself was actually pretty tightly contested early on as the teams traded baskets and neither was able to get more than a 2 or 3 point lead. Ben Gardner checked in with 11:39 remaining in the first half and Hope trailing by 2. Gardner scored 13 points over the next 8 minutes and assisted on an Overway 3. It was an impressive few minutes that also included a couple of other near steals. Ben stayed on the floor until halftime, by then Hope had a 16 point lead thanks largely to his and Van Arendonk's great play those last 11 minutes.
The second half was really going to be about Hope protecting its lead, which a couple few times this year hasn't been easy for Hope to do. Trine played a little better for the first 8 or 9 minutes of the 2nd half using a little different lineups and rotations themselves. They had it down to 12 points at 56-44, Hope scored the next 8, not surprisingly Ben Gardner was in the middle of it again recording 3 steals and actually biffing a couple layups. It was for all purposes over though at that point.
Overall it was a good win, they played better than last week, passed it better and I thought their overall effort and energy was better. Its hard to say if Hope found a little something tonight and probably not even fare to ask that question. The challenges ahead remain basically the same.
Another streak, Trine has yet to beat Hope since joining the MIAA in 2005, that's now 18 games including an MIAA Tournament game. Hope played Trine twice in 2004 before they were officially a member and won both game, making this streak 20 in a row.
Ian Jackson came into this game leading the league in scoring. Hope's been able to slow him down or contain him the last 3 meetings where he scored 9, 4 and 8 points. It looked to me like Trine's using him a little different this year, less dribbling, more shots off passes and more action in the paint. Last night he had 14 points on 16 shots, all 2's and no trips to the ft line. Overall Hope did a pretty good job on him. Its been Sr. F Scott Rogers that has been able to get loose against Hope, but last night he had only 8 while Fr. C Jared Holmquist was saddled with foul trouble all night. This turned out to be a pretty good defensive effort.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
3 point shooting: Trine attempted about their average number of 3's which given Hope's previous defensive difficulties was a little surprising. I'm not sure we can definitively say Hope was better defending the arc because they really weren't challenged. Hope attempted 24 3's, only made 7, that attempts number surprised me when I saw it. Second highest attempts of the year (Mississippi), kind of strange for a winning team
FT shooting: I love you and we should totally hang out more. I hope those last 3 misses weren't the equivalent of going to bed angry. See you Saturday?
Turnovers: It wasn't a huge win but Hope forced a couple more turnovers from Trine than their avg. and committed a few less themselves, this was certainly key but didn't really become that much of a factor given the outcome. Better passing was the primary reason Hope kept theirs down.
Ben Gardner: 15 points, 3 steals.......was really the catalyst for turning this game in Hope's favor with his excellent stretch of first half play
Nate VanArendonk: 14 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks.....Nate was really good last night, hustled and played hard when on the floor.
Colton Overway: 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals.....was kind of overshadowed by the play of the above 2 characters but this was another good night for Colton.
Efficiency:
Estimated Number of Possessions: Hope 67 Trine 67
In league play Hope's been the most uptempo team, I'm sure by design. Trine has been one of the slower teams. Tonight felt much more controlled from Hope with less emphasis on speed and more on working the offense. I was not surprised to see the fast-break points was 2-0, which means Hope has exactly 2 in its last 2 games.
Offensive Efficiency: 113.56
Welcome back high efficiency, we missed you. Trine is actually a pretty decent defensive team though I think they've struggled a little in league play. This is the 3rd highest they've given up on the season. Hope's first half was a 130, second a 98. They spent a lot of the second half missing some of the same shots they made the first half.
Defensive Efficiency: 91.59
Hope has actually been pretty steady in league play, only Adrian, Calvin, North Central and MSOE have held Trine to a lower scoring rate. Trine was better the 2nd half though not a lot better, more like right at Hope's defensive average.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 52.8% of available offensive rebounds
Trine: 30.3% of available offensive rebounds
Second chance points was 13-11 in Trine's favor, all of Hope's came in the second half. If these numbers seem a bit fishy consider Hope had a number of multiple rebounds on their own misses and also backed out the ball a few times, any resulting points are not recorded as '2nd chance'. So Hope dominated its own glass but probably not to the degree that number suggests and they probably actually scored more points as a result of getting another possession. This was a factor but not the factor.
Moment or Keys to the Game:
Kind of a weird one where there wasn't one single play or shot that stuck out. Just one long stretch of good play from Hope that turned the game and one mini-stretch in the second half that made the margin insurmountable. Otherwise quite a bit of even play.
My Game Ball Goes To:
Hardest one of the season, I really want to give it to Van Arendonk because he was really good last night but Ben Gardner's contributions turned the game in Hope's favor and then was part of slamming the door when a flicker of life remained. Ben it is.
Standings
Overway - 4
Snuggerud - 3
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Gardner - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
VanArendonk - 1
Benson - 1
Going Forward:
If we imagine the league season is just about protecting your home court and winning as many as you can on the road then all Hope really did last night was protect their home court. Albeit in a much easier fashion than most people probably thought. But, the truth is this Hope team was broken after last week, not much was working. I think we leave this one feeling like maybe something has been repaired or at least the repair is in progress and the early results are positive. Pretty much everything last night was better.
Saturday they head North to Alma for 'the rivalry' with a ridiculously long winning streak against them and frankly, yes, it terrifies me. Alma is similar to Olivet in that they play freely and with purpose and at home they will be trouble, to this point they have yet to win a 'big' one and are probably overdue. Hope was down by 10 at one point and trailed the Scots for 30 minutes before turning the first meeting into a 14 point win. I would gladly take being wrong but this seems like it won't be easy.
In the meantime I'll be spending the next 2 days reviewing all the moments that led up to my incredibly poor decision to drive halfway across the state into the teeth of what amounted to a mini-blizzard. Smart!
Up Next: Me vs poor decisions which I will inevitably lose again
Saturday Jan. 26 Hope at Alma
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Olivet 68 Hope 65
Box Score
Hope started Overway, Seiler, Eidson, Byers, Benson. Snuggerud came off the bench for 27. Neil, Gardner a little over 15, VanArendonk 11, Holwerda and Wittenbach about 7, Ray and DeMaagd played briefly. Noted at halftime was Nate Snuggerud replacing Byers and VanArendonk playing 10 of his 11 minutes in the 2nd half.
Garner Small did not play for Olivet, this was a significant loss since he's their and one of the MIAA's leading scorers. It did not matter.
Game Recap:
Chris Coles has Olivet playing well, they're getting better. I saw this team beat Adrian a couple weeks ago. My inner monologue leaving the Cutler Center that night was sh*t, they can beat Hope. Last spring this program was nearly a tire fire inside a dumpster fire, a well liked veteran Olivet graduate head coach was out the door. Players left, a coaching search was something it maybe wasn't with four public finalists. Coles wasn't one of them but he's the man on the sidelines now.
I don't think many people thought Olivet would be very competitive this year, not without some transfers or freshmen. Coles got both, transfers Garner Small, DaunTrell Hill, freshmen TJ Vondette, Jeff Cain. All four start. Without these guys I'm not sure Olivet has even one win. They're competitive.
I won't say Olivet jumped all over Hope because they didn't, but they were the better team for most of the first half. They led from the tip and frankly outplayed Hope at both ends of the floor. Without Garner Small I was really unsure what Olivet could do offensively but TJ Vondette filled in admirably with 15 first half points, all of them jumpers of varying lengths including 3-3 from the arc. Hope struggled offensively to find anything consistent, Snuggerud was the only Dutchmen with more than 1 fg. When the teams sprinted off to the locker room it felt pretty fortunate to only be down 6.
Hope started the 2nd half with a bigger effort to pound the ball inside which they did with much better and frequent success. Colton Overway made some tougher shots and it looked and felt like Hope was taking over the game and would probably pull it out somehow. But, Olivet just kept hitting those 3's, every time it felt like Hope made a move a 3 ball went up and in for Olivet. Including the final two of the game both with under a minute to play by Krum and Hill.
For a neutral it was probably a pretty entertaining game with a few 2nd half ties and lead changes and the clutch shots at the end. The disappointing part was the turnovers especially late in the game, either could have won the game by simply taking care of the ball. For a Hope fan there isn't much to be happy about in this one, they did some things ok like defend on the interior and rebound. Hope's offense spent most of the day standing in quicksand, they didn't move well, the spacing didn't look good and the passing was kind of atrocious at times. Defensively they were what they've been all year, bad at defending the three's and Olivet capitalized on that.
Olivet really deserved to win and that's the hard part to take.
Sometimes it feels like teams hit a wall in late January early February. It usually lasts about two weeks but its a time when teams just don't seem to play very well. Some teams can pull through it with little damage others are not so lucky, it always feels like these next 2 or 3 weeks are full of upsets around the country. Its possible Hope has hit their wall a little early, they've looked really poor offensively for two games in a row now. Hope needs a really good effort Wednesday against Trine or this could go South really, really fast.
Hope played without a lot of energy yesterday, that's somewhat understandable after Wednesday but this league is too good with too many good coaches now to come into another gym and give the lacks effort Hope gave to start this game. Hope let Olivet dictate everything early without much push back and that hurt to see. Four out of 6 league games now Hope's fallen behind early, dangerous trend.
This was Hope's first loss at Olivet since 2005, that was in the old gym so its their first loss in Cutler. Hope went 15-12 that year. That team never came together and faced a little more adversity than this one. I still think this team has potential to be good, but more urgency needed. In case you were wondering Hope also lost to Olivet in 2010, that one at DeVos.
Desire: verb \di-ˈzī(-ə)r, dē-\
: intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction
: a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept
Just a thought or two.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
3 point shooting: Hope just got bombed yesterday. 12-25 for Olivet, its what they do well and Hope was powerless to stop it. Hope was 1-12 and little threat from behind the arc and missed their first 9 attempts. This was the game.
Turnovers: 25, In the big preview I mentioned Olivet games are messy in the turnover department, they are, and it was. The ones at the end bothered me the most, those last 5 in the last 5 minutes were the critical ones. Too many were the results of bad, sloppy passes, Hope teams have typically been good passing teams. Not this week.
Nate Snuggerud: 18 points, 5 rebounds.....most minutes since the Spring Arbor game, I'd like to think we'll see this the rest of the way but I really don't know.
Colton Overway: 12 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist.....the one assist probably points out the job Olivet did making Colton give up the ball, also probably reflects Hope's terrible movement and no fast-breaks. Sometimes he looked alone out there
Billy Seiler: 8 points, 3 rebounds.......changed his FT approach and stroked all 4 beautifully.
Nate VanArendonk: 7 points, 5 rebounds...... played well and needed, opened space a couple times for others. Call me a homer if you want but I honestly do not understand some of the foul calls this kid gets against him. Being big is not a foul.
Efficiency:
Estimated number of possessions: Hope 81 Olivet 80
Really did not feel like that at all. In fact zero fast-break points for either team, and I saw something I've never seen, a Hope fast-break stop 2 feet short of the basket and the ball cycle back out to the arc. I believe Jeff Cain showed great hustle to get back into that play but wow! High number of possessions probably why the turnovers really didn't bother me.
Offensive Efficiency: 80.78
Yeah, not efficient. I don't know why but Olivet has been outstanding on defense at home but mediocre on the road. It wasn't good either half and I'll leave it at that. Hope's been under 100 7 times, 5 of those losses, 3 of those they defended well enough to get the win. This loss is squarely on Hope's offense.
Defensive Efficiency: 84.81
Hard one to make sense of, on the one hand this should be good enough to win every time. On the other, Olivet didn't challenge the interior at all and that is where most teams get their efficiency so it should look low. It was this low for both halves, also one of the lowest numbers you'll see from a winning team.
So what we have is two terrible efficiency numbers, one got there by missing 92% of the 3's they took, one got there by making 48% of the 3's they took. Yeah, strange.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 38.2% of available offensive rebounds
Olivet: 9.1% of available offensive rebounds
Second chance points was 10-5 to Hope so they got very little advantage from this massive difference. Olivet had 3 offensive rebounds the entire game. This isn't as dominating as it looks because Olivet almost completely abandoned even going after offensive rebounds to get back on defense, they made it easy for Hope.
Moment or Keys to the Game:
TJ Vondette had his best game of his young career. His early shooting gave Olivet the advantage that they hung onto for 22 minutes.
Every 3-point shot Olivet made.
Olivet's Blake Krum hit a 3 to put Olivet up 2 at 58 seconds.
Billy Seiler made a layup off a well designed play to tie the game with 29 seconds left
Olivet's DaunTrell Hill made a 3 with 1 second left to win the game.
My Game Ball Goes To:
Nate Snuggerud showed flashes of his old self yesterday and that was good to see. Hope ran quite a bit of offense with him as the intended target and he delivered for the most part. Honestly without him this might not have been close.
Standings
Overway - 4
Snuggerud - 3
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
VanArendonk - 1
Benson - 1
Gardner - 1
Going Forward:
This loss opens a gap now to Calvin that truthfully will probably not be closed. Its hard to say whats happened to this team offensively but they've been really easy to defend the last two games, combined with some really awful passing decisions they've been pretty poor. It was for all purposes a disaster of a week.
Next week is Trine at home and at Alma, they could win or lose both of those and that's the reality of this team right now. I don't like it and I'm sure the players and coaches don't like it. I'm not a coach and not at practices, what I see from my seat is a lot of little things adding up to some much bigger things. Some of those things can be fixed, like communication, some probably won't be. The team I saw play with energy and enthusiasm at Albion wasn't there this week and its confusing why that is.
That energy and enthusiasm needs to be found and found quickly, inconsistent efforts and performances need to be replaced with constant effort and performance, preferably good. But that's the trick isn't it. 5 weeks left is all that's guaranteed in this season, 4 if this team doesn't start playing better. That's where they are.
(Crap, Olivet has become a good team that has improved all season they deserve much more credit than I've given them in this.)
Up Next: me and my forehead vs my desk < sigh > I told you so, I told you so, I told you so
Wednesday, January 23 vs Trine at DeVos Fieldhouse
Hope started Overway, Seiler, Eidson, Byers, Benson. Snuggerud came off the bench for 27. Neil, Gardner a little over 15, VanArendonk 11, Holwerda and Wittenbach about 7, Ray and DeMaagd played briefly. Noted at halftime was Nate Snuggerud replacing Byers and VanArendonk playing 10 of his 11 minutes in the 2nd half.
Garner Small did not play for Olivet, this was a significant loss since he's their and one of the MIAA's leading scorers. It did not matter.
Game Recap:
Chris Coles has Olivet playing well, they're getting better. I saw this team beat Adrian a couple weeks ago. My inner monologue leaving the Cutler Center that night was sh*t, they can beat Hope. Last spring this program was nearly a tire fire inside a dumpster fire, a well liked veteran Olivet graduate head coach was out the door. Players left, a coaching search was something it maybe wasn't with four public finalists. Coles wasn't one of them but he's the man on the sidelines now.
I don't think many people thought Olivet would be very competitive this year, not without some transfers or freshmen. Coles got both, transfers Garner Small, DaunTrell Hill, freshmen TJ Vondette, Jeff Cain. All four start. Without these guys I'm not sure Olivet has even one win. They're competitive.
I won't say Olivet jumped all over Hope because they didn't, but they were the better team for most of the first half. They led from the tip and frankly outplayed Hope at both ends of the floor. Without Garner Small I was really unsure what Olivet could do offensively but TJ Vondette filled in admirably with 15 first half points, all of them jumpers of varying lengths including 3-3 from the arc. Hope struggled offensively to find anything consistent, Snuggerud was the only Dutchmen with more than 1 fg. When the teams sprinted off to the locker room it felt pretty fortunate to only be down 6.
Hope started the 2nd half with a bigger effort to pound the ball inside which they did with much better and frequent success. Colton Overway made some tougher shots and it looked and felt like Hope was taking over the game and would probably pull it out somehow. But, Olivet just kept hitting those 3's, every time it felt like Hope made a move a 3 ball went up and in for Olivet. Including the final two of the game both with under a minute to play by Krum and Hill.
For a neutral it was probably a pretty entertaining game with a few 2nd half ties and lead changes and the clutch shots at the end. The disappointing part was the turnovers especially late in the game, either could have won the game by simply taking care of the ball. For a Hope fan there isn't much to be happy about in this one, they did some things ok like defend on the interior and rebound. Hope's offense spent most of the day standing in quicksand, they didn't move well, the spacing didn't look good and the passing was kind of atrocious at times. Defensively they were what they've been all year, bad at defending the three's and Olivet capitalized on that.
Olivet really deserved to win and that's the hard part to take.
Sometimes it feels like teams hit a wall in late January early February. It usually lasts about two weeks but its a time when teams just don't seem to play very well. Some teams can pull through it with little damage others are not so lucky, it always feels like these next 2 or 3 weeks are full of upsets around the country. Its possible Hope has hit their wall a little early, they've looked really poor offensively for two games in a row now. Hope needs a really good effort Wednesday against Trine or this could go South really, really fast.
Hope played without a lot of energy yesterday, that's somewhat understandable after Wednesday but this league is too good with too many good coaches now to come into another gym and give the lacks effort Hope gave to start this game. Hope let Olivet dictate everything early without much push back and that hurt to see. Four out of 6 league games now Hope's fallen behind early, dangerous trend.
This was Hope's first loss at Olivet since 2005, that was in the old gym so its their first loss in Cutler. Hope went 15-12 that year. That team never came together and faced a little more adversity than this one. I still think this team has potential to be good, but more urgency needed. In case you were wondering Hope also lost to Olivet in 2010, that one at DeVos.
Desire: verb \di-ˈzī(-ə)r, dē-\
: to long or hope for : exhibit or feel desire for (desire success);
Passion: noun \ˈpa-shən\
: intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction
Just a thought or two.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
3 point shooting: Hope just got bombed yesterday. 12-25 for Olivet, its what they do well and Hope was powerless to stop it. Hope was 1-12 and little threat from behind the arc and missed their first 9 attempts. This was the game.
Turnovers: 25, In the big preview I mentioned Olivet games are messy in the turnover department, they are, and it was. The ones at the end bothered me the most, those last 5 in the last 5 minutes were the critical ones. Too many were the results of bad, sloppy passes, Hope teams have typically been good passing teams. Not this week.
Nate Snuggerud: 18 points, 5 rebounds.....most minutes since the Spring Arbor game, I'd like to think we'll see this the rest of the way but I really don't know.
Colton Overway: 12 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist.....the one assist probably points out the job Olivet did making Colton give up the ball, also probably reflects Hope's terrible movement and no fast-breaks. Sometimes he looked alone out there
Billy Seiler: 8 points, 3 rebounds.......changed his FT approach and stroked all 4 beautifully.
Nate VanArendonk: 7 points, 5 rebounds...... played well and needed, opened space a couple times for others. Call me a homer if you want but I honestly do not understand some of the foul calls this kid gets against him. Being big is not a foul.
Efficiency:
Estimated number of possessions: Hope 81 Olivet 80
Really did not feel like that at all. In fact zero fast-break points for either team, and I saw something I've never seen, a Hope fast-break stop 2 feet short of the basket and the ball cycle back out to the arc. I believe Jeff Cain showed great hustle to get back into that play but wow! High number of possessions probably why the turnovers really didn't bother me.
Offensive Efficiency: 80.78
Yeah, not efficient. I don't know why but Olivet has been outstanding on defense at home but mediocre on the road. It wasn't good either half and I'll leave it at that. Hope's been under 100 7 times, 5 of those losses, 3 of those they defended well enough to get the win. This loss is squarely on Hope's offense.
Defensive Efficiency: 84.81
Hard one to make sense of, on the one hand this should be good enough to win every time. On the other, Olivet didn't challenge the interior at all and that is where most teams get their efficiency so it should look low. It was this low for both halves, also one of the lowest numbers you'll see from a winning team.
So what we have is two terrible efficiency numbers, one got there by missing 92% of the 3's they took, one got there by making 48% of the 3's they took. Yeah, strange.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 38.2% of available offensive rebounds
Olivet: 9.1% of available offensive rebounds
Second chance points was 10-5 to Hope so they got very little advantage from this massive difference. Olivet had 3 offensive rebounds the entire game. This isn't as dominating as it looks because Olivet almost completely abandoned even going after offensive rebounds to get back on defense, they made it easy for Hope.
Moment or Keys to the Game:
TJ Vondette had his best game of his young career. His early shooting gave Olivet the advantage that they hung onto for 22 minutes.
Every 3-point shot Olivet made.
Olivet's Blake Krum hit a 3 to put Olivet up 2 at 58 seconds.
Billy Seiler made a layup off a well designed play to tie the game with 29 seconds left
Olivet's DaunTrell Hill made a 3 with 1 second left to win the game.
My Game Ball Goes To:
Nate Snuggerud showed flashes of his old self yesterday and that was good to see. Hope ran quite a bit of offense with him as the intended target and he delivered for the most part. Honestly without him this might not have been close.
Standings
Overway - 4
Snuggerud - 3
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
VanArendonk - 1
Benson - 1
Gardner - 1
Going Forward:
This loss opens a gap now to Calvin that truthfully will probably not be closed. Its hard to say whats happened to this team offensively but they've been really easy to defend the last two games, combined with some really awful passing decisions they've been pretty poor. It was for all purposes a disaster of a week.
Next week is Trine at home and at Alma, they could win or lose both of those and that's the reality of this team right now. I don't like it and I'm sure the players and coaches don't like it. I'm not a coach and not at practices, what I see from my seat is a lot of little things adding up to some much bigger things. Some of those things can be fixed, like communication, some probably won't be. The team I saw play with energy and enthusiasm at Albion wasn't there this week and its confusing why that is.
That energy and enthusiasm needs to be found and found quickly, inconsistent efforts and performances need to be replaced with constant effort and performance, preferably good. But that's the trick isn't it. 5 weeks left is all that's guaranteed in this season, 4 if this team doesn't start playing better. That's where they are.
(Crap, Olivet has become a good team that has improved all season they deserve much more credit than I've given them in this.)
Up Next: me and my forehead vs my desk < sigh > I told you so, I told you so, I told you so
Wednesday, January 23 vs Trine at DeVos Fieldhouse
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