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.