Everything went according to plan right up to this past Wed. when a lot of things went a lot less to plan. Trine's been cruising along heading for another 3rd place finish in the league, then lost in OT to Albion and followed that up by losing at Olivet, because everybody but Calvin lost at Olivet. Now third isn't looking likely. Olivet and Trine look at their schedule's and sigh heavily, needing wins and seeing only Calvin and Hope on the horizon. Adrian lost 2 more games last week making their path to the MIAA tournament much more difficult yet at the same time being the favorites to grab a spot in the tournament, makes no sense except perfect sense. Alma failed to pull a rabbit out of a hat and lost all 4 of its games eliminating themselves from a post-season shot. Kalamazoo and Albion were already realistically eliminated, neither of them had much fun getting blown out by Hope and Calvin. Albion then stunned Trine in overtime, while Kzoo won the big battle for last place over Albion.
You may have heard there was a game between Hope and Calvin on Saturday, Hope won, it was cool. It means Calvin is 1 game up with 2 to play facing Trine and Olivet both at home. Hope just gets to be satisfied for a few minutes.
Standings
Calvin 11-1
Hope 10-2
Trine 7-5
Olivet 6-6
Adrian 6-6
Adrian 17-6, 6-6
Hope 67 Adrian 53
Trine 64 Adrian 46
Adrian 53 Olivet 35
Adrian 70 Alma 65
Adrian's 2 wins this past week gives them 17 on the season, the second consecutive season they've done that. While it isn't the result their much hyped November and December suggested might happen its still pretty good. The conference season though has been a lot more about trying to keep their head above water.
With 2 games remaining the Bulldogs are actually in a pretty good spot given Trine and Olivet have to both play Hope and Calvin. However they hold no tie-breakers so they may need to win both games this week. Adrian won both of those prior meetings with Kzoo/Albion comfortably.
This Week: @Kalamazoo, Albion
Next Week: Miaa Tournament ?
Albion 6-17, 2-10
Calvin 83 Albion 63
Hope 97 Albion 73
Albion 73 Trine 68 OT
Kalamazoo 78 Albion 76
The Britons road trips to Calvin and Hope went poorly, they rebounded with a solid overtime win against a Trine team that had been playing well. On Saturday they lost a close one to drop back into 8th place. I'm not sure the end can't come soon enough.
This Week: Alma, @Adrian
Next Week: season mercifully over
Alma 8-15, 3-8
Trine 81 Alma 68
Olivet 80 Alma 76
Calvin 90 Alma 66
Adrian 70 Alma 65
These four losses extend Alma's losing streak to 5 games. At one point it looked like the Scots good pre-conference play would carry over and they would be in position to fight for a tournament spot. Two close losses in the last two weeks to Olivet and Adrian closed that door. Alma's one win away from tying last years win total of 9.
This Week: @Albion, @Kalamazoo
Next Week: season over
Calvin 20-3, 11-1
Calvin 83 Albion 63
Calvin 92 Kalamazoo 50
Calvin 90 Alma 66
Hope 73 Calvin 70
Calvin had really hit another gear and really tore apart the bottom 3 teams in the league leading into their game with Hope. Their coronation party as MIAA Champions was put on hold with a disappointing loss in Holland. They need just one win to secure a share of title this week, two would clinch it outright. They beat both Trine and Olivet by double-digits on the road last time so it shouldn't be too much trouble to win both games this week
This Week: Trine, Olivet
Next Week: will host one of the MIAA Semi-finals
Hope 15-8, 10-2
Hope 67 Adrian 53
Hope 97 Albion 73
Hope 82 Kalamazoo 55
Hope 73 Calvin 70
An actual winning streak of 6 games now. This four game stretch covers the games immediately after losing Sr. pg Colton Overway for probably the season. I don't think many expected these results to look exactly like this, including me. Hope's effort Saturday to beat Calvin was easily the hardest I've seen this team play this season and was a great reward in an otherwise difficult year. Things that seemed unlikely, like NCAA's, are now at least a possibility though still pretty slim. Continuing to play well and win this next week is the key now.
This Week: Olivet, @ Trine
Next Week: will host one of the MIAA Semi-finals
Kalamazoo 6-17, 3-9
Olivet 81 Kalamazoo 72
Calvin 92 Kalamazoo 50
Hope 82 Kalamazoo 55
Kalamazoo 78 Albion 76
The Hornet's win over Albion snapped a 6 game losing streak, in that streak they had really only been competitive in two of those games. K needs both wins this week to reach last years win total of 8.
This Week: Adrian, Alma
Next Week: season over
Olivet 11-12, 6-6
Olivet 71 Kalamazoo 62
Olivet 80 Alma 76
Adrian 55 Olivet 35
Olivet 84 Trine 79
Olivet has been one of the more interesting teams in recent league play, not many have been so clearly a different team at home than on the road. At home they went 6-1 only losing to Calvin while having not yet won on the road in the league with an avg margin of -13, all loses by double-digits. Olivet gets two more cracks at road wins this week and are also very much in the hunt for a tournament spot.
This Week: @Hope, @Calvin
Next Week: MIAA Tournament or season over
Trine 14-9, 7-5
Trine 81 Alma 68
Trine 64 Adrian 46
Albion 73 Trine 68 OT
Olivet 84 Trine 79
A week ago Trine was coming off a thumping of Adrian to avenge an earlier loss and sitting solidly in the 3rd spot in the standings. They were golden. An overtime loss and loss at Olivet and now the Thunder are in desperate need of a win with Calvin and Hope on the schedule.
Bonus: Trine is in a weird position, they could actually lose both games this week, making a 4 games losing streak, and still qualify for the MIAA Tournament if Adrian or Olivet lose both games as well. Even more weird, they could actually win the tie-breaker for the 3rd seed losing 4 in a row.
This Week: @Calvin, Hope
Next Week: MIAA Tournament or season over
MIAA Efficiency
| Off Eff | Def Eff | Total | change | ||
| Calvin | 110.63 | 85.54 | 225.98 | 2.04 | |
| Adrian | 95.96 | 85.51 | 210.44 | -3 | |
| Hope | 105.91 | 97.21 | 208.70 | 2.95 | |
| Trine | 104.15 | 97.20 | 206.95 | 0.08 | |
| Olivet | 99.83 | 100.97 | 198.86 | 0.54 | |
| Albion | 100.59 | 107.55 | 193.94 | -0.91 | |
| Alma | 99.56 | 107.71 | 191.85 | -1.63 | |
| Kzoo | 90.48 | 108.10 | 182.38 | -1.53 |
I've always thought the second time through the league schedule was always more difficult, this year however its really been about home teams continuing to win at home with Calvin and Hope asserting themselves with strong results. Hope's improvement is pretty easy to see here, as well as Calvin's dominant results. Adrian continues to slide, primarily on the offensive side of the floor. Alma, Albion and Kzoo are really pretty bad defensive teams. This next week probably won't change this order much if at all.
Last review I thought Hope's efficiency would slide a little with Overway's injury, as you can that not only didn't happen they actually improved. Its not been one thing improving, its many things.
The Neighbors
Ohio Athletic Conference
Capital and Marietta played another close one with Capital pulling this one off 70-67 in OT on Marietta's floor. That result lifted Capital into first by 1 game, Marietta then won over Baldwin-Wallace by 2 to claim 2nd by a game. Miraculously the standings have stayed stagnant since. Wilmington and Mt. Union won and lost a bunch of games and are now tied for 4th.
Standings
Capital 14-2
Marietta 13-3
Bald-Wally 12-4
Wilmington 9-7
Mt. Union 9-7
Unfortunately the OAC is done with its top match-ups of the year. Capital hosts Muskingum and Ohio Northern, while Marietta plays at John Carroll and Mt. Union, advantage Capital. Its here that I probably should remind people that last place Muskingum beat John Carroll last year and forced a tie at the top, because no one ever remembers what happened in the OAC. So anything can happen.
The rest of the OAC is vying for tournament seeding which really can't look much different than the current standing already do.
Key Game: pick one
Northcoast Athletic Conference
A lot happened, which resulted in really not much happening or changing. Wooster lost at Wabash which made a lot of Wooster fans nervous until they remembered they are Wooster and this is their domain. The Scots came back and won a pretty epic OT game over Ohio Wesleyan on Wed. which gave them a piece of the title and then because the basketball Gods can be awesome sometimes the Scots had a chance to wrap up the title by beating rival Wittenberg, which they did.
Standings
Wooster 13-1
Ohio Wes. 11-4
Wittenberg 8-6
DePauw 7-7
Kenyon 7-7
Denison 7-7
There's a spectacular mess behind the top two teams in this league, so tournament seedings are still very much up for grabs.
Key Game: Wed. DePauw at Witt, Wed. Denison at Kenyon Sat. Wooster at DePauw
Presidents Athletic Conference
The PAC has whittled itself down to St. Vincent and Thomas More. Both survived challenges over the past couple weeks with several single-digit wins between them. St. Vincent surviving a 4 point game with Grove City and an OT win at Bethany. Thomas More pulled away late to beat Thiel. Bethany dropped 2 more games falling 4 games back and out of the PAC title race.
Standings
Thomas More 13-1
St. Vincent 13-1
Bethany 9-5
Thiel 9-6
On Wed. St. Vincent hosts Waynesburg while Thomas More hosts Bethany, if both can survive it would set up nicely a regionally ranked showdown for the PAC title with St. Vincent hosting Thomas More Saturday. Let that sink in a minute.
Key Games: Wed. Bethany at Thomas More, Sat Thomas More at St.Vincent
Region Rankings
Real NCAA rankings were released last week for the first time. I took great pleasure in making an effort to print them up just so I could throw them away. New rankings come out Wednesday, I'll probably do the same.
1. Calvin
2. Wooster
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. Thomas More
5. Capital
Despite Calvin's loss they are still ahead of Wooster because in my world teams with better records and better common opponent records get to actually be ranked higher. Still very uncomfortable with Thomas More in the top 5. Capital is this weeks coin toss with Marietta winner.
5 to watch: St. Vincent, Marietta, Hope, Baldwin-Wallace, Adrian
Great Lakes Efficiency
Straight Efficiency
1. Calvin
2. Wooster
3. Bethany
4. PSU-Behrend
5. Ohio Wesleyan
6. Thomas More
7. DePauw
8. Baldwin-Wallace
9. Marietta
10. Adrian
Hope moved up to the seventh spot from 10, still taking out the College of Faith game which moves them back to 11. Bethany and PSU-B annoy me, they make it hard to convince people efficiency is valid.
Strength of Schedule Adjustment
1. Calvin
2. Wooster
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. Baldwin-Wallace
5. Hope
6. Bethany
7. Capital
8. Adrian
9. Marietta
10. Wittenberg
Top 3 are unchanged. Last time I mentioned the big log jam of teams from 4-13, now its 4-12. The reason it looks this way this week is that BW added games with Marietta, Capital. Hope added Adrian and Calvin. Where these teams fall in this ranking has been so dependent on who they play each 2 weeks I've done these.
An even higher emphasis on strength of schedule
1. Calvin
2. Wooster
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. Hope
5. Capital
6. Baldwin-Wallace
7. Adrian
8. Wittenberg
9. Marietta
10. DePauw
I believe this is the first time Calvin's led this one, statistically a very strong team even with a weakish schedule(still top 100 on massey though). Hope's actually up to three here with the internet game. This one really crushes the PAC and AMCC schools who drop all the way back to number 20.
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