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| Pool C Party, also possibly a Delta Phi spring break |
They made it. My wish at the beginning of this season was for this group of Hope players to get a chance to play in the D3 Tournament and I didn't care how they made it happen. Guys like Ben Gardner and Brock Benson didn't come all the way to Hope to not play in the NCAA's. Now they get that chance.
How they made it was to grab an at-large bid, one of just 19 available, also known as Pool C selections. Past experiences with NCAA dealings probably made you sweat and even panic a little. I don't really think it was close to not happening. Hope was the #2 team in the Great Lakes Region going into last week and nothing happened behind them that could reasonably move a team ahead of them. They had favorable criteria in all the major categories. 100% was my response when asked about our chances Saturday night and other than a brief Sunday morning panic of 'oh my God the NCAA is gong to screw us', it was going to happen.
Much credit here needs to go to Hope's staff for putting together a pretty incredible non-conference schedule. The feedback they've been receiving for some time was they needed to A) play more regional games B) strengthen the schedule. Hope did both of those, on steroids. There's a better time for a discussion on the why's this worked out for Hope this year and how the changes to what games count from what didn't count helped.
Make no mistake though Hope played their way into this position, they won games against Centre and Thomas More that could have gone the other way, rebounded from a loss to Wheaton to beat Carthage and most importantly beat Calvin twice. None of these wins were more or less significant than the others but any losses in any of these games changes the criteria Hope presents to the NCAA, possibly enough to change this outcome.
The reward for everything this season brought us is a bid to 'the big dance' and a chance to host these first and second round games in the beautiful DeVos Fieldhouse.
click for a closer look
The Bracket
Full 62 team bracket
March 7, 2014
Rose-Hulman vs Wheaton 5:30 pm
PSU-Behrend vs Hope 7:30 pm
Winner advances to Sectional vs Wooster regional winner. Site tbd
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| About to host its 8th Hope men's NCAA Tournament game |
I don't think this is too far of a departure from past NCAA site selections. Hope was the #2 team in the Great Lakes and in most years that stature hosts.
The Teams
Hope
Where: Holland, Mi
Conference: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Resume: 20-7, MIAA regular season champions
We know these guys and what they've accomplished. 2014 is a return to the tournament after a one year absence and marks 8 years out of 9 participating in the dance.
Penn State-Behrend
Where: Erie, Pa.
Conference: Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference
Resume: 23-4, AMCC regular season and tournament champions
Your guess about them is as good as mine. This will be Hope's first match-up with an AMCC team of any kind in any setting. I know very little about the AMCC from a basketball playing perspective, from a purely statistical look they always fall well down my lists. In general, AMCC teams have not had great success in the tournament, except this team. Once upon a time(2000), PSU-Behrend played in a quarterfinal game for the right to go to Salem, Va. Different tournament selections, different pairings, much different path. This is Behrend's sixth NCAA invite, other than their first splash which took them to the elite-8 its been mostly quick exists.
Their two most recent invites sent them to Oswego St and Wooster in 2011 and 2013 where they lost on the first night by 29 to Rhode Island College and 18 to Wooster. RIC and Wooster were Sweet 16 teams. Neither of these results affects this years team of course but it is at least a point of reference.
Wheaton
Where: Wheaton, IlConference: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin
Resume: 19-8, CCIW Runner-Up, CCIW Tournament Champions
Wheaton will be the most familiar team to Hope fans at this regional. We've played them every year since 2004 now and were handed a pretty convincing 19 point loss back at the MIAA/CCIW Challenge by the Thunder. Wheaton finished its season with a two game shot to win the CCIW crown but fell at North Central and IWU at home, one week later they won convincingly on IWU's floor to win the CCIW Tournament Championship and the conferences automatic qualifier.
The Thunder have been a regular in the post-season with 4 bids in 5 years. Last year they lost in the second round at St. Thomas, in 2012 they were a Sweet 16 team losing to eventual National Champion Wis-Whitewater. There is no shortage of NCAA success or experience with the Thunder. Many might consider Wheaton the favorite to win this regional.
Rose-Hulman
Where: Terre Haute, In.
Conference: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference
Resume: 22-5, HCAC regular season and tournament champions
After a long time away from the national scene the Engineers are returning for their third straight NCAA appearance. The previous two ended in losses to North Central and at home last year to Calvin in the first rounds.
Statistical Look
Efficiency
Offense
| Hope | 108.94 |
| PSU-Behrend | 111.24 |
| Rose-Hulman | 112.23 |
| Wheaton | 113.44 |
This is pretty much what NCAA teams look like. Everybody can score.
Defense
| Hope | 99.98 |
| PSU-Behrend | 88.78 |
| Rose-Hulman | 100.82 |
| Wheaton | 98.08 |
The obvious question here is just how good is Behrend's defense. Unfortunately its hard to say whether this answers that question or not. Their 88.78 would rank as the top defense in the Great Lakes Region but against a schedule that might be a little soft. Regardless Behrend has been dominating its schedule and that should get your attention.
Four Factors
| eFG% | Offense | Defense | |
| Hope | 52.1 | 46.6 | |
| PSU-Behrend | 51.7 | 43.7 | |
| Rose-Hulman | 52.2 | 51.2 | |
| Wheaton | 54.6 | 49.1 |
For a team that gives up so few points, RH's defensive eFG% is a bit high.
| TOV% | Offense | Defense | |
| Hope | 15.3 | 15.2 | |
| PSU-Behrend | 15.2 | 18.2 | |
| Rose-Hulman | 14.9 | 18.0 | |
| Wheaton | 15.6 | 17.6 |
Hope's had a recent spike in turnovers. With the other 3 teams being good at creating turnovers this might be a concern.
| Orb% | Offense | Defense | |
| Hope | 32.7 | 27.3 | |
| PSU-Behrend | 39.6 | 21.6 | |
| Rose-Hulman | 32.5 | 32.5 | |
| Wheaton | 30.2 | 34.8 |
Another area of concern. Its not that Hope's been bad on the boards recently its just they haven't really won those battles, too many stalemates. Behrend's numbers here jump out at me, good on the offensive glass, good on the defensive glass. Hope had better bring their best rebounding effort.
| FT% | Offense | Defense | |
| Hope | 27.3 | 27.7 | |
| PSU-Behrend | 21.6 | 22.0 | |
| Rose-Hulman | 32.5 | 27.0 | |
| Wheaton | 34.8 | 27.5 |
Behrend doesn't get to the line much and doesn't send their opponents to the line much either. Might be interesting to see if this is more of a jump-shooting team vs attacking the basket. As you might expect the strong CCIW team gets to the line a lot.
Score Comparisons
Just focusing on the Hope/Behrend match-up, there are no direct head-to-head match-ups but a few indirect ones that should also make you think more about Friday than Saturday.
Behrend 73 Heidelberg 48
Behrend 77 Allegheny 64
Heidelberg 62 Albion 59
Heidelberg 74 Trine 51
Allegheny 77 Alma 67
Allegheny 58 Adrian 44
Basically they beat teams that beat teams that Hope beat except for one Hope didn't beat once. The bottom line is this match-up with PSU-Behrend isn't the easy one most might expect it to be. It would be great to be wrong but there isn't a lot to hang that thought on other than the vast difference in schedule strength, which might mean nothing.
The best team Behrend beat was Bethany. Like themselves a team from a weaker conference constantly searching for respect. For me this comes back to being desperate when playing a desperate team. Can Hope up its energy and intensity levels enough to elevate their game and match their opponents better than last week.
| Actually, it was 11 first half three's coach Groce |
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