2014 Season in Review: Calvin

2014  24-6,  12-2  2nd
2013  26-4,  13-1  1st
2012  13-13,  8-6  3rd tie

Best win of the year:  @ Washington Univ  83-75  NCAA 2nd Round
Worst loss of the year:  @ Hope 65-83

Seniors:  Tyler Kruis, Mickey DeVries, Jordan Mast


Coming off a double MIAA Championship 2013 and sweet 16 appearance, 2014's expectations for the Knights were understandably high.  After a confusing loss to Carthage the Knights delivered on their promise with a convincing win over Wheaton the next night.  A split of their trip to Redlands and Clarmont-MS didn't really rattle too many thoughts that Calvin was the prohibitive favorite to win the MIAA.

Try not to read too much into it

The MIAA was really mostly a waltz for Calvin save for a late game heroic win at Trine and two very important and crucial losses to Hope.  The first was stunning as Hope beat them on their own floor, the second was sucking on a lemon, if you're Calvin.  The Knights kept the pressure on Hope throughout the conference season but those two losses meant a disappointing 2nd place finish.

Tyler Kruis delivered Calvin's first league MVP since Jeremy Veenstra in 2002 and he probably beat out his own teammate Jordan Brink for the honor.  These two led Calvin's late season push which saw them hand Hope the bowl of lemons in the MIAA Tournament and for the second straight year march to the Sweet 16 with impressive wins over Wittenberg and Washington.  Only Final Four bound Illinois Wesleyan was able to stand between the Knights and a deeper run.

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Statistics Corner

It would be easier to list the stat categories Calvin didn't finish within the top 100.  Offensively Calvin was #89 in scoring, FG% #30, scoring margin #18, assists per game #13 and assist/turnover ratio #3.   Defensively it was the same story, scoring #43, rebounding margin #18, blocked shots #13, FG% defense of #31.  Overall very impressive.

Calvin spent a lot of the season doing the pummeling, but for only a 6 loss team, spent a little too much of it being pummeled and are missing a key trophy because of it.  


Efficiency 

Offense:   114.73       Defense:   96.24        Total Eff Rating:   218.49

Team rank out of the last 10 years:   #2
League rank out of the last 10 years:  #6

Calvin's late season 9-1 run (15-2 run also)  really rocketed them up the efficiency charts.  Following their 2nd loss at Hope I think you could have legitimately wondered just how good Calvin really was, at that point just 3-5 against teams with winning records and two of those wins were Trine and Albion.  They really made a strong end of season push though and it wasn't a fluke they ended up in the Sweet 16 again.

Here's a handy chart you can pull out at the next MIAA cocktail mixer about what it takes to reach the Sweet 16.  These are the eight highest rated teams in the last 10 years on my efficiency chart.  Seven of them reached the Sweet 16, the only one that didn't needed to be knocked out in the most epic double-overtime game I'll probably ever watch by a team that ended up in the Final Four.
  

2012-13	Calvin	224.92
2007-08	Hope	224.08
2005-06	Hope	223.23
2006-07	Hope	222.84
2011-12	Hope	218.91
2013-14	Calvin	218.49
2004-05	Calvin	217.70
2004-05	Albion	214.60

2014-2015

Key returnees:  Jordan Brink, Austin Parks, Jordan Daley Tyler Dykstra, Brad Visser, Daniel Stout

Your next MIAA MVP Jordan Brink

Calvin graduates 6-9, 6-7 and 6-5 from this past year, for most teams that's a problem but for Calvin its less of a problem.  6-9 Sr. Daniel Stout isn't the MVP presence of Tyler Kruis but he isn't a slouch and should be very capable of handling the middle in a mostly donut-in-the-middle MIAA.  Tyler Dykstra  could see his touches and production double.  Where Calvin has been deep and tall the last two years they will be less deep and a little less tall, but still probably taller and longer than everyone else.

The shift in Calvin next year will be to a more guard focused offense.  Jordan Brink will likely be the best guard and player in the league, he'll be joined by Jordan Daley and Austin Parks who both came on strong at the end of this past season to help propel the Knights deep into the tournament.  Throw in sharpshooting Soph. to be Brad Visser and Calvin will likely have the best back-court in the league.

There are holes here to be filled, but those are mostly at the back of the lineup where competition from the current roster, jv's and recruits will fill those voids.  I have little doubt Calvin will end up being fairly deep where it counts.   After consecutive trips to the Sweet 16 Calvin should be primed to have another good year in 2015.

Range of Finish:  I'm not sure its quite fair to pin the 'favorite' tag on these returning Knights but come November/December that could be the case.  They'll certainly be in the chase and shouldn't have much trouble with half the league, its Albion and Hope they have to worry about.  For now probably 2nd's fine, with the possibility of first and if things went sort of haywire maybe 3rd.