2014 Season in Review: Trine

(I'm trine to finish these, between 'mutual separation gate' and life, its been a tough slog to get through these)

2014  15-11,  8-6  3rd tie
2013  14-12,  7-7  3rd tie
2012  15-11,  8-6  3rd

Best Win of the year:  no wins against a team with a winning record
Worst Loss of the year:  vs Manchester 61-67

Senior:  Todd Watkins
(while writing this I learned Jr. to be G Nick Tatu is transferring to Rochester College near his home)

What Hope and Calvin must look like to Trine sometimes.

Given that Trine overall is a pretty young squad I think the Thunder had a good year for Coach Brooks Miller in his 3rd season.  The non-conference was a pedestrian 7-4 given its softness, those 4 losses came to Manchester, Heidelberg, Elmhurst and Wabash. Only Elmhurst finished above the .500 mark on the season.  Six of those 7 wins weren't all that spectacular either but they finished strong with a win over OAC Ohio Northern who finished just 13-14.

In the MIAA, Trine was the most perfectly placed team in the standings with an 0-6 record against the three teams above them (Hope, Calvin, Albion) and 8-0 against everyone else.  Given that Trine lost Ian Jackson and Scott Rogers to graduation coming into this year, the fact they didn't go backwards in the standings is fairly significant and I think points to a positive future as this young team matures.   The real revelation of the season was the development of Tyler Good from a 11 minutes and 2 point per game Sophomore to a 35 minute, 15.2 pts per game Junior.  That's one of the biggest improvements from one year to the next I can remember.  The addition of Freshmen guard  Will Dixon added a quick, hard to handle point guard with the ability to give teams fits.  He was the catalyst behind Trine's near upset of Hope in the MIAA Tournament.

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Statistics Corner 

Looking at Trine's national stats 3 things stand out, Turnover Margin #8, FT shooting % #69 and a very surprising scoring defense of #20.  Trine did prefer to grind games out with the 2nd lowest possessions per game in the league at 63.  The negative side of the stats were #334 in scoring, again mostly pace of play induced, #334 in assists and #290 in rebounding margin.  Other key stats like FG% and FG% Defense were below average.

Efficiency 

Offense:   105.30       Defense:   98.73        Total Eff Rating:   206.57

Team rank out of the last 10 years:   #1
League rank out of the last 10 years:  #24

From efficiency, this was Trine's best team in their 10 year MIAA run.  Very comparable to the last two teams under Miller.  If you want another comparison, almost exactly as efficient as Hope's 2005 team or Calvin's 2011 squad.  Both would be accused of under-performing, I don't think that's the case with this Trine team.

2014-2015

Key returnees: Tyler Good, Will Dixon, Jared Homquist, Dustin Hall, Jake Bagley, Tarvis Malone

Tyler Good, determined.

Trine played most of last season with a rotation of 8 that dwindled to mostly 7 by years end.  One graduates, one has transfered, that leaves a nice core group of players to build a team around but almost no depth.  Todd Watkins and Nick Tatu won't be easy to replace but neither seemed irreplaceable.

In Brooks Millers 3 seasons excluding MIAA Tournament games his teams are 0-6 against Hope, 1-5 against Calvin.  One of the key elements I've always thought you needed to have is depth to beat those two schools.  Trine just doesn't have it right now and it gives me pause at their chances of moving up the MIAA ladder.

Trine released its 2014/15 schedule which is pretty similar to this past season.  The Thunder should do well against those teams and could make a push for 18 wins next season if everything goes well.  Here's a tidbit to finish this off, Trine has exactly two wins over the last two years against D3 schools that finished with a winning record.  2013 vs PSU-Behrend and 2013 against Adrian's faltering 18 win team.

Range of Finish:  Losing Tatu changes this.  With him I had them as the solid #4 at least, without him I think they're still #4 but trouble finding depth could open the door for someone behind them.  A really good influx of talent equating to depth could give them a legit chance at a #3 finish or even better.  For now though number 3 or 4 seems like their home.