2014 20-8, 13-1 1st
2013 18-9, 12-2 2nd
2012 27-2, 14-0 1st
Best win of the year: @ Calvin 71-63
Worst loss of the year: Calvin 53-78 MIAA Tournament Championship
Seniors: Nate VanArendonk, Caleb Byers, Grant Neil, Cody Campbell
" 1st is really never out of the question."
That was the last sentence of my Hope review for 2013 previewing 2014. Writing that was easier than believing those words as Hope struggled to find their footing against a very difficult non-conference schedule.
 |
| As Alex Eidson went, so went Hope, sort of. |
By the time Christmas rolled around Hope was 3-5 with pretty convincing losses to Whitewater, Stevens Point, Wheaton and Illinois Wesleyan on the ledger. It would be easy to say Hope's season turned at the tournament at Thomas More where they beat NCAA bound Centre and rallied to beat Thomas More in the final minutes. A few days later a win at home over Edgewood gave Hope a 6-5 record and just enough confidence to tackle the MIAA.
Hope's MIAA season was somewhat simplistic. They caught Calvin early and shocked them on their floor by 8 which felt like more and validated that by beating them in Holland 3 weeks later by 18 which felt like a lot more. In between and after Hope rolled up 9 double digit wins, suffering just one loss at Albion and held off Calvin by a single game to capture the MIAA Championship.
The season ended somewhat abruptly with Hope being taken to overtime by Trine in the MIAA semi-finals and being manhandled by Calvin in the Championship. Hope received an at-large bid and hosted the first round of the NCAA Tournament where they lost to PSU-Behrend in overtime.
click to read more
Statistics Corner
Hope's national stats need to be taken with a little grain of salt. Not many teams played a non-conference schedule that included 5 D3 tournament participants, let alone one that included 3 top 5 teams. The standout stat was finishing #9 in blocked shots per game followed closely by #62 in rebound margin.. Hope finished in the top half of D3 in every stat category except Turnover Margin and 3-point shots per game. Scoring Offense #132, FG% a very respectable #64. Scoring Defense #133 and FG% Defense #105. Against that schedule it would be hard to rank higher without being a top 5 or 10 team themselves.
Efficiency
Offense: 108.03 Defense: 99.68 Total Eff Rating: 208.35
Team rank out of the last 10 years: #9
League rank out of the last 10 years: #18
Looking at these you should probably be a little more in awe that Hope won this years MIAA Championship. This team, with these numbers doesn't compare favorably with any of the other MIAA Champions in the past decade, among that group its last. I think we can say with certainty though no MIAA team in the last decade has faced a schedule as daunting as Hope's early non-conference schedule and like regular stats that will skew efficiency calculations as well.
I think in the end you can say Hope got more out of this team than maybe they should have, which isn't a bad thing at all. This was after all one of the youngest Hope teams in recent memory.
2014-2015
Key returnees: Ben Gardner, Alex Eidson, Brock Benson, Corey McMahon, Cody Stuive, Harrison Blackledge, Sam Otto, Chad Carlson
| LOL for double and triple meanings |
Had I written this review back in March or April when I should have, this section would look quite different and have a much different vibe. With this years young team turning older and returning a large chunk of an MIAA Championship team it would have been really easy to make Hope the favorite for 2015. Out of the blue, things went all 1980's Central American Coup like and Hope found themselves searching for a new coach. Suddenly all the simple things to carry over into next winter become complicated and more difficult to figure out.
Concentrating on whats returning, assuming everything returns, Hope will have 8 players who played a significant part in last season. The back-court will be its strength with leading scorers Alex Eidson and Ben Gardner leading the way along with Corey McMahon who had a kind of break out season. Chad Carlson provided back-up at PG with several key moments of big plays throughout the year and a pretty ridiculous A/TO ratio of 7-1. Hope could find its back-court a little crowded and it would be a good assumption to think Hope might try even more 3 guard sets next year.
The reason for the 3 guard set increase is because Hope is a little thin at the 3. Sam Otto is probably the only guy who truly qualifies as a 3 returning. Any other depth is going to come from Freshmen or JV players. One or two of the interior guys could slide down here but with the lack of depth at the 4/5 I don't think that will happen much.
Hope will have some options at the 4 with So. Cody Stuive likely to be the starter after bursting on the scene last Winter. Behind him will be So. Harrison Blackledge and So. Keith Brushwyler, both will need to improve this summer to see significant increases in playing time, and Hope will need that improvement.
At the 5, its one is a lonely number with Brock Benson the only true 5 on the roster. You can probably figure Stuive will see some minutes here and because its the MIAA Hope can cheat a little and play Blackledge or Brushwyler with some level of confidence. If there is one spot on the roster that is really dangerously thin its here. In the MIAA portion of the schedule, save for Calvin and Albion this won't be too much trouble. But if Stuive, Blackledge or Brushwyler aren't affective defenders when Benson goes out, Hope will struggle against strong interior teams.
The biggest question is the vacant coaches seat and what happens with the staff. That's a pretty big question of course and one that could directly affect next years success. Hope will be learning a new system, new terminology etc. Couple that with an absolutely brutal non-conference schedule the Dutchmen might struggle quite a bit in the first part of next season and enter the MIAA in nearly the same position as last year. That worked out ok.
Range of Finish: When MIAA Championship teams return as much as Hope does its easy to make them favorites for next season. Three things will have a great impact on next season 1) the coach, 2) replacing a 6-10 center and 3) believe it or not Hope will technically be younger next season. These things combined make Hope less of a rock-solid pick to re-peat than you otherwise might feel comfortable saying. If everyone returns Hope should be right in the middle of the MIAA Championship chase and playing for a chance at the NCAA tournament again. 1st as a tenuous favorite. 2nd or 3rd.
No comments:
Post a Comment