Hope returns to action Monday and Tuesday at the Wooster Mose Hole Tournament. This will be Hope's first games played in the State of Ohio since the 2006 NCAA Sectional at Wittenberg, it will be their first regular season non-conference game in Ohio since 1991 when they played Capital and Wooster. Before the scheduling torch and pitchfork society gets too carried away I'll point out the number of NCAA Ohio teams to play Hope in Holland in the regular season during that time is 3, Wittenberg, John Carroll and Mt. Union(twice) spread out over 24 seasons. This is not a well traveled road in either direction.
Monday Hope will play Spalding University(Ky.), Tuesday the winner or loser of the Wooster/UW-LaCrosse game. If I had a pick I'd want Wooster on Tuesday for a lot of reasons but mainly because these two schools haven't met on the court since the second round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament. Given the prowess both schools have displayed within the Great Lakes Region over the past two decades, its almost criminal the two haven't met at some point along the way.
more
Monday, December 29, 2014
Monday, December 22, 2014
Holland Sentinel/Russ DeVette Classic/Challenge/Tournament/Championship
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| Woooooo! Maybe too much of an inside joke |
Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run
Hope 121 Pitt-Greensburg 73
box
recap
Once or twice a season Hope takes an opponent behind the woodshed. Greensburg was the victim Friday and it was spectacular. I wasn't at this game or able to watch on video (because its DeVos) and there isn't much point in rambling on about this one. It was never a close game.
Efficiency:
Hope 139.76 Pitt-Greensburg 84.52
That's pretty much what a woodshed looks like. I was filling in the numbers during timeouts and Hope was over 140 and Greensburg under 80 the entire game until the last few minutes. These are two teams on opposite ends of my efficiency charts and the game played out that way.
Pace:
87-87 Very fast. In the preview of this weekend I pointed out Pitt-Greensburg games were averaging 77 possessions though it was difficult to tell if that was them or their opponents. Turns out it was them. Two coaching changes in 5 years yet it remains a poor idea to try and run with Hope when you don't have those kinds of horses.
Rebounding:
Hope 44 Greensburg 28
(slight change to my calculation on this, numbers will look lower to past numbers)
Hope had 26% of available offensive rebounds
Greensburg had 21% of available offensive rebounds
About as important as the shot-clock in this game.
Mt.Union and more
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Preview: Pitt-Greensburg/Mt. Union
This weekend Hope hosts its Holland Sentinel/Russ DeVette Classic. Participating this year are Olivet, Pitt-Greensburg and Mt. Union.
In 'the internet is weird' category, a surprising number of photos referring to Hope College or our mascot 'Dutch' show up when googling "Pitt-Greensburg mascot".
Friday
Friday could probably be dubbed 'mismatch day'. Mt. Union plays Olivet in the early game, Pitt-Greensburg plays Hope in the night cap. Mt. Union should be heavy favorites in my opinion, at least on paper, a year ago the Comets lost by only 7 at Mt. Union but this Comets team is not last years Comets team.
8pm Hope hosts Pitt-Greensburg. Greensburg, Pa is 465 miles miles from Holland tucked in the hills East and South of Pittsburgh. Chapman Gym at Greensburg holds 400, there will be nearly as many people sitting in the section behind them on Friday night. They are known as the Bobcats and play in the AMCC which overall I know little about. In the last 8 seasons they have not had a wining record, topping out at 12-14 twice including last season.
The Bobcats will enter play 3-5 on the year. All 3 wins have come in AMCC play over probably the 3 bottom teams in that conference. They have two losses to Carnegie-Mellon and 3 other losses to PAC teams Grove City, Geneva and Waynesburg. If you like playing the score comparison game about all we have is the loss to Waynesburg, 83-63. Waynesburg lost to Calvin by 18, beat Alma by 4 and lost to Marietta by 42.
links
Roster:
Stats:
Lineup:
W Castritano 6-3, Jr.
W Heinle 6-5, Sr.
W Thomas 6-6, So.
W Figuerora 5-10, Jr.
G Shannon 5-11, Jr.
-------------------------------
G Connelly 6-3, Jr.
G Darby 5-11, Fr.
G Anderson 5-11, Jr.
W DeWitt 6-3, So.
G Kezmarsky 5-10, So.
The first 4 guys have started all 8 games and will probably all play at or over 30 minutes. Shannon has started the most but they've started 3 other guys at that guard spot as well. Connelly has averaged more minutes than Shannon. I would guess 3 of the first 4 will be on the floor at all times. After Heinle and Thomas there is no other player on the roster taller than 6-3.
Figuerora is the leading scorer at 16ppg, followed by Costritano, Heinle, and Thomas. As a team the Bobcats are shooting 42% but these 4 guys are shooting 46.6%. There appears to be a pretty steep drop-off in production after them. On the year they're shooting about 25 3-point attempts per game, but keep in mind they've been behind a lot so that may be a lot of desperation attempts. They've launched at least 18 in every game.
Pace wise Bobcat games have averaged out at 77 possessions per game, whether that's them or their opponents is tough to tell but expect something over 70 unless Hope is able to really control the tempo. Defensively they're allowing opponents to shoot nearly 50% from the floor at 49%, that's Alma from last year level. The only real defensive success they've had came against Altoona, D'Youville and Geneva. Hope is most certainly not like those 3. Offense its much the same story, great success against D'Youville and Altoona but everyone else has kept them under control for the most part.
On paper this a game Hope should win, probably comfortably. On paper Hope should have beaten fellow AMCC rival PSU-Behrend last spring. Admittedly this is no PSU-Behrend type opponent as Greensburg is unlikely to be an NCAA tournament candidate. Hope hasn't played in 2 weeks, it might be a little rusty early but I think if we were honest this is probably the weakest opponent Hope will have faced to this point in the year.
Saturday
Olivet plays Pitt-Greensburg at 1pm. This should be an entertaining game if nothing else and I have no idea which way it will go.
At 3pm Hope hosts Mt. Union the Main Event of the weekend. Mount Union is coming off its first regular season OAC Championship in about 4 decades, return nearly everyone from last years team and were the pre-season pick to repeat as OAC Champions this year.
So far the Purple Raiders are 5-2 on the year, 4 of those wins from the OAC. Out of conference they started the year by blitzing Bethany and then suffered two close losses at Wooster. One to Wooster by 7 and one to St. Vincent by 6. They are in desperate need of a signature Great Lakes win, and Hope would do just fine thanks.
links
Roster:
Stats:
Lineup:
G Jacubec 5-11, Sr.
G Jackson 6-0, So.
G Dillon 6-4, Jr.
F Griffin 6-4, Sr.
F Ruffin 6-5, Jr.
---------------------------------
F Moore 6-6, Jr.
G Kukura 6-3, Fr.
G Scelza 6-1, Jr.
G Duerr 5-11, Jr.
G Shull 5-10, Jr.
The starting 5 has been the same for all 7 games thus far and that group will play the majority of the minutes with Griffin seeing the fewest of the bunch, mostly because Griffin is a foul machine recording 28 in their 7 games. In both losses foul trouble on the interior was a contributing factor.
You'll get the picture everyone on this team can shoot or has license to shoot. The first seven take the vast majority of the shots but no one has taken more than 66 and all have attempted over 40. Jackson, Dillon and Kukura are the first options but after that pretty much anyone will take the shot. Only subs Scelza, Duerr and Shull rarely shoot. From beyond the arc its really the same story, most everyone can shoot it, except the 'big' guys Ruffin and Moore. Another team that likes that shot and has averaged 21 attempts on the year. Jacubec, Kukura and Griffin are all shooting over 50% from behind the line, so twitch a little when one of these guys is wide open.
Mt. Union has tended to like a slightly higher than normal pace, less so this year but this one should get up over 70 possessions as well. In games involving Mount last year I watched they frequently pushed the ball up the court and fired off a shot before the defense could really get set. Overall its a fun style of play to watch.
For the year the Raiders are shooting 47% from the floor and allowing opponents a slightly less 45% They are much more likely to try and outscore you than out defend you and in their two losses to capable defensive teams Wooster and St. Vincent they were held to 40% FG shooting and below in both games. How well Hope is able to defend the Raiders is really the key. The rest of the stats are fairly even with only slight advantages over their opponents in all categories. There are no glaring weaknesses or glaring strengths. The Raiders are just a good basketball team and will likely be challenging for the OAC title again this year.
This would be a nice win to have on your resume for both teams.
In 'the internet is weird' category, a surprising number of photos referring to Hope College or our mascot 'Dutch' show up when googling "Pitt-Greensburg mascot".
Friday
Friday could probably be dubbed 'mismatch day'. Mt. Union plays Olivet in the early game, Pitt-Greensburg plays Hope in the night cap. Mt. Union should be heavy favorites in my opinion, at least on paper, a year ago the Comets lost by only 7 at Mt. Union but this Comets team is not last years Comets team.
8pm Hope hosts Pitt-Greensburg. Greensburg, Pa is 465 miles miles from Holland tucked in the hills East and South of Pittsburgh. Chapman Gym at Greensburg holds 400, there will be nearly as many people sitting in the section behind them on Friday night. They are known as the Bobcats and play in the AMCC which overall I know little about. In the last 8 seasons they have not had a wining record, topping out at 12-14 twice including last season.
The Bobcats will enter play 3-5 on the year. All 3 wins have come in AMCC play over probably the 3 bottom teams in that conference. They have two losses to Carnegie-Mellon and 3 other losses to PAC teams Grove City, Geneva and Waynesburg. If you like playing the score comparison game about all we have is the loss to Waynesburg, 83-63. Waynesburg lost to Calvin by 18, beat Alma by 4 and lost to Marietta by 42.
links
Roster:
Stats:
Lineup:
W Castritano 6-3, Jr.
W Heinle 6-5, Sr.
W Thomas 6-6, So.
W Figuerora 5-10, Jr.
G Shannon 5-11, Jr.
-------------------------------
G Connelly 6-3, Jr.
G Darby 5-11, Fr.
G Anderson 5-11, Jr.
W DeWitt 6-3, So.
G Kezmarsky 5-10, So.
The first 4 guys have started all 8 games and will probably all play at or over 30 minutes. Shannon has started the most but they've started 3 other guys at that guard spot as well. Connelly has averaged more minutes than Shannon. I would guess 3 of the first 4 will be on the floor at all times. After Heinle and Thomas there is no other player on the roster taller than 6-3.
Figuerora is the leading scorer at 16ppg, followed by Costritano, Heinle, and Thomas. As a team the Bobcats are shooting 42% but these 4 guys are shooting 46.6%. There appears to be a pretty steep drop-off in production after them. On the year they're shooting about 25 3-point attempts per game, but keep in mind they've been behind a lot so that may be a lot of desperation attempts. They've launched at least 18 in every game.
Pace wise Bobcat games have averaged out at 77 possessions per game, whether that's them or their opponents is tough to tell but expect something over 70 unless Hope is able to really control the tempo. Defensively they're allowing opponents to shoot nearly 50% from the floor at 49%, that's Alma from last year level. The only real defensive success they've had came against Altoona, D'Youville and Geneva. Hope is most certainly not like those 3. Offense its much the same story, great success against D'Youville and Altoona but everyone else has kept them under control for the most part.
On paper this a game Hope should win, probably comfortably. On paper Hope should have beaten fellow AMCC rival PSU-Behrend last spring. Admittedly this is no PSU-Behrend type opponent as Greensburg is unlikely to be an NCAA tournament candidate. Hope hasn't played in 2 weeks, it might be a little rusty early but I think if we were honest this is probably the weakest opponent Hope will have faced to this point in the year.
Saturday
Olivet plays Pitt-Greensburg at 1pm. This should be an entertaining game if nothing else and I have no idea which way it will go.
At 3pm Hope hosts Mt. Union the Main Event of the weekend. Mount Union is coming off its first regular season OAC Championship in about 4 decades, return nearly everyone from last years team and were the pre-season pick to repeat as OAC Champions this year.
So far the Purple Raiders are 5-2 on the year, 4 of those wins from the OAC. Out of conference they started the year by blitzing Bethany and then suffered two close losses at Wooster. One to Wooster by 7 and one to St. Vincent by 6. They are in desperate need of a signature Great Lakes win, and Hope would do just fine thanks.
links
Roster:
Stats:
Lineup:
G Jacubec 5-11, Sr.
G Jackson 6-0, So.
G Dillon 6-4, Jr.
F Griffin 6-4, Sr.
F Ruffin 6-5, Jr.
---------------------------------
F Moore 6-6, Jr.
G Kukura 6-3, Fr.
G Scelza 6-1, Jr.
G Duerr 5-11, Jr.
G Shull 5-10, Jr.
The starting 5 has been the same for all 7 games thus far and that group will play the majority of the minutes with Griffin seeing the fewest of the bunch, mostly because Griffin is a foul machine recording 28 in their 7 games. In both losses foul trouble on the interior was a contributing factor.
You'll get the picture everyone on this team can shoot or has license to shoot. The first seven take the vast majority of the shots but no one has taken more than 66 and all have attempted over 40. Jackson, Dillon and Kukura are the first options but after that pretty much anyone will take the shot. Only subs Scelza, Duerr and Shull rarely shoot. From beyond the arc its really the same story, most everyone can shoot it, except the 'big' guys Ruffin and Moore. Another team that likes that shot and has averaged 21 attempts on the year. Jacubec, Kukura and Griffin are all shooting over 50% from behind the line, so twitch a little when one of these guys is wide open.
Mt. Union has tended to like a slightly higher than normal pace, less so this year but this one should get up over 70 possessions as well. In games involving Mount last year I watched they frequently pushed the ball up the court and fired off a shot before the defense could really get set. Overall its a fun style of play to watch.
For the year the Raiders are shooting 47% from the floor and allowing opponents a slightly less 45% They are much more likely to try and outscore you than out defend you and in their two losses to capable defensive teams Wooster and St. Vincent they were held to 40% FG shooting and below in both games. How well Hope is able to defend the Raiders is really the key. The rest of the stats are fairly even with only slight advantages over their opponents in all categories. There are no glaring weaknesses or glaring strengths. The Raiders are just a good basketball team and will likely be challenging for the OAC title again this year.
This would be a nice win to have on your resume for both teams.
Monday, December 15, 2014
Early Look at Efficiency
I sat down and fired up the efficiency calculator this weekend just to get an early look around the Great Lakes Region. First lets add the Heartland Conference which brings our total teams in the region to 59. Second, this is pretty early and should be taken with a little grain of salt and maybe more of an 'in the ballpark' approach. Meaning if your team is near the top now they'll probably be near the top at the end.
I haven't included pace of play or avg. possessions in the past for no good reason that I can think of so I thought I'd include it this time. It is interesting to see who's playing the fastest and slowest.
Fast Pace
John Carroll probably leads this every year in this region. Grinnell's system ball usually rates over 90 possessions, these are fast but not really outrageous. Almost all of these teams have high turnover rates on both ends of the court as well.
Slow Pace
The median for this region is 68 possessions, these are the teams really grinding out games and using the full shot clock. You might notice 2 MIAA teams here which is interesting because one of them isn't Adrian a traditionally slow team and 5 of the MIAA's 8 teams fall at or below the median. Its early but this is signalling the MIAA is going to be a real grind it out kind of league this year.
more after the break
I haven't included pace of play or avg. possessions in the past for no good reason that I can think of so I thought I'd include it this time. It is interesting to see who's playing the fastest and slowest.
Fast Pace
| 1 | John Carroll | 82.25 |
| 2 | D'Youville | 79.63 |
| 3 | Heidelberg | 77.77 |
| 4 | Pitt-Greensburg | 77.75 |
| 5 | Westminster | 76.55 |
John Carroll probably leads this every year in this region. Grinnell's system ball usually rates over 90 possessions, these are fast but not really outrageous. Almost all of these teams have high turnover rates on both ends of the court as well.
Slow Pace
| 1 | Earlham | 55.25 |
| 2 | Kalamazoo | 57.26 |
| 3 | Geneva | 60.65 |
| 4 | Defiance | 61.03 |
| 5 | Trine | 61.26 |
The median for this region is 68 possessions, these are the teams really grinding out games and using the full shot clock. You might notice 2 MIAA teams here which is interesting because one of them isn't Adrian a traditionally slow team and 5 of the MIAA's 8 teams fall at or below the median. Its early but this is signalling the MIAA is going to be a real grind it out kind of league this year.
more after the break
Thursday, December 11, 2014
MIAA/CCIW Hope 66 Wheaton 55
In The Zone
Hope 66 Wheaton 55
box
recap
Saturday afternoon Hope beat Wheaton to take both of their games of the MIAA/CCIW Challenge, a first for a visiting conference team.. Hope moves to 12-10 in the 11 years of this event with the CCIW now leading 24-20.
On the court the story was Hope playing a zone for nearly the whole game. The brain cells that can remember things like how often Hope has played zones like this have long since closed shop, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't happened often. Up until Saturday Hope had used the zone very sparingly this year with mixed results.
Wheaton seemed very happy to shoot over the zone and launched a season high 33 3-point attempts and making only 9, well under the Thunder's 39% average coming into the weekend (they were 5-17 the night before against Calvin). The surprising part was Wheaton's either lack of will or ability to drive into the zone. They ended up with 5 fewer 2-point attempts for the game.
On Hope's side of the offense the Dutchmen were well short of spectacular and had stretches where they struggled to score points. You might say Hope's most effective play was to get fouled and make the free-throws, a perfect 20-20. The field goal shooting was spread mostly even with no player taking more than 8 shots.
A very good weekend for Hope all around.
More Zone
If you saw last year's Hope/Wheaton game you might understand a little better why Hope played so much zone this year. Hope couldn't guard Wheaton one v one in that game and although that was mostly Tyler Peters the Thunder are a quicker team than Hope at most positions.
This year the zone did 3 key things for Hope.
1. It kept Hope out of foul trouble which as has been pointed out here has been a problem
2. It kept Wheaton off the FT-line. The Thunder are an excellent FT shooting team but had only 7 attempts at the line in this one. Hope basically flipped a clear Wheaton advantage to a Hope advantage.
3. It kept Wheaton passive. The Thunder are typically more aggressive driving the lanes, but in this one they stayed back content to shoot 3-pointers, they didn't seem too willing or maybe able to attack Hope's defense.
The question is how much of a gamble was this for Hope. I think that's a little bit of a gray area, coming into the game Wheaton was shooting a respectable 39% on the year but that was largely built on 2 big nights against Olivet and Benediction where they combined to go 15-27. In four of their other games including the night before against Calvin they shot under 30%. Hope may have just said, 'we don't think you can beat us from out there but we'll let you try'. Wheaton never put Hope in a position to come out of the zone. Every time they were within a point or tied Hope would go on a minny run of 7 or 8 points, and they never really did hit more than a couple 3's in a row. There was no reason to change.
Then they changed. In the last 4 or 5 minutes Hope finally went to man-to-man and Wheaton looked perplexed by this madness. Wheaton missed 8 of its last 9 shots most seemed heavily contested and Hope ended up comfortably ahead as the clock ticked down.
In Challenges Past this game has always been the more important of the two for Hope with it being one of those 'in-region games'. With the much broader regional definition and the 75% rule pretty much everything counts now so these were two equally important wins in the biggest NCAA picture.
Wheaton's been an NCAA tournament team in 3 of the last four years. This team seems a touch short of that and will probably be in the final battle for the 4th CCIW tournament slot with Elmhurst. Augustana-IWU-North Central have all looked stronger than the Thunder, but that's always a race that's pretty hard to predict.
Efficiency:
Hope 103.94 Wheaton 88.25
This game won't win any awards for beauty. Hope's eff was enough to get the job done, miss a few ft's and Hope would have been below 100. Holding Wheaton below 90 was the key part, all Wheaton had to do was hit 3 more 3-point shots to be level in efficiency. Wheaton might have 1 or 2 more performances like that this year but this is probably going to be one of their lowest. Hope should feel really good about their defense this weekend. (Even if they did play a communist zone)
Pace:
64-62 Slow. Hope's zone meant Wheaton took a lot of time before finding the right 3-point shot to launch and Hope was pretty deliberate themselves. There was one fast-break fg in the entire game.
Rebounding:
Hope 32 Wheaton 36
Hope had 14.8% of available offensive rebounds
Wheaton had 38.7% of available offensive rebounds
Hope had all of 4 offensive boards in the game and it wasn't from a lack of opportunities. Wheaton is not a tall team but they really kind of dominated this area of the game. Second chance points was 10-7 to Hope so Wheaton couldn't cash in many boards for points, most likely because they were long 3-point misses. Hope has not shown itself to be a good rebounding team thus far, its certainly an area that could use work.
Free-Throw Shooting:
Hope went 20-20 against Wheaton which set the school record. Combine that with Friday's 24-29 and Hope had an excellent weekend at the line. Dare I say Hope is a really good FT shooting team? 79.2% on the year.
Up Next
Hope hits exam week and I presume its their NCAA mandated week off. Following the late nights, cramming and caffeine binge Hope will host its owntournament classic with Pitt-Greensburg, Mt. Union and Olivet. Before then I'll have a small preview of some kind.
Hope 66 Wheaton 55
box
recap
Saturday afternoon Hope beat Wheaton to take both of their games of the MIAA/CCIW Challenge, a first for a visiting conference team.. Hope moves to 12-10 in the 11 years of this event with the CCIW now leading 24-20.
On the court the story was Hope playing a zone for nearly the whole game. The brain cells that can remember things like how often Hope has played zones like this have long since closed shop, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't happened often. Up until Saturday Hope had used the zone very sparingly this year with mixed results.
Wheaton seemed very happy to shoot over the zone and launched a season high 33 3-point attempts and making only 9, well under the Thunder's 39% average coming into the weekend (they were 5-17 the night before against Calvin). The surprising part was Wheaton's either lack of will or ability to drive into the zone. They ended up with 5 fewer 2-point attempts for the game.
On Hope's side of the offense the Dutchmen were well short of spectacular and had stretches where they struggled to score points. You might say Hope's most effective play was to get fouled and make the free-throws, a perfect 20-20. The field goal shooting was spread mostly even with no player taking more than 8 shots.
A very good weekend for Hope all around.
More Zone
If you saw last year's Hope/Wheaton game you might understand a little better why Hope played so much zone this year. Hope couldn't guard Wheaton one v one in that game and although that was mostly Tyler Peters the Thunder are a quicker team than Hope at most positions.
This year the zone did 3 key things for Hope.
1. It kept Hope out of foul trouble which as has been pointed out here has been a problem
2. It kept Wheaton off the FT-line. The Thunder are an excellent FT shooting team but had only 7 attempts at the line in this one. Hope basically flipped a clear Wheaton advantage to a Hope advantage.
3. It kept Wheaton passive. The Thunder are typically more aggressive driving the lanes, but in this one they stayed back content to shoot 3-pointers, they didn't seem too willing or maybe able to attack Hope's defense.
The question is how much of a gamble was this for Hope. I think that's a little bit of a gray area, coming into the game Wheaton was shooting a respectable 39% on the year but that was largely built on 2 big nights against Olivet and Benediction where they combined to go 15-27. In four of their other games including the night before against Calvin they shot under 30%. Hope may have just said, 'we don't think you can beat us from out there but we'll let you try'. Wheaton never put Hope in a position to come out of the zone. Every time they were within a point or tied Hope would go on a minny run of 7 or 8 points, and they never really did hit more than a couple 3's in a row. There was no reason to change.
Then they changed. In the last 4 or 5 minutes Hope finally went to man-to-man and Wheaton looked perplexed by this madness. Wheaton missed 8 of its last 9 shots most seemed heavily contested and Hope ended up comfortably ahead as the clock ticked down.
In Challenges Past this game has always been the more important of the two for Hope with it being one of those 'in-region games'. With the much broader regional definition and the 75% rule pretty much everything counts now so these were two equally important wins in the biggest NCAA picture.
Wheaton's been an NCAA tournament team in 3 of the last four years. This team seems a touch short of that and will probably be in the final battle for the 4th CCIW tournament slot with Elmhurst. Augustana-IWU-North Central have all looked stronger than the Thunder, but that's always a race that's pretty hard to predict.
Efficiency:
Hope 103.94 Wheaton 88.25
This game won't win any awards for beauty. Hope's eff was enough to get the job done, miss a few ft's and Hope would have been below 100. Holding Wheaton below 90 was the key part, all Wheaton had to do was hit 3 more 3-point shots to be level in efficiency. Wheaton might have 1 or 2 more performances like that this year but this is probably going to be one of their lowest. Hope should feel really good about their defense this weekend. (Even if they did play a communist zone)
Pace:
64-62 Slow. Hope's zone meant Wheaton took a lot of time before finding the right 3-point shot to launch and Hope was pretty deliberate themselves. There was one fast-break fg in the entire game.
Rebounding:
Hope 32 Wheaton 36
Hope had 14.8% of available offensive rebounds
Wheaton had 38.7% of available offensive rebounds
Hope had all of 4 offensive boards in the game and it wasn't from a lack of opportunities. Wheaton is not a tall team but they really kind of dominated this area of the game. Second chance points was 10-7 to Hope so Wheaton couldn't cash in many boards for points, most likely because they were long 3-point misses. Hope has not shown itself to be a good rebounding team thus far, its certainly an area that could use work.
Free-Throw Shooting:
Hope went 20-20 against Wheaton which set the school record. Combine that with Friday's 24-29 and Hope had an excellent weekend at the line. Dare I say Hope is a really good FT shooting team? 79.2% on the year.
Up Next
 | |
| Not one person misses these after graduation |
Hope hits exam week and I presume its their NCAA mandated week off. Following the late nights, cramming and caffeine binge Hope will host its own
Monday, December 8, 2014
MIAA/CCIW Hope 73 Carthage 55
Hope 73 Carthage 55
box
recap
For parts of this game Carthage looked every bit like the team picked to finish 7th in the CCIW this year. This was a night they were not very good, at least some of that can be attributed to Hope and its quickly improving defense.
For a change, it was Carthage and not Hope that had to deal with early foul trouble on their big man as Mike Kastel picked up two early fouls and spent much of the first half sitting on the bench. Making matters worse for the Red Men was leading scorer Reese Hearth having a really bad night shooting going 1-10 from the floor and 0-5 from behind the arc. For much of this game Carthage had little offensive punch and little rebounding presence.
Hope's Brock Benson and Harrison Blackledge were relatively free to roam the paint and capitalized by scoring 15 and 12 while drawing numerous fouls. Hope wasn't an offensive machine by any stretch and struggled from behind the arc at just 5-18 (this could have been a really big margin) but they shot over 60% from inside the arc, had good contributions from everyone and were exceptionally good at the free-throw line.
The next day Carthage took Calvin to the wire losing on a last second shot by Jordan Brink. I shrug my shoulders because sports doesn't make sense sometimes.
Efficiency:
Hope 114.46 Carthage 80.91
If I had a wish it would be a season full of 114 games. This is good and a team that is difficult to beat most of the time. I'm not fully sure what to make of holding Carthage to an 80.91, my usual caveats about it takes some good defense and awful offense to get numbers that low. Carthage flat out stunk for a large chunk of this game. They've played what I guess are 3 teams with NCAA tournament aspirations LaCrosse, WashingtonU and Hope. Their offensive eff in those 3 games was 80,77 and 80. They have been bad against good teams.
Pace:
64-67 Slowish. Not a lot of transition action for either team and much of the last 7-8 minutes was just trying to play out the clock.
Rebounding:
Hope 37 Carthage 26
Hope had 43.5% of available offensive rebounds
Carthage had 29.4% of available offensive rebounds
Losing Kastel to foul trouble certainly hurt Carthage here, but Hope was better all night long even when Kastel was in the game. He finished with just 3 boards. Benson and Blackledge combined for 10.
Turnovers: Hope 15 Carthage 14
So far this year this number is a touch higher than I'd like to see. It probably didn't matter in the game but Hope is getting close to one turnover per 5 possessions on the year and that is higher than you'd like. Remember the MIAA has been a really low turnover league for a couple years now, just being good lands you in the bottom 3 or 4 of the league in turnovers. On the other hand, so many of these seem to come from Hope's aggression and I really don't think those can be faulted. So play on I guess.
Random Thoughts:
Starting lineup
Chad Carlson started at PG for the 4th straight game, this is looking more like a finality than experimenting. Every time I seem to write something about the lineup it changes though so we'll see. In this game Chad was the only one who saw significant minutes to not score and missed all 3 of his 3-point shots. An off night because Chad might actually be the teams best 3-point shooter. He probably won't create much of his own offense and we've seen very little of him driving the lane like Ben Gardner but he'll camp out on the edges just in case the defense forgets about him. So far this seems like a positive move.
Bench Items
Cody Stuive looks much more comfortable than he did in the exhibition and Wisconsin gauntlet games. Unlikely he regains his starting spot from a year ago because Blackledge is playing so well, but consistent bench production like his is welcomed. Steve Wittenbach also played well in this one, unfortunately he left the game with an injury and didn't play vs Wheaton. Hopefully its just precautionary. Lastly Dante Hawkins is solidly the #3 pg and there might be moments later this year he plays more than Chad Carlson. Dante has clearly been pressing offensively but he scored his first points from the floor in this game and looked much more comfortable all around. His tough defense and overall quickness can really help a team that truthfully lacks a little of both.
MIAA/CCIW Challenge Future:
Next year we return to Holland for round 12 of this event. Carthage's video play-by-play guy says it will be their last. The CCIW expands to 9 teams next year so everyone loses two non-conference games Carthage apparently chose to drop these two. Hopefully they'll be replaced by another CCIW team because I've really liked this event and would like to see it continue. Early rumor is North Central will be that 4th team and that would be at least an equal to Carthage in quality. Todd Raridon has built a fine program in Naperville.
Up Next:
Wheaton write-up when I get around to it.
box
recap
For parts of this game Carthage looked every bit like the team picked to finish 7th in the CCIW this year. This was a night they were not very good, at least some of that can be attributed to Hope and its quickly improving defense.
For a change, it was Carthage and not Hope that had to deal with early foul trouble on their big man as Mike Kastel picked up two early fouls and spent much of the first half sitting on the bench. Making matters worse for the Red Men was leading scorer Reese Hearth having a really bad night shooting going 1-10 from the floor and 0-5 from behind the arc. For much of this game Carthage had little offensive punch and little rebounding presence.
Hope's Brock Benson and Harrison Blackledge were relatively free to roam the paint and capitalized by scoring 15 and 12 while drawing numerous fouls. Hope wasn't an offensive machine by any stretch and struggled from behind the arc at just 5-18 (this could have been a really big margin) but they shot over 60% from inside the arc, had good contributions from everyone and were exceptionally good at the free-throw line.
The next day Carthage took Calvin to the wire losing on a last second shot by Jordan Brink. I shrug my shoulders because sports doesn't make sense sometimes.
Efficiency:
Hope 114.46 Carthage 80.91
If I had a wish it would be a season full of 114 games. This is good and a team that is difficult to beat most of the time. I'm not fully sure what to make of holding Carthage to an 80.91, my usual caveats about it takes some good defense and awful offense to get numbers that low. Carthage flat out stunk for a large chunk of this game. They've played what I guess are 3 teams with NCAA tournament aspirations LaCrosse, WashingtonU and Hope. Their offensive eff in those 3 games was 80,77 and 80. They have been bad against good teams.
Pace:
64-67 Slowish. Not a lot of transition action for either team and much of the last 7-8 minutes was just trying to play out the clock.
Rebounding:
Hope 37 Carthage 26
Hope had 43.5% of available offensive rebounds
Carthage had 29.4% of available offensive rebounds
Losing Kastel to foul trouble certainly hurt Carthage here, but Hope was better all night long even when Kastel was in the game. He finished with just 3 boards. Benson and Blackledge combined for 10.
Turnovers: Hope 15 Carthage 14
So far this year this number is a touch higher than I'd like to see. It probably didn't matter in the game but Hope is getting close to one turnover per 5 possessions on the year and that is higher than you'd like. Remember the MIAA has been a really low turnover league for a couple years now, just being good lands you in the bottom 3 or 4 of the league in turnovers. On the other hand, so many of these seem to come from Hope's aggression and I really don't think those can be faulted. So play on I guess.
Random Thoughts:
Starting lineup
Chad Carlson started at PG for the 4th straight game, this is looking more like a finality than experimenting. Every time I seem to write something about the lineup it changes though so we'll see. In this game Chad was the only one who saw significant minutes to not score and missed all 3 of his 3-point shots. An off night because Chad might actually be the teams best 3-point shooter. He probably won't create much of his own offense and we've seen very little of him driving the lane like Ben Gardner but he'll camp out on the edges just in case the defense forgets about him. So far this seems like a positive move.
Bench Items
Cody Stuive looks much more comfortable than he did in the exhibition and Wisconsin gauntlet games. Unlikely he regains his starting spot from a year ago because Blackledge is playing so well, but consistent bench production like his is welcomed. Steve Wittenbach also played well in this one, unfortunately he left the game with an injury and didn't play vs Wheaton. Hopefully its just precautionary. Lastly Dante Hawkins is solidly the #3 pg and there might be moments later this year he plays more than Chad Carlson. Dante has clearly been pressing offensively but he scored his first points from the floor in this game and looked much more comfortable all around. His tough defense and overall quickness can really help a team that truthfully lacks a little of both.
MIAA/CCIW Challenge Future:
Next year we return to Holland for round 12 of this event. Carthage's video play-by-play guy says it will be their last. The CCIW expands to 9 teams next year so everyone loses two non-conference games Carthage apparently chose to drop these two. Hopefully they'll be replaced by another CCIW team because I've really liked this event and would like to see it continue. Early rumor is North Central will be that 4th team and that would be at least an equal to Carthage in quality. Todd Raridon has built a fine program in Naperville.
Up Next:
Wheaton write-up when I get around to it.
Friday, December 5, 2014
Hall of Fame Classic
This happened awhile ago
Hope 77 Cornerstone 64
box
recap
Aquinas 72 Hope 68
box
recap
Last weekends action saw Hope split its Hall of Fame Classic games with Cornerstone and Aquinas but not in the way you probably anticipated. Friday Hope played a terrific second half to upend Cornerstone 77-64, a score that is not indicative of the 4-5 point, back and forth game it was for about 30 minutes.
Saturday I watched Auburn-Alabama and dreamed of a world in which Nick Sabin or Gus Malzahn get tired of coaching in a good football conference and take the Michigan job. When I woke up, Aquinas beat Hope and the first numbers that stood out was the nearly 20 turnovers and shooting percentage that dipped below 30% in the second half.
Its difficult what to make of Cornerstone and Aquinas. Neither is going to win the WHAC, that will likely be their city neighbors Davenport. Cornerstone is good but not as good or as deep as recent versions. Aquinas is for sure better than the hodge-podge of players that have taken the court since their run of four WHAC titles that ended in 2009.
A split wasn't a bad thing, but it should sting a bit given the win Friday and the fact just a couple minutes of better basketball on Saturday results in a second win. Overall the classic was split evenly with everyone getting a ribbon, something to feel good about and a loss to motivate for the future.
Hope 77 Cornerstone 64
box
recap
Aquinas 72 Hope 68
box
recap
Last weekends action saw Hope split its Hall of Fame Classic games with Cornerstone and Aquinas but not in the way you probably anticipated. Friday Hope played a terrific second half to upend Cornerstone 77-64, a score that is not indicative of the 4-5 point, back and forth game it was for about 30 minutes.
Saturday I watched Auburn-Alabama and dreamed of a world in which Nick Sabin or Gus Malzahn get tired of coaching in a good football conference and take the Michigan job. When I woke up, Aquinas beat Hope and the first numbers that stood out was the nearly 20 turnovers and shooting percentage that dipped below 30% in the second half.
Its difficult what to make of Cornerstone and Aquinas. Neither is going to win the WHAC, that will likely be their city neighbors Davenport. Cornerstone is good but not as good or as deep as recent versions. Aquinas is for sure better than the hodge-podge of players that have taken the court since their run of four WHAC titles that ended in 2009.
A split wasn't a bad thing, but it should sting a bit given the win Friday and the fact just a couple minutes of better basketball on Saturday results in a second win. Overall the classic was split evenly with everyone getting a ribbon, something to feel good about and a loss to motivate for the future.
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