Preview: Kalamazoo

I had too much on my plate Thursday and Friday to write a descent preview of the Hornets, so here's a shorter version without much focus on players.

Up Next:
@ Kalmazoo  7-9 (2-3)
1pm at Anderson Athletic Center  
probably b.y.o.b........its a joke

Kalamazoo doesn't have a win over a team with a winning record though they nearly beat Calvin last Saturday falling 62-60 and are coming off a 46-40 win over Adrian.   They come into this game playing pretty well.  Other than league opponents Hope and Kzoo have just one common opponent, UW-Whitewater.  Hope lost by 2, Kzoo lost by 36 and thats not very useful.  They have played a number of good teams like Chicago, Elmhurst, Defiance and I might even through North Park in there.  They have seen a few Hope like teams.

Roster
Stats

Probable Lineup:
G  Carl Ghafari  5-9  Sr.
G  Scott Wharam  5-11 Sr.
G  Adam Dykeyma  6-3  So.
F  Adam Peters  6-3  Sr.
C  Josh Miller  6-9  So.
----------------------------------
F/C  Jake Whitney  6-6  So.
G  Mike Oravitz  5-11  Jr.
G  Cam Schwartz  5-11  Jr.
G  Keith Garber  6-2  Jr.
G  Josh Whitney  6-5 So.
F  Steve Oliphant  6-1  Sr.


Kalamazoo has used that starting 5 in all 5 league games. They will play a lot of people and can even go 2 or 3 players deeper than what I've listed.  For once in a great while Kzoo can call themselves a veteran team.  Beyond this I don't know much about their personnel as I've not been able to catch the Hornets this year live or on video. 

Kzoo only shoots the ball at 41% on the year and a below average 32% from 3.  Defensively they've been mostly good allowing just 40% and only 32% from 3.  Rebounding they hold their own but typically end up a couple short of even.  They do turn it over more than their opponents and don't create a lot of steals themselves. 

For efficiency the Hornets have not been good on offense with an eff of just 94 and haven't gone over 100 in 7 games.  Defensively they rate at 102, but they have been either really good on defense or not good, very little in between.  In league play they've been excellent.  Of the good teams they've played, Calvin is the only one they were able to hold below 110.  Pace wise the Hornets are the slowest team in the league at just 61 possessions per game.  I think they might be closer to normal though because they've played several very low possession opponents.  Early in the year they played a 44 possession game with Earlham, even Bo Ryan thought that was slow.

Masseyratings.com has Kalamazoo ranked #200 and gives Hope an 87% chance of victory by a 12 point margin.  That mostly sounds reasonable except its on the road and despite a long winning streak at Anderson that place gives me the heebie geebies.  I might envision a similar game to the Olivet and Alma games, Hope wins late.  You will likely leave this game thinking Kalamazoo is much better than their record, or scratching your head wondering how they only lost to Calvin by 2.

This should be another maximize your few possessions type game and Hope should try its hardest to make it a faster pace.