Nope, not interested
Hope 108 Olivet 72
Box
Recap
The last time these two teams played it was a terrific game that was played in the single-digit margins for 39 minutes before Olivet quit hitting ever shot they put up and Hope pulled away to win by 10. Despite the previous entertainment value of that one I could find little interest in watching this game with a couple other games on the internet worth watching. So I saw the tip, a few random plays as I checked on things, and then watched the first half the next morning. So I don't have much intimate knowledge of this one or much patience to really delve into this game. Hope was way better than Olivet and that's about all that mattered.
more
Efficiency:
Hope 136.58 Olivet 90.82
The two numbers by themselves explain the margin nicely. Hope was highly efficient, Olivet was not. But the novelty of this game was the first half efficiency split 157-49. That's one of the most lopsided halves I can remember since the "Internet school" game 2 years ago.
Pace:
79-79 One of Hope's fastest paced games of the year. Olivet made no effort to keep this under control like at their place. This had 22 more possessions.
Rebounding:
Hope 42 Olivet 29
Hope had 33% of available offensive rebounds
Olivet had 21% of available offensive rebounds
Hope didn't need to be dominant on the glass to beat the Comets but they were. Second chance points was 16-6.
Even the Temperature Went Negative
Alma 91 Hope 84
Box
Recap--from Alma
Eventually long streaks have to end and usually the only way they end up being long streaks is something weird takes place a couple times along the way. All of the sudden 17 years have passed and someone hasn't done something against you in that time that probably should have happened at least a couple times.
For the first time in probably 21 years I can say Alma was the better team than Hope. This wasn't an upset, not much of one anyway. This wasn't a Hope team struggling to cope with the sudden loss of their all-american forward in 1998, this wasn't Hope's 1993 or 1994 teams that were rebuilding playing a bunch of Fr. and So's. Those were the only three times in my fandom that Hope has lost to Alma. Hope has the better record this year, the higher league position, but given Alma's play at home in the league and their rise from their 0-9 start these two teams were as much on equal footing as they've been in 30 some years probably.
This one got away from Hope midway through the 2nd half when Scott Nikodemski pointed to his chin about a half dozen times and ran basically the same play each time resulting in a bucket for himself or a teammate. During this stretch Hope fell a little behind the offensive curve and spent the rest of the game playing from behind. It was finally clinched when Doug Bradfield hit a three that put the Scots up 7 with around 4 to play. From there it was a few desperate attempts to make it close, but the Scots had this game under control, from the tip really.
All 43--bolded the missing games from the Hope archive
1999 Hope 83, Alma 72 ot
1999 Hope 88, Alma 69
1999 Hope 86, Alma 68
2000 Hope 86, Alma 64
2000 Hope 77, Alma 63
2001 Hope 88, Alma 69
2001 Hope 107, Alma 61
2001 Hope 84, Alma 80
2002 Hope 86, Alma 70
2002 Hope 82, Alma 78
2002 Hope 86, Alma 73
2003 Hope 101, Alma 51
2003 Hope 108, Alma 79
2003 Hope 101, Alma 75
2004 Hope 86, Alma 59
2004 Hope 88, Alma 70
2005 Hope 79, Alma 59
2005 Hope 82, Alma 76
2005 Hope 90, Alma 77
2006 Hope 85, Alma 76
2006 Hope 90, Alma 46
2006 Hope 85, Alma 63
2007 Hope 86, Alma 53
2007 Hope 88, Alma 62
2007 Hope 89, Alma 49
2008 Hope 81, Alma 55
2008 Hope 92, Alma 43
2008 Hope 75, Alma 51
2009 Hope 81, Alma 64
2009 Hope 55, Alma 53
2009 Hope 83, Alma 66
2010 Hope 87, Alma 74
2010 Hope 83, Alma 74
2011 Hope 89, Alma 58
2011 Hope 85, Alma 71
2011 Hope 110, Alma 77
2012 Hope 103, Alma 78
2012 Hope 104, Alma 77
2013 Hope 83, Alma 69
2013 Hope 92, Alma 74
2014 Hope 93, Alma 82
2014 Hope 70, Alma 67
2015 Hope 75, Alma 63
2015 Alma 91, Hope 84
Didn't like the Vibe:
I didn't like the way Hope carried themselves in this game. They didn't seem to have their usual confidence and let a surprising number of small things bother them and spent too much of the game yapping with the officials (who were mediocre at best). I'm not sure I've ever seen a Hope team curse so much, kind of bizarre. First time I've seen a Hope team this year look like they weren't sure they could win. Even the first Calvin game wasn't this way.
Defensive no-show:
In the first part of the season I thought Hope's defense was at least good and that part of their defensive problems was just playing a bunch of really good basketball teams. But in the second half of the league season Hope's been shreaded by everyone in at least one of the two halves per game. If Hope's season ends abruptly this is why.
Pool C?
Nope. Had Hope won out and lost in the MIAA title game I think they were in without a lot of fuss. 18-7 with Hope's SOS and other criteria was enough to make the tournament. Hope's best they can put forward now is 17-8 with the same criteria, less certain they would be high enough in the Great Lakes Region to even get to the table. This likely won't be enough unless a bunch of weird things happen like last year and even then this won't compare well nationally. Hope would be one of the last teams in if that happened. That means that position is dependent on few upsets in the automatic qualifiers and that's never a guarantee. Win the tournament or nothing.
Efficiency:
Hope 120.3 Alma 136.28
120.3 should win you a lot of games at this level. Giving up 136.28 should lose all of them.
Alma was just excellent on offense in this game. I didn't feel like they took a bad shot the whole game.
Pace:
69-68 Minus some of the really touchy, feely foul calls this game had pretty nice flow to it.
Rebounding:
Hope 32 Alma 22
Hope had 50% of available offensive rebounds
Alma had 25% of available offensive rebounds
Second Chance points 23-8 to Hope. These numbers are somewhat inconsequential because Alma shot at such a high percentage there wasn't much of any battle for rebounds at that end.
Also I think there's some funky accounting going on with this boxscore. For instance the box credits Alma with 26 points off turnovers yet 0 in transition. Which is false. I can't take the scoring breakdown with much accuracy.
Up Next:
Wed: Kalamazoo 7:30pm
Sat: Adrian 3pm
Win both and Hope's either the two seed or three seed likely playing Trine. Lose on Wednesday and things get dicey. They need to ramp up this week and get ready for the next two weeks because two weeks is likely all they have left.
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