Here is this week’s Hoopsville Podcast.
Part 1:
Mid-Atlantic Region Report – Pat Cummings
Midwest Region & WIAC Report – Bob Quillman
West Region Report – Loras Coach Greg Gorton
Part 2:
NABC Coach’s Corner – Lawrence Coach Joel DePagter
Atlantic & East Region Report – Gordon Mann
Part 3:
Chatting with Pat Coleman
Great Lakes Region Report – Matt Florjancic
Northeast Region Report – Mark Simon
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Second straight week I’m amused by Matt Florjancic’s assertion that Tri-State is the team in the MIAA that could play spoiler. Only this week he had Calvin @ Hope on Wednesday night staring him in the face.
What on earth is it about a 33 point loss 3 weeks ago to Hope that makes TSU a better upset candidate than Adrian, who had lost by only 4 in Holland, and now CALVIN, who Hope beat by only 3 in Grand Rapids.
……..the best quote of the night was “Tri-State was nipping at the heels of Hope last season”. I’ll give you that TSU @ Hope a year ago was a supposed big game, they entered the first meeting one game back in the standings and promptly lost 101-57 in Holland. They lost 3 more times, and finished 4 full games back of Hope in 3rd place. Not exactly “nipping on the heels” territory.
Its also to bad no listeners know who DJ Mocini is, or what he did last week.
…….or the impact his shot had on the MIAA race.
Just for the record, I do think the Tri-State/Hope game is one that if I am a Tri-State fan I have circled on my calendar. There is a very good chance that Tri-State can catch Hope sleeping in the final game of the season.
Hope pretty much has already wrapped up the #1 seed in the MIAA tournament.
They will have played a very emotional and “big game” against Calvin on Wednesday.
And Hope could very easily be looking ahead to the MIAA Tournament and the NCAA Tournament to not be completely focused on Tri-State.
I have seen this scenario play out before. On the front page of D3hoops.com this weekend, everyone was reminded of how UW-Whitewater got trounced in ’01 in the first-round of the WIAC tournament to a winless in conference Stout team. And we have seen strange upsets all season! I have no problem with Matt thinking Tri-State may have a chance at the upset.
Hope only wraps up a share of the MIAA title by beating Calvin, but Albion holds the tie-breakers for hosting the tournament. There’s plenty for Hope to play for.
But given the games that were on the schedule for the past 2 weeks, Tri-State/Hope deserved about :00 seconds of discussion.
Its worth repeating Hope 93 Tri-State 60, 3 weeks ago.
sac – the fact you think the Hope/Tri-State deserved :00 seconds of discussion is your opinion and you are entitled to it. However, I didn’t have a problem with it! And I am not going to clear every bit of content we have on a three hour show through the fans first.
As for the last time Hope and Tri-State faced each other, sure 33 point game. But does that mean it will be the same result this time? The game hasn’t been played, I am going to wait and see first.
Interesting comparison, UW-Whitewater beat UW-Stevens Point at home by 6 back on December 1st. When these two teams faced one another this past weekend, most of us would have expected another tight game… instead it was a 29 point blow out by Stevens Point.
And earlier this season Guilford lost to Roanoke 68-56… you would expect a tight game the second time around, right? Nope… Guilford cruised at home 92-56.
My point? Prior games in conference mean nothing. The game is on the road at Tri-State and you can’t tell me right now exactly how that game is going to play out.
The margin’s of victory, really isn’t the point, I use that as an example because there’s nothing in that score to suggest they should be focused on over previous games vs teams that were decided by 4 and 3 points.
I understand that the TSU playing spoiler is a personal opinion, but the facts were 2 weeks in row there was a much bigger and much more likely spoiler game on Wednesday night and it gets nothing more than a brief mention. But we get 30 seconds about why TSU could play the spoiler roll. I’m sorry but I think it shows a lack of either knowledge or perperation about whats going on in the MIAA. There’s been more talk about the 4th place team in the MIAA than what has been going on with the top 3 in the league.
You honestly cannot tell me you think TSU is in a better or more likely position to play spoiler than Calvin. Or would enjoy it more.
sac – did you miss the talk about Hope/Calvin or how Albion is playing very well and keeping Hope honest? We talked quite a bit about the MIAA and started with how Hope has Calvin on Wednesday and even returned the topic at the end of the segment. You are dwelling on what you called 30 seconds of a 15 minute report on the entire region!
Yes I did hear it, it was better than last week. I am dwelling on it, because it really shouldn’t have even been mentioned given the other games last week and this week. I just think the major plot lines, and twists and turns have been completely missed. The focus of the segment has not been where it should have been for the last two weeks when talking about the MIAA.