Top Headlines
Men’s Basketball Drops Exhibition Game to Ferris State
(Written by Calvin sports information student assistant Derek Niece)
The 2009-2010 men’s basketball season got underway for the Knights Tuesday night in an exhibition game against fellow west Michigan rival Ferris State University, a Division II team from Big Rapids. Calvin stayed competitive into the second half before the Bulldogs turned on the heat, rolling to an eventual 88-68 win.
Men’s Basketball Picked as Co-Favorite/Women’s Basketball Picked Second in MIAA Coaches’ Poll
The MIAA men’s and women’s basketball pre-season coaches’ polls have been announced. On the men’s side, Calvin has been picked as the MIAA co-favorite with Hope. Both teams received four first place votes and four second place votes, creating a tie with 10 points apiece. Olivet was picked to finish third.
On the women’s side, Calvin was picked to finish second behind defending champion Hope. Hope received six first place votes while Calvin received two. Saint Mary’s was picked to finish third.
2009-10 Calvin Men’s Basketball Preview
Calvin will look to make year two inside the Van Noord Arena as memorable as the first when the Knights captured a 2008-09 MIAA title, finishing 19-8 overall and 12-2 in the MIAA. The league title came despite playing only half of a season inside the state-of-the-art 4,700 seat facility as the Knights did not move in until the first week of January.
Calvin returns two full-time starters and two part-time starters from its MIAA championship team from a year ago headlined by 6-9 senior center John Mantel (Chelsea/Chelsea HS) who garnered first team All-MIAA accolades after averaging 13.6 points and 7.3 rebounds a game while connecting on 48.7 percent of his shots and blocking 35 shots sent up by the opposition. Mantel collected seven double-double efforts a year ago and was named MIAA Player of the Week three times.
