An Audio Interview With Coach Vande Streek

Hidden on the Calvin Sports main page is an audio interview with head coach Kevin Vande Streek conducted by SID Jeff Febus (hat tip Dark Knight). We don't necessarily hear a lot from the coach, so it's always good when we get some actual insights. Click on the "play" icon above to give it a listen.

Some of the highlights:

• Brian Haverdink is going to be "right in the thick of things" and has "solidified himself in the ten-person rotation".
• Bryan Powell can "play the point or play the two". He's a point.
• David Rietema may be the "best athlete I've had play the point since I've been here".
• Tyler Kruis "will be our anchor defensivly" and will "hold down the middle for years to come".
• Mitch Vallie will be "one of the top two or three players" on the team.
• Tyler Dykstra is a "freaky athlete kid" and "will get into the rotation at some point".
• Mickey DeVries is a "very versatile player" and figures to "play a lot of time for us as well".

I fully expected  coach to declare Haverdink a starter, so his response to him underwhelmed me a bit. From the sound of it, he's still waiting to figure out if Rietema can handle big, big minutes. If he is, we might see Powell and Rietema start at the guard positions. I still think that if they had to suit up tomorrow, we'd see Haverdink and Powell at the guard positions to start the game with Rietema off the bench.

It's awesome to hear coach so high on Mitch Vallie. I compared him to Danny Rodts in my thoughts on the men's roster because I thought that he had that same potential to go from the JV team one year to being one of the better players in the program the next year. Danny played one minute on varsity in his freshman year and then went on to start for the next three years. Mitchell sounds very much in the running for the starting lineup.

I haven't listened to it yet, but there's also an audio interview with women's coach John Ross.

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