At Least The Olivet Comets Have One Good Player

The popular opinion was that the Olivet Comets were going to struggle this year. They were losing possibly the most dominant player the MIAA had seen in a decade, Michael McClary, along with solid contributors Nathan Jennings and Joe Post (and they had already lost Andre Evans in the middle of the season). To me, it seemed like they had little hope of finishing above seventh place in the league this year.

But, as we all know, things don’t always pan out the way we think they will.

But, in this case, it looks like it did. It’s exactly as we thought.

The mass departure of the above players left the Comets with a severe lack of talent. Only Junior Alvino Ashley (a transfer from Lansing Community College) has stepped up to play like a bona fide starter. Senior Jaren Edsall is playing well enough to contribute as a starter, but he’s being counted on to be a major factor (and he’s just not that).

Here’s a look at the Olivet Comets (as described by Player Efficiency Rating).

##	Olivet Player	PER
20	Alvino Ashley	19.0
33	Jaren Edsall	13.9
34	Matt El	9.7
22	Eric Mack	9.1
23	Dakotah Ellis	8.1
12	Stephen Wheelock	7.0
3	Marquis Childers	4.8
10	Blake Krum	3.6
4	Clint Burghdorf	3.0
24	Paul Lombard	0.7
40	Adam Ruhle	20.2
44	Matt Smith	14.1
30	Ray Johnson	12.4
32	Paul Koviak	6.2

The bottom four players in italics (Adam Ruhle, Matt Smith, Ray Johnson, and Paul Koviak) haven't played enough to include them with the regular rotation. They're all averaging fewer than three minutes per team game.

Here's a reminder of PER's rule of thumbs:

Range	Approximate Role
25+	MVP Candidate
20-25	All-MIAA Candidate
15-20	Solid Starter
13-15	Fringe Starter
7-13	Off The Bench
0-7	Reserve

So OC currently has one guy playing very well. One guy hanging in there in a starting role, three or four guys that are performing like off-the-bench type role player, and then four or so players that are getting into the game, but not contributing anything of real substance. The average PER of their starters is 11.3; that's easily the worst in the league right now. They're struggling for sure, and that 1-7 record isn't likely to improve any time soon.

Calvin Knights
Here's a full look at the PER of the Calvin players.

##	Player	PER
44	Matt DeBoer	28.2
42	Tyler Kruis	26.9
30	Tom Snikkers	19.1
52	Jordan Mast	16.9
24	Mitch Vallie	15.1
20	Bryan Powell	14.5
10	David Rietema	13.5
14	Mickey DeVries	13.4
40	Nate Van Eck	7.8
22	Brian Haverdink	5.7
32	Tyler Dykstra	-0.3
50	Adam DeYoung	9.7
4	Ryan Nadeau	1.6
12	Brent Henry	-15.1

The situation is obviously a lot brighter for Calvin than it is for Olivet. Calvin has eight guys playing at a level that could justify a starting position in the MIAA. The only senior on the list is Brian Haverdink, who has found himself back in the role-player position, so I'm of the mindset that the near future is still bright for Calvin, even if the current record isn't where we want it to be. Jordan Brink, who should be able to re-join the team next season, put up a 19.2 PER as a freshman last year.

But my optimism isn't just for next year. These Knights will continue to develop as this season progresses, and I think we'll be looking at a much better team come February. Of those top eight guys, half were JV/garbage time players only a season ago, and a fifth (Matt DeBoer) was only a role player (he didn't appear in any of the three MIAA tournament games).

The MIAA Top 20
Here's a look at the top 20 players in the league as rated by PER*.

##	Player	Team	PER
24	Nate Snuggerud	Hope	31.0
32	Eric Lewis	Adrian	28.5
50	Joe Prepolec	Kalamazoo	28.4
44	Matt DeBoer	Calvin	28.2
11	David Krombeen	Hope	27.2
42	Tyler Kruis	Calvin	26.9
42	Tim Pearcy	Trine	26.5
44	Peter Bunn	Hope	26.0
30	Kolin Kazen	Albion	25.7
5	Braden Knight	Trine	23.1
23	Ian Jackson	Trine	22.9
33	Sean Gallant	Adrian	22.9
40	Neil Smith	Trine	22.8
31	Lance Jongekrig	Alma	21.1
14	Mark Ghafari	Kalamazoo	20.3
44	Adam Meier	Adrian	20.2
22	Grant Carey	Kalamazoo	19.6
30	Sean Clancy	Alma	19.2
41	Scott Rogers	Trine	19.2
30	Tom Snikkers	Calvin	19.1

*Data is through games of Thursday, December 15.

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