Michigan-Michigan State had its rivalry game on Super Bowl Sunday.
Duke defeated North Carolina on a Austin Rivers’ buzzer beater in their Tobacco Road rivalry game Wednesday night.
Now, it’s time for Hope-Calvin, the top rivalry in Division III basketball.
Hope will go into the 5,000-seat Van Noord Arena on Calvin’s campus for Saturday’s 3 p.m. tip-off as the nation’s No. 1 team. The Flying Dutchmen (21-1, 11-0) have already clinched the MIAA title with a win Wednesday over Kalamazoo College.
Calvin (12-10, 7-4) is coming off a 100-99 overtime win over Alma Wednesday. Calvin showed it could play with Hope – at least for a half – last month at DeVos Fieldhouse, leading 40-32 at the intermission before Hope dominated the second half with a 49-25 run.
Yes, expect the Hope-Calvin game to have a larger crowd than the MAC game at Eastern Michigan, possibly five times as many fans.
Hope leads the rivalry by a 93-87 margin with the teams showing the popularity of the series when a Division III record crowd of 11,442 watched Hope beat Calvin 70-56 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids in 1997.
The last time the teams played at the beautiful three-year-old Van Noord Arena, Hope came back from a 42-29 halftime deficit to earn a 76-70 victory before 4,680 fans Jan. 29, 2011.
Tom Snikkers will try to help Calvin pull off the upset this time around. Snikkers’ older sister, Carrie, was the Division III Player of the Year on the women’s side two years ago while playing for … Hope.
Snikkers has put together three consecutive double-doubles, including a 26-point, 11-rebound effort against Alma, and will need another one Saturday for Calvin to have a chance at hanging around in the final minutes.
Hope has been led by the trio of 6-foot-5 junior Nate Snuggerud (16.0 points, 6.1 rebounds), senior guard David Krombeen (15.2 points) and 6-3 senior guard Peter Bunn (12.7) points and second-year coach Matt Neil hopes their strong play will ultimately lead the Dutchmen to the Final Four next month for a shot at the national title.
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