The Salukis return to the floor for the first time since December 28, and it seems that both teams have enough healthy bodies to play the game.
The Salukis boast of strong defense and 3 point shooting:
https://siusalukis.com/news/2022/1/6/mens-basketball-plays-at-valparaiso-on-saturday.aspx (https://siusalukis.com/news/2022/1/6/mens-basketball-plays-at-valparaiso-on-saturday.aspx)
Does anyone know if we get Kithier back tonight? We need him.
Based on the article, we better:
Win points in the paint
Win rebounding battle
If we want to win!
Sagarin Predictor picks Valpo to win by .83 factoring in HCA
Pomeroy picks So. Ill. to win by 1pt, 55% chance, factoring in HCA
My trial model for possible use for NCAA tournament picks So. Ill. to win by 2.583, given a 3.4-pt HCA to Valpo.
Edit:
Two other trial models
1. S. Il +2.3234
2. S. Il +2.191
Quote from: tjjvalpo on January 08, 2022, 08:48:23 AM
Does anyone know if we get Kithier back tonight? We need him.
• I looked to see if it was mentioned in the pregame Times and PT articles, but found no such articles.
• I looked to see if Brandon asked Matt about it in this week's Valpo Weekly interview, but found no such interview.
• I looked to see if was mentioned in the pregame article on the Athletic Department website. I found a related tidbit, but no answer to my question:
"When Kithier returns, he figures to give Valpo a rebounding boost, as he has six or more rebounds in each of his last six games and leads the team at 6.5 per contest."
I'm still trying to recover from Northern Iowa. Should I bother to show up?
Quote from: justducky on January 08, 2022, 10:38:32 AM
I'm still trying to recover from Northern Iowa. Should I bother to show up?
I would hope so! So many on this board are ready to throw in the towel after a bad lose. I think it is WAY too early for that. We beat an Illinois State team who took Wisconsin to overtime and that Wisconsin team subsequently beat Purdue! It's college basketball and once in a while even very good teams poop the bed. Remember we were without Thomas and Trey for that game.
As an example, I looked back at the 2014-2015 team that finished 28-6. On December 6 we lost to New Mexico, by 17 AT HOME!! Stuff happens.
Now, if we get blown out I'll be the first to panic but let's see how tonight goes.
Quote from: justducky on January 08, 2022, 10:38:32 AM
I'm still trying to recover from Northern Iowa. Should I bother to show up?
This is bigger than you. You have an obligation to be there to show this outstanding group of young men that you care about them. If that's not enough, think about all the loyal, hardline fans on this board who live outside the area, some in far distant regions of the country, who would love to be there in person. Be there for them.
BTW, we have family visiting from Colorado who will be attending the game with us tonight. I didn't ask what they would like to do tonight. I simply told everyone here's the plan (alpha dog authority established years ago). I sent everyone a link to the Valpo ESPN page, so they could familiarize themselves with team and player stats prior to the game. We'll start the evening with a nice pre-game dinner and head over to the main event. What could be better?
Quote from: vu72 on January 08, 2022, 11:02:03 AMIt's college basketball and once in a while even very good teams poop the bed.
I think we did hit bottom but we landed with a thud! The play and the coaching at Northern Iowa set a new standard for all-time basketball nightmare memories.
Quote from: wh on January 08, 2022, 12:18:57 PMThis is bigger than you. You have an obligation to be there to show this outstanding group of young men that you care about them
Can I show up for the team while withdrawing my support elsewhere?
Quote from: vu72 on January 08, 2022, 11:02:03 AMNow, if we get blown out I'll be the first to panic but let's see how tonight goes.
So if we are down by 20 at half time I will find an usher rip off my mask and demand that I be physically ejected from the ARC! Maybe Paul can get a shot of it for a headline Times story about our rigorous Covid policy enforcement then sneak in a sentence about the game.
Can't shoot and give up lots of points in the paint. Same old same old. Down ten at half. Can we come back or do we lose by 20+ again?
Quote from: justducky on January 08, 2022, 01:45:02 PMQuote from: vu72 on January 08, 2022, 11:02:03 AMIt's college basketball and once in a while even very good teams poop the bed.
I think we did hit bottom but we landed with a thud! The play and the coaching at Northern Iowa set a new standard for all-time basketball nightmare memories. Quote from: wh on January 08, 2022, 12:18:57 PMThis is bigger than you. You have an obligation to be there to show this outstanding group of young men that you care about them
Can I show up for the team while withdrawing my support elsewhere? Quote from: vu72 on January 08, 2022, 11:02:03 AMNow, if we get blown out I'll be the first to panic but let's see how tonight goes.
So if we are down by 20 at half time I will find an usher rip off my mask and demand that I be physically ejected from the ARC! Maybe Paul can get a shot of it for a headline Times story about our rigorous Covid policy enforcement then sneak in a sentence about the game.
Only an eight point deficit. No such luck.
Gotta score points, boys! Find a way!
This is pathetic. They have five more turnovers and have a 10 point lead at halftime. Our defense of their two point shots is horrible. We continue to be out rebounded by a team we should beat.
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Seriously, who is teaching these guys how to shoot? We can't throw a rock in the ocean!
Again, no game plan and no adjustments.
Just give it some time. Lottich could pull a little run off in arch madness and get another 5 year extension. You know before another school steals him.
Everything this program touches turns to brick.
I love how their smaller guard continues to score down low.
We have the talent. This is what makes it so frustrating.
Quote from: vok22 on January 08, 2022, 07:20:09 PM
Everything this program touches turns to brick.
(https://media0.giphy.com/media/lRqBTn1EsEoyImOHFz/giphy.gif)
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#LoserLottich
Clean house and end this miserable stain on the program.
The era of mediocrity except I'm not even sure we are mediocre anymore
I have a very hard time seeing how this program starts to improve with Matt Lottich coaching it. This week has been horrible.
If things keep going like this, won't be long before chants of "Fire Lottich" should come from the stands.
I still hope he makes me eat my words, but I have little to no faith in this 3rd tier YMCA coach.
vUSERF - dude, I doubt that will happen. I'm more worried about apathy toward the program with the fans and board.
Quit going to the above the rim angle on key FTs!
Nice comeback. Just good enough to lose close. Again.
Quote from: valpotx on January 08, 2022, 07:42:49 PMQuit going to the above the rim angle on key FTs!
Honestly 98% of camera angles from endlines are terrible and unnecessary. Whichever TV producers are responsible need to lose their jobs and more.
Dug ourselves too much of a hole to get out of. That was a game we should have won. We were favored!
We're better with Kithier back, that's about the only silver lining I have right now.
Absolutely f'ing stupid to not call a timeout on at least 1 of those last 2 possessions. I would have taken it the first possession, and if you don't get the look that you want on the first try because of the defense they setup, you still have another timeout. Instead, we get 2 fadeaway very long 3s...what a waste of a comeback
5 shots to tie or take the lead in the last 38 seconds and we miss all of them. And we end the game with 2 timeouts. Did Lottich fall asleep at the switch or what?
Krikke settled for a longer shot than necessary, as well. He had another 1-2 dribbles to make before a defender gets to him, and he can then do his post moves...that one hurts
Valpo had people transferring out and hitting the portal way before it was cool.
Anyone want to workshop with #LoserLottich what a set play is?
The 'free flow', 'let the players play' style he employs is a rudderless ship. Teams need leaders.
Quote from: hailcrusaders on January 08, 2022, 06:45:22 PM
Quote from: justducky on January 08, 2022, 01:45:02 PMQuote from: vu72 on January 08, 2022, 11:02:03 AMIt's college basketball and once in a while even very good teams poop the bed.
I think we did hit bottom but we landed with a thud! The play and the coaching at Northern Iowa set a new standard for all-time basketball nightmare memories. Quote from: wh on January 08, 2022, 12:18:57 PMThis is bigger than you. You have an obligation to be there to show this outstanding group of young men that you care about them
Can I show up for the team while withdrawing my support elsewhere? Quote from: vu72 on January 08, 2022, 11:02:03 AMNow, if we get blown out I'll be the first to panic but let's see how tonight goes.
So if we are down by 20 at half time I will find an usher rip off my mask and demand that I be physically ejected from the ARC! Maybe Paul can get a shot of it for a headline Times story about our rigorous Covid policy enforcement then sneak in a sentence about the game.
Only an eight point deficit. No such luck.
Gotta score points, boys! Find a way!
I think wh and 72 hate me. They shamed me into slipping and sliding down the roads and sidewalks just so I could watch another home court and conference loss. :'( At least I cheated death and survived the ordeal!
As for our play Kithier and Krikke shared the floor for some major minutes without major disaster but it was hard to capitalize on it with Reudinger replacing Anderson. Not knocking Preston but he got handed a difficult assignment.
There Will absolutely not be chants of "Fire Lottich" coming from the stands. Have to be fans there for that.
Quote from: justducky on January 08, 2022, 09:08:13 PMKithier and Krikke shared the floor for some major minutes
32 minutes for Kithier and 31 for Krikke so they played together for 23 minutes? I don't think the Salukis were shorthanded so I like these matchups much better than what Northern Iowa gave us. We out rebounded them 33 to 29? That must be a miscount because we don't out rebound anybody. Team total of 14 assists and 6 TO's? Only 1 TO for Preston and 4 assists. :thumbsup:
King with 35 minutes and giving us a lengthy look at the triple K offense. Interesting stuff but we still lost at home. :'(
Disappointing loss. Missing Anderson was huge. Lost control of game late in first half. We scored 6 points in last 7:44 in half. I believe better utilization of time outs could have stemmed their momentum. Going down ten is a tough hill to climb. I question time out after our score at the 1:20 mark in second half. We had tremendous momentum and allowed them to regroup. With 8 seconds to go we got to have a better shot than that. No excuse for not using time out. Players never gave up.
Watching this team is like watching someone play "Whack A Mole". We suck on the boards - next game we rebound better but lose our shooting. We turn the ball over too much - next game we don't turn the ball over as much but we give up layups when our guards get beat off the dribble and we have no rim protector. We hit all our free throws in a game and then we miss four and lose by three. Improve in one area then suck in another. Whatever part of the game we need to suck at to lose, we seem to find it. If we ever play a complete game, we might be pretty good, but somehow we channel our inner suck and find just what we need to suck at to lose close (except at UNI where we sucked at pretty much everything and got stomped). I have no idea how to correct this problem but then I'm not the coach. Sad thing is I don't think the coaching staff has a clue either. Maybe when King finds a way to finish at the rim when he gets fouled providing three point opportunities rather than two free throws of which he often only hits one, or maybe when we hit our first two threes instead of going one for nine leading to a first half where we score more than 22 points, or our guards figure out how to stop getting beat on dribble drives for easy layups, maybe then we can see how good this team can be.
On a different note, I'm curious. What do you think any of the Peters or Broekhoff teams would have done against Southern Illinois tonight. I think they would have gone 7 and 1 against them. At worst, 6 and 2. I would like to get a sense of how the talent and coaching of this team would compare. Is our talent as good but the competition is better than those teams, or have we somehow seen a drop off in our talent.
I think what bothers me the most is that in the post game press conference Matt says that they got the shot he wanted after the two/three missed free throws. We are down 2 points and yet the shot he wants is a 24-25 foot 3 point shot. We have 2 players on the floor that are shooting 59 and 70 percent along with a guy who was getting to the line driving to the basket and he thinks we should be taking a shot that, based on our performance this game, had about a 25% chance of going in.
We have no business taking the number of 3's that we take.
Common theme last few years..... Not always coming out with defensive intensity the entire first half. Who's at fault for that? The defense they played the last ten minutes got them back in the game. Where was that in the first half? The crowd/attendance tonight a reflection of the product on the court and or the weather? The cold Sunday afternoon games (Horizon League) generally had good crowds versus Cleveland State, Oakland etc..
At the end of the game when a 3-point shot was needed to tie, the absence of Barrett as another option in the game was noticeable. I think many of us thought he would be reliable this year as a 3-point threat. Last season he was a 40% shooter from the outside and averaged 23 minutes in 18 games, but this season he is only hitting 23% and is averaging only 8 minutes in 13 games. Is he still dealing with injury or have he and Matt just lost confidence in his shot?
Someone mentioned that it was a "duty" to attend the game if you live here?
Well, I'm a season ticket holder. Basketball is entertainment for me at this point, and I knew there was a more entertaining option on the other end of town.
I gave away my VU ticket, and attended the boys game at Valpo High School - No. 5-ranked Penn against No. 9 Valparaiso.
I made the right decision. For the second night in a row, VHS came back from a double-figure deficit and beat Penn 74-73. Best game I've seen in a while, and Penn has a guard who the VU coaching staff should be recruiting.
So yes, the poor VU attendance may have had something to do with the weather. But there was a better basketball option for me and a lot of other people.
Quote from: nkvu on January 08, 2022, 11:43:50 PM
Watching this team is like watching someone play "Whack A Mole". We suck on the boards - next game we rebound better but lose our shooting. We turn the ball over too much - next game we don't turn the ball over as much but we give up layups when our guards get beat off the dribble and we have no rim protector. We hit all our free throws in a game and then we miss four and lose by three. Improve in one area then suck in another. Whatever part of the game we need to suck at to lose, we seem to find it. If we ever play a complete game, we might be pretty good, but somehow we channel our inner suck and find just what we need to suck at to lose close (except at UNI where we sucked at pretty much everything and got stomped). I have no idea how to correct this problem but then I'm not the coach. Sad thing is I don't think the coaching staff has a clue either. Maybe when King finds a way to finish at the rim when he gets fouled providing three point opportunities rather than two free throws of which he often only hits one, or maybe when we hit our first two threes instead of going one for nine leading to a first half where we score more than 22 points, or our guards figure out how to stop getting beat on dribble drives for easy layups, maybe then we can see how good this team can be.
On a different note, I'm curious. What do you think any of the Peters or Broekhoff teams would have done against Southern Illinois tonight. I think they would have gone 7 and 1 against them. At worst, 6 and 2. I would like to get a sense of how the talent and coaching of this team would compare. Is our talent as good but the competition is better than those teams, or have we somehow seen a drop off in our talent.
Seems like the coaches should do a visual analysis of every shot taken this year and figure every player's shooting percentages in each shot category to determine who should be shooting what kind of shots and who should not be shooting what kind of shots. Why is Kithier taking threes? That's not his strength. Every player should know which kind of shot they should take given their probablity to score and stay away from shots where they are likely to miss. There is too much Helter Skelter on this "team."
Quote from: Valpo89 on January 09, 2022, 10:18:28 AM
Someone mentioned that it was a "duty" to attend the game if you live here?
Well, I'm a season ticket holder. Basketball is entertainment for me at this point, and I knew there was a more entertaining option on the other end of town.
I gave away my VU ticket, and attended the boys game at Valpo High School - No. 5-ranked Penn against No. 9 Valparaiso.
I made the right decision. For the second night in a row, VHS came back from a double-figure deficit and beat Penn 74-73. Best game I've seen in a while, and Penn has a guard who the VU coaching staff should be recruiting.
So yes, the poor VU attendance may have had something to do with the weather. But there was a better basketball option for me and a lot of other people.
Preach it.
To date, in the MVC, for those players who had a minimum of 40% of the minutes played and have taken at least 2 shots per game. Here are the numbers:
2-pt% (Top 50 shown in MVC)
1. Thomas Kithier 71.8
20. Trevor Anderson 56.7
25. Ben Krikke 53.3
38. Sheldon Edwards 49.1
43. Kevion Taylor 47.4
3-pt% (Top 41 shown)
11. Kevion Taylor 41.2
32. Sheldon Edwards 31.5
34. Trevor Anderson 28.9
FT% (Top 35 shown)
2. Trevor Anderson 89.3
9. Ben Krikke 82.1
14. Sheldon Edwards 79.4
30. Thomas Kithier 60.7
Edit
Kobe didn't make the cutoff probably because he hasn't played enough minutes over the season. Adding his numbers we see:
2Pt% 43.5
3Pt% 45.5
FT% 76.9
It was asked how Peters and rowdy's teams would compete against southern illinois.
Not only were the kings of the HL more talented. They ran set plays. When was last time we saw the home run play? Much less simple half court sets.
Better player plus better team ball along with better coaching staff from head to bottom equals the kings of the HL not only beat southern illinois but they also contend for the mvc title.
Remember those teams beat Bama and byu in Vegas. Beat some nba players in Florida state, granted I think the valpo crowd deserves some credit.