In Chicago we hit 53% from the field and over 40% from three, but the refs awarded Loyola thirteen more free throws (including two questionable technicals) than Valpo in the double overtime loss.
It would be great to see the same effort from the Beacons on our home court. With any luck Gerry Pollard won't be assigned this game.
We always play loyola tough.
Quote from: humbleopinion on February 16, 2022, 02:27:48 PM
In Chicago we hit 53% from the field and over 40% from three, but the refs awarded Loyola thirteen more free throws (including two questionable technicals) than Valpo in the double overtime loss.
It would be great to see the same effort from the Beacons on our home court. With any luck Gerry Pollard won't be assigned this game.
Refs from last game with Loyola:
Officials: Gary Maxwell, Rick Crawford, Tyler Kumpf.
Got busy this afternoon so will not attend. Generally when that happens we play outstanding basketball.
Quote from: oklahomamick on February 16, 2022, 03:32:15 PMWe always play loyola tough.
Standard disclaimer! Past results are no guarantee of future performance. ::) The Ramblers also destroyed us at the ARC last year. I was glad the Covid restrictions kept me out of the building!
Can't get the band together for this game. Jeebus.
We need this one badly, a quality win would go a long come Arch Madness. Least there is a nice crowd and student section! Come on Po'
Can we play 40 minutes like this?
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Up 6 at half with Taylor and King a combined 0-6 shooting. We need them to hit some shots in the 2nd half.
Oh look, it's the Chesterton basketball club for halftime. Again.
Once again, Sheldon tries to do it all by himself. Play team basketball!
Why has Ben been out the last 3 minutes? Our best player.
Sigh. Had multiple opportunities to win this game but couldn't come through. The Matt Lottich special.
I have said it once and I'll say it again. I hate watching Sheldon Edwards play basketball.
Good God. For as good as Sheldon was for the majority of the game, he absolutely choked the last few minutes with horrendous turnovers. Why the F did we not just foul with 35 seconds left, and take the chance with their 1 and 1, leaving more time to actually get a decent shot?
Quote from: Chairback on February 16, 2022, 09:01:16 PM
Why has Ben been out the last 3 minutes? Our best player.
My guess is because of his pitiful defense today.
LOL, Lottich with quality end of game calls, ready for you to say it's on the players. What a waste of a season. Lottich needs to coach D3 or high school to get his :censored: together. Lottich did call smart timeouts today finally but he can't have a complete game just like his team .
Krikke made the last basket at 4:53 left to give Valpo 68 points. He came out at the last media timeout and never went back. Valpo scored no baskets all that time. :banghead:
That pretty much sums up the season!! Execution at the end of each half tonight! Loyola escapes, Illinois State escaped last week, Drake escaped, Charlotte escaped, Toledo escaped etc... I see a pattern. Who do we put blame on for this? LU practically gift wrapped a win for us in the last two minutes. For the exception of three games, the team has been competitive all year, but the lack of execution is perplexing.
Quote from: AlecPeters101 on February 16, 2022, 09:03:12 PM
I have said it once and I'll say it again. I hate watching Sheldon Edwards play basketball.
All of us agree but this might have been his best overall game of the season and you have to love him when he is on and defending well.
I was ok with going for the win and Sheldon was open enough to hit it. Not quite.
Didn't watch the game but did see the final score. To paraphrase Captain Renault in Casa Blanca, "I'm shocked, shocked that losing is going on in here."
According to Luke Gore, the play they practice is Sheldon should have rushed up the court and pass the ball to a cutting Taylor for a bunny or possible foul at the hoop. But, since Sheldon decided to try to win the game himself, at least the other four guys should been hitting the boards, when Sheldon pulled up to take the shot. Neither of those scenarios happened. Luke actually said they reason the lost the game is that " the team sucked, including the coaching" (his words, not mine) in the last 5 minutes of the game. They didn't do anything that they were supposed to down the stretch. Why Lottich isn't taking control at the end is beyond me. In my mind, they suck because Lottich sucks and I got to believe, at list some of the players think they know better than him.
Quote from: tjjvalpo on February 16, 2022, 11:08:34 PM
According to Luke Gore, the play they practice is Sheldon should have rushed up the court and pass the ball to a cutting Taylor for a bunny or possible foul at the hoop. But, since Sheldon decided to try to win the game himself, at least the other four guys should been hitting the boards, when Sheldon pulled up to take the shot. Neither of those scenarios happened. Luke actually said they reason the lost the game is that " the team sucked, including the coaching" (his words, not mine) in the last 5 minutes of the game. They didn't do anything that they were supposed to down the stretch. Why Lottich isn't taking control at the end is beyond me. In my mind, they suck because Lottich sucks and I got to believe, at list some of the players think they know better than him.
I found the interview with Luke fascinating. I have never heard him express how upset he was with the officiating as he did in the interview -- he really had to work hard to restrain himself. In the post-game press conference, Thomas echoed that when he said that one one of his fouls the baseline official said that he (Kithier) had done nothing, but it was the other official's call.
Luke's inclusion of the coaching staff was an effort to temper his remarks about how upset he was with the play in the last few minutes. Four turnovers in the closing minutes! Sheldon showed himself to be high risk/high reward across that stretch -- two steals and a rebound, but two turnovers and a missed front end. I can only imagine how frustrated the coaching staff was when Sheldon kept the ball in his hands at the top of the key as the clock wound down in two consecutive Loyola games.
Good coaches will mimic these scenarios in practice. These circumstances are replicated in training. If you are continuing to lose games in the last 5 minutes then practice should be dedicated to those type situations. Some on here will argue that it's execution of the players......then put different personnel in. It's insane that you can't do something on the training front to get a different result or outcome.
I understand Lottich was new to coaching and young when he took over. But did he not learn what practice or end of the game situations look like from the last coaching staff? Ok...he was too far down on the coaching staff to get a good feel on it, then go to some coaching clinics or go visit some coaching friends/peers to get better.
Lottich was a hell of a player. Lottich is not a good student of the game or coach. Maybe coaching just isn't his thing, at least at this level.
A few thoughts:
- Fouls killed us, second Loyola game in a row with some very questionable calls
- King was non existent, for what should be our biggest offensive threat to score 2 points is tough
- Edwards had a great game, until he didn't. Last 5 minutes we relied on him and he showed why he can't be THE guy
- Kithier is a key to our team... and he's been out recently and this game dealing with fouls. Loyola made their runs with him on the bench.
- Again and again, end of game we suck. 1 point in the last 4:50 or so. Its unbelievable that its consistently as bad as it is.
- Of our highly touted freshman class, its the walk on that is the one that has played the best. Good for Ruedinger, hes earned a scholarship, concerning for next year with everyone else.
I thought overall we played a very solid game against a team with much more depth and size. They kept running big guy or the next big guy at Thomas and Ben. We played great--except the last few minutes. To get to a place where we had a chance to win against the best team in the Valley we had to have played great--and we did.
It has been a disaster of a year and we really deserve to be playing on Thursday, but, if we had played this well during the rest of the season we would be in the top half easily. Why we are so inconsistent is the question and, as was the case at Illinois State, in spite of having a coach who was a heck of a player and member of the alumni, they had to make a change. We do too.
This has to be the most depressing VU press conference I have seen. Lottich says the team played well for 37 minutes but not the last segment after the final media timeout. Krikke, who had just scored a basket, was removed from the game during that timeout and never put back. Coincidence? I don't understand. Taking out our best player and central figure for the close of the game then not scoring any baskets during that time seems to be a wish-fulfillment for Loyola. Why do them that favor? Loyola had to be watching in disbelief and gratitude. Valpo even had a timeout remaining at the end of the game to reinsert Ben for the final play, but chose not to do so.
Quote from: vuny98 on February 17, 2022, 08:50:20 AM
A few thoughts:
- Fouls killed us, second Loyola game in a row with some very questionable calls
- King was non existent, for what should be our biggest offensive threat to score 2 points is tough
- Edwards had a great game, until he didn't. Last 5 minutes we relied on him and he showed why he can't be THE guy
- Kithier is a key to our team... and he's been out recently and this game dealing with fouls. Loyola made their runs with him on the bench.
- Again and again, end of game we suck. 1 point in the last 4:50 or so. Its unbelievable that its consistently as bad as it is.
- Of our highly touted freshman class, its the walk on that is the one that has played the best. Good for Ruedinger, hes earned a scholarship, concerning for next year with everyone else.
I get asked about the +/- a lot, so here is an interesting one. Kobe King, despite scoring two points in his 33 minutes, led Valpo with +9. Eron Gordon in 11:43 was -16. Sheldon in 26:22 was -4. The starting five all finished positive and the bench all negative. King didn't score, but King took a lot of defensive pressure off other players. It was clear that Valentine wasn't going to let Kobe King be the reason Valpo won.
Agree Valpopal. The other thing is ML is not sticking up for his guys. Leaders will jump in and protect their people. He seems to let Sheldon take the blame.
Preston should not have been in the last 3 mins. Sheldon or Kobe could have brought the ball up the court and Ben should have been in the game. Makes zero sense.
Watching the game right when we got the rebound you knew we were going to take a 3 instead of a set play or drive the basket.
I agree regarding Krikke not being in the game. I wonder if he had an injury of some sort not being mentioned. Valpo, to me, seems to have an aversion to mentioning injury nearly at any time. Otherwise I don't get the seat on the bench.
Kobe King....I know it's not looked upon fondly by some on the board to speak ill of him but I really wish he'd be more aggressive on offense. 5 shots? Come on dude. Get in the game.
Edwards has been described by others similarly to how I would.
With Reudinger in the game. Krikke not in the game. King not seeming to want to take charge and Edwards wanting to take charge is it any real mystery as to why this particular game for the taking got away?
Quote from: Pgmado on February 17, 2022, 10:11:25 AMQuote from: vuny98 on February 17, 2022, 08:50:20 AMA few thoughts: - Fouls killed us, second Loyola game in a row with some very questionable calls - King was non existent, for what should be our biggest offensive threat to score 2 points is tough - Edwards had a great game, until he didn't. Last 5 minutes we relied on him and he showed why he can't be THE guy - Kithier is a key to our team... and he's been out recently and this game dealing with fouls. Loyola made their runs with him on the bench. - Again and again, end of game we suck. 1 point in the last 4:50 or so. Its unbelievable that its consistently as bad as it is. - Of our highly touted freshman class, its the walk on that is the one that has played the best. Good for Ruedinger, hes earned a scholarship, concerning for next year with everyone else.
I get asked about the +/- a lot, so here is an interesting one. Kobe King, despite scoring two points in his 33 minutes, led Valpo with +9. Eron Gordon in 11:43 was -16. Sheldon in 26:22 was -4. The starting five all finished positive and the bench all negative. King didn't score, but King took a lot of defensive pressure off other players. It was clear that Valentine wasn't going to let Kobe King be the reason Valpo won.
It's a fair point. I certainly think King was still effective in the game on defense and drawing attention on offense. But we need him to be the guy that can make his own shot despite the extra attention. To not let the other team take you out of the game. To be able to get off more than 5 shots in 33 minutes. Some of that blame falls on him, and certainly some should fall on Lottich.
Quote from: tjjvalpo on February 16, 2022, 11:08:34 PM
According to Luke Gore, the play they practice is Sheldon should have rushed up the court and pass the ball to a cutting Taylor for a bunny or possible foul at the hoop. But, since Sheldon decided to try to win the game himself,s at least the other four guys should been hitting the boards, when Sheldon pulled up to take the shot. Neither of those scenarios happened. Luke actually said they reason the lost the game is that " the team sucked, including the coaching" (his words, not mine) in the last 5 minutes of the game. They didn't do anything that they were supposed to down the stretch. Why Lottich isn't taking control at the end is beyond me. In my mind, they suck because Lottich sucks and I got to believe, at list some of the players think they know better than him.
When does anyone crash the boards? I'll stick around for an answer.
We keep finding ourselves in the same situation at the end of the game, and we keep doing the same exact thing expecting different results. I think that's on the coach.
Lottich has said multiple times that he didn't call a time out at the end of a game because he didn't want to let the defense set up a play. But maybe it's really because he doesn't have any plays to call himself.
In terms of Kobe King, it seems like, based on stats, he was the 6th or 7th best player on his Wisconsin team. Why did we think that a solid Big Ten player dominate the MVC? It seems like the 2018-2019 Kobe King (4.2 PPG) is probably his true talent level versus the 19-20 version (10 PPG in limited action). I think we set our expectations way too high.
King's been an enigma to me since he first started to play. He's clearly got a lot of ability and will show that from time to time. However he seems to play in an non aggressive fashion particularly on offense and purposefully appears to avoid any attempt to become "the guy". Couple that with articles I read about him after these observations of his time at Wisconsin and not at Nebraska and his not loving the game and that comes across on the court as well.
Whatever one thinks about Lottich's demonstrated inability to run an effective defense or put together a play to score when needed, no coach is going to coach up a player who is not 100% invested.
This all fits in with each of the transfers having some limitation which, at least in some cases, we thought would go away when they came to Valpo. Instead they've been collectively very frustrating.
Quote from: mj on February 17, 2022, 11:16:44 PMIn terms of Kobe King, it seems like, based on stats, he was the 6th or 7th best player on his Wisconsin team. Why did we think that a solid Big Ten player dominate the MVC? It seems like the 2018-2019 Kobe King (4.2 PPG) is probably his true talent level versus the 19-20 version (10 PPG in limited action). I think we set our expectations way too high.
Quote from: JD24 on February 19, 2022, 09:21:29 AMKing's been an enigma to me since he first started to play. He's clearly got a lot of ability and will show that from time to time. However he seems to play in an non aggressive fashion particularly on offense and purposefully appears to avoid any attempt to become "the guy".
King is as good as the team supporting him. As a key piece on a solid starting lineup his value was enormous. As injuries have changed this his puzzle piece uses have diminished. Kobe needed everybody around him to be healthy and we will never know how that team and that Kobe would have fared.