Starting the thread, we're somehow 16 point favorites. Just win for fricks sake. They're 359/363, we're down to 244. Home court should help in theory...
Valpo 77
Word 64
My flight to Valpo was cancelled this morning. I feel like that was the worlds way of punishing me for having a ticket to this game. I will be there regardless.
If we don't win by at least 20 then we are in deep doo-doo. Incarnate word lost to North Dakota (on their home floor) by 12. Then North Dakota lost to Pacific (also on their home floor) by 30.
Enough said.
Quote from: vu72 on November 19, 2022, 10:59:04 AM
If we don't win by at least 20 then we are in deep doo-doo. Incarnate word lost to North Dakota (on their home floor) by 12. Then North Dakota lost to Pacific (also on their home floor) by 30.
Enough said.
In fairness, there is little validity in the "associative theory of predicted performance". Still, IW is another really bad team and even a close win is likely poor performance.
Need some sign of life from this team. A strong defensive effort. Rebound on both ends.
78 - 58
Hope crowd gives ca a nice welcome before the game starts. Then pound UIW
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Predictions?
Attendance over under: 1200
Student section over under: 20
Quote from: VUSERF on November 19, 2022, 05:13:55 PM
Predictions?
Attendance over under: 1200
Student section over under: 20
Way too high for student section. It's break. There are no students on campus.
What a start....
Quote from: Pgmado on November 19, 2022, 06:59:27 PM
Quote from: VUSERF on November 19, 2022, 05:13:55 PM
Predictions?
Attendance over under: 1200
Student section over under: 20
Way too high for student section. It's break. There are no students on campus.
I count 1 in the student section :'(
We do not have a good basketball team.
Did Lottich prepare this team at all for this game?
Maybe Matt has been putting in job applications for seasonal holiday positions.
Well, it is a win...
We survived a dogfight against University of Incarnate Word.
That's where the program is at right now.
Terrible.
Quote from: usc4valpo on November 19, 2022, 08:57:32 PM
Well, it is a win...
Yes. A win is a win, right?
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I will be impressed if we win 10 games this year
If the team gels and Matt does a great job of coaching then we still have a chance for a .500 season. :)
Chicago State was ranked #360 by Pomeroy when Valpo played them, and tonight Incarnate Word was ranked #360 by Pomeroy since CSU's victory over VU moved them up a few spots. Therefore, by squeaking past IWU at home, Valpo posts a 1-1 record against two teams ranked near the bottom of the ratings. In addition, the attendance figure for this evening is 1341, many on hand being Incarnate Word fans or northwest Indiana folks there to see Carson Cunningham and Chris Artis. In the immortal words of Clark Griswold: "Nothing to be proud of!"
One basketball and too many pieces trying to figure out where they belong in this program. We might need to use some other parts of the bench a little more, instead of trying to figure out the rotation for the MVC season right now. The transfer portal has definitely hurt the consistency, and it does seem that Lottich has thrown some players out that could have been something here over that time. We spend too much time trying to find shooters from the starting rotation...might need to bring out some of the bench a bit more, or at least see what we have. Is Palesse injured, or has he already fallen off the rotation?
Palesse did not dress for the Western Michigan game. I saw him with a brace on his wrist during shootaround so must have gotten injured vs Toledo or in practice. One more player who could shoot it in high school we haven't really had a chance to see. Good to see Max make one tonight but hope to get a better look at the new faces in the next few games (what else is there to lose).
Nelson plays with a lot poise on the court and should be getting 20 minutes a game. Need more consistently from Nick Edwards. Our two bigs didn't see court time tonight. Odd. Connor Barrett I think at this point it's in his head. Had some injuries. He won't get his confidence back only playing 5, 6 minutes a game. Cunningham had a smart game plan. We had the better athletes and height advantage but they forced us to shoot a lot from the outside. Krikke had to really work to score.
Samford has played an absolute joke of a schedule so far!!! Far worse than Valpo's. With that being said, we need show up and play hard from the opening tip or it could be over by halftime again. Any road win is a good one. Agreed we need to develop our bench more!
Quote from: truth219 on November 19, 2022, 09:01:39 PM
I will be impressed if we win 10 games this year
They'll do a little better, but no more than 15 before MVC tournament
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I had a friend text me yesterday about the game, wondering if they were any good. I said "no" and if we don't win by at least 20 the fans may be going to Matt's house with torches and pitch forks. Well, his house seems in tact but my guess is more than a few fans were at a minimum rummaging through their garages last night, looking for their pitch forks.
How is it that every team we seem to play "shoots lights out" and we "have a bad night shooting"? Could it possibly be we can't defend and they can? Incarnate Word started 2 freshman, 2 sophomores and 1 senior. Their top player off the bench was also a freshman, all playing ON THE ROAD! They had 1 guy at 6'11" with the next tallest player being 6'7". THEY OUT REBOUNDED us 34 to 33.
So we had WAY more experience and WAY more height and were playing at HOME, and we win by 4.
Only one answer here folks. We lack coaching, period, or, the players lack ANY killer instinct and are happy with just a win.
This is beyond being a "could be an ugly year"--it already is.
Nothing like squeaking past one of the worst teams in the country. This is going to be a really long season.
These initial games are also telling every remaining team once regarded as cupcake opposition for VU that snatching a win against a school at least perceived as a solid mid-major (albeit off of the fumes of yesteryear) is possible.
Stonehill and Trinity Christian, among others, may now see a possible victory. Stonehill -- a liberal arts college outside of Boston in its first year of D1 -- has posted wins over Holy Cross and Army so far, and their non-conference schedule includes UConn, Providence, and Fordham. Living in Boston, I was dismissive about their move to D1, but they sound serious about putting together a competitive MBB program.
Quote from: David81 on November 20, 2022, 09:23:47 AM
Stonehill and Trinity Christian, among others, may now see a possible victory.
Jason Hawkins was in attendance last night. I'm sure he's looking forward to returning with his team and a chance at a win.
The atmosphere in the ARC is as bad as it ever has been. The only thing I can remember is the nine-win season in the late 2000's, as far as the fans not being into it and an aura of disgust in the air.
PG 46mins 4 points 5 assists 2 FTs.
C 22 mins 2 points 8 reb 2 assists
bench 9 points
The dependency on 3 guys to score...particularly when one guy is going 2-10 from 3....is going to lead the team to struggle. If you're defending this team there are too often 2 positions the opponent doesn't have to concern themselves with all that much which allows for much easier help with the 3 guys who will actually take a shot.
Good numbers JD. We know what we have. Unfortunately, the mystery is finding out what else we have. UIW was well coached and had a good game plan. It appeared UIW was attempting to limit our big three and allow the rest of the team to beat them if they could. It appeared we lacked overall enthusiasm. We would get a little run and do something to lose momentum. As players further develop their roles, the next few games will be critical. Edwards had a good stat line with 15 points in 19 minutes against Chicago State. Not sure why his minutes were cut last night. Hopefully the road will be a good teacher.
Yes -- they did their homework and had a game plan. They may not have won but they were competitive. We are seldom competitive. It is completely respectable to be beat by a team that has better talent on the floor. Toledo was a better team. That loss would have been respectable except we didn't play competitive. We won this game, but given the difference in talent on the floor, the margin should have been significantly larger. It is just frustrating to see the talent and not have it realized.
Opponents are now shooting 40% from behind the arc against us this season. Last year they shot 35%.
Just to compare, opponents shot 32-33% from behind the arc during Bryce Drew's tenure.
Quote from: Old Timer on November 20, 2022, 01:00:11 PMGood numbers JD. We know what we have. Unfortunately, the mystery is finding out what else we have. UIW was well coached and had a good game plan. It appeared UIW was attempting to limit our big three and allow the rest of the team to beat them if they could. It appeared we lacked overall enthusiasm. We would get a little run and do something to lose momentum. As players further develop their roles, the next few games will be critical. Edwards had a good stat line with 15 points in 19 minutes against Chicago State. Not sure why his minutes were cut last night. Hopefully the road will be a good teacher.
A couple of possibilities are that Edwards didn't score in the first half vs Chicago St. and maybe Lottich thought DeVeiro would give them a bit more energy early. Also, others have mentioned that Lottich is a big believer in +/- numbers and I thought I saw DeVeiro's +/- was pretty good in the Chicago St. game. I can't find those numbers now though.
mj-defending the 3 seems to have been an consistent issue throughout Lottich's tenure.
Valpo has a very very easy non conference schedule. They will win some easy games, get over 500, and then the Valley conference is underway. They will finish a few games below 500, win a play in game in the conference tourney and some will think we are progressing. Then they get blown out in the second game. Based on Valpo's history, this result win not lead to a dismissal.