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This is ISU third year.of their rebuild. Could this be Valpo in '25-'26?

Wow! After making our first 4 shots, we have gone 6 of 26 since. It amazing that we only down 3.

Drake is currently favored by 20.5 pts. We will cover.

Drake 78
Valpo 63

Great start for Valpo. Up 15-10. five assists on 6 baskets

SIU is currently a 14 point favorite with a total of 137.5 I believe we keep it close.

SIU 74
Valpo 68

Avoiding the play-in game is not likely. Remember, we are now a 12 team conference, so there is a full slate of games on Thursday. Only the top 4 teams get a bye.

Is this a winnable game? It might be statistically we are very even. The big men are not so big that they will push around like other teams have. They are not likely to shoot lights out like other teams have.  The only thing that they have on us is experience (they start 5 Seniors). Talent wise, we probably have more! So, if we stay close in the first half, maybe we can come away with our first MVC win.

Valpo 70
Ill St 68

Paul Oren on the call with Todd tonight!

Love the effort of the team to get back in the game. But, very disappointed on how Powell managed the end of the game. With 1:22 left in the game, we should have started fouling to extend the game. CMU has had issues with FT shooting.

Valpo actually played Belmont even after Belmont's 9-0 run to start the game. Seems like it was another teachable moment for the Rev. Early timeout to help them refocus and understand the intensity that they will see when playing on the road. They didn't get that at Illinois because Illinois thought they could just show up and walk all over Valpo.

Belmont just beat Northern Iowa at Northern Iowa by 20. I'm afraid the score wil be more like

Belmont 82
Valpo 68

Southern's ball pressure has really gotten to us. Teachable moment?

Attendance under 3200
3 pointers over 8

Valpo 90
IUPUI 70

I am surprised at how Weatherspoon has looked in the first 2 games. When I went to the open practice, I thought he would be most likely candidate to be the 6th Man on the team. He hit multiple 3 pointers in the practice scrimmage. Shooters can be streaky, so as long as Roger goes with the hot hand, I think these team will have options.

When Darius was out Stafford moved to the point guard position. That is what really got him going. Before that they were guarding him pretty well and he wasn't getting many touches.

Darius had 8 assists with 0 turnovers. Also, in conference if they sag off of him, Powell wants him to shoot. This team seems to be doing a better job of boxing out for offensive rebounds, so we may get a lot of easy putbacks  off of Darius missed shots.

Maybe I'm drinking the koolaid, but what I do know is Coach Powell has a lot of confidence in what he is teaching. He has been involved with one of the best programs in the country for the past 4 years. He knew exactly what type of player he wanted and he went and found them. Palm spoke at the open practice and he said that practices were "different!" The energy that I saw them practice with was over the top. His goal is to run the other opponent into the ground. Only time will tell, but I am encouraged in what this team might be.

The takeaway when I was watching them was they had a lot more half court sets than I expected. However, they were still moving quickly and looking to shoot earlier in the clock. Darius was actually taking shots if he was open. Now, there were still plenty of possessions that they shot the ball with 10 seconds, so they were moving at a great pace. You also have to understand that they are being asked to hustle on offense and defense, so all 10 players are getting up and down the court quickly to not allow the quick shot. Coach Powell did warn that we likely since more turnovers early in the season with this pace. But, all in all, it is going to be fun brand of basketball. Also, with this brand of basketball, they will likely be going 9 to 10 deep. From talent standpoint, there didn't seem to be any significant kind of drop off.

I would agree that 98/99 team is the best comparison. We had a lot of unknowns going into that season.

Agree,Coach Powell truly has a vision. This is the most optimistic I have been about Valpo's future in long time. Maybe we won't win a lot this first season, but it is going to be fun brand of basketball! By the time we get to the conference tournament, who knows what we will be capable of.

It was a pretty decent turnout. I would say about 400. It was a real practice with 2 10 minute scrimmages. Black won both- 17 to 14 and 23 to 17. In the first scrimmage, white played the entire 10 minutes, while black had 6 scholarship players and rotated in and out with Scroggins playing the least. But, in 2nd scrimmage, Scroggins played with white the entire 10 minutes. I get the impression that White represented the likely Starters. Based on my observations, I think three players are lock to start:

Edwards
DeAverio
Schwieger

The other two are likely, Palm and Stafford (they played the first scrimmage with the white and the second with the black)

Stafford lead all scoring with 11pts, with 3 - 3's
Weatherspoon - 10 and a couple 3's
Schwieger - 9
Palm - 8

Only player that didn't practice was Manyang, although he did shoot free throws during 3 minute intermission between scrimmages. His big that actually looks comfortable at the free throw line.

First look at 23/24 players this morning at the ARC at 10:30. So excited to be here!

I spoke to ticket office today and an email should going out season ticket renewals tomorrow or Thursday. They had to wait for the conference schedule to be announced and then of course they were dealing with homecoming weekend.

Last year the conference schedule was released on Thursday, Sept 15th. Hopefully,this seasons schedule will be released next week. I'm looking forward to its release, mostly because I'm ready buy my season tickets!

I really like the idea of playing past conference opponents. I think it is a chance to reconnect with some nostalgia for the fan base. I always seemed like in the past that was not even an option.