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We don't have horses to win, not enough depth on the bench. Out of gas again. Hung around for 30 minutes. Scheweiger was largely ineffective tonight. Lay up drill for ISU in the second half. Palm gave it his best effort.

Jerome $%^*(@#$% Palm!

81-68 Trees

Had them by the jugular, couldn't close the deal. Good first half. Played great for 30 minutes and then an epic meltdown. We score 2 points in the final 7 minutes? Not that I care, but Dana Ford should be fired after the season. They got away with one today.

Bears 87 Brown and Gold 66. Bears...most underachieving coach in the league

Objective is a good way to describe the press conference. How about refreshing. You can tell he's clearly frustrated in the moment, offers up fair excuses about injuries and depth, rim protector red shirting and being hired late. He still manages to instill confidence in the future of the program. Outmanned sums it up. Now it's a question of who he wants back after the season. That will be separate thread in March I assume! I like the fact he's not sacrificing wins for culture. As painful as it is for all of us this year..... You have to believe Cooper is the face of the program moving forward and they will do everything to keep him and surround him with good players. The comp to Alec is fair, but Alec had a better team his freshman year and a little more to play for. The buzzer beating loss to Columbia in the CBI.

I'm sorry, but they have put up a good fight for most of the season, but they are playing like they know they can't win. Team looks emotionally tired and has hit their ceiling/wall. No. Iowa was limping coming in. Better days ahead. Schweiger still a STUD. I'm changing my tone on Barrett. He needs to go, his defense is an F. He's not improved in four years, one demential shooter and if he's not hitting. His wide open lay up (miss) attempt in the first half was horrendous. No more wins for this team, this season. Will they loose any games by single digits?

I need a rationale explanation for the Illinois State lopsided road win over Indiana State tonight?. In addition to the Redbirds without three starters. So much for that short lived top 25 ranking!

Valpo 71 UNI 70
Buzzer beater win, Barrett scores in double figures

No disagreements on the press conference. It's the right tone. No excuses made like the last coach. We will take our licks this year, will pay off the next few years if they stay together. Sounds as if he still has control of the locker room.

Becoming very difficult to watch. Belmont could not miss in the beginning and we have no muscle/size in the paint. Team seems hung over from Evansville game, but yes inexperience, and needing more talent in particular in the paint for defense etc. Schweiger will hit the weight room, but he's gotten abused on defense most of the year, allowing the opponent to get to their spot. Palm and Barrett prolly won't be around, but the guy if confident is prolly the best three point shooter on the team. At this point, Season is a lost cause anyway, let him play more and see if he can regain that lethal shooting. Nothing to loose.

Which one of the four has the highest upside? Weatherspoon, Edwards, Sepp, Ajiboye? Will all four be back next year?

I remember Dave Redmon being streaky, but not to the extreme that Stafford is. Three 30 point games this year and then last night a goose egg.

Does anyone think that Indiana State has a legit chance to win a game in March Madness as a 14 seed or something? I don't think they will get an at large bid.

Well oiled machine from the Trees. Great offensive chemistry and our non existent paint defense most of the year. Not a good recipe.
Will be curious of Valpo's effort to close out the year. Schweiger still a stud!

Over under on the back door lay ups. 4

Valpo was the more talented team Saturday and their is no way they should have lost the game. As several have mentioned. Way to may lay ups easy looks in the paint. Paint defense....soft is to nice. Non existent is more accurate. Our young nucleus, figure to improve next year and likely small roster turnover. The sign is how the team plays hard to the end. Under Lottich, they waved the white flag at the end of some games, a sign they weren't as bought into the culture/locker room. For the most part Powell is doing all he can with what he has, maybe try a little more zone, mix up the defense a little more often. Although not a savior of the team, Palm should be in 15 minutes a game eating up fouls, going after rebounds. I think he presses to hard knowing he has limited minutes.

Two bad teams, neither capable of pulling away.  Good to see the students turn out. Free throw shooting discrepancy. So much for my 4-3 prediction. Could end up 0-7. Might have to have a new post. Will we win any more games this year?

Valpo 82 Aces 68

Each Freshman has some type of significant flaw as alluded to, Sepp nothing offensively. Sherman IV, Cooper getting eaten alive on defense.
Most games we've never really been in or really out of. Enough talent and work ethic to stay in the game. I mean, last night Drake took the foot off the gas in the last 2 minutes and we hit a bunch of three's. To our credit we play to the final bell. Effort and sticking with it better than last year. Depending on who we add or loose, we could take a nice leap next year with everyone getting older.

How would anyone compare Cooper's freshman year to Krikke ? Fair question. Did anyone think that Krikke would have progressed like he did after his Freshman year?

Drake showed it's experience, timely three point shooting, Devries drawing fouls and 8th year senior Brody. Our offense will come and go in spurts every game, and Stafford was unconcious but Lacking too much interior defense most nights this season. Cooper shows nice instincts on offense, but he allows his opponent to get to his spot way to easily. Off season weight room will do him some good. Darius is on my all time Valpo improvement award with Erik Bugs from one season to the next. I don't know what anyone else thinks, but I come away more optimistic most games this year than the last two seasons with King, Krikke, Kavion & co. I think we can all see the upside of the pieces we have now and the ones we will add.

whelp line opens as -20.5. Close to most folks predictions.

Well...... Somebody has to score, put the ball in the hoop

83-64 Drake.

Have to admire the effort and yes the bad stretches are killers. Based on Mo State's talent they should have a better record, but this was a good matchup for the Bears. Our Boys are getting valuable experience this year, and how many times last few years we would get down 15-20 points no fight back. Look at the ceiling the last few years, look at the ceiling of this team.

Mo State is capable of getting on a roll, with their helter-skelter playground style. They have the talent and were up for the challenge against Drake last night, but down against Ill State. Very inconsistent team. If they are making shots, very tough team to defend. I counted this as a win, but now I'm going to rethink this. I could see this game being in the high 80's. To me, they seem to be a more difficult team to defend than SIU