Messages

I am sure that Coach has a long list of issues on his clipboard of things that need to be addressed. Probably all of the comments already put forth on this board are already there. After watching the replay the list will double. It is almost like playing whack a mole. Fix one thing and another pops up. We have had three contests with each one presenting more issues. Keeping in mind that we almost have a completely new team and essentially a rookie head coach, it may take longer than usual to show improvement. With Illinois in a week and Drake coming soon time is not on our side. Incidentally, language is usually not a reason for a level two technical. My guess is after looking at the monitor, a greater issue was observed.

Thinking of Dick Bennet, I am reminded of his top assistant and perhaps defensive architect Mike Heideman. After Bennet's departure Heideman took over the Green Bay program and experienced some good years. However, after a downturn he was let go. It was my understanding that due to by out provisions he could not be a head coach somewhere and get paid by Green Bay. He became an assistant at Valparaiso for one year. Valpo's defense has never been as good since. It is my thought that maybe Lottich needs some super strong assistant coaches who can teach and motivate. Let him administrate.

I have not been a strong supporter of the present coaching staff over the past several years but I must give the present staff credit for making changes. Yes it is true that the most recent victories have been over weaker teams but those teams have played some competitive basketball. Our defense has improved. Putting the ball in Edwards hand and letting him work off of Kricke has allowed the other players to move without the ball. We actually run the back cuts pretty efficiently without the logjam around the low post. This movement has also opened up our outside shooters with open balanced shots. We are also pushing the ball more. We have several plays to get Green and Kobe the ball. Although he might not be the best offensive or defensive player Bayu gives us great athleticism and will only get better. Palm is a mystery. If you watch him shoot in warm up he does have a nice shot. I felt that The substitution pattern with one guard and several players in foul trouble was well done at Evansville. Lets hope the trend continues.

Found out I had The SEC Chanel on Comcast. Not much fun watching turnovers, layups, and dunks. Will go watch for the mail delivery. Will be more exciting.

Edwards had a nice game. And his outside shot although a bit unorthodox, might be adequate in keeping the defense honest. He had 15 against Chicago State and saw limited minutes the next couple of games. It appears our ball handlers might be limited as Preston sat the whole second half with his shooting shirt on.

Unfortunately or fortunate as the case may be, I had to leave for a concert and did not witness the OT. Knowing that our outside shooting could be suspect, I can't believe with all of the players available in the transfer portal, we took  a division II player with such a fundamentally poor outside shot. Looking at some video of our Canadian guard recruit, I don't see much improvement arriving in the future.

Great win. Had to watch by way of play by play feed. I was waiting for us to shoot ourselves in the foot. But it did not happen. Watching prior games this year our on the ball defense is suspect and team help rotations are slow. With JMU apparent athleticism and our inability to attack the basket I am not surprised with the foul discrepancy in both games. At some time I would like to see Jerome's inside power move as opposed to the three ball.

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.

Good performance. Not sure how good Western Michigan will be. Enjoyed up tempo type of game. 20 fast break points and 46 points in the paint is impressive. Pushing the ball does not allow defense to set and provide help. Main concern is performance from the three big men 2 points and 13 rebounds and outside guard shooting. Time will tell as team improves. Several games to work on this before Eastern trip.

Taylor 40 minutes and 1 of 9 from three point land. When was the last time we saw a 40 minute game from a ML player?

Just watching player introductions we seemed like we were emotionally drained and attending a funeral. A positive  and emotional pre game routine does not automatically translate into a competitive performance. However, we never got out of the funk and our play was obviously sub par. Something was definitely wrong.

In actuality both calling a time out and not calling a time out can be good coaching. It depends on the execution in each scenario. Hopefully, these situations have been worked on in practice and the end result is a good shot.

Fine win. We overcame a lot of mistakes and adversity. Rebounding was strong and surprisingly we had a better 3 pt shooting percentage. I thought a young line up midway in the first half allowed NI an 8 point run and the end of first half debacle would kill us. But the players fought back.  I must admit I had zero confidence with our offensive execution and the ability to hold a 7 point lead in the final minutes. I was concerned about Darius in crunch time. Ball handling yes but he is a 50% ft shooter with limited attempts. Preston has yet to shoot a ft. Both need the reps but it is tough to get those minutes now. I like Edward's intensity. Coach needs to somehow utilize that ability. When the overtime looked bleak, Sheldon scored 5 to bring us back. Fortunately, the only person tall enough (Ben) caught the last pass and was able to hit two clutch ft. With a three point lead with several seconds to go putting NI on the line might have proved interesting. Fortunately, not needed. Tough trip to Indiana State for noon start. That is a tough place to play even for a normal game start.

My question is not ready to play or not prepared to play. I believe Missouri State took the wind out of our sails in the first 10 minutes. Since there is little press coverage, who is actually at the press conference?

Yesterday's game was indeed perplexing. I was thinking from prior comments that tended to be an out of control team. That was not the case. Their defensive pressure the first half greatly reduced high percentage shots in the first half. It appeared we could dent Missouri States armor with a more open attack in the second half. The result was about the same. When we did have little mini runs the Missouri State coach was calling time outs. He was not going to lose control. Always saw 3 or 4 purple jerseys to one white in the offensive rebounding war. I will be interested to see how Matt approaches this team on the road and what adjustments are made.

I was sitting several rows away from the vocal fan. He has been loud throughout the years. Actually, I have friends who changed their seats as a direct result of his past actions. The most perplexing part was some inappropriate language and the duration of the rant. Matt is in the proverbial kitchen and there is heat. However, in my opinion the rant was inappropriate.

I watched him play against Villanova and he had 22 the first half. Villanova denied him the ball the second half and took the game. I believed he still managed to get 30. He is the real deal in all phases of the game. With Big East player of the year discussion in the works I believe his choice to transfer worked out to be the best move.

Wh
We did watch the same game. We watched it from different perspectives. Not knowing Loyola's game plan and my inability to discern intricate coaching maneuvers while watching the tv broadcast, you could be very precise in your judgement. I cannot tell. We did have great intensity and were mentally involved in the competitive aspect of the game. There are many parts to coaching. I tend to focus on execution which is the result of teaching and practice. A great coach also told me that a coach has to have a "feel" for the game. This intangible might dictate changes, substitutions, and general game management. At about the 7 minute mark with a good lead one could sense Loyola picking up the defensive pressure and forcing us out of what we were doing. Something special could have been set up to get one of our bigs on the block or King on the block without Loyola help. Also after the technical and the point guard dribbling into a triple team on the sidelines, it was apparent the team needed to regroup. Finally in regulation a time out to review fundamentals. Getting the ball in bounds, MEETING all passes, and protecting the ball could have been helpful. These fundamental  things should have been worked on in practice but even great players need to be reminded and be refocused.  Hindsight is a scary thing. But if one can learn from it, it can be valuable. As far as making NBA threes, if a player is open within his range, has balance, and the green light to shoot, a good percentage are going to go in.

A significant aspect of coaching is getting the players in a situation where they can utilize their strengths an be successful. Krikke had three shots and according to the announcer Loyola was playing small. Some of these guys may be new but they have had ample time to acclimate into the system. There is nothing complicated about what they do.

Good effort by the players. Unfortunately, they were not put in the best position to win. We do not have an organized press attack and had trouble getting the ball in bounds to players meeting the ball. Our offense turned to organized playground during crunch time. Everything one on one. If it comes down to a last second shot, we are toast. I have not observed any special sets at any time. Homer, Bryce, and Scott always had a special set to go to. This was evident after a timeout. I am sure many of you remember the back pick cuts to a lob pass dunk that Homer ran. Scott even ran a similar play in the National Championship game. Our kids are being shortchanged because they are not given the tools. Discipline and execution of the basketball fundamentals is not and has not been a quality of this program.

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.

Could not watch game last night. Perhaps that was a break. However, being a glutton for punishment I watched the replay concentrating on the defense. Although our on ball defense is fair, our off ball help defense is non existent. If we do help, our next rotation to help is slow or not there resulting in a layup. We generally play tight even on the week side resulting in a wide open middle and a susceptibility to the back door and no opportunity to help. We tend to stand stiff legged and do not move. Do not seem to communicate well. Many other fundamental mistakes. Will a zone help? Not likely as we don't move, communicate, or above all rotate. When I have seen our zones, we generally have a weak rebounding position because of lack of rotation.

Yes, the players make mistakes. What you do and are taught in practice will be reflected on the floor. Judging from our performance I question what teaching is going on. That being said a road trip to Northern Iowa has always been tough for Valpo. I have no use for any comments regarding Valpo facilities as the fundamentals we need could be developed in the worst YMCA gymnasium.

For the first time rather than just penetrate and kick out, I saw some interesting offensive execution. Shuffle cuts and back cuts. King was especially effective at getting the ball inside. Unfortunately, our timing was off and the cutter or the ball movement caused us to miss the advantage. Defensively I believe Matt was trying some new defenses as he was emphatically calling out instructions on the defensive end. On ball defense decent but help rotation is a work in progress. Rebounding is another issue. We were outrebounded by 12. A lot of things to work out. A win is always good especially when it appears the confidence in each other is improving.

Last I checked next two opponents have a combined one win so far. It should be a good opportunity to fine tune the offense, insert some special wrinkles for conference play, and exit the new year solidly above 500.

Anything can happen coming off a finals week. Sometime it is difficult to get quality practice time with all of your players. Eastern Michigan's record was above 500 and was a quality opponent for such a contest. Looking at their roster it was obvious that we could have a match up problem with their three guard attack. We appeared a little sluggish and were out hustled in the first half and not getting back on defense. Improved second half with less players in the rotation. EMU number 5 a freshman took us to school early in the second half. When King was switched on him he was forced to play against a bigger and more athletic player and never got past 17 points. Good spark provided by Taylor. In the second half we had little continuity in lineup with players being pulled every dead ball. Interesting at 3:30? time out Gore sent King into the game and controlled the huddle. Matt was with assistants by scorers bench. A win after finals break is always a good win.

Some improvement today as our ball movement was better. We still use purposeless dribbles which allow the defense to rotate and match up. We do not send anybody to the offensive board. Corner and side shots should have a designated weak side rebounder. Our players watch the arc of the shot and retreat. Double team on Ben will be common. However, players must recognize this and create a passing lane and not remain stationary. Many little things to work on. Close games are won by execution of little things. At three seconds Valpo did not take a time out during the free throw to discuss made or miss options. I would like to see the 4 point play option Matt drew up in the time out? Times choosing not to cover the game. My subscription is up for renewal. Easy to make that decision.