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Perhaps with Wood the Crusaders make it to the tournament in 2012 and not 2013. I think losing Wood definitely helped with the development of many of our players.

Completely agree.  If Wood stays in 2011-12, then this past season Ryan Broekhoff has to make the adjustment of becoming the go to guy and carrying more of the load.  Instead, since Wood left, it was Broekhoff's second year in that same role, and he looked more comfortable as a leader.

What if Mike Rogers makes 1 of those 2 layups at Milwaukee?
What if Cory Johnson doesn't go 0/8 at Green Bay?
What if Brandon Wood doesn't go 1/8 in a 20 point loss against Loyola?

G'day all I just wanted to drop you all a line to say a big thank you from Rowdy, his family and I.   We have loved being a part of the Valpo basketball and academic families and can't believe how quickly the four years have flown by.   Rowdy has loved playing with the team a sensational group of young men who became his brothers, getting to know and meeting all the fans, living and studying here and we have enjoyed each and every time we have visited.   Graduation today was amazing and a very proud moment for me.   I am very thankful that I was able to come back to be a part of it and see so many wonderful students graduate alongside my son.   We wont say goodbye because we hope to come back one day to visit all the special friends we have made.   Thanks again for making Valpo basketball such fun, we are going to miss seeing Ryan wearing his number 45 and playing for the Crusaders but we hope he left a mark and that you all wont forget him.   You all take care and remember us in Australia as we wont forget you 

Koala: Thank you for your generous spirit and to Ryan for many great moments I was privileged to capture in pictures. However, below is one of my photos I enjoyed taking as much as any this past season. We hope the two of you return often for visits in the future.

Just noticed Matt Kenney in the background..

Agreed. I see Davidson more as a Matt Kenney type as a 2 guard. We already have 2 natural PGs in Carter and Williams. Davidson probably will only be used as an emergency PG. And with Dority back next season we have 3 different PGs ahead of Davidson. With Kenney obviously graduating Davidson was recruited to take over his role. Not the PG since we already have 3 PGs for next year.

Davidson taking over Kenney's role seems similar to when Kenney took over Howard Little's role for the past two seasons.  All three are similar 2-guards.

Kenney played the worst game of his career, and still played 33 minutes.  Boggs and Dority were sitting on the bench ready to take his spot.  Wonder why Bryce kept Kenney on the court when he was making turnover after turnover?

Could you see anyone from green bay or the rest of the conferance transfering...ie sykes....he was insain

Two words: Kyle Kelm

Paul Oren had Matt Kenney on his 2nd team, which I see as unlikely for a couple reasons:

1. Voters might have already submitted their ballots before yesterday's fabulous game from Kenney.
2. While Kenney has had a ton of double figure scoring games in conference, he was very inconsistent in the non-conference season.
3. Not many single digit scorers make an all conference team. (Except Ron Nored last year)

If he keeps this up, there is no way Ray wins POY over Rowdy (unless we choke as a team...knock on wood).  I vote Ray Jr for POSOY though!

By knock on wood, did you mean it literally? http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=310552674

Playing Creighton would give Rowdy an opportunity to guard a player with NBA level talent, Doug McDermott.  McDermott does play the 4 at Creighton, right?

Playing Creighton would give Rowdy an opportunity to guard a player with NBA level talent, Doug McDermott.  McDermott does play the 4 at Creighton, right?

I believe McDermott does play the 4 at Creighton in a three guard lineup with Gibbs, Chatman, and Manigat, with Echenique in the middle.  I would also love to see the Broekhoff/McDermott matchup, which is two guys who play the 4 in college but will definitely be at the 3 professionally.

I must say... I am looking forward to see Kevin and Bobby go up against Devon Long and Luda Ndaye.  The interior is where Valpo will win this game with Grady being out for CSU. 

Will needs to shoot or sit down. Coach Drew was outcoached both on the court and in preparing his team for the game. Hopefully they can pull it together and beat an injury plagued CSU team. http://sectionee.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-is-wrong-with-valpo.html?m=1 Brent wrote this one. I don't really agree about Boggs but everything else is pretty spot on IMO. A fella named Adam won our contest on the blog. If Adam is on here go back to the blog to claim your prize.

I would have to replace Matt Kenney for Ben Boggs on #2 in that article.  Ben Boggs is statistically much improved from last year, but we have not seen the real Matt Kenney yet this season.  I'm not saying he should score 27 like he did as a freshman against Loyola, but Kenney should be scoring 8-9 points per game.

2. Fernandez could have the hardest time dunking of anyone his size that I've ever seen.

Two words... Hrvoje Vucic

Two more words... Cameron Witt.  See the Valpo vs. UWM highlights on this page.  http://www.horizonleague.org/video.html?page=9&sport_id=2&teams%5B%5D=8

To be honest, the HL has so many fours and fives that can shoot the three, and I'm not sure Bryce Drew wants either KVW or Capo guarding out on the perimeter.  Guys like Ben Averkamp, Cole Darlilng, Brennan Cougill,  Hayden Humes, etc. spend a lot of time on the perimeter, and with Capo and KVW in the game, one of them would be guarding these guys.


So I don't think we will see too much of Valpo's big lineup.

Well, it seems as though Dority took minutes from Will Bogan and Matt Kenney, who each only played 10 minutes tonight, well below their season averages.  However, those guys are team players and are willing to give up PT to help the team, so I don't think that will be an issue.

Dority becoming eligible should result in decreased minutes for Bogan and Buggs.

Why doesn't alex rossi have a role on our team?

To me, at least, its quite simple.  Jordan Coleman and Ben Boggs are getting more minutes on the perimeter than most people probably expected before the season started.  The two of them are probably taking 10-15 minutes away from Alex Rossi right now.

I think we are a much better and more well rounded team than last years regular season champion.  That is why we will be in ever game going forward and none of which seem out of reach regardless of the location. It' seems fairly simple: last year we played 8 guys and a 7' who sat the fast majority of time and really brought nothing new to the table.  One of our 'bigs" was a guy who could shoot it from the 3 but didn't really like to bang like a backup big should.  We had Matt who of course seems not only back, but better, and a skinny kid who could on occasion light it up but would also chuck up a 30' with 20 on the shot clock. This year we add a true banger, a shot blocker and two guys who are bigger and can shoot as well.  Oh, and the backup point isn't either and is built like a brick uh...basket ball goal  We will shortly have all the pieces.  It will depend on coaching, hard play and luck, but we have the potential for really great things...

I like the subtle reference to Jay Harris. 

This cannot go unnoticed.  Matt Kenney, 7 assists 0 turnovers.  I don't know why Will Bogan has been playing backup point guard when Kenney could have been doing it.

Has anyone mentioned Chicago State and former UIC guard Corey Gray?  He has played 2 games at the ARC vs. Valparaiso.

February 8, 2010: 17 minutes, 5 points, 2 assists.
February 26, 2011: 20 minutes, 1 point, 3 assists.

I think Vashil statistics this season will be similar to former UCLA center Anthony Stover's stats the past two seasons.  No scoring, not much PT, but a lot of shot blocking.

Here are my Playing time observations so far:

- If Alex Rossi isn't getting minutes now, then he certainly won't be getting minutes once Capo and Dority are back. 

- As for right now, I am surprised that Coleman is getting so many minutes.  I thought he would have been the "odd man out" of the rotation, not Rossi.

- It is likely that Kevin's minutes will go down when Bobby comes back, and Vashil's minutes will also be taken by Bobby. 

- Will Bogan is currently playing 29 MPG (a lot of them at point guard), so I expect his PT to go down when Dority is eligible.

- If Kenney keeps playing well, he could start chipping away at Ben Boggs' minutes.

- Rowdy will continue to play 32-33 MPG this season

Erik Buggs - taking over at the end of regulation!  And into OT.  Fantastic effort from a player we didn't even expect to see on the court. And KVW, my goodness.  Thinking only of the end, how many minutes did he play with four fouls?! Excellent _quality_ streaming video.  The camera work was questionable.  And, the broadcasters, oh my...

I've never heard broadcasters criticize the refs SO much as the Kent State broadcasters did.  While there were a lot of fouls, they were evenly distributed between both teams, so the refs were calling it tight on both ends.

Playing Creighton would give Rowdy an opportunity to guard a player with NBA level talent, Doug McDermott.  McDermott does play the 4 at Creighton, right?

Kenney needs to get more minutes, especially if he continues to play like this.  Since he comes of the bench and doesn't come in until about the 16:00 mark of each half, its as though he can play a maximum of 32 minutes.  He should be consistently getting 25-26 minutes per game, and in my opinion, should play more minutes than Boggs and Bogan. 

Brandon Wood was close with Brandon McPherson, this video says it all: Valpo Men's Basketball Interview with The Brandons