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Just to clarify to crazy and completely unfounded rumors - 1. There is nothin wrong with Rossi's foot or feet and 2.  There are certainly NO discipline issues whatsoever

No chance that the starting 5 tomorrow after the Loyola L

I've eluded to this before but besides Rowdy (and Rossi from what I've seen in the limited time he's played) this team can't shoot.  And while I'll conceed that it may be too harsh to say "team", it's not to harsh, given the quickly increasing sample size, to say that Dority needs to STOP SHOOTING so damn much!  Every shot he takes is one that Ryan isn't taking.  He's 18 for 58 on the season, 31%!!!  His 3 pt. percentage is 24% (6/25).  All that and he's averaging about as many shots as Ryan and 3 more than KVW - lord only know how much he'll shoot once he feel more comfortable with the team! 

He was never known as a shooter and he's proving why, at this point, I flat out feel like he's hurting more than he's helping. 

Sorry for the rant - I'm frustrated by this home loss to what I thought would be a lesser conference foe.

I noted that myself, but it's worth mentioning that he came off the bench cold and sunk a three. At the end of close games, when we can sub in and out for offense and defense, why don't we see him on the floor? At the very end of the game yesterday he had a short display that he can do some pretty good ball handling -- it just seems that he has a special skill that should be exploited.

I agree with two points here:  1. I also noted that little ball handling display and was pleasantly surprised.  2. good point on the O for D subs at the end of the game.

Also, while I don't remember his guy blowing right by him shortly after he entered I did notice at one point he made moved really well to cut someone off who was attempting to go baseline.  I remember this because the announcers commented on it as well.

Regardless of the opponent, this kids shot looks great and I feel like he'll be helping us a lot more before the seasons done.

1. It was nice to see Will shoot it like he did
2. Fernandez could have the hardest time dunking of anyone his size that I've ever seen.
3. Nice to see Rossi get some PT - I feel like he must still be nursing some injury because I feel like every time he lets it go its going in

Good easy W and nice to get Ryan some rest for the ankle

Also, comparing Valpo's 3-point shooting to Loyola doesn't at all mean "

I meant that if we're comparing anything to Loyola it's a problem.  Not focused on one aspect of their team stats but just in general....as Loyola isn't a tourney team, like many people thought we were.  I get we could still be one, but a team that starts 5 seniors back from the regular season champs last yr. should IMHO be better than we are this year.  Stats or not, we just flat out don't look like a tourney team.  I mean are we really excited about a close win over MO St?  I'm thankful we don't have Butler or Creighton on the schedule this year as that could get ugly.

fair enough on the math - I got that group at 46/137 = 33%. 

As for comparing us to Loyola - that makes the greater point - we're not that good. 

I'll take my humble pie with milk please!  Sorry for the blasting. 

However, getting past the 3 pt stuff.  I'm willing to wager my newly refunded 2 cents thats LVD takes huge mins from Will in the coming games.

Also, I stand by my comments on LVD - too many shots/Rowdy needs more if we're going to be a tourney team.  If not, let's just lower the bar.  All these comparisons to last season are getting old....we didn't make the tourney last year either, and if not making the tourney isn't where your bar is set, then fine.  For me, I saw us as a tourney team and it's clear to me already that we have long odds of making it.  Clearly this isn't a two team league as many (myself at times) thought coming into the year.  I mean you can't lose to Neb, STL, NM and Oakland and then present the resume to the selection committee and say "but we beat Northern Illinois and Missiouri State". 

I think we have too many guys that are getting into the rotation, my hope is that Bryce figures it out and get it down to 7 or 8 guys playing every night.  Clearly all that matters at this point is the conference tourney, so even if we're below 500 heading into that, we can still win a few games and make the tourney.  I say that because it gives the coaches time to figure out the best lineup and then go with it for a while before the conf. tourney.

Sorry about the bad math on the 3's - it just seems like we take a ton and other than Rowdy we're below average.

my 

While I think LVD is a nice addition, I'm hoping he learns his role, because him leading the team in shots/pts. isn't it as far as I'm concerned.  He's taken 21 shots in 2 games (including 12 3's) - so he clearly thinks his role on this team is as a primary scorer.  I feel that every shot he takes is one that Rowdy isn't and that's because it works that way....period.  It's absolutely a zero-sum game.

Shots per game: 
Rowdy =  10.6
LVD = 10.5 (I get that it's early but I could argue that you'd expect him to shoot less early on, not more)
KVW = 7.3
Bobby C = 5.3

Also, if you factor out Rowdy and Rossi's contributions from behind the arc here's what you're left with:

Bogan = .353 (34 shots)
Kenney = .387 (31)
Boggs = .357 (28)
Coleman = .333 (15)
LVD = .333 (12)
Buggs = .100 (10)
Bobby = .286 (7)

That's BRUTAL!!!   Either get better or stop shooting.  I mean how do you argue this??  That group is shooting 25% combined from 3 and it's a significant percentage of our shots (about 35% of all our FG attempts - again not counting Rowdy or Rossi)

Rowdy can clearly shoot it, this isn't breaking news and it's the reason he needs more good shots (he's 28/67 = 42% from 3) and Rossi is 4/6 and is known as a shooter.

As for Rossi, he must either be hurt or he flat out sucks in practice.  I have no idea how he's not getting mins. at this point.  If he's going to be a key contributor next year then he needs mins this year or else we're going to have to get use to the bottom of the conference standings.  I mean we clearly need help on offense and we clearly need someone besides Rowdy that can shoot it and yet he still sits.  So what else am I to think?  He's either hurt or he's no longer a D1 caliber basketball player (which would be a little surprising given what he was suppose to be coming out of HS).   

Finally , at this point it's appears that Will's season is on a drastic downward slope - 7 mins. last night to LVD's 30.  So maybe we give this new lineup a look for a while, but again if LVD thinks he's going to lead this team in shots and that somehow that will be good for us, I think we'll soon be trying another lineup.

We beat Kent State so far and that's it and they're 5-5!  I don't care what we did last year, my eyes tell me all I need to know and right now I don't see a team that can with the conference and therefore has NO CHANCE at making the tourney.  We've lost to every good team we've played and barely beat some of the garbage teams.

just my humble opinion

His defense in high school could be suspect based on the style of play in high school, competition played, and how good the programs were that he played against. He might not be as ready has his high school numbers and inflated internet ranking say he really is now?

Understanding that you said "could be", I thought I'd try to address these points since I followed Alex Rossi (and HS Bball in the North Shore) pretty closely:
1. New Trier played in one of the toughest conferences in the state, Waukegan, Evanston, Maine South were all very good while he was there
2. Rossi was conference POY over a McDonalds All-American (Jeremy Richmond, Waukegan)
3. New Trier is known for annually playing one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the state.  They routinely play the best teams from the Chicago Public league, they play in the Proviso West Holiday tournament and all this on top of playing in one of the largest school conferences in Illinois
4. Rossi played on one of the best AAU programs in the nation (Rising Stars), he was also a starter and key contributor on that team with players who have done extremely well in college including (Lenzelle Smith, starter for OH St, Rayvonte Rice who was dominate at Drake and is currently sitting at Illinois due to a transfer and Ben Brust, WI (who actually played behind Rossi)
5. Rossi had offers from ND, Virginia, Stanford, many big 10 schools and several pac 12 schools as well other High Majors

Finally, it's my guess that Bryce is content to "save" Rossi for next season, get him stronger (since he's essentially playing his freshman year right now) and play the many seniors he's got at the same position.  That being said, I think at some point we need to score and with Kenney, Boggs and Bogan not doing much of that we could see Rossi get more mins (assuming he's healthy).

just my 

Vashil is too much of a liability to keep him on the court for any lenght of time. As good as he can be at times on defense, he has way to many turnovers. And bogan is our weakest guard. He can shoot, but so can everybody else...besides buggs. Coleman is good as well he should still get his minutes. Vashil,bogan, and boggs should lose the most minutes as far as I'm concerned. Rossi needs more, assuming he is healthy.

I don't disagree about Vashil, but I do about the shooters.  I see no evidence to support the statement "but so can everybody else".  here's the facts:

Boggs shot 29% last year (overall and from 3)
Kenney shot 31% from 3 (much better overall)
Buggs shot 15% from 3 (but we agree that nobody would classify him as a shooter, although I love having him in the line-up for many reasons)

We're basically left with Ryan and Will as the primary outside threats.  It looks like Coleman can shoot it a little, at least so far.  And Rossi has lived up to his rep, again "so far".

I said this before, but I don't see any reason as to why Rossi didn't get in during the Kent State game or play more vs. Nebraska.  I think his shooting can really take presure off of Ryan and our bigs

I'm thinking Kenny needs to be starting and Rossi needs some of Bogg's mins.
If the kid is healthy I'd like to see how he does.  He was a high major recruit who's sole reason for not playing for the 1st 2 yrs was an injury.   He was regarded as one of the top shooters in the nation in HS and played in the NBA top 100 camp.  If we're gonna struggle and more so, if BB isn't going to produce on O then when not play Rossi?   Again, assuming he's healthy.

Really good to see Buggs out there today!

He looked to be in A LOT of pain - I hope it's not too serious.

We lose so it's blame Ryan, can't the kid have a bad game.   Yes it was a poor loss, yes we played bad, yes we shot poorly but the usual bandwagon jumpers are in full swing and ready to point the finger.   I am as disappointed as anyone and it was really hard to watch especially when Nebraska weren't that good we were just worse ON THE DAY!   I think having Bobby would have helped the team with him banging away under the basket.   We live to fight another day and the sun will rise tomorrow morning but the same schmucks will find fault with every little thing and not be happy unless they do.       

I want to be clear, I'm not blaming Ryan for the loss anymore than the rest of team.  However, he's the conf POY and our best player.  I get that bad games happen to everyone but I'd much rather see his bad game come with a little more aggression.  To whom much is given, much is expected. 
Overall, he is a stud and if he just does what he did on that one drive near the end I think he gets the calls.  He is a future pro so forcin the action would usually mean good things. 
No doubt Bobby woulda helped and Kevin not missing those bunnies woulda helped too.  It's a team game and no one player ever loses a game in my mind. 
My feedback was never meant to be personal just critical and hopefully fair.

It's just flat out time for Ryan to step up and be the POY

Paging Ryan Broekhoff........

I think Ryan needs to spend some time with Bryce learning how to get his own shot when the offense comes to a grinding halt. If he doesn't get open within the flow of the offense...he's not getting a good shot. The one time he did try to go on his own, he barely drew iron. He's got enough talent, just needs to work on his one on one skills.

I thought he did it just fine on the play late when he drove and got fouled.  To me it seemed to be more mental/his mindset.  He can't wait for things to come to him when we're on the road and down late in the game.  It's time to force the action - hell take a bad shot, you're the POY if anyone should do it it's him. 

Time to remove the shoelaces and belts

Unbelievable thaKevin has missed all the bunnies and free throws.

^^^^this^^^^^

Paging Ryan Broekhoff........

It's just flat out time for Ryan to step up and be the POY

We're really missing Capo right now

Again, I'm new here but is the idea to name a thread and then comment about as many different topics as possible? 
Perhaps a new thread could be created today and just title it 2012/2013 season/recruiting and then we could just keep it going until after our tourney run to the elite 8?

but to be clear - I don't know for sure.

i heard hernia

awesome videos!  very cool

long time listener, first time caller - I'm pumped for this season and hope to be able to add to the discussions on here.  I finally decided to post because I couldn't agree more with this comment.  I've been on other boards and this one seems to have something against starting new threads on different topics.  Am I missing something?

. I think this topic should have it's own thread? Anybody else agree?