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Barrett with the monumental feat of 5 fouls in 11 mins including fouling out on an in bounds play in which the ball never got inbounded. He's got no feet and, as mentioned above, just can't defend.

When Cooper went out, the game was non competitive even if the score was close for a bit. That was because Valpo threw in a few 3's for a change but the game quickly reverted back to normal.

Regarding the roster now and into next season, we may be seeing the end of Edwards career at Valpo. Coach has made some references towards him recently not in a flattering way, he hasn't played well recently and didn't play much today although with a bug going around maybe that was the reason.

Right now I'm with Darius, Cooper, Williamson and maybe Sepp as keepers. They'll be more kept but everyone else can be replaced IMHO. Team needs some rugged inside players.

When I click on the ValpoFanZone, I now see a page with only the most recent entry in a few categories.  Is this some kind of an accident in our or just my portal path?  Or is this a deliberate change in the topics menu? There were more recent posts on other topics than the Feb. 8 sports one.

Rooting for an accident since it looks like something out of the late 1990's

edit: and after reading the sticky I see my thoughts about the age of the software is accurate.

Indiana St getting mentions on the 4 letter sports network for the first time today.

Maybe that's the explanation. It is odd that this does seem to happen a lot in which a team makes some sort of break through and immediately loses.

Copobianco and Van Wyck were big more mature guys ...the kind we at this point do not have.  You cannot compare those veteran guys with our freshmen...get real!  As stated earlier we are too young and lack strength and experience and as was mentioned these kids have hit a wall.  Give them a break.  Alec Peters got pushed around too when he was a freshman.  Along with Coach Powell, the future is bright.

I think with what we see on the court and combined with the coach's comments that the REALity of the situation is closer to what me and a couple of others have pointed out over the string of excuses seen from others.

The roster needs to be turned over to a great degree with only a couple of keepers in terms of players who should be significant future contributors. The reality of the transfer portal makes whatever the coach can cobble together for next season the great unknown since it is every bit possible that the team loses more than it gains. We just don't know.

Some of what's posted here appears to me to be excuse making and/or simply retaining some hope for the future. IOW....it can't possibly be this bad.

The team had no rebounds in the first 5 minutes of the game. Granted, the other team didn't provide many opportunities for those rebounds but there was no effort from Valpo. It was embarrassing. Defense and rebounding are sourced from effort with a little design. The effort wasn't there and the coach said the design was and wasn't followed. He's clearly looking for effort from his team and his comments indicate he's not happy with what he's seeing as far as effort is concerned.

We still see the same early game struggles we saw last year. We still see the same horrific 3 point defense we saw last year.

What we also see is a coach who, at least more publicly, is going to look to change that with the makeup of the future roster.

That is the hope...the only hope.

Agree JD24: John Kiser, Draymond Green, Dennis Rodman get after it type player...

Copobianco, Van Wijk wouldn't take the pushing around Valpo is receiving.

Between the ISU game, yesterday's game where the team just got manhandled with no resistance and the Evansville game in which they shot 3 free throws as the home team, I wonder about the...un.....intestinal fortitude....of the roster.

I'd call it something else. I think Roger Powell's PC after the game yesterday would indicate he would call it something else as well.

We played hard

I don't agree with this at all and I'm not sure Roger Powell agrees with this at all. A team that plays hard does not come out and not defend a shooter who they've been schooled to not let free as the collection of do nothings on the team did out of the gate today. Making the score somewhat palatable is not playing hard.

What this team needs is at least one head knocker. Somebody who, if this game was occurring on his watch, would lay the wood to a few guys whether whistled or not. This team has no one like this at all.

Roger Powell needs dogs and he's got a roster full of cats.

No group can buff a turd better in their journalism than Valpo Athletics, but that's what you expect.

They can spin it with the best of them can't they? 

Anybody catch how many Bird and Carl Nicks had?

SG —> Soapyjeans?

I would think Soapyjeans would be SJ.

I'll guess there was a post at one point by a new poster with the initials of SG which was removed for whatever reason.

SG don't disagree , welcome to board. It certainly is a profit center for Valparaiso. Anyone who states differently is kidding themselves

Who is "SG"?

Lots of enthusiasm from the coach but 3 FTs at a home game? That's embarrassing. Complete lack of aggression.

After the last game, I wrote about "the weakness of our softer inside game, as we've seen in the past two games, losing on rebounds 96-66 and points in the paint 74-38!" Again against Evansville Valpo lost in rebounding (36-29) and points in the paint (30-24) as well as at free throw attempts (15-3). These are all indicators of aggression and toughness inside or, in this case, a lack of it. I like Coach Powell, but the last thing I expected from one of his teams was softness in the paint. Part of it lies in the fact that Sepp and Schwieger are freshmen and need time to build strength, but doesn't explain Palm. The three combined for only 5 rebounds in 50 minutes of play. For the third time in four games Sepp had 0 points, and I believe his only shot was blocked. However, I am assuming when the Rev repeatedly declares, as he did in the postgame conference, he'll be bringing in transfer dudes to complement the freshmen next year, he means tough bigs.

I liked Powell's PC yesterday as he repeatedly mentioned what he wanted corrected and at least once referenced that he'd bring people in to do so. I consistently looked at Schwieger as if to tell him that even he has to get more on board. Having said that, his game may be more of as a perimeter player. Rebounding can often be a quickness issue rather than either size or the ability to box out which is something everyone always talks about when teams don't rebound well. Those who are quick jumpers and aggressive to the ball are sometimes more valuable than bigger guys who are more flat footed and aren't sacrificing their bodies to do so. It sounded to me like there's some dissatisfaction with Edwards in this regard.

Stafford's game frustrates me from a shooting standpoint in terms of selection and making shots but I will say he rebounds well particularly for a guard and he has a lot of value in that regard.

Lots of enthusiasm from the coach but 3 FTs at a home game? That's embarrassing. Complete lack of aggression.

Coach Powell is not an idiot and I'm sure he could foresee NIL issues at Valpo that he'd need to deal with along with other potential transfer issues. However if the first player, who appears to be a hidden gem, that he recruits leaves immediately for a better program and more NIL...Wisconsin anyone?....Coach Powell may begin to have second thoughts about his decision before it is too late. Right now there's no "NIL" guys other than Cooper on the roster unless they are in a state of delusion....which ALWAYS exists with young adults these days....but it could develop into an ongoing issue which dormants the program completely unless things change.

"Have faith in Coach Rev" I guess is maintaining a positive attitude but it is also very naive.

I never played football and have never discussed this with any football players, but how would the current football players view this question? Would they prefer playing more higher tier opponents or playing non-D1 opponents outside of conference? This should be considered in such decisions.

Having played and coached at the college level, I can provide a generalized opinion. 1 - Players always want to be challenged by whom they play. 2 - Players want to see how they fare against the next highest level of talent. 3 - Players want to win So it is never a black or white answer to your "either/or" question. Our kids relish being challenged in conference or out of conference, and they love seeing how they measure up against FCS scholarship programs, despite knowing that the odds are stacked against them. Occasionally, however, there are glimpses of what might've been (like at Montana or against Illinois State). But they also need a "win fix."  Always playing over one's head and never winning wears you down, saps energy and plays with your mind. But easy wins without the challenge also is not rewarding. The answer, 84,  is a proper balance between your two options. And generally, Coach Fox has followed that script —> One FCS scholarship "buy" game + one Ivy or lower tier FCS or NCAA DII game + one NAIA or NCAA DIII game (although some NAIA programs give NCAA DII a run for their money). But this season the NCAA has allowed FCS schools to schedule a 12th game. We could have added a non-scholarship DIII, but Coach Fox instead chose to go in the opposite direction and scheduled Northern Iowa.  And that in a nutshell is the reason for this particular discussion.  Had we scheduled a DIII, IMO, it wouldn't have been an issue.

I'm in agreement with much of what Bud says here. Players want to play quality opponents to some degree but the also want an opportunity to win. Players do not want to have their brains beat in and it's possible if not probable that back to back efforts in which Valpo is getting pummeled and likely losing a player or two who would have helped win vs. the competition within the PFL could ruin the focus of the team.

There needs to be a balance.

Wow, if I only had one offer out of HS, my personal loyalties would keep me at that program for 4 years.  Think of Alec Peters getting offers, but the biggest programs shying away from him in HS and saying he wasn't ready, and him carrying that chip with him over his entire time at Valpo.  I would think it pretty weak of someone to bolt for NIL money, after being spurned in such a way during HS.

I'm around a lot of HS kids including a few major athletes in football and basketball. Based on conversations with the kids directly and some of their surrounding people, NIL is a big deal and they all think they are worthy of it.

So in terms of Schweiger, thinking that he wouldn't leave due to the potential presence of NIL for him is setting up a situation to be very disappointed.

In addition to the player(s) potentially leaving, the concern is that the coach doesn't want to deal with a situation in which every decent player he brings in is a one and done may have that coach move on.

Based on the overall circumstances at Valpo, this should be a worry for all fans of the program.

I will be so disappointed when the season ends and a week later Cooper transfers to a middle of the pack Big 10/12 school for a 50k per year NIL deal. As much as I believe the way Roger is building is the right way to do it, I have my doubts that it can succeed for a small school in the NIL era.

Were that to happen and I don't think it will not, you can likely kiss Roger Powell goodbye. I doubt he took the Valpo job to coach the farm team for other schools.

St. Francis of Brooklyn does not play football but they don't currently play anything. They dropped all sports last year.

In addition to the NEC version, there are St. Francis's in Indiana and Illinois. I think they are lower division schools.

One of the better, if not the best, OLmen in the recent past for Valpo. Good to see him back.

Probably semantics as I assume that the other 6-7 assistant coaches and support staff (of which Lottich is included) are not all working for free. My guess is that the Whitten family pays for the HC and 3 assistants while the school pays for the remainder of the staff.

I agree that it is hard to believe that there would not be offset language in whatever buyout Lottich and Valpo agreed to. Paying assistants has also been an issue long prior to the Lottich issue so that may not be the main reason the FB and other staffs would be neglected in this regard.

Seems like a bunch of OL.

1-6 was my first thought but I don't want to be too much of a downer

2-5 I'll go with.

Whatever we are doing to prepare for beginning of games needs to be looked into 

Letting Stafford onto the court?

Coach hopefully has the hook ready for Stafford as the potential for the opposite of the last game is likely pretty high.

If so, I think Valpo gets a win 70-65.

If not, potential is there to be shot out of the game before there's a chance to recover.