Bethune Cookman game

[chipper955]

I am Valpo

This is the Buggs video.  It's been on Youtube for a little while.  I could hardly understand a word of it either when I was at the game.  Good video though.

[Smj]

Thanks...   That was much better with words.    I hope they keep doing these videos -are these being done by students our did we bring someone in to make these? 

(might be time for a better sound system in the ARC)

[StlVUFan]

(might be time for a better sound system in the ARC)

This would be a meme by now if it weren't so on-target.

[vuweathernerd]

(might be time for a better sound system in the ARC)

This would be a meme by now if it weren't so on-target.

talk about  lol. when all else fails, we can always come back to this.

[bbtds]

(might be time for a better sound system in the ARC)

This would be a meme by now if it weren't so on-target.

talk about  lol. when all else fails, we can always come back to this.

http://www.zentastic.com/blog/2005/09/03/dead-horses/#

[valpopal]

Valpopal - your photography is excellent!!!

:-)

Thanks, Smj. I try not to post too many to the board, so if anyone is interested in seeing more photos, I am collecting them at my Valpo Basketball Photography web site, where I have posted 70 photographs so far and will be adding more:

http://photography226.wordpress.com/

[sliman]

Not trying to defend the sound system at the ARC; that might be mission impossible.  But I think a big part of the problem with the sound track on the Buggs video is that the track with the music is too loud and makes it difficult to hear Eric's rather soft-spoken comments.  That's been true with other videos as well -- almost as if the creator wants the music to pump up the crowd without regard for the audience's desire to hear the players speak.

[justducky]

Happy with what I saw...three things I didn't like
1 there is no sense in pump faking on wide open 3 pointers...that is so annoying we pass it around the arc and get wide open looks and just pump fake and pass...it gets old
2 turnovers against lousey opponents
3 defense...our defense is sub par...I don't think we defend well as a unit

Point#1   Many of those pump fakes that led to passes were in the last 8 minutes when we were trying to run some clock.
Point #2  Yes there are still too many turnovers, but I would argue that Bethune-Cookman is far from a lousy opponent.
Point #3  Our zone play looks pretty decent but our man to man still needs some work. When Dority is added to the guard rotation I expect our man play to improve significantly until we reach the point of having some of our best man on man play of the last decade. My reasoning is that we will have more quickness and depth on a group that already makes very few mental mistakes. Until then I will try to remain patient and optimistic.

[wh]

(might be time for a better sound system in the ARC)

This would be a meme by now if it weren't so on-target.

talk about  lol. when all else fails, we can always come back to this.

"Beating a dead horse" is another way of saying "unnecessary overkill."  Until we get an answer, complaining about it is anything but unnecessary.  As a longstanding, faithful paying customer, I continue to be disappointed that ml has never once responded to the many complaints about it on the Director's Corner Sub-Board.  Any of an assortment of answers would suffice - "we're working on it," "it will be fixed next week," "we don't have the money right now," "it'll have to wait until the ARC is rehabbed" - something, anything. 

[truth219]

Happy with what I saw...three things I didn't like
1 there is no sense in pump faking on wide open 3 pointers...that is so annoying we pass it around the arc and get wide open looks and just pump fake and pass...it gets old
2 turnovers against lousey opponents
3 defense...our defense is sub par...I don't think we defend well as a unit

Point#1   Many of those pump fakes that led to passes were in the last 8 minutes when we were trying to run some clock.
Point #2  Yes there are still too many turnovers, but I would argue that Bethune-Cookman is far from a lousy opponent.
Point #3  Our zone play looks pretty decent but our man to man still needs some work. When Dority is added to the guard rotation I expect our man play to improve significantly until we reach the point of having some of our best man on man play of the last decade. My reasoning is that we will have more quickness and depth on a group that already makes very few mental mistakes. Until then I will try to remain patient and optimistic.

I would like to hear your argument that bethune-cookman isn't lousy. I bet their rpi at the end of the year is in the 200's

[valporun]

While Bethune's RPI might plateau at the 200's by the time the RPIs make a difference, it's better than the crap show that is Chicago State, who will be near dead last by the end of the season, and won't help our RPI a bit.

[vuweathernerd]

(might be time for a better sound system in the ARC)

This would be a meme by now if it weren't so on-target.

talk about  lol. when all else fails, we can always come back to this.

"Beating a dead horse" is another way of saying "unnecessary overkill."  Until we get an answer, complaining about it is anything but unnecessary.  As a longstanding, faithful paying customer, I continue to be disappointed that ml has never once responded to the many complaints about it on the Director's Corner Sub-Board.  Any of an assortment of answers would suffice - "we're working on it," "it will be fixed next week," "we don't have the money right now," "it'll have to wait until the ARC is rehabbed" - something, anything. 

i'm right there with you. the sound system's been a complaint for years - it was even discussed on a regular basis back on the old board.

[StlVUFan]

No one -- for my tastes -- has a clue what anyone's RPI is going to be in March.  You can predict, but it won't mean anything to me until March actually comes.

I would however say that the Bethune-Cookman team I watched on my little screen seemed highly volatile and easily thrown off their game.  3 Technical fouls (only 1 on the bench), and lots of "we're getting screwed by the refs" looks on a regular basis.  If they are going to be at all relevant, I think they have to get better at keeping their composure.

[justducky]

I would like to hear your argument that bethune-cookman isn't lousy. I bet their rpi at the end of the year is in the 200's

From what I observed and read I would give them a best guess level of potential of between 125 and 225. They are a quick, physical, risk taking team that could force a great many turnovers and might still lose badly. I have no idea as to the quality of their coaching but I expect them to have a solid season that may include some upsets.

Just remember that last March a quick, physical, risk taking team with an RPI above 140 walked into the ARC and beat us like step-children and though they had spent much of the season with an RPI between 160-230 I had never, not even for a second considered them to be a lousy team.

[Smj]

If the refs decided that BCU was not fouling when they slapped at us the game could have gone a different direction.   (I do think that -1. Refs affect the outcome of some games by "supporting" a style of play that benefits one team.  2. Refs often seem to think they need to"level" a game by not calling more fouls on one team)

BCU was not a lousy team they just lacked the ability to adjust their style of play.   They were very physical but not just pushing in the paint.  They threw their arms around and "seemed" to lack body control.   I say seemed but i think it was more their style and in some games they will force enough turnovers to make up for the foul calls against them.

I think they could surprise a couple teams...

[valpotx]

BCU will probably be in the top 2 of the MEAC, but that doesn't mean much.  It was a decent test against a lower conference team with potential to represent their conference in the NCAAs.  I believe that they won the MEAC regular season title 2 years ago, and were in their conference tournament championship last year.  It's MUCH better than the possibility we had of playing UNO and Chicago State in this tournament, so we at least got 1 average and one terrible team, rather than 2 terrible teams.

We should schedule them in baseball sometime in the future though, as they have won their regular season title 13 of the last 15 years, and tournament title 11 of the last 12 years.  In any sport in any conference, that is awesome!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Eastern_Athletic_Conference

[chef]

Even more important than Bethune-Cookman's RPI will be their won-loss record. The number one component of a team's RPI is their opponent's record. Talking to the Bethune-Cookman people, they expect to finish well over .500 in the MEAC. Thus it's unlikely that this game will hurt Valpo's RPI.

[valpo64]

Watching the game in person it was obvious that B-C was trying to intimidate us with very physical play(almost to the point of being a joke) but I think that this type of play will help us in the future playing against teams like St.L, N.M., etc.  We appeared to handle the rough play well and I think we'll be much better at it when Capo is fully back to 100%. I was disappointed that on occasion Buggs appears to lose his concentration.

[valpopal]

I wanted to mention one more thing about this game. Although the game was very physical and contained a few technical fouls as tempers were heated at times, afterwards coaches and players from the two teams gathered at center court, as you can see in my picture below. I have noticed this at a number of other VU games, including against Detroit last year, if I am not mistaken, and I know it happens regularly at other sporting events, both college and professional. However, the coming together of the two teams after a game is rarely seen by viewers on television. A friend of mine in the media (though a newspaper editor and not in tv) told me once that is not a coincidence, but that networks prefer their crews not show or comment on these circles because they usually involve prayer, and they don't want to offend anyone or be seen promoting religion. On the contrary, I think seeing the teams huddled with one another after a fierce game would display and promote sportsmanship. I know I appreciated it, and I like to think it was a good example for many in attendance, like the little girl in the photo and the boy behind her who was holding a basketball.

[vu72]

On a totally non-religious note, look at the wing span of Vashil.  It is four people wide!! 

On a religious note, Bryce has hit a note with many if not all of the players.  I know many if not all are very religious and they have undoubtedly decided on Valpo because of Bryce's theology as much as his coaching.  It is a powerful combination.  A guy like Alec Peters wouldn't exactly fit with a Bob Knight or Bob Huggins.

[Vufansrock]

Teach coexistence....  My son apparently got beat up today at his middle school because he said he is an atheist.   [ Sarc ] - How great that a kid thinks his religion means beating up my child who thinks differently. [ /Sarc ] 

I always felt that Valpo was a school environment that supported differences - and I ALWAYS appreciated it.

[chef]

Valpo has had atheists in the program, and I never once remember Lubos Barton being pressed into taking part in any religious activity. I wasn't a history major, so I maybe a bit off about this. However, I believe most college age kids from Eastern Bloc countries were athiest and we had quite a few of these kids back then. Tony, Ritas, and Lubos. I don't think there was a problem in these guys co-existing with deep Christians such as Greg Tonegel, Jason Jenkins and Jared Nunuss. If fact, when Tony Falu was exiled to another planet, the Valpo basketball team went through years of great team unity when leading them to 7 NCAA bids in nine years.

[valporun]

chef, I have to agree with you. In those NCAA years, I don't remember Homer ever forcing any player to do something outside of basketball they weren't comfortable with, that was even the same way with Greg's character around those guys. He never forced his faith on them, or forced them into his car to drag them to church. Its one of the things about Valpo I appreciated most. We could all have our religious differences, and no one was forced to do anything religiously they didn't want to participate in. Many professors acknowledged this as well.