A New Season of Crusader Women's Basketball

[SadersofthelostArc]

Maybe if the Lady 'Saders weren't counted on to be road warriors early on in the season, things would look a little brighter.  They are 3-1 at home with wins over Indiana and Ball State.  Unfortunately, we have had to play 8 times on the road already and Duke, Louisville and Michigan were three of those games.  IUPUI and Western Michigan were disappointing losses, but understandable on the road.  Given the rebuilding process, learning the new system, etc, what did you guys expect?  They are 4-8 and could very easily be 6-6 (maybe if we didn't schedule heavyweights like Louisville and Duke we'd even be above .500).

And don't worry about recruiting....Coach D will bring in talent...she is taking care of getting the program on the floor going the right direction at the moment.  And it is headed that way...let's talk again on Selection Sunday and see where we REALLY are.

[jack]

It's time for reality Sader. "We could be" and "If" don't work. Are you watching the same games we are? We are heading in the wrong direction. Helm is the only coach on the sidelines that has a clue what it takes to play at this level. You mention wins at home vs IU and the latest vs Ball State. IU does not belong competing in the big ten. They are, by far, the worst team that has cmpeted in that conference in many years. Given that, they are better than Ball State, who had us down 25 - 8 early. That should never happen. Our squad couldn't have come in less prepared, and the coaches had 3 days to get prepared. This Ball State squad was weaker than last years, and we went down there and competed with 6 ladies, lost Scott for the season, and beat them handely on their own floor. Watching these ladies play, I see one very telling thing. They show no confidence in anything they are doing. That comes from coaching. This squad isn't buying into what this coaching staff is trying to do, and watching them, I don't think I'm clear on what that is either. Again, I think it was a huge mistake to take this young team on the road to get waxed by these first rate teams. There is no arguement I can see to the contrary. If it was done to see where these ladies were from a competitive standpoint, It was a huge mistake. The home game vs a very weak Ball State team told us all what we needed to know there. We need shooters, period. I believe we have shooters, but we aren't getting a plan together to run an offense that puts them in a good possition to shoot. We don't have quick, sharp passing, and we have a couple of pt guards that don't see the floor well enough to find the shooters. In the Ball State game, we had a couple of players that looked to be dribbling the air out of the ball. Get rid of it! move it around. Darrow has this knack for pulling players if even one mistake is made, rather then letting them get into the flow of the game. I also feel she tries to hard to convince everyone that the recruit she brought with her is ready for this level. I haven't seen it yet.
The coaches, more so than the players, have a lot of work to do to get this thing turned around. We have some talent, but we need to play to it's strengths. We will always be the smallest team on the floor, so we better learn how to harness our speed and run the floor. Up tempo will be the only plan that will work for us. If we're not concentrating on that, then why do we spend countless hours running in practice, rather than shooting? Many questions to ponder at this point.

[valporun]

What I don't see on this team is the one thing that Coach Dorow has seemed to push aside. I don't see a true floor leader on this team. We had a true floor leader in the one player that she so visibly pushed away in Betsy Adams. She was our best option at getting this team to work together. The only real reason I'll accept that Dorow forced her out was because she was too much of a Freeman disciple that she wouldn't work in the system. I'm sorry, but I just don't see any leadership on this team, and I'm still not interested in Richards play any further, she's about as good as Buggs, which isn't for much anymore.

[jack]

I think Adams departure was mutual. Dorow wanted to "rid" the team of a major Freeman influence, and Adams didn't like the direction they would head, with a few other changes that were made. I'm glad it worked out for Adams.

[valpo4life]

I don't see how you are able to blame a first year coach for the season thus far. They have been in a position in every game (minus versus the 3 powerhouses) in the late 2nd half to win. They just haven't been able to finish a game off. She has to do whatever she can with what Freeman had there, which isn't the best of talent. In the future, I believe things will be better because Dorow was able to get girls of D1 quality to a D2 school, so she has to be able to recruit well. And also I believe if I am not mistaken there actually is one girl committed to Valpo next year.

[SadersofthelostArc]

Jack, normally, I agree with you.  I think you are WAY too quick to judge Dorow and this team.  "If" and "we could be" do matter here....how would we ever compete with Duke or Louisville in the first year of rebuilding?  Those are absurd games to have on our schedule.  And the win over IU is meaningful.  Yes, they have been down for a couple of years.  They also won 50+ games from 2007-2010 including 28 games in the Big 10.  Don't be so short-sighted when it comes to IU.  They will be back and it is a very good win for VU and where we are right now.


I'm watching the same games you guys are watching.  I just will wait at least until the end of the season to judge Coach's methods.  And to say the coaches have a lot more work to do than the girls, well....we will just have to agree to disagree.  Unless you think the 66 losses over the last three years were all the coaches' faults and these super-talented players are just being held back? 

[jack]

Jack, normally, I agree with you.  I think you are WAY too quick to judge Dorow and this team.  "If" and "we could be" do matter here....how would we ever compete with Duke or Louisville in the first year of rebuilding?  Those are absurd games to have on our schedule.  And the win over IU is meaningful.  Yes, they have been down for a couple of years.  They also won 50+ games from 2007-2010 including 28 games in the Big 10.  Don't be so short-sighted when it comes to IU.  They will be back and it is a very good win for VU and where we are right now.


I'm watching the same games you guys are watching.  I just will wait at least until the end of the season to judge Coach's methods.  And to say the coaches have a lot more work to do than the girls, well....we will just have to agree to disagree.  Unless you think the 66 losses over the last three years were all the coaches' faults and these super-talented players are just being held back?

how would we ever compete with Duke or Louisville in the first year of rebuilding?  Those are absurd games to have on our schedule.
You are making my point. Who do you think scheduled these games?? It wasn't Freeman. This is why I question some decisions by this staff.
Please show me where I refered to these ladies as "super talented". Never happened. In fact, I feel we have the least amount of talent at key possitions then most teams in our conference. Given that, we are not putting these players in the best possition, based on their available talents to have success. For most teams, their success runs through their guard possitions, whether it be distributing the ball, or shooting. We start the game with Richards, and Richardson. Richards strenth is deffence, but she does a decent job of getting the ball up the floor. She passes the ball around the perimeter, but you rarely see her snap it inside to a cutting player for a bucket. Next time we play, concentrate on this aspect. She's 1 step slow of getting it to the open player. We dribble too much, and end up forcing up a perimeter shot when the clock runs down. Richardson does a decent job of getting the ball up the floor, but when it comes to the other players, she has tunnel vision. I don't feel she sees the floor well, and she's not a good enough shooter to be counted on to score. She does a decent job of driving the basket, but you'll never see her kick it out to an open shooter. She forces way too many shots inside, with very little success. Again, her and Richards are defensive players, but they do little to generate offense. We had some nice stops agains a lot of teams this season, but we rarely make them count on the other end. We have players that see the floor better, and could be counted on to score more if we could get the ball to them through some designed plays. We're starting off each game trying to run an offense with defensive players.
Jansone is never put in with a purpose. She's always in to spot another player. That's a mistake. She needs to be in at a 3 or 4, with plays designed for her slicing to the hole. I haven't seen that yet. She has talent, but when she plays 2 minutes here, and 2 minutes there, it's impossible to get any potential out of her. It's tough for us to sub in and out based on match ups with the opposing teams subs, because we just don't have enough of a flow to match up well with anyone. Even still, we don't seem to sub with a purpose. Horton is starting to play well, and could probably help out more if given more minutes. I would start her in the next game and give her a chance to show she deserves it. So much of this game, more so with the ladies, is about confidence, and you can't expect much confidence from players that see the floor in short spurts, if that.
I'll say it again. We must work to our strengths to be successful this season. Our best strength is speed. We aren't utilizing it properly. We have the horses to run the floor for an entire game, if we sub properly. We should be leading the league in fast break points. That also comes down to seeing the floor. How often do you see our starting guards getting the ball out in front? They typically dribble the air out of it, and then pass it around the perimeter.
I'm not trying to over-simplify things, or call any specific players out on their performance, as it always comes down to the coaches realizing what's going on, and adapting accordingly. I am also one to give any new coach their fair shot at getting things going. Dorow did inherit Freeman's players, but like Freeman, I don't see her getting the most from what she has. Size will be an issue moving forward to next year. I'm sure she sees that and will do her best to get some bigs to commit. 

[jack]

Good luck today Ladies.

[SadersofthelostArc]

Lady 'Saders win again at home!  Whaddaya know, they struggle on the road but win at home...where have I heard that before? 

Where are all the Lady Sader Haters now?!?! 

[valporun]

Beating Northern Illinois isn't that impressive. I'm happy with the win, but I don't know if the women can really handle that early scoring pace they started with. Somewhere in there, they fell apart, and couldn't get some of the layups they needed to fall. I do like rotating some of the freshmen into games, but we're still missing a real, honest floor leader. I haven't seen her in action yet. Hopefully, Coach Dorow is recruiting her, otherwise I'm going to be holding out hope for a floor leader in this program for a few more years. Also, we need to be more physical inside, with less finesse on layups, and more attack of the backboard to get layups in the nylon. Yeah, I know a few people aren't going to like my opinion of yesterday's game, but the opponent didn't impress me, nor did our play after that initial scoring pace we put on.

[SadersofthelostArc]

Instead of being a naysaying pessimist, why not be happy that they strung together a strong offensive showing early in the game?  Maybe that is what we are headed towards, rather than it being a fluke. 

Again, Dorow can only work with what she has at the moment.  She didn't sign these players.  Keith did, and who knows how much influence Kirby had on that??  (That's a conversation for another time.)  Expecting her to have a floor general and banger downlow with the same collection we had from last year is silly.  Give her a couple of years of recruiting and development and then assess.  In the meantime, don't be surprised if Coach D sneaks us into a postseason tourney or two  

Unrelated note, how long do you guys think it will be until Tracy begins to get some endorsement deals in NWI and Valpo?  She obviously has the right looks for it, and now that she is starting to pile up the wins I have a feeling we will see her face slapped all over local products and billboards.  Thoughts??

[vu72]

Instead of being a naysaying pessimist, why not be happy that they strung together a strong offensive showing early in the game?  Maybe that is what we are headed towards, rather than it being a fluke. 

Again, Dorow can only work with what she has at the moment.  She didn't sign these players.  Keith did, and who knows how much influence Kirby had on that??  (That's a conversation for another time.)  Expecting her to have a floor general and banger downlow with the same collection we had from last year is silly.  Give her a couple of years of recruiting and development and then assess.  In the meantime, don't be surprised if Coach D sneaks us into a postseason tourney or two  

Unrelated note, how long do you guys think it will be until Tracy begins to get some endorsement deals in NWI and Valpo?  She obviously has the right looks for it, and now that she is starting to pile up the wins I have a feeling we will see her face slapped all over local products and billboards. Thoughts??

Yes, it was way to early to bwe hitting the sauce.

[bbtds]

Unrelated note, how long do you guys think it will be until Tracy begins to get some endorsement deals in NWI and Valpo?  She obviously has the right looks for it, and now that she is starting to pile up the wins I have a feeling we will see her face slapped all over local products and billboards.  Thoughts??

If you're being really serious I always used to think that Keith Freeman should have gotten a commercial. Now there's a guy who could have made a an "Old Spice" commercial. Seriously!

[valpotx]

Beating NIU in the women's game helps us in our record versus them at least.  We are now a whopping 2-17 all-time versus NIU 

[jack]

Instead of being a naysaying pessimist, why not be happy that they strung together a strong offensive showing early in the game?  Maybe that is what we are headed towards, rather than it being a fluke. 

Again, Dorow can only work with what she has at the moment.  She didn't sign these players.  Keith did, and who knows how much influence Kirby had on that??  (That's a conversation for another time.)  Expecting her to have a floor general and banger downlow with the same collection we had from last year is silly.  Give her a couple of years of recruiting and development and then assess.  In the meantime, don't be surprised if Coach D sneaks us into a postseason tourney or two  

Unrelated note, how long do you guys think it will be until Tracy begins to get some endorsement deals in NWI and Valpo?  She obviously has the right looks for it, and now that she is starting to pile up the wins I have a feeling we will see her face slapped all over local products and billboards.  Thoughts??

How do you expect to be taken seriously, when you say things like "piling up the wins".
It was a good win from a confidence standpoint, but as mentioned, it was against a fairly weak NIU team. It was good to see richardson get some points, but we still lack a flow to our offense. Against a formidable apponent, we would have been in trouble. Not being a naysayer, just stating my observations. I get a bit concerned when the coach says " I thought we executed our offense well." I've been around this game a long, long time, and I would not make that assesment. Not once during the contest did we slash and feed a cutter to the hole. We have the speed and agility to do this throughout the game, we just don't. Richardson was able to knock down some buckets, but that isn't a re-accuring theme. We still spend a lot of time dribbling and passing around the perimeter. If Youngstown State takes a good look at this game film, we could be in for a long game. I'll not elaborate on that for obvious reasons. As others have mentioned, we just don't have a true floor leader out there when we start these games. I believe we have players that can assume this role, but they haven't been asked to, and I don't believe the coaching staff has honed in on this aspect yet. It could make a ton of difference heading into conference play.

[covufan]

Where are all the Lady Sader Haters now?!?! 

This is all in your mind.  I'm sure that no one on this board actually "Hates" the Valparaiso Women's Basketball Team or the players. 

[jack]

Where are all the Lady Sader Haters now?!?! 

This is all in your mind.  I'm sure that no one on this board actually "Hates" the Valparaiso Women's Basketball Team or the players.

Not sure anyone here would spend the time with the input if they truly hated the program, or it's players. On the contrary. I've been a fan for some time now, and have always been a fan of the game, and have coached for several years on the ladies side. I think the players we have, especially from last season, are very hard working, passionate, and skilled. I'm still trying to evaluate the newbies, and the role they should be playing. I believe the team just needs more direction right now. I'm not saying it won't come with the current staff, but I have seen some missed opportunities to improving our offensive output. We do a pretty good job on defense, but we are almost always undersized for our opponent, which adds another degree of difficulty to our game. at the end of the day, we must get more offensive output to stay in games. I haven't looked at the numbers, but I don't believe we have beaten a team yet this season that has a winning season going of their own. The frustration for me, and others comes from their passion for Valpo and the team. calling us haters couldn't be further from the truth.

[vuweathernerd]

How do you expect to be taken seriously, when you say things like "piling up the wins".

based on 2/3 of what he says, i'm pretty sure sader has absolutely no desire to be taken seriously.

[StlVUFan]

How do you expect to be taken seriously, when you say things like "piling up the wins".

based on 2/3 of what he says, i'm pretty sure sader has absolutely no desire to be taken seriously.

Gosh, I'd thought everyone had gotten the memo on that

[SadersofthelostArc]

Can anyone please address my second paragraph remarks?  Please and thank you.

I'm looking at you, run.

[valporun]

Can anyone please address my second paragraph remarks?  Please and thank you.

I'm looking at you, run.

I'll simply say this team has no floor leader, and a good coach would look for that first, especially in trying to implement her program/system. Unfortunately, the one player who would have been that floor leader, regardless of who she had allegiances to, was kicked out of the program for another point guard who can't control the ball well enough to find the passing lanes on the fastbreak, or to get the ball to the intended target of the play called. In terms of a banger downlow, that should be Gina Lange, but she's too soft to even attempt to go in hard on a layup.

I just don't see this team doing anything close to going to the NCAA tournament. We have ZERO height, and timid shooters, to be able to contend with the Detroits and the Green Bays of the Horizon League schedule, and get into any postseason tournament play. The Women's NCAA Tournament committee doesn't look to the HL for an at-large bid, unless that team happens to be equal to or slightly better than Green Bay. Valpo isn't that team this year.

[jack]

Can anyone please address my second paragraph remarks?  Please and thank you.

I'm looking at you, run.

I'll simply say this team has no floor leader, and a good coach would look for that first, especially in trying to implement her program/system. Unfortunately, the one player who would have been that floor leader, regardless of who she had allegiances to, was kicked out of the program for another point guard who can't control the ball well enough to find the passing lanes on the fastbreak, or to get the ball to the intended target of the play called. In terms of a banger downlow, that should be Gina Lange, but she's too soft to even attempt to go in hard on a layup.

I just don't see this team doing anything close to going to the NCAA tournament. We have ZERO height, and timid shooters, to be able to contend with the Detroits and the Green Bays of the Horizon League schedule, and get into any postseason tournament play. The Women's NCAA Tournament committee doesn't look to the HL for an at-large bid, unless that team happens to be equal to or slightly better than Green Bay. Valpo isn't that team this year.

I'd have to agree with this assesment at this point in the season. I'd still have to add, that these coaches have yet to work to these players strengths. As an example, I look to who starts, and who is sitting. I feel we are starting of games with 2 defensive minded guards, which is where some leadership should come from. I'm not sure why, or even if, Carr has fell out of favor with this coach, but when she's healthy, I think she probably does the best job of running the offense. She seems to see the floor better then some of the others, and gets the ball out quicker to the open players. I know after Keith recruiter her, I got to catch her in action in a couple of tournaments, and frankly, I was impressed with her leadership. She was actually changing up plays based on the defenses, in leu of what the coach was putting in. I'm not saying she's the answer to our problems, but it just seems to be a waste for her to be sitting most of the games when she has something to offer. Health may be an issue, but she seems to be moving OK when in there. I think she only got in for a couple of minutes vs NIU. I fear with her, and maybe a few others, this coach is breaking their spirit, and confidence to a point. Jansone is another. Very athletic, and has a decent shot. I recall a game early on where she racked up 22pts. Had a great game. Now, she get's in around the end of the half, makes a mistake, and gets yanked. Win or lose, I'd like to see Horton get some quality minutes in. She missed last season, and we have to get her ready to go down the stretch. In my opinion, she is probably one of our best shooters for a big. We need to elevate her confidence, and get her comfortable to play quality minutes, and she isn't going to improve sitting on the bench. I can go on about others as well, but i realize it's much easier to be an "spectator coach" then to be there in the mix. If we were 8 -4, I'd say we were locking in on a good winning formula, but we aren't. We are 4 - 8, with the 4 "W"s coming against inferior teams. I think it's time to evaluate What we are doing, and who we are trying to do it with. Saturday is going to be a huge test, agaist a quality 10 -3 team who, if they watched film on us, know what they need to do to get out of the ARC with a win. I say we change things up a little and show them something they haven't seen from us yet.   

[valpo4life]

The last couple of players named by jack (Carr, Jansone, Horton) all have one thing in common that I feel like people overlook. They cannot play solid enough defense for an extended period of time. That's where players lose or earn more playing time. Horton does a good job on the offensive end and is fully in the rotation so I have no clue what you are saying about her not getting enough minutes. She just gets taken out in critical times because I believe in that situation Coach Dorow is looking for her best defensive lineup. Jansone does have nice athletic ability but just looks lost out there most of the time. And Carr still isn't fully healthy in my opinion. She sat the WMU game so that she could play the next day at U of M, doesn't sound like a 100% healthy player to me.

[jack]

The last couple of players named by jack (Carr, Jansone, Horton) all have one thing in common that I feel like people overlook. They cannot play solid enough defense for an extended period of time. That's where players lose or earn more playing time. Horton does a good job on the offensive end and is fully in the rotation so I have no clue what you are saying about her not getting enough minutes. She just gets taken out in critical times because I believe in that situation Coach Dorow is looking for her best defensive lineup. Jansone does have nice athletic ability but just looks lost out there most of the time. And Carr still isn't fully healthy in my opinion. She sat the WMU game so that she could play the next day at U of M, doesn't sound like a 100% healthy player to me.

I don't totally agree that they can't play solid defense. Of the three, I think Jansone may be a little weak on D. I feel when Carr is picking up on point, she does a solid job of disrupting what the "O" is trying to do. She may still not be at 100% and unable to D up for long stretches, but I think her court awareness on offense is worth the trade off. Horton needs a little better foot speed, but her size helps out in the paint. She can provide some much needed O as well. I disagree that shes seeing the minutes she should be. She has seen extended minutes on a few occassions, but nothing consistent enough, in my opinion. As a team, we lack on help D, and are a bit to late on our switches. I think this is where teams are dominating us. It's easy to figure out what O an opponent should run when you watch our D. I really don't think the D side of things is where we struggle the most. We have to design plays to get our shooters opened, and we MUST finish under the basket. We spend far too much time dribbling around, and passing it around the perimeter, and not enough time slashing and cutting to the hole. Again, I think our guards are missing opportunities by holding the ball too long. We don't pass inside with authority. Just watch this aspect of our offense on Saturday. So many times we have a player opened inside for a split second, and by the time our guards realize it, it's gone. As I alluded to previously, I think Carr does as good a job as any getting the ball to an open player, but as you mention she may not be up to speed healthwise at this point. I hope that's the reason she is sitting. As for Jansone, more than any of these players, I think her confidence is the most affected by lack of playing time. When she had the one big game early, she kept getting stronger with each passing minute, and success. I think the only way to be able to count on her down the road is to give her more minutes. She's shown what she is capable of. I would also let Horton know now she is starting Saturday, and start her. I think they would be surprized at the output they get from her. And it'll be apparent early on if she's ready for the roll.   

[jack]

Good luck Saturday Ladies. Let's start conference off with a W.