Valpo vs. Loyola Jan. 2, 2013

StlVUFan · January 03, 2013, 03:04:48 PM

I don't think Buggs being in the game was an offensive handicap last night. He was the only one who finished consistently at the rim, and Loyola had no answer for him. It didn't matter that they sagged on him, he still got to the basket.

Has anybody considered that Bryce tried to make adjustments and the players failed to execute them? In the 2nd half, we switched to the zone for awhile (not that it did any good, they were prepared for that too) because they were consistently beating the man-to-man by driving to the basket, anticipating Valpo sag to cut off the drive, and throwing a jump-pass to the perimeter for a wide-open 3. They hit just enough of those to control the game. What mystified me was how they still managed to beat the zone with back-cuts to the basket, though now that I think about, this has occasionally been a bug-a-boo in the past. What frustrated me was seeing Buggs or Dority isolated on Averkamp in the post. I'm amazed Loyola didn't take advantage of that in the first half, for I think I saw it several times there too. I did not pick up on how it happened, but a series of screens is obviously a plausible possibility, so I'll go with that since others claim to have seen that.

Lastly, may I remind everyone that we had a very similar game almost exactly one year ago and it turned out to be our only conference home loss of the entire season. You can assign signature significance to this one game if you like, but count me out.

P.S. Valpo got away with a lot of stuff too, by the way. In the first half, Payne picked off a silly cross-court pass and headed for the basket. On his way there he definitely got fouled by Boggs and most likely got fouled on the shot as well. Nothing was called and he came up empty if I recall correctly. I also questioned the first foul Kevin drew in the paint in the first half. It looked like maybe he just stumbled and fell with minimal contact. I thought the refs had an off-night for sure, but I truly think both teams benefited.

valporun · January 03, 2013, 04:09:14 PM

I'm thinking that starting Matt Kenney was a bad idea, but when Bryce made the decision, we didn't have anyone else to step in because Boggs and Bogan were bad, and the others weren't guards. Kenney should go back to the 6th man role, and bring Boggs back in as a starter. Boggs wasn't clearly as bad as Bogan, but having Kenney start takes our energy out of the bench.

truth219 · January 03, 2013, 04:25:07 PM

Boggs is starting...maybe you mean buggs

valporun · January 03, 2013, 04:45:13 PM

I thought Boggs was out for Dority or Kenney?

truth219 · January 03, 2013, 06:42:19 PM

Current starting 5 dority kenney boggs broekhoff and van wijk

wittynamehere · January 03, 2013, 08:35:43 PM

No chance that the starting 5 tomorrow after the Loyola L

HC · January 03, 2013, 09:14:15 PM

I'm thinking we will see Buggs back in there for Dority, but the other four stay the same.

bbtds · January 04, 2013, 01:06:32 AM

When Buggs doesn't start and plays 24 minutes and Kenney starts and plays 21 minutes, it doesn't matter who plays when the game begins. It only matters who plays more minutes. Why are the fans so hung up on who starts when a starter gets less minutes than a non-starter?

HC · January 04, 2013, 04:31:43 PM

I disagree, who starts does matter as setting the tone of the game right from the start is very important in my opinion.

valpo4life · January 05, 2013, 01:30:49 AM

My comments on this game are that Loyola is a much better, more physical team than anybody could have expected. There is no weak link (physically) out there. All of their guards are strong and quick enough to play effective defense. I mean if they can go into Michigan State and put up a very good fight then clearly physicality is not an issue. I believe they finish top 4 in the conference. They may not be able to put up the points some games but they will never be blown out in Horizon league play.

StlVUFan · January 05, 2013, 12:51:25 PM

Quote from: valpo4life on January 05, 2013, 01:30:49 AM
My comments on this game are that Loyola is a much better, more physical team than anybody could have expected. There is no weak link (physically) out there. All of their guards are strong and quick enough to play effective defense. I mean if they can go into Michigan State and put up a very good fight then clearly physicality is not an issue. I believe they finish top 4 in the conference. They may not be able to put up the points some games but they will never be blown out in Horizon league play.

justducky · January 05, 2013, 04:03:37 PM

Quote from: valpo84 on January 03, 2013, 11:58:48 AMThis team also needs to understand that you want to be the "new" Butler, then you are going to get everyone's best shot every night. We have not been very good as the hunted, but rather the hunter.

Prior to this season our entire Horizon League experience had come from an underdog position, and I think that Homer and Bryce and every one of us had felt comfortable in that position. Now as defending champs with 6 seniors and valuable additions we have been dragged out of our comfort zone and are now the team that everybody "must beat".

I realize that a comparison between the 2010-11 Butler team and us is neither fair nor accurate, but remember how the HL stepped up that year and by testing them night after night helped improve and harden them for for their second straight deep post season run? If we are to have any chace for post seson success this is exactly what we must expect and overcome.

Valpo vs. Loyola Jan. 2, 2013

HC

HC