1/23 Green Bay at Valpo Thread

[HC]

Nice video, maybe do an art of the 3pter with Ruan then have Jordan watch it since he has been stinking up the gym from outside the arc!

[covufan]

Valpo will separate themselves from the HL field with a good game:

Valpo  -  73
Green Bay - 61

[wh]

What is line on this game? 

I'm no expert at this, but I don't see a line yet.  Maybe only high profile games get one this early?

The early line (1 service reporting) is Valpo -8.5

[sliman]

"If I was Green Bay I would be much more worried about Valpo then the Crusaders are about Green Bay"

If this is the case, we lose.

[SanityLost17]

Don't forget.  Last year we only beat GB by 3 at home and lost to them by 15 on the road.  The year before that they beat us twice.  That means we are 1-4 against them over the last 2 years.  I believe that makes them the team that has given us the most problems over the last few years...  This game is not going to be easy, and it is probably going to be very close. 

   

[bbtds]

Agreed.

I noticed that the Valpo at Green Bay return game is not until March 2nd, Saturday. That is the Saturday before the HL tournament begins on Tuesday, March 5. Hopefully by then Valpo will be more than 1 game up on the 2nd place team and the game won't have any effect on the final standings. That should be the goal of the team to make sure that game doesn't matter. Of course a lot of things could change before then.

[78crusader]

This post assumes the top four teams are VU, WSU, Detroit, and GB. 

I disagree with those who think a VU win tomorrow night will somehow "separate" us from the rest of the conference.  A win tomorrow would put us at 6-1, Wright State at 5-1, and GB at 4-3.  WSU has already played at Detroit and VU, meaning they only have at GB to play.  VU, on the other hand, still has to play at GB and WSU.  Plus we already have a home loss and WSU does not (our loss to Loyola may really come back to haunt us).  So, a win keeps us even with WSU in the loss column, but with a tougher remaining road schedule.  And a game left at their barn.  A good case can be made that it is WSU, not VU, in the best position at this moment. 

A loss to GB tomorrow will really hurt us since VU would be behind WSU (and as noted above, a tougher remaining road schedule that WSU, including a trip to WSU) and tied with GB at 5-2.  However, GB would have ALL the road games against the other top teams out of the way.  As noted earlier, we still have road games at GB and at WSU. 

Conclusion: if this isn't the most important game we've played so far this year, it's close. 

Paul

[valpopal]

The early line (1 service reporting) is Valpo -8.5

The early line on tomorrow's Wright State vs. Youngstown State favors YSU by 3 points. I hope the odds are right in both cases, which would create a little separation at the top of the standings.

[SadersofthelostArc]

Nice video, maybe do an art of the 3pter with Ruan then have Jordan watch it since he has been stinking up the gym from outside the arc!

Wonder if they will do any for the Lady Saders??  Maybe get Coach Dorow out there in sport-cut, dri-fit sleeveless polo, maybe a coaching skirt or what not, highlighting the art of teaching the game...or something of that nature, haven't thought too much about it to be honest.

[crusaderjoe]

69-25! Let us forget not.

We still owe them.   

[SadersofthelostArc]

FINALLY someone who gets it!  Nice predic joe...

I like the Crusaders by 21.  Green Bay sucks.

[talksalot]

I was at that disaster in the old Brown County Coliseum (I may not have that name correct); but we were stuck sitting on a painted 2x8 in the upper left corner of the place... and THEN we could not drop the ball in the ocean.... wouldn't I LOVE to see that favor returned...

[historyman]

"If I was Green Bay I would be much more worried about Valpo then the Crusaders are about Green Bay" If this is the case, we lose.

Sure, as long as the Valpo players think that GrBay should be more worried about them than they are about GrBay the Crusaders will lose. A blank statement like that is more crazy than the original statement. Mindsets are the only thing that affects the outcome of a game. It has nothing to do with physical talent at all.

[valpotx]

69-25! Let us forget not.

We still owe them.   

We lost by 44 to GB at one point?  When was that?

[vu84v2]

Valpo is playing a good team that has struggled on the road.  Valpo is also coming off two tough wins.  Tight game but Valpo wins.  73-68

[Valpo89]

69-25! Let us forget not.

We still owe them.   

We lost by 44 to GB at one point?  When was that?

It was the final game of the 1991-92 season, I believe. It was the second consecutive 5-22 season, the end of Tracy Gipson's junior year.
The next year was the first season with Dave Redmon, Casey Schmidt and Tracy Gipson playing together and without looking it up, I think the record may have been 12-15. Best part of that season was beating Northern Illinois in the Mid-Continent Conference tournament at the Nutter Center. NIU was a 2, Valpo a 7. NIU was coming off a recent NCAA appearance and had some cocky players. Best part of the game was Redmon inbounding a ball off the backside of a NIU player and taking it in for a layup. VU then lost to host Wright State, and talk about cocky they had a coach who ended up getting fired a couple of years later for shoplifting vitamins, or something like that (chef can back me up on that). Wright State had a 7-footer named Mike Nahar who was pretty good, and some other complementary players. Not sure if they still had a guy named Billy Edwards, who was close to NBA talent.
Those were the days. But that 91-92 season was the last BAD season until the 9-win season when Buggs was a freshman. Of course, after the following season (93-94) the "old" Mid-Con split up. Wright State, NIU, Cleveland State, UIC, Green Bay, Milwaukee all left to create what is now the Horizon. Mid-Con commissioner Jon Steinbrecher did what he could to keep the Mid-Con together, bringing in what was then known as the East Coast League (something like that) which included Central Connecticut, Chicago State, Northeastern Illinois, Buffalo and Troy State. They were all bad. It obviously ended up helping Valpo, playing in a league that wasn't as tough. But I think Valpo would have done OK if those other schools hadn't left the Mid-Con, considering Bryce was on his way to play for Homer.
And that's our history lesson for the day.

[chef]

A great history lesson. Redmon said after the game "Tracy (Gipson) did it to me in high school." The Wright State coach was Ralph Underhill. He always insisted that he forgot that he put the vitamins in his pocket.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

The Only Game Preview You Will Ever Need

Teams, records:  seriously, you don't know that already?
where to watch:  and you call yourself a fan.

Relevant info
Tempo-free stats
POINTS PER POSSESSION:  Valpo 1.04 (2nd in HL to Detroit), Green Bay .98 (t3 w/WSU.)
POINTS ALLOWED PER POSS:  Valpo .92 (2nd to WSU), Green Bay .96 (5th)
Basically, it still takes 8 possessions for Valpo to go one point up on their opponents; it takes Green Bay 50, or almost an entire game. SO.  there's that.

Possessions per game (tempo):  Valpo 66.4 (5th), Green Bay 66.8 (4th)
Pretttttty similar.

eFG%:  Valpo 53.7% (1st in HL), Green Bay 49.5% (3rd)

Interestingly, the only thing Green Bay is better than us, tempo-free?  Free-throw production AND FT rate!  We're 2nd in the HL in both and no one else is even CLOSE, but GB: whoa.  (Don't forget the turnovers, dude.  Always, the turnovers. *shiver*)

KNOW THINE ENEMY:
DANGERMOUSE:
Guess which one is the NBA-prospect center, and which one is actually good.
Soph G Keifer Sykes, all 5'11", 161 of him: (15.3 PPG; 45% 2s / 44% 3s / 81% FTs) is becoming a serious threat--put up 21 on Ray McCallum couple weeks ago, despite not taking a 3-ball.  But in fact, he is merely 5th on the team in 3 point attempts, although he is BY FAR the best shot there (and better than anyone we have not from the Australian National Team).  So let's hope this isn't the game he remembers HE ... HAS... THE POWER!
He-Man I Have The Power
Seriously, dudes.  Plays about 25% more than anyone else, and if this guy isn't NBA-material, least he's UFC-material:


PENFOLD: 
Kids, chants of "Hit the weight room" are recommended for tonight.
Surprised?  Don't be.  The dude has taken more 3-balls than his star guard (as many as Buggs and Capo put together!).  Note:  I didn't say "made", I said "has taken".  Junior center Alec Brown, who everybody loves on the theory that it's safest to give a 7'1" dude anything he wants (even if he's 165 pounds), is actually (sssshhhhh!!) not that great.  Sure, he's good, fine, whatever, but he's behind 3 other starters on his own team in efficiency per possession (Cougill, Sykes, Fouse), and should be considered even further behind them, given a "production-to-hype" ratio that isn't impressive.  He's good at blocking shots, but in a block-percentage basis, he's actually not so far ahead of 6-7 freshman teammate forward Jordan Fouse as his height and position would imply.  And he's well behind Fouse in both OREB and TREB percentages (Fouse: 24.1% / 21.4%; Brown: 21.7% / 20.4%).  (I repeat, he's 7-freakin'-1, people.)  What is he doing for them, besides occupying a lot of space?  Guess we'll find out tonight when he goes up against THE MAJOR WRATH, won't we?  And I will either eat those words or do a bunch of gloating.

THE PART WHERE I PREDICT THE SAME THING THAT RPIFORECAST DOES:  Valpo by 6.  72% chance of win today.  CUMONG GUYZ LEZ GETTIM

[vu72]

69-25! Let us forget not.

We still owe them.   

We lost by 44 to GB at one point?  When was that?

It was the final game of the 1991-92 season, I believe. It was the second consecutive 5-22 season, the end of Tracy Gipson's junior year.
The next year was the first season with Dave Redmon, Casey Schmidt and Tracy Gipson playing together and without looking it up, I think the record may have been 12-15. Best part of that season was beating Northern Illinois in the Mid-Continent Conference tournament at the Nutter Center. NIU was a 2, Valpo a 7. NIU was coming off a recent NCAA appearance and had some cocky players. Best part of the game was Redmon inbounding a ball off the backside of a NIU player and taking it in for a layup. VU then lost to host Wright State, and talk about cocky they had a coach who ended up getting fired a couple of years later for shoplifting vitamins, or something like that (chef can back me up on that). Wright State had a 7-footer named Mike Nahar who was pretty good, and some other complementary players. Not sure if they still had a guy named Billy Edwards, who was close to NBA talent.
Those were the days. But that 91-92 season was the last BAD season until the 9-win season when Buggs was a freshman. Of course, after the following season (93-94) the "old" Mid-Con split up. Wright State, NIU, Cleveland State, UIC, Green Bay, Milwaukee all left to create what is now the Horizon. Mid-Con commissioner Jon Steinbrecher did what he could to keep the Mid-Con together, bringing in what was then known as the East Coast League (something like that) which included Central Connecticut, Chicago State, Northeastern Illinois, Buffalo and Troy State. They were all bad. It obviously ended up helping Valpo, playing in a league that wasn't as tough. But I think Valpo would have done OK if those other schools hadn't left the Mid-Con, considering Bryce was on his way to play for Homer.
And that's our history lesson for the day.

Pretty close 89, Count me impressed!  Actually they were 12-16 that year not 12-15!  The bigger win that season was against that pesky South Bend school, winning 80-66 at their place for the second win in four years.

[crusaderjoe]

69-25! Let us forget not.

We still owe them.   

We lost by 44 to GB at one point?  When was that?

It was the final game of the 1991-92 season, I believe. It was the second consecutive 5-22 season, the end of Tracy Gipson's junior year.
The next year was the first season with Dave Redmon, Casey Schmidt and Tracy Gipson playing together and without looking it up, I think the record may have been 12-15. Best part of that season was beating Northern Illinois in the Mid-Continent Conference tournament at the Nutter Center. NIU was a 2, Valpo a 7. NIU was coming off a recent NCAA appearance and had some cocky players. Best part of the game was Redmon inbounding a ball off the backside of a NIU player and taking it in for a layup. VU then lost to host Wright State, and talk about cocky they had a coach who ended up getting fired a couple of years later for shoplifting vitamins, or something like that (chef can back me up on that). Wright State had a 7-footer named Mike Nahar who was pretty good, and some other complementary players. Not sure if they still had a guy named Billy Edwards, who was close to NBA talent.
Those were the days. But that 91-92 season was the last BAD season until the 9-win season when Buggs was a freshman. Of course, after the following season (93-94) the "old" Mid-Con split up. Wright State, NIU, Cleveland State, UIC, Green Bay, Milwaukee all left to create what is now the Horizon. Mid-Con commissioner Jon Steinbrecher did what he could to keep the Mid-Con together, bringing in what was then known as the East Coast League (something like that) which included Central Connecticut, Chicago State, Northeastern Illinois, Buffalo and Troy State. They were all bad. It obviously ended up helping Valpo, playing in a league that wasn't as tough. But I think Valpo would have done OK if those other schools hadn't left the Mid-Con, considering Bryce was on his way to play for Homer.
And that's our history lesson for the day.

You sure are right about that.  There was no chance at making the Mid-Con post season conference tournament back in those days.  When the ACMU/Mid Con moved to nine teams in the early 90's, only the top eight teams made the post season conference tournament if I remember correctly.  VU was the odd man out on more than one occasion.  I know it sounds ludicrous to chest thump about a 12-16 record, but that year really was memorable because we hadn't made a conference tournament in two years and had lost 68 games as a program in the three years prior.  Ball State was a big win that year considering they had made the Sweet Sixteen a year or two before.  Good history lesson '89.

[Valpo89]

A great history lesson. Redmon said after the game "Tracy (Gipson) did it to me in high school." The Wright State coach was Ralph Underhill. He always insisted that he forgot that he put the vitamins in his pocket.

Ralph Underhill. That's right chef. When he brought them to the ARC during the 5-22 years, he acted like he was too good to be here.
Billy Edwards was a very good player at the time, and VU had no one to match up with him. Valpo's starting guards at the time were probably 5-10 Tracy Gipson and 5-9 Rob Cavanaugh, and the biggest contributor on the team was probably Eric Suiter who was only about 6-5 but listed as 6-7 or 6-8.
So Homer didn't have anyone to stop a guy like Edwards, who was a 6-5 leaper and just dominated in the game at the ARC. It was during that time Wright State probably was getting the itch to move out of the Mid-Con because, at the time, Valpo was so bad.
But back to Underhill. He always wore real expensive suits and thought he was big time. So his downfall wasn't disappointing to watch.
And if you look at the records of Valpo vs. Wright State and all the other old Mid-Con schools that bolted after that 93-94 season, the Crusaders are over .500 against everyone - Cleveland State may be an exception. But it sucked at the time because Valpo had turned the corner and was ready to administer some payback on all those schools, and then they left. So it's nice to see Valpo succeed since joining the Horizon.

[SadersofthelostArc]

Great scouting report apostle!!!! Love all the images and the video.  YOU DA MAN! 

See ya in the chat?

[a3uge]

What's the trick to actually getting this game to stream? The android app just lists games and it doesn't appear anything is clickable, and the web version tells me that I'm not subscribed to ESPN from my cable subscriber (I am).

[valpotx]

You have to sign in from the ESPN page when it takes you to your internet provider sign-in

[a3uge]

I guess it doesn't like the combination of DirecTV and Time Warner internet. Just not working.