2/23, 12pm: EKU @ Valpo Bracketbusters Game Thread (ESPNU)

crusadermoe · February 05, 2013, 09:35:49 PM

Man..them Kernels is spoilin' fer a fight. They whupped up on Crowley's Ridge 97-31.

HC · February 05, 2013, 10:02:51 PM

Eat your heart out Detroit

Pathfinder · February 06, 2013, 08:07:45 AM

From last night's play by play:
9:34   43-70   Ben Boggs missed Three Point Jumper.

9:12       43-75   Jordan Coleman made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by Erik Buggs.

8:33       43-75   LaVonte Dority missed Three Point Jumper.

6:19       47-82   LaVonte Dority made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by Bobby Capobianco.

2:58       55-84   Ben Boggs missed Three Point Jumper.

1:34       57-86   Bobby Capobianco missed Three Point Jumper.

0:59       58-86   LaVonte Dority missed Dunk.

0:19       61-86   Will Bogan missed Three Point Jumper.

0:00   End Game

Not counting put backs, two-thirds of Valpo's shots in the last 10 minutes were 3 pointers or dunks. Good to see the dogs were called off once the game was in hand.

valpopal · February 06, 2013, 08:43:08 AM

Quote from: Pathfinder on February 06, 2013, 08:07:45 AM

Not counting put backs, two-thirds of Valpo's shots in the last 10 minutes were 3 pointers or dunks. Good to see the dogs were called off once the game was in hand.

Three pointers were often result of running down the clock at the perimeter. The one dunk attempt near the end was promptly met by Dority being pulled from the game and lectured on the sideline by Bryce. I assure you Valpo, mostly made up of bench players the final ten minutes, restrained themselves in the last part of the game or the margin of victory could have been even more.

VULB#62 · February 06, 2013, 09:19:15 AM

Not an excuse, but it was noted in pre-game articles that this was a homecoming of sorts for Dority against his Chicago playground/AAU buddies so a bit of that may have surfaced.

VUfan · February 06, 2013, 09:42:50 AM

EKU Kernels what?

HC · February 06, 2013, 10:39:27 AM

Valpo also didn't play Broekhoff or KVW for the last 14 minutes or so I think. I'm not 100% sure on that since I was working on getting my kids to bed.

Down to 3 home games, not including any tournament games.

valpotx · February 06, 2013, 10:53:05 AM

Sounds like the EKU fans think they will be able to beat us down. I think that they will be in for a rude awakening this year...

oklahomamick · February 06, 2013, 10:58:59 AM

Quote from: HC on February 06, 2013, 10:39:27 AMor KVW for the last 14 minutes or so I think.

KVW actually only played a minute before picking up his 4th foul. He never returned to the game.

I don't understand how Ray Jr. plays 35+ minutes in games that Detroit wins by 25+.

VULB#62 · February 06, 2013, 12:01:25 PM

Quote from: valpotx on February 06, 2013, 10:53:05 AM
Sounds like the EKU fans think they will be able to beat us down. I think that they will be in for a rude awakening this year...

The sentiment over there points to them leveraging all of Valpo's TOs into points. They are defensive minded, I guess (jeeze, they held Crowley Ridge to 31 the other night

), so that's what they think is the key to their win.

vu72 · February 06, 2013, 12:36:07 PM

Quote from: HC on February 06, 2013, 10:39:27 AM
Valpo also didn't play Broekhoff or KVW for the last 14 minutes or so I think. I'm not 100% sure on that since I was working on getting my kids to bed.

Down to 3 home games, not including any tournament games.

[/b]

Our remaining schedule is brutal, with away games at Green Bay and WSU and no easy win at CSU the way they are playing (just beat YSU). The remaining home games are against the top contenders in Detroit and YSU. If we go 4-2 that will be very good. Anything better will be very tough, although I do feel like we are finally getting all the pieces in place. Hopefully our depth will wear down teams who have less of it as the season grinds on.

a3uge · February 06, 2013, 12:55:20 PM

Quote from: valpotx on February 06, 2013, 10:53:05 AM
Sounds like the EKU fans think they will be able to beat us down. I think that they will be in for a rude awakening this year...

I think that was just one guy, and he coined the term "Valparsucko" or something like that... I wouldn't take that too seriously.

Edit: but I was impressed to see others speaking higher of the program. There was really only the one guy who had somewhat of a beef with Valpo.

hailcrusaders · February 08, 2013, 06:14:40 PM

Quote from: Pathfinder on February 06, 2013, 08:07:45 AM
From last night's play by play:
9:34   43-70   Ben Boggs missed Three Point Jumper.

9:12       43-75   Jordan Coleman made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by Erik Buggs.

8:33       43-75   LaVonte Dority missed Three Point Jumper.

6:19       47-82   LaVonte Dority made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by Bobby Capobianco.

2:58       55-84   Ben Boggs missed Three Point Jumper.

1:34       57-86   Bobby Capobianco missed Three Point Jumper.

0:59       58-86   LaVonte Dority missed Dunk.

0:19       61-86   Will Bogan missed Three Point Jumper.

0:00   End Game

Not counting put backs, two-thirds of Valpo's shots in the last 10 minutes were 3 pointers or dunks. Good to see the dogs were called off once the game was in hand.

Yet UIC outscored us 18-16 over that time span, even though we hit a couple of those threes. I don't think that qualifies as running up the score. Plus our bench players were getting most of the playing time.

valpotx · February 11, 2013, 10:01:19 AM

EKU's rpi is now 70 according to realtimerpi and warrennolan. I am not sure which RPI figure the NCAA tourney utilizes, but I would believe it is this one versus the Sagarin rating. Hopefully they keep winning as we should, and it will be a good RPI boost leading into the conference tourney!

LaPorteAveApostle · February 11, 2013, 10:18:46 AM

Amen to that! They have a better than 68% chance of winning their next three. We are by far their toughest game the rest of the way.

http://www.rpiforecast.com/teams/Eastern%20Kentucky.html

bbtds · February 11, 2013, 01:33:53 PM

Quote from: LaPorteAveApostle on February 11, 2013, 10:18:46 AM
Amen to that! They have a better than 68% chance of winning their next three. We are by far their toughest game the rest of the way.

http://www.rpiforecast.com/teams/Eastern%20Kentucky.html

I just looked up their next few opponents for the "Opponents' scoreboard" thread.

E.Kentucky>Tenn Tech @ EKU 2/14 7pm, Jacksonville St @ EKU 2/16 7pm, Austin Peay @ EKU 2/20 7pm.
All three games are home games against poor to middling OVC opponents.

EKU_SAE · February 21, 2013, 08:58:42 PM

Quote from: a3uge on February 06, 2013, 12:55:20 PM
Quote from: valpotx on February 06, 2013, 10:53:05 AM
Sounds like the EKU fans think they will be able to beat us down. I think that they will be in for a rude awakening this year...

I think that was just one guy, and he coined the term "Valparsucko" or something like that... I wouldn't take that too seriously.

Edit: but I was impressed to see others speaking higher of the program. There was really only the one guy who had somewhat of a beef with Valpo.

The guy that wrote that is actually an East Tennessee state fan that loves Belmont and has found our board, not sure how???
Nice job on the "kernels" never heard that one before. As far as the game goes I look for it to be a good one, if EKU is on I think you guys will be surprised

LaPorteAveApostle · February 21, 2013, 09:47:28 PM

Quote from: EKU_SAE on February 21, 2013, 08:58:42 PMNice job on the "kernels" never heard that one before.

valpotx · February 22, 2013, 02:31:35 AM

I think that we will be 'on' for this game, and look for a double digit win. Granted, I know nothing about them, other than that they have a decent RPI, but play in an easier RPI conference (12 for HL, 15 for OVC after moving up 1 recently).

Valpo 75
EKU 63

EKU_SAE · February 22, 2013, 07:02:29 AM

I was sarcastic with the kernels comment, next you can use something about the Colonel and Kentucky fried Chicken, that's another opposing team favorite. What I meant by the "on" comment was if shots are falling, the post above says you guys will be on, if he knows a way to know the team is going to be hot take it to Vegas, can make a lot of money. You never know when two teams from different conf play, we played at Illinois tough, should have beat WVU, and then beat Murray on the road by 20, also had one horrible loss on the road at UT-Martin (let down after Belmont game). You just never know, I will be watching on TV sat and see then.

LaPorteAveApostle · February 22, 2013, 08:18:07 AM

KNOW THINE ENEMY: Eastern Kentucky U

WHERE THEY'RE AT: 20-6 (22-6 overall).
CONFERENCE: 11-3 OVC (the Other Valley Conference), good enough for 2nd in the E division, 1 game behind old friend Belmont

COMING OFF OF: A 6-game win streak (5-D1 wins) that followed two crushing losses--a home rematch vs Belmont at which they didn't avenge their earlier loss, followed by a gut-punch loss @ UT-Martin (the Milwaukee of the OVC)

WHADDATHEY THINK ABOUT 'EM?
RealTimeRPI: 69 (of 347 D-I) RealTime (VU 79)
RPIForecast: 71; expected finish 67 RPIForecast (VU 79 current; expected finish 74)
Sagarin: 134 (!!!) with a rating of 74.72 Sagz (VU 78; 79.33)
ESPN / BPI: 103 with a rating of 62.3 (VU 73; 67.8 )

Average the 4 and come up with 94. (VU 77) Just as in the presidential election, we have two different sets of numbers telling us two different things about the 'candidates'. While RPI (backwards-looking) and BPI/Sag (predictive) both largely tell the same story about VU, the former says that EKU is better while the latter says decidedly not.

Like the election, only one can be proven right on Saturday.

WHAT ABOUT STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE?
201 (RealTimeRPI) (VU 188)
201 expected finish 169 (RPIForecast) (VU 187; expected finish 162)
308 (Sagarin) (VU 193)
247 (ESPN/BPI) (VU 138)

Average SOS 239 (VU avg. 176). See above: VU much more consensus than EKU...

COMMON OPPONENTS: @ Murray State
EKU: W 77-65, 1/9/13
VU: W 66-64, 12/29/12

CURRENT PREDICTIONS OF A COLONEL-CRUSADER BATTLE (now THERE's a name for the mascot "Colonel Crusader, sir!")
RealTimeRPI:@ VU 73-66 W

RPIForecast: @ VU VU favored by 7.8; VU 76% chance of win

optional mascot ~~redesign~~ improvement: Colonel Homestar Runner

TAKEAWAYS
While you may look at the lone common opponent and think, "whoa!", know that they played their best game of the season that day @ MSU (acc to BPI); the exact comparable level (94.4) would be our demolishing of UIC. On the flippity-flop, their worst performance, the gaffe of AlGore proportions @ UT-Martin was more than twice as bad (!!!) as our worst performance (vs. Loyola, of course): 7.3 game score to 15.4.

EKU is 0-4 vs. Top 100 teams; we are 1-3. Game preview forthcoming.

VULB#62 · February 22, 2013, 10:10:15 AM

Quote from: EKU_SAE on February 22, 2013, 07:02:29 AM
I was sarcastic with the kernels comment, next you can use something about the Colonel and Kentucky fried Chicken, that's another opposing team favorite.

I don't know about the sarcastic part of kernel from our perspective. I took it to mean "pieces of information" and thought it was a brilliant play on words by Crusadermoe.

agibson · February 22, 2013, 10:57:06 AM

I think EKU is just saying that he's heard this clever witticism a time or two before.

Even if it's not quite as bad as Alpo. (Do they still make that stuff?)

crusadermoe · February 22, 2013, 12:54:01 PM

There is a kernel of truth in both of your thoughts. Hate to see this thread get corny though.

bbtds · February 22, 2013, 01:23:49 PM

Quote from: agibson on February 22, 2013, 10:57:06 AM
Even if it's not quite as bad as Alpo. (Do they still make that stuff?)

http://www.purinastore.com/brands/alpo?gclid=CPu97NXRyrUCFYpDMgodqy4AmA

Yes, it's a Purina brand. Checkerboard Square and the Checkerdome and all.

Give your dog the meaty taste of today's Purina® ALPO® brand Dog Food. Our complete line of delicious wet food and crunchy dry food is sure to make your dog's face light up with excitement. Today's Purina® ALPO® feeding instructions: Measure, serve and get out of the way!