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

[govalpogo]

Hey, when you shoot 70% from the field, 18 turnovers doesn't hurt so much.  Add one to the W column and let's beat YSU!

[vuweathernerd]

Still had way too many turnovers.  We are lucky that they really aren't that good.  Their record is highly misleading due to playing some REALLY crappy OOC and in-conference opponents.  Still, we were able to pull out the large win that we should have, and are coming in on a high note to our home game against YSU.  If both Perry and Eargle are out, you might as well just give the win to us.

this is quite helpful going into the ysu game tuesday night. and i don't wanna be 'that' guy, but a win over the penguins clinches not only the #1 in the conference tourney, but also no worse than an nit appearance.

[rink]

Not much to say about that half, pretty much stress free. EKU came out stronger, but we upped or game to match. Buggs was incredible in the second half, made life easy for the rest of the team.  Wasn't crazy about taking the air out of the ball and passing 15 times before shooting with nine minutes left. Sorry to see Walden go out with the injury ... was crossing my fingers all game that noting like that would happen to us. Dinunno seems like a stud, maybe too unselfish? Seems like he constantly put himself in good position, dished to a teammate, and was let down by someone who couldn't finish.

[rink]

Up 10, should be up 20. I hope Bryce is extremely unsatisfied and has a plan to improve in the second half. I think EKU comes out MUCH tighter in the second half, they looked unsettled -- unfamiliar venue, early start time (11am their time) -- and I expect them be more comfortable and play better after the half. We better get our act together.

Minor correction 1PM their time.  Hoping with you.

D'oh, thanks for the correction. When the announcer said "morning start" for a noon game, I assumed she was an hour off because of some east coast bias or something, without really thinking.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

and i don't wanna be 'that' guy

nit-picker

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Dinunno seems like a stud, maybe too unselfish?

7 for 18?  could be a little more unselfish, i think.  plus 3 AST to 3 TO.

but yeah, he's a great player.  cosey didn't play like one though.

[agibson]

Kenney's technical is inexcusable for a college player, let alone a senior.  Absolutely ridiculous to throw it off of your opponent.  That is thinking of only yourself, not the team

In person it was a weird play.  I've not seen a replay, but it sort of felt like he just bounced it off him reasonably lightly and was then sort of like, "Did I just do that?".

I saw an Osipoff tweet that said we were 15-2 after the T - not sure how far that went.

[agibson]

30-44 from the field.  68.2%.  The best since...

The best in at least six years.   We don't even have a game better than 60% every year.

Could it be our best FG% in a game, ever?

[wh]

This was a real beat down.  Our 22 point margin of victory was 11 points higher than any of their other losses.  Our 82 point total was the 3rd most points scored by an EKU opponent this season.  Belmont scored more on 2 occasions, but the margins of victory were much closer so they would not have called the dogs off early like we did today.  And to think our 2 all-league 1st teamers Ryan and Kevin only played 20 minutes each.  A dominating performance. 

[chipper955]

Nice to see Coleman get some playing time today.  Still don't understand why he hasn't been playing more.

[ValpoHoops]

Nice to see Coleman get some playing time today.  Still don't understand why he hasn't been playing more.

I don't have "official" numbers, just what I've come up with through my own math, but in Horizon League play Coleman is something like a -50 in his time on the court and everyone else is positive. I think I had Lavonte second worst at like +25 and from there it's another big jump to the next of the guards. I know te coaches have access to the "official" stats, and I would think it's hard to justify playing a guy who - every time he gets on the court - the team loses ground.

[Smj]

I was very happy to see Coleman get some P.T. again...   I am not sure about the stats.   I just think it mixes things up a bit and gives us an option that allows us to rest others. 

Buggs was awesome today - it does not all show in the stats but he did so much.

The Matt Kenny tech actually kind of made me laugh because I was like what just happened...

Enjoyed watching the game today................. 

[bbtds]

I think some of you are way undervaluing beating EKU. Those two guards, Walden (#2) and DiNunno (#3) were outstanding players and if Mike DiNunno had hit more of those long 2's and 3's it would have been a much closer game. DiNunno was 7-18 overall and 2-7 from three. He was outstanding at getting to the basket. I'm sure Northern Illinois wishes they still had Mike.

If we had played tighter defense on Walden and DiNunno, Stutz and one of the other big men would have been wide open for easy lay-ups. Although Valpo challenged every shot and the Colonels missed a lot of shots under the basket. It didn't seem like Valpo allowed any of EKU's shots to be easy. On the other hand Valpo shot the ball so well it would have been extremely tough for anyone to beat the Crusaders at home today.

Yes, again we had some bad turnovers, especially with Dority charging towards the basket and dishing it off too late or not in control. LaVonte must improve on the turnovers next year. Valpo finished with 18 turnovers but the Crusaders made up for it with spirited play for a full 40 minutes. They do seem to always get up and play well for the bracketbuster games. The student section really let us down for a TV game. Are we to the point of having too many TV games for this student section?

[Smj]

Totally agree on the student section....   Hate when they cut to any student section on TV and you see empty seats.

I know others are going to disagree but I don't think we should add one seat to the ARC until we figure out how to full the seats we have.   This was an ESPN bracketbuster game (last one maybe) and what was the attendance?

[KL31NY]

How do we have empty seats in the student section... for a TV game, even?

Unless everyone was going to tennis, there were no other home Valpo contests to follow. Surely playing COD gets boring after awhile, why not go to basketball?

[EddieCabot]

Nice to see Coleman get some playing time today.  Still don't understand why he hasn't been playing more.

Yes ... really odd that he's played in every game until he disappeared for three straight games, then reappeared today.  Those around the game understand what that means, but don't expect to find out anything from the university or the media.  When the "media" person covering the team is an employee of the university, just assume that tough questions won't be asked ... especially when said "media" member is also a Valpo grad and #1 fan of the program.

[HC]

I was surprised by the low turnout, waiting for they uses from our current student posters. Hopefully they all show up Tuesday. Going to be a surreal night sending away this group on their final home regular season game.

[KL31NY]

Nice to see Coleman get some playing time today.  Still don't understand why he hasn't been playing more.

Yes ... really odd that he's played in every game until he disappeared for three straight games, then reappeared today.  Those around the game understand what that means, but don't expect to find out anything from the university or the media.  When the "media" person covering the team is an employee of the university, just assume that tough questions won't be asked ... especially when said "media" member is also a Valpo grad and #1 fan of the program.

Let's not pretend it's all Paul. Let me present some thoughts... There's more context than this. Valpo is a mid-major school that has a better chance to keep things like this on the "down low." I don't know what's up with Coleman. Maybe Oren knows and maybe Osipoff knows, but do they know on the record? Has Bryce said anything else on the record to them or anyone else other than more-or-less "I like the guys we have out there now?"

Can there be voluntary protection of matters like this to help a writers' own job security or conscience? It can happen. Will the team/department staff work to keep these things off the record and out of the way? It can happen, too. I don't have the full answer. I just think you can't just blame one writer with so many school ties for this. Speaking from my own media experience, I know these things aren't always black-and-white. It can be a tricky area...

[Enrico Palazzo]

"Can there be voluntary protection of matters like this to help a writers' own job security or conscience? It can happen. Will the team/department staff work to keep these things off the record and out of the way? It can happen, too. I don't have the full answer. I just think you can't just blame one writer with so many school ties for this. Speaking from my own media experience, I know these things aren't always black-and-white. It can be a tricky area..."

Yep.  Sorry guys, but that's how it works.  Some stuff stays off the record to protect a team from a competitive disadvantage, because of medical confidentiality. or to protect a team's image. 

Paul, by his own admission, knows he's in a lose-lose situation.  The school he covers also signs his checks.  But he makes an honest effort to remain objective.  If the answer was relevant and on the record, he'd report it.

[chef]

Honestly, there is nothing to this story. Jordan Coleman is the 9th man on a team that uses an 8 man rotation. This didn't happen overnight. They've been playing mostly 8 all year. Dority missed the first month. Then Bryce tried to figure out the best 8. For a game or two Will Bogan played minimal minutes. Then Boggs and Coleman lost significant minutes. Look at the Wright State box from 5 weeks ago, both Boggs and Coleman only played 7 minutes. Then Boggs was completely out of the rotation. Then Matt Kenney was injured and missed two games. Boggs outplayed Coleman in those two games, and Coleman became the 9th man. Bryce answered the question when asked "It's not injury related, I like the way these guys are playing." Find a game all year that was not a blowout where more than 8 players played significant minutes. It just hasn't happened more than a couple times.

[valpopal]

How do we have empty seats in the student section... for a TV game, even?

Unless everyone was going to tennis, there were no other home Valpo contests to follow. Surely playing COD gets boring after awhile, why not go to basketball?

Despite the disappointing number of students attending, I took this picture of the players, who were led by Vashil, showing their appreciation for those who were there by storming the student section after the game:

[valpotx]

I give props to the students who do/did attend games.  However, those that don't go to a Saturday game at noon on ESPNU, are not true fans.  Only 3,300 for this game?  That is just sad.  Please give me an excuse again, such as, 'we have tests coming up,' or, 'it was too early for us exhausted students.'  I have said it before, but if you can't handle full-time school work and attending your school's main sport (if you say that you are a fan), then I fear for your professional career, as it only gets rougher with full-time work, kids, etc.

Maybe I am just stuck in the 'glory days,' but we had much crappier competition come into the ARC when I was in school, and it was always 4k-4.5k+, even for the teams in conference that were out in Timbuktu, and NOT on TV.  I will always remember my first visit to Valpo in the 1997-1998 school year (JR year of HS), in March of 1998.  I hadn't yet injured my arm, so I was only visiting Valpo to appease my father on a Midwest baseball recruiting trip, since he played college ball in Minnesota.  Valpo, Butler, Creighton, and Purdue were on the list, and I didn't think I would give serious consideration to any of them, as I was kicking butt and on the way to TCU, Baylor, Rice, or some other schools that were recruiting me in the Southwest.  When we arrived at Valpo, we went to meet with Coach Twenge in the ARC, and there were a ton of students walking outside and around the ARC, shouting and cheering.  Maybe my dad knew, but I had no clue that this was the same school that just won at the buzzer the day before in the NCAA tournament, until some of the students told me.  Seeing the passion that the campus had left such an impression on me, that when I hurt my arm in the middle of my SR year of HS, I knew that I wanted to go to Valpo since the other schools dropped out of recruiting me for baseball, knowing I was about to have Tommy John surgery (back when the success rate was 40%).  My FR redshirt year, and the 4 after, that passion never left the students.  Whether we ended up 19-12 or 20+ wins, we went to the games.  Hopefully we can have a great run to the NCAA, and win a game, as I would love to see that passion back with the student body...

[wh]

From the Richmond (KY) Register:

OVC HOOPS: Colonels fall short at Valpo

http://richmondregister.com/localsports/x36428645/OVC-HOOPS-Colonels-fall-short-at-Valpo

"They put four small guys out there on the court and really spread us out ... and really put us in scramble situations quite a bit. They just drove us to death," EKU coach Jeff Neubauer said in a radio interview. "They beat us north and south, meaning we did not guard one-on-one. Our guys did not do a great job with the help-side defense today. Valpo is a very good team. However we did not guard well enough here today."

[Smj]

Valpopal,
Thanks for the photo - I have always thought it was great that the players run over to the students after the game.   I really hope that tradition continues.

Thanks again for the photos!  :-)

I was a student 91-95 and I bet I only missed a couple games my entire time as a student.   We were rarely if ever televised from the ARC.  I negotiated with my professors AND yes I missed a class or two so I could catch a game.   Just meant I had to work a little harder to catch up on the class I missed. 

However, I am also disappointed in the valpo community for not supporting the team.   If we can't fill the stands a little better than this on a Saturday ESPN game during a 20+ win season how will the stands look during a rebuilding year...

I'm done venting....   

Will all the players have family at Tuesday's game?  Sure hope so.

[HC]

The lower tank was filled pretty good yesterday, but I did notice not as many families in the upper level.

KVWs parents are in town as is Koala. If they can make I assume/hope the other 4 seniors will have plenty of family in attendance Tuesday. Ill predict over 5,000 in attendance, oh and a win!