11/8/2013 Friday 7:30 p.m. CST -- Murray State at Valpo -- Game Thread

[setshot]

Valpo's going to "Double Down" this weekend with wins over both Murray State and Butler. Sure!

[bbtds]

Valpo's going to "Double Down" this weekend with wins over both Murray State and Butler. Sure!

If Valpo beats Cleve St in VB and Murray St in MBB then I'll attend the football game on 49th Street and cheer my a** off for the sweep. I'm so inspired that setshot is predicting a football win!! OMG!!!

[agibson]

Is the banner ceremony before the game, and the ring ceremony at half time?

Is the banner at valpoathletics.com merely confusing, or actually wrong?

http://valpoathletics.com/media/images-splash/champnight.jpg

[historyman]

Is the banner ceremony before the game, and the ring ceremony at half time? Is the banner at valpoathletics.com merely confusing, or actually wrong? http://valpoathletics.com/media/images-splash/champnight.jpg

I don't believe the banner is wrong but maybe not totally clear. I believe, and I hope someone in the athletic dept will correct me if I'm wrong but you do have us guessing, that the basketball team will be featured before the Murray State game and during halftime the baseball, golf and softball teams will be honored. That is consistent with this banner. It makes sense because Dority, Capo, Coleman and Fernandez will be busy at halftime.

[talksalot]

I'm heading to a meeting in about an hour to time things out.  Early discussion was to do the basketball banner pre-game and the other three sports at Halftime... but that may change depending, which is why I'm going to the meeting.

Come on over early, watch the volleyball match with Cleveland State that starts at 4pm and stick around.

[agibson]

Come on over early, watch the volleyball match with Cleveland State that starts at 4pm and stick around.

Alas, the Boys and Girls club doesn't schedule their basketball leagues with the VU schedule in mind.  I look forward to the second half on HLN. But, I hope that others are more dutiful fans than I, and that there's a good crowd!

[talksalot]

and I have the schedule in front of me.  We will be starting the pre-game clock a bit early.  Normally, Valpo would head to the locker room with about 10 on the clock... tonight, they will stay out warming up and we will stop the clock with 5:00.

We will show a highlight video from last year, about a minute long.  During a brief recap of last years conference tournament, the three banners (draped in black bunting) will be cranked down from the rafters.  We will have folks from last year's team (no surprises)  who will unveil it.... to a thunderous applause.

The team will head to the locker room for a few minutes and then we'll start in the usual way with Racer starters, Valpo Starters and the anthem.

At Halftime... we will have the crusaderettes followed by Championship Ring ceremonies for (in this order) Men's Golf, Baseball and Softball.  All of the team banners also are in the lobby of the ARC... already up and shiny.

(OH, Volleyball just swept Cleveland State)

AND, for those at the game... at the 12:00 media timeout in the first half... lots of applause for "Thank you to Cindy Eaton"...retired after 17 seasons as ticket manager.

two hours!

[mj]

Is anyone else having trouble with the WVUR feed?

[VU75]

Is anyone else having trouble with the WVUR feed?

I have not been able to connect using the headphone link all year.  I've been using the TuneIn Radio app.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Just as a reminder to those who may not know or who have forgotten during 7+ months of no BB, on the Forum Home Page, toward the bottom, is the HLN feed plus a chat window where you can interact with other alleged humans.

No problems with the audio there

[valporun]

I used the TuneIn Radio app for the postgame tonight, since HLN cuts out about 30 seconds after the buzzer. Also, TuneIn Radio app or their website is a better source to get the WVUR feed of football and basketball games than the athletics website headphones.

[rink]

Good win! Not perfect. Murray St helped us with some bad FT shooting, otherwise they win. But to some degree, we returned the favor. (Dority, wtf?) Freshmen look really impressive, wow, big surprise. Should be an exciting season!

Go valpo!

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Not many score predictions, but looks like Tex takes it with 73-66 good guys.

What a great game--we have turnover problems (again) and we have trouble finishing (again) ...but we're doing it younger so therefore better because easier to take.

Peters looks to be a bit like Rowdy--but a year ahead of schedule (i.e. Peters frosh = Rowdy soph). (And in the Totally Not Too Early Dept., he's on track for 1632 career points after tonight, which would put him 5th ahead of Raitis.)  But first things first.

ON TO THE CHAMPAIGN ROOM

[Smj]

Surprised that foul trouble did not become more of an issue.   It was like the refs did not want to call anything against Murray State at the ends.

I really thought we looked good.   As this season goes on if we keep looking better we could have a really fun season.

What the hell was the end when Clay got wrapped up from behind - how was that not intentional?

[classof2014]

Overall I thought the team played well... Coleman looks great, was by far the best player in a VU and possibly on the court tonight. Capo I think might still be battling an injury but he looks better, I don't see Dority as a PG, he just didn't look good tonight. Hit some big shots though when we needed them. I think Williams is gonna be great, the hustle play he made for a putback basket late in the 1st half was PHENOMENAL!!

One may say if MSU shot better from the free throw line they win, if we shot better from the FT line we win by 10. Some kinks to work out but overall they looked really good. Peters, Williams, and Yeo will all be big-time contributors to the team this year. I think our size in the middle gave them issues all night long. One thing, Coleman looks like a different player, he's making great plays all the time. And I loved the hustle in the team as well.

Oh yeah, one last thing I need to say.... VASHIL!!!!

[Smj]

Laporte - young group but they sure are a fun group to watch...   Even with some sloppy play asst times (seniors group last year started with some very sloppy play)   There are a couple freshman that I think will become some valpo favorites....

[Smj]

Vashil was great...   He had great hands tonight.   During exhibition games both our big guys had stone fingers - not tonight.....   Way to go guys....

[valpotx]

That was a fun game to watch, outside of the million fouls called.  How about Vashil??  Dude looks like he has really put in some work over the last 2 years to get to this point.  He was able to handle most of the passes thrown his way, and was able to finish most as well.  If we can get even half of that production from him each game, I will be ecstatic.  Several of us continually point out that he is still very new to basketball, and his ceiling for the rest of the year and next year looks much higher than anticipated after the previous season.

Coleman showed that he also put in some work on his game, learning that his limited time at the end of last season was due to some stupid mistakes and drives.  Overall, each of our guys took much smarter angles to the basket on drives, which you wouldn't expect from FR players!  I very much look forward to another 20+ win season this year, and seeing how our young guys improve throughout each game 

[Smj]

ValpoTX - agree on Coleman - he looked great out there   (seems to just know where to be on the court)

[valpotx]

Also, since I was a big critic of them last year, what a great showing by our fans!  You could hear the students chanting throughout the game, and the place seemed to fill with energy when it needed to.  Let's keep that up on the crowd side, as it really helps our guys!!

[classof2014]

Also noticed we only attempted 13 3-pointers. Don't know if there was a time last year where we didn't attempt 20. Fun game to watch and will be a fun team to follow. These freshmen are gonna do something special here at Valpo. WOW

[historyman]

Great games by Vashil, Coleman and Peters.

I really wish we would push the ball more on the break even with fast teams like Murray State. If you noticed VALPO broke out to it's biggest lead when the Crusaders pushed the fast break with Dority, Williams, Fernandez, Yeo and Peters. And we threw the home run ball again and it worked despite the Racers seeing it coming. Great play by the 2 freshmen on that play. I think Dority runs the team better on the fast break. We'll have to see if the set plays work better once Carter starts running the point.

Much, much better hands by Vashil tonight. He wasn't completely cured of the fumble fingers but he looked extremely good.

The composure of Peters, Yeo and Williams is simply amazing. When have we had freshmen play like that since Bryce, himself? And what a hustle play by Lexus on that put-back. Amazing is the only word.

The Racers played Valpo tough all the way and you have to give them credit for playing well in a tough environment. They certainly looked like more of a reloading team than a rebuilding team.

Let's surprise the Illini at least if not by beating them then by giving them a close game. Big Ten Network on Wednesday night!

[wh]

Valpo holds off tough Murray State team in opener

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23626791-556/basketball-valpo-holds-off-tough-murray-state-team-in-opener.html

[Clearthetrack]

I know both teams played ugly at times but did I miss something?  That's not the sixth best team in the Horizon is it?  That place is Racer Arena comeback to life.  Why would you guys want a new gym haha.  That was cruel and unusual punishment to make this particular Racer team open in that place. 

[wh]

I know both teams played ugly at times but did I miss something?  That's not the sixth best team in the Horizon is it?  That place is Racer Arena comeback to life.  Why would you guys want a new gym haha.  That was cruel and unusual punishment to make this particular Racer team open in that place. 

IMO this group will be competing for a conference championship, especially considering that our possibly best player (point guard Keith Carter) will be eligible before conference play begins.  I really enjoyed watching your Racers in person tonight.  Great speed and athleticism, excellent coaching, and a "never say die" attitude. Two games decided by a total of 5 points - it doesn't get much better than that. I hope our 2 programs keep playing each other. Good luck to the Racers!