James Madison University at Valpo: Saturday 11/23, 2 pm

valpopal · November 21, 2013, 09:47:40 AM

Time to start a new thread with this week's billboard:

classof2014 · November 21, 2013, 09:49:06 AM

This is a really big game for us. We desperately need this win. Wish I could make it to this one but unfortunately I will be out of town.

covufan · November 21, 2013, 11:16:33 AM

Was hoping to pull one win out of the last three. I think this one will be close, but we hit a few FTs and a 3 towards the end.

Valpo 73
JMU 65

a3uge · November 21, 2013, 01:15:56 PM

This team lost to Detroit at home and Milwaukee on a neutral court. Their 2 wins are against Northern Illinois and San Jose State, both awful programs. San Jose State lost to New Orleans last year, an independent, and Northern Illinois lost to Milwaukee last year, whom might as well been an independent. They were a tourney team last year, upsetting the top seed Northeastern in their conference tournament. They were a play-in team as a 16 seed and beat LIU-Brooklyn before inevitably losing to 1 seed Indiana.

Before the season, JMU was picked 7th in the colonial (out of 9 teams) with one player on the second team all conference list (Andre Nation).^(link)

This is a game the Crusaders should win. They should be favored and a loss at home to a bad team would be concerning. I'm okay with Valpo going 0-3 on their road-trip (I was expecting this), but I'm not okay with losing to a team at home that was beat by Detroit and Milwaukee. I think that's a reasonable expectation.

Wild ass guess: Valpo 76 JMU 66

valpotx · November 21, 2013, 01:24:42 PM

I really hope we win this one, especially at home. If not, it is a bad sign of things to come.

Valpo 78
JMU 67

valpo04 · November 21, 2013, 02:33:12 PM

This game will be on HLN. Just a reminder that if you click the "Game Day" link on the menu, you can watch the HLN feed and use our chat room.

a3uge · November 21, 2013, 03:30:16 PM

Sort of related: Georgetown just lost to Northeastern (another Colonial member) in Puerto Rico. Georgtown beat Wright State handily earlier this month. Good win for the CAA, something the Horizon League hasn't been able to do this year. Towson and Drexel are also pretty good this year. The Colonial lost George Mason this year and VCU a couple years ago, so it's good to see them potentially rebounding. The A-10 will be constantly poaching from this league if they continue to lose members.

As for Wright State - their two early losses are brutal to the team - they will now play a slew of horrible teams until conference play begins. If they lose a one of those games, they might be screwed if they happen to sit before the selection committee... I'm certain no Horizon League team wants to see Oklahoma State in the first round. Still really early to talk about this, but the Horizon just doesn't have a strong front-running team the year like they've had in the past.

talksalot · November 21, 2013, 04:23:47 PM

Looking at the real-time Rippee site...confirmation of the weakness (perceived or real) of JMU:

? 11-08     at    Virginia     3-1 (0-0)    142     41-61    L
11-15     at    Northern Illinois     1-3 (0-0)    315     60-55    W
?? 11-16     vs    Wisc. Milwaukee     4-2 (0-0)    231     66-77    L
11-17     vs    San Jose St.     1-4 (0-0)    310     79-66    W
? 11-19         Detroit     1-2 (0-0)    138     67-71    L
11-23     at    Valparaiso     1-3 (0-0)    201     62-77 L - Scouting
11-27     at    Winthrop     2-1 (0-0)    77     65-71 L - Scouting
11-30     at    Richmond     3-1 (0-0)    53     64-78 L - Scouting
12-06     at    Stephen F. Austin     1-1 (0-0)    97     53-70 L - Scouting
12-07     at    Sam Houston St.     2-0 (0-0)    166     64-73 L - Scouting
12-14     at    High Point     1-2 (0-0)    249     65-71 L - Scouting

UDM is their only home game for the first 6 weeks of the season... and they are starting a 6-game road trip in the ARC... and we are 15-pt favorites.

I'll go with VU 85 JMU 68... bit leary of the high point projection... our student section will be lacking since the residence halls close at noon Saturday.

a3uge · November 21, 2013, 04:44:14 PM

Quote from: talksalot on November 21, 2013, 04:23:47 PM
Looking at the real-time Rippee site...confirmation of the weakness (perceived or real) of JMU:

? 11-08     at    Virginia     3-1 (0-0)    142     41-61    L
11-15     at    Northern Illinois     1-3 (0-0)    315     60-55    W
?? 11-16     vs    Wisc. Milwaukee     4-2 (0-0)    231     66-77    L
11-17     vs    San Jose St.     1-4 (0-0)    310     79-66    W
? 11-19         Detroit     1-2 (0-0)    138     67-71    L
11-23     at    Valparaiso     1-3 (0-0)    201     62-77 L - Scouting
11-27     at    Winthrop     2-1 (0-0)    77     65-71 L - Scouting
11-30     at    Richmond     3-1 (0-0)    53     64-78 L - Scouting
12-06     at    Stephen F. Austin     1-1 (0-0)    97     53-70 L - Scouting
12-07     at    Sam Houston St.     2-0 (0-0)    166     64-73 L - Scouting
12-14     at    High Point     1-2 (0-0)    249     65-71 L - Scouting

UDM is their only home game for the first 6 weeks of the season... and they are starting a 6-game road trip in the ARC... and we are 15-pt favorites.

I'll go with VU 85 JMU 68... bit leary of the high point projection... our student section will be lacking since the residence halls close at noon Saturday.

RPI sites are a bit misleading because the sample sizes are still extremely small. I wouldn't look at the predictions as gospel until there's a better sample size. I bet Vegas favors Valpo by like 6 or something.

chef · November 21, 2013, 08:52:07 PM

I don't know what the line will be, but it has to be higher than 6. They were beaten by UWM by 11 on a neutral court.

valpotx · November 22, 2013, 02:09:41 PM

Interesting fact from the pre-game notes:

JMU is one of the few programs nationally taller than the Crusaders, as their players are on average 6'7". Nine are between 6'7" and 6'10", none shorter than 6'4".

I imagine this means our bigs will need to stay out of foul trouble!

Kyle321n · November 22, 2013, 05:20:57 PM

3 Things I want to see:

1. #NoDrivesBobby and #Some3sBobby. If he's at the top of the key and tries to drive the ball I'm going to lose my mind, especially against a taller team.

2. How does Peters react to a larger player on him and more focus? He's not going to be a secret weapon anymore after putting up 30 points.

3. Will Dority go after a ball after he dribbles it off his foot?

sliman · November 22, 2013, 05:22:30 PM

Quote from: valpotx on November 22, 2013, 02:09:41 PM
Interesting fact from the pre-game notes:

JMU is one of the few programs nationally taller than the Crusaders, as their players are on average 6'7". Nine are between 6'7" and 6'10", none shorter than 6'4".

I imagine this means our bigs will need to stay out of foul trouble!

OR, we go with our smaller lineup and "out quick" them as others have done to us.

I'm not sure what to expect in this game although being back home should be helpful. I think we make a mistake if we feel James Madison is inferior competition. I'll take a win at any margin we can achieve.

Smj · November 23, 2013, 09:32:12 AM

Maybe the coaches should be in the starting lineup. (jk) I am hoping to see this during the game ...

Bobby in the 5
more Jubril
Lexus running the point
more set plays "designed" for players
an inside/outside game
a lead early that we keep....

good luck team.

(I am about to get on the road - long drive ahead)

truth219 · November 23, 2013, 12:17:10 PM

Let's go valpo

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bbtds · November 23, 2013, 12:31:54 PM

Quote from: truth219 on November 23, 2013, 12:17:10 PM
Let's go valpo

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

It is the time for a win.

VU75 · November 23, 2013, 02:28:28 PM

How is it that the namesake university of the father of the constitution has a nickname that violates the Constitution's Nobility Clause?

valpotx · November 23, 2013, 03:50:07 PM

Good overall play by the guys against a team we definitely should have blown out, especially with their injuries. I am assuming that if they get some of their players back, they will be a middle of the pack CAA team. Dority looked much more controlled this game, as did Lexus, who played fantastic. I'll take 6 points/game from our Center position (Moussa/Vashil), if they just play D and get the boards, as they did.

What is up with Chadwick? I know he isn't going to play much, but only Davidson comes in at the 5 minute mark up 30??

truth219 · November 23, 2013, 04:50:37 PM

I though the starting line up of williams, dority, peters, adekoya, and moussa was fantastic. We started the game with some solid offense. Bobby was not very solid today. Im not going to bash him, however, he got three fouls in three minuets and sat the rest of the first half. He came back in the second half, but the game was already decided at that point. Moussa had a teriffic game in my eyes. He had a few bad passes, but he was much stronger than the man they had guarding him. He owned the boards. Adekoya was terrific. He had a few bad plays, but overall he looked really sharp. Besides bobby and vashil( minus his triple j) who were so so, the rest of the team looked really good and smooth together.

Smj · November 23, 2013, 06:09:18 PM

fun game to watch. .. like the changes Bryce made. Strange not seeing Jordan start but I think a change was needed. Anyone know why Chadwick did not play? Love having Lexus start... Makes sense to have a point guard in the starting lineup.

FWalum · November 23, 2013, 06:42:56 PM

This Freshman class appears to be the real deal. Obviously Peters is a big time offensive player and also is showing more on the defensive side than I thought he would at this stage. Williams has shown some very good point skills, other than the Ohio game, where he looked a little shaky against really aggressive ball pressure and hedging, but I think that will come with experience and physical maturity. Adekoya is really starting to get me excited. He appears to be a really hard nosed, energetic and athletic kid that can be the difference maker. I think we have played better in the last two games when he is in the rotation. Yeo is also a nice player who has a high BB IQ and will only improve with some additional strength and maturity. We have talked about the promise of classes and individual players before, but I think this one is on a different level.

VULB#62 · November 23, 2013, 07:35:19 PM

Is it safe to say Jordan is this year's Kenny? Or should he be a starter? You can't base a season on a single game, but the prospects are promising. I really like the way he plays.

wh · November 23, 2013, 08:16:14 PM

Pulling for Alec for HL POW (FOW should be a given):

- points 30 and 15 (22.5 ppg)
- 14-25 FG (56%)
- 9-16 3PT FG (56%)
- 8-8 FT (100%)
- 0 TO's in 58 min.

I wonder when was the last time a HL true freshman scored 30 or more?

chef · November 23, 2013, 08:33:22 PM

I'm sure it's happened, but haven't found it. Gordon Hayward's top scoring game as a freshman was 27 points. Here's another question, when was the last time the Crusaders have had a freshman exceed his expectations any more than Lexus Williams.

wh · November 23, 2013, 09:11:34 PM

Quote from: chef on November 23, 2013, 08:33:22 PM
I'm sure it's happened, but haven't found it. Gordon Hayward's top scoring game as a freshman was 27 points. Here's another question, when was the last time the Crusaders have had a freshman exceed his expectations any more than Lexus Williams.

You aren't kidding. We would be singing Lexus' praises even more than we have been, if not for Alec's amazing start. How about this - Alec POW and Lexus FOW?

Lexus' numbers:

- 10 PPG (8+12)
- 9-14 FG (64%)
- 2-4 3PT FG (50%)
- 3 APG
- 2.5 SPG
- 28 MPG (2nd only to Alec with 29)

Amazing level of efficiency for a (beginning) freshman point guard!