Mercer University @ Valpo, Nov 29 7:05pm Game Thread

[talksalot]

These guys are good. Their RealTimeRPI is 75 (VU is 120)

Date   Opponent   Opp. RPI Rk   Results
  11-08     at    Texas     5-1 (0-0)   48    73-76    L
$  11-16         Seton Hall     4-2 (0-0)   68    77-74    W
  11-18     at    Evansville     3-1 (0-0)   65    76-89    L
  11-23         Yale     3-3 (0-0)   212    81-54    W
  11-26     at    Ohio     4-1 (0-0)   27    67-76    L

Get this... Undefeated at home (4-0) winless on the road (0-3)... sound familiar?  (Two non-D1 wins at home)

http://www.mercerbears.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/files/teamcume.htm for their stat sheet

Starters: (same for all 7 games)

Hall, 6-4 SR  17 ppg  88% free throw shooting, 43% from 3 point range
Coursey 6-10 SR 10.9 ppg  14 blocks in 7 games
Nwamu  6-5 SO 10.6 ppg
Gollon 6-6 SR  6.4 ppg
White  6-2 SR 5.3 ppg  (Indpls Pike)

71% free throw shooting

Gee... let's see... How about I go on a limb... Valpo 85, Mercer 70...which is one more point than they beat us in football (35-21).  They'll be looking ahead to their next game:  Monday night in Norman against the Sooners.

[valpotx]

I see a similar game as well:

Valpo 82
Mercer 68

[valpopal]

[bbtds]

Mercer   74
Valpo   94

It will be close most of the game but VU starts pulling it out at the end because the Crusaders simply know how to put points on the scoreboard.

[wh]

Not to get sidetracked, but over 40,000 vehicles per day pass through the area where the billboard is located on Rt. 30:

http://search.midamericagrp.com/property_files/flyer_51847.pdf

This is high visibility exposure to be sure.  Moreover, rotating players' pictures keeps it fresh and gives the players some pretty cool recognition. Nice job by someone in athletic dept. marketing.

[historyman]

Mercer   64
Valpo     71

[covufan]

I think both teams will be a little sluggish at the start, but we pull ahead towards the end for a win!

Valpo. -  79
Mercer  - 69


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[oklahomamick]

What is the vegas spread?

[sliman]

Not to get sidetracked, but over 40,000 vehicles per day pass through the area where the billboard is located on Rt. 30:

http://search.midamericagrp.com/property_files/flyer_51847.pdf

This is high visibility exposure to be sure.  Moreover, rotating players' pictures keeps it fresh and gives the players some pretty cool recognition. Nice job by someone in athletic dept. marketing.

It's a shame that those seeing it don't respond by coming to a game.  It's mystifying that Lake County seems to have no interest in Division I basketball other than Purdue or Notre Dame.  Unfortunately, it often appears that the "local" newspaper feels the same way.

[VULB#62]

VU over Mercer by >10.  That's my view in the context of the farce they perpetrated on the PFL.  BTW they had over 12,000 at their final game -- a 41-10 drubbing of Stetson (who I think was playing by the rules of the league).  Good ridance Mercer - hope we send them out of the ARC with a big L.

[justducky]

It's a shame that those seeing it don't respond by coming to a game.  It's mystifying that Lake County seems to have no interest in Division I basketball other than Purdue or Notre Dame.  Unfortunately, it often appears that the "local" newspaper feels the same way.

I know that I shouldn't need to remind somebody of this but just in case, Andrean (Lake County) is leading by 14 at half time for the 3A football state title. A final score announcement is important tonight even if the Davidson family are the only Andrean fans to show up and they might be in Indianapolis too.   

[valpotx]

Too bad that we lost this one, as it looked like we battled hard against a team with 7 Seniors that play solid minutes each game.  The battle of upperclassmen vs. mostly underclassmen went the way of the more experienced team.  Hopefully we can learn from another loss that could/should have been a win, and make it count come conference games!

[HC]

Tough loss although quite entertaining. Couple thoughts: our zone still can't keep the ball out of high post area. Valpo's either not quick enough as a unit to play man/help or they just need more time together.

Any idea why Coleman didn't play much at all? Perhaps I missed something in the first half during his few minutes of time.

[chipper955]

Coleman was noticeably limping when getting up from the bench during timeouts.  I am not sure if that was the reason as to why he wasn't out there.

Also, I don't know if Chadwick is still hurt or if Bryce feels he is not capable of playing, but tonight was a game where we definitely could have used him.  Once Bobby fouled out and Clay got put in we really had no chance to compete.

[truth219]

Personally, I think Coleman didn't play is because he looked awful when he was.

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[HC]

Oren says he hurt it his ankle in the 1st half. Glad he's not in the dog house, that can be a tough place to get out of.

[justducky]

In a war of attrition a healthy Coleman and or Chadwick--then maybe we win. I kind of think that this feet to the fire, all out war may have some positive effects.  In fact I would now raise our chances against both Ball State and St Louis with or without Coleman and Chadwick.

[wh]

Win or lose, that was one exciting basketball game to witness!  Our guys played their hearts out for 55 minutes and you can't ask for more than that.  Who would ever have thought before the season began that we could play 4 freshmen over half our minutes (53%) in a triple OT game and take a very good, senior laden opponent down to the wire?  Then stop to consider that Jordan Coleman basically didn't play and we still have Keith Carter waiting in the wings. We are going to get on a roll here at some point in the not too distant future and just keep on rolling.   

[truth219]

Everyone played really good. I'm very proud of how we played. #20 and #5 from Mercer were ridiculous from outside. I thought we could have done a better job at containing them. Capobianco is our best post player offensively, but he missed a few wide open layups. That kills me. Being six ten and not bring able to make a layup is frustrating. Dority was very good last night, but he needs to cut back on the dribble drive. Thankfully he got fouled and hit his free throws. Oh and capobianco looked awesome at shooting threes last night.....Coleman looked awful last night. He didn't look injured to me. Williams came out smoking but they shut him down in the second half. Adekoya can finish nicely in the post and fights for boards.

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[truth219]

Personally, I think Chadwicks role on our team is bench warmer. Too much talent.

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[valpo64]

The Mercer kid who got 37 averages 6 ppg!!

[truth219]

He must've had a rabbits foot in his jock strap

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[truth219]

Did anyone else notice the man dancing in front of the upper deck last night. Hilarious, if we only had a fan cam.

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[a3uge]

Vashil just has no ability to stay out of foul trouble. There was 10 min left in the 2nd half and he fouled out. As a backup, that's just hard to do. That forced Moussa to play more minutes, and of course he eventually fouled out in regulation.

I hope Bryce has something in the works for a center next year, because Vashil isn't going to play 42 minutes per game and I don't think Jubril can play the position well enough. It would be a shame to waste talent like Lexus Williams and Alec Peters because we don't have anyone to play down low.

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[HC]

That guy was a dancing machine! Seriously though  our bug guys are either going to have to adjust how they play defense or just hope the refs put the whistles away (not going to happen).