Valpo @ Oakland, Jan. 4th, 5:00pm CT Game Thread

[Smj]

inconsistent refs (like 5 charges called) - 7 straight calls then 6 straight calls

everyone shoots well against us

forgot that we were down with 12 left

we really did not look bad ...  glimmers of greatness until the last 3 minutes. 

[truth219]

Not his fault we lost before that final possession. It was over when Bader hit that deep 3.

How do you say its not his fault...12.5 left down 5 and he runs the clock down.

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[truth219]

I also didn't say it was Carter's fault.

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[HC]

Tough to win on the road. I agree the coaching helped in our downfall tonight, well that and giving them multiple attempts several times late in that second half. Badger hit some crazy 3s and Mondy "allegedly" had a really good game. Learn from it and beat WSU next week!

[valpo4life]

Not his fault we lost before that final possession. It was over when Bader hit that deep 3.

How do you say its not his fault...12.5 left down 5 and he runs the clock down.

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Carter was dribbling to a certain spot on the court because the other players were running a called set play. Don't blame him, he did was was called upon him to do at the moment. There was a double screen being attempted on the other side but obviously didn't work out and didn't really make sense to me.

[truth219]

Is Bobby's role diminishing?

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[justducky]

For the most part we played very good defense and our offensive flow was disciplined and gave us open looks which we were hitting. Put all of that together and we still earn a road loss. 

The officiating was even and not a factor but once again it seemed to be last years rule interpretation. My question to the HL would be which set of rules do you want us to follow?

[wh]

Bryce also shut down Lexus in the 2nd half.  He goes from starring in the first half to a fill-in role in the 2nd.  Why?

[valpotx]

Why the heck would you run a double screen set play when down 5 and 12 seconds left?  You go to the hoop or take a quick 3, whether someone is in your face or not, in that circumstance.

[truth219]

When Lexus gets hot, let the young man run. He's got confidence, let him play til he needs a break. He makes things happen.

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[mj]

I missed the game but a quick check of the boxscore tells me they scored 18 points the last 6 minutes. 5 3 pointers and 3 free throws, all from Bader and Monday. Yikes. Sounds like the perimeter defense was our downfall today.

[valpotx]

Yep, we decided to reverse the trend and play well in the first half, and not as well in the second half.  For only reasons our team can understand, we decided to play off of Bader more in the second half, and leave Mondy wide open for uncontested 3s.  I had us losing this one anyways, but it should have been a W.  We will beat them at home, but could have swept...

[wh]

Not his fault we lost before that final possession. It was over when Bader hit that deep 3.

How do you say its not his fault...12.5 left down 5 and he runs the clock down.

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Carter was dribbling to a certain spot on the court because the other players were running a called set play. Don't blame him, he did was was called upon him to do at the moment. There was a double screen being attempted on the other side but obviously didn't work out and didn't really make sense to me.

You have to go the full length of the court and score twice in 12 seconds.  There isn't time to "slow up" and wait for one screen, let alone a double. There was only one option at that point - rush the ball down the court, throw up a prayer, hope it goes in, foul and hope they miss, then hit another prayer.  I only hope you're wrong.  Otherwise, that would be the most ridiculous play call I've ever heard of in that situation.     

[justducky]

We were up 15 with 12:40 left, and still chucking 3s early in the shot clock.

The only early shot clock 3 that I can remember that came completely out of the offensive flow was from Peters at about the 8 minute mark. Freshman mistake that he will catch hell over. (Even though it was makeable). This was the most disciplined that we have played this season and I really like our go-small for HL play lineup and rotation. If only we had one true center with post up moves.

[truth219]

I'm really upset with this lose. You can say any old excuse but valpo blew it.

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[ARCInsider]

This loss is on coaching.  We were up 15 with 12:40 left, and still chucking 3s early in the shot clock.  We get down 3 with 45 seconds left, and our designed play is an off balance 3 from Dority with a guy in his face?  Come on Bryce, you have to do better than that in clutch time.  Design a play to take it to the basket to get it down to 1, and then you have to foul.  Even if we made that extremely crappy shot, they still get the last shot of the game.  Put it on them to win it from the FT line, after our team dominated ALL game.  The players did well, and were let down by the coach in the time where a good coach is supposed to shine...

I'm not sure that's the way Bryce drew it up...Lavonte should have never taken it, but he likes to take shots.

[wh]

We were up 15 with 12:40 left, and still chucking 3s early in the shot clock.

The only early shot clock 3 that I can remember that came completely out of the offensive flow was from Peters at about the 8 minute mark. Freshman mistake that he will catch hell over. (Even though it was makeable). This was the most disciplined that we have played this season and I really like our go-small for HL play lineup and rotation. If only we had one true center with post up moves.

I liked it - maybe even loved it - in the 2nd half of the UIC game and the 1st half of the Oakland game when we were hitting a lot of uncontested perimeter shots. Once Oakland made a half time decision to play some perimeter defense I didn't like it as much.  I have a feeling Bryce didn't either and that musical chair rotations will continue on.

[SanityLost17]

We shot 13 3's in the 1st half and shot 10 3's in the 2nd half.  So the stats do not suggest we threw up a bunch of bad 3's in the 2nd half.  This would lead me to believe that more of our shots came inside the 3 point line.  Yet, Oakland got to the free throw line 23 times in the 2nd half while valpo only made it to the foul line 9 times.  If we weren't chucking up a lot of 3's we must of somewhat been going to the basket, right?  If that is the case, why the foul desparity in the 2nd half? 

I didn't get a chance to watch the game.  Where we settling for mid-range jumpers while Oakland was attacking hard to the basket?  Were they in good defensive position on our drives while we were in bad defensive position on their drives?   Just trying to wrap my mind around the stats...     

Usually when both teams are attacking the basket the fouls should be about even.   

[ValpoFan]

This was a 3 point shoot out. It came down to whoever could score more 3 pointers and unfortunately, Bader prevailed in the end.
I am a relatively new fan, so I don't pretend to know it all but I think that this team is better than the "live by the 3, die by the 3" situation it is currently playing in. We need Jubril to develop faster so we can go to him in the paint when the 3 is not falling.

[justducky]

Where we settling for mid-range jumpers while Oakland was attacking hard to the basket?  Were they in good defensive position on our drives while we were in bad defensive position on their drives?

About when Coleman got his 4'th foul Mondy started taking it hard to the hole and getting fouled in the process. That in itself created some of the foul disparity. Peters was also called for 2 charges where the defender was still moving and unless he pushed off they shouldn't have been fouls this year or last year. Yes the Oakland defense decided to take away some of our open looks from 3 and we went inside more for open 12 foot jumpers and contested drives to the bucket. Bader was 5 of 10 from 3 and Mondy was 4 for 4. Not sure if either of them was given a completely wide open 3 shot (closer than 23.5 feet) in any of their 14 shots taken.

[crusadermoe]

The last post makes good sense to me.   I saw parts of the game and agree that we have the athletes to go to the hoop more often and force them out of their 3-pointers.    Couldn't believe Bader hit that one 3 where he was literally jumping sideways to his right.   Sometimes it just happens.

[vu72]

Well, at least we have something new to complain about.  No terrible start this time but rather one of our better halves.  So instead of being in a huge hole we built a big lead only to collapse. I didn't get to see the second half and I guess it was a good thing.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Badger hit some crazy 3s

Best autocorrect ever.

I think he had a very good game (although I don't think he is the 1st team HLer on their roster) and maybe classof2014 will concede that now? :/

Is Bobby's role diminishing?

It's the moment you singular have been waiting for!   (I hope not--perhaps just a confluence of events and circumstance)

I really hope Bryce knows what he's doing with his substitutions, but it doesn't seem that he's figured it out yet.  Heck, last year when it seemed the clearest as far as established players with established roles, it still was a bit hectic at times.

[HC]

I missed that auto correct but caught the one hat changed his name to Nader. I think this team needs to find its identity on defense. If you want to be a zone team do it and practice it and become good at it. If you want to be a man team, do it. This team doesn't seem capable (maybe due to youth, inexperience, still learning each other) to switch between the two.

It's very tough to win any game on the road in this league, hopefully blowing this opportunity won't bite us in the butt later on.

[oklahomamick]

If we didn't shoot above our 3pt percentage, we would have lost by more.  We need to find some offense in the post.