Wright State at Valpo, Jan. 10th, Friday 8:00 p.m. CT Game Thread

[a3uge]

I'm not  entirely sure of Valpo's offensive strategy. Seems like half of the time they're running a PNR with Gueye or Vashil before turning it over/watching the bigs throw up a laughable shot, or they try to drive wildly into the lane and chuck something up. Need to start driving and kicking to the perimeter for an open look. Anything would be better than the crap were putting up now.

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[oklahomamick]

Peters was 4-14. The next most shots taken were 6.  He's shooting way too much.  And what's going on with Capobianco?  He barely played tonight.  Was it just match-ups? 

[mvandersee]

What did Bobby do to make Bryce so mad? He couldn't even get garbage minutes tonight. It's kind of insane to think that he can only find a couple minutes of playing time in a game where nothing was working on offense.

[Smj]

My mom told me If i can't say something nice. ....   ........  ..........

[valpotx]

We don't have an offensive strategy, so we end up just standing still.  Our guys do not play with ANY passion, and that makes it unbearable to watch us play at times.  We get down, we start walking around, not rotating, running into the defender, etc.  It is basically an undisciplined team, which is on Bryce.  Our mistakes are not due to our age, as many people try to say.  You learn the basketball fundamentals much earlier than college, and we just don't play like we ever learned them.  How can you throw continuous passes directly to a defender?  How do you not make a shot all alone under the basket?  How do you get 4 people to go to the ball under the hoop, and leave EVERYONE else open for wide open 3s?  How do you get within 1 and then make 1 shot over the last 10 minutes?  We are going to be a bottom 3 team in conference play this year, which is absolutely terrible considering the league being average this year. 

This season has turned me into such a negative person when watching us play, just by watching the lack of fundamentals and watching our guys act like they don't care that they are getting completely whooped by teams that are average.  To think, I used to be teased about being too positive about our teams of the past...

[LaPorteAveApostle]

in the words of the immortal Larry Brown, "we played like strangers".

and what was up with fouling at the end?  as ridiculous as pulling your goalie down 5 goals.

we always have one horrid conference home loss.  let's hope this was it.

[Smj]

Did they say 8 minutes with one field goal in the first half and 10 minutes in the second half with only one field goal. ...   was that accurate?

[valpotx]

I wouldn't doubt it.  We looked completely inept on offense for such long stretches.  One stretch had 4 or 5 turnovers in a row, where we literally threw it right to their defenders. 

[78crusader]

I wish this season was over already .

Paul

[oklahomamick]

You think there will be some that transfer out?

[a3uge]

If I'm a coach in the HL, I'm immediately fouling Vashil if he gets the ball with the bonus. He has to have the ugliest free throw shot I've ever seen.

[truth219]

Things this team doesn't have....a gameplan, superstar, desire, or leadership. Things this team does have....excuses, injuries, illnesses, and depression.

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[HC]

This game changed my mind on 2 things: first WSU isn't as bad as I want them to be, although I'm not ready to consider them a threat to GB yet and second our team is not very good.  We have identity on either end of the court. Hopefully that comes with experience. I disagree that this all on Bryce. Guys are missing easy buckets, throwing balls right to defenders, not catching passes.....the thing he does need to fix now is our strategy on offense. Everyone in the league knows our plays.  I'm surprised we didn't throw more passes away to be honest with how quickly WSU was getting the lanes and beating our guys to their spots.

Can we call Capo a bust yet? I said it when he came here that I didn't have high hopes for the guy after hearing things from my IU pals. I hope he gets a chance and is able to contribute again, but I just don't know.

[HC]

Who would transfer out, seems like a ridiculous thing to say. The freshmen are playing and the other guys are seniors?

[oklahomamick]

Who would transfer out, seems like a ridiculous thing to say. The freshmen are playing and the other guys are seniors?

Yes, they are playing.  However, they might be getting frustrated with (1) losing (2) the way we are losing.  They look lost on both ends of the court.  With all the substitutions and different line ups, some freshman may get confused.  All that would be frustrating as a new player coming into a program.  Doesn't seem too ridiculous.

[Chairback]

We don't have an offensive strategy, so we end up just standing still.

TX is 100% right.  We don't have an offensive.  We have this odd hand off at the top of the three point arc offense.  It's the same thing over and over.  We just do these hand offs.

This offense is creating the high volume of turnovers.  We do not run set plays, EVER.  We are only successful when we can get out and run and be in transition.

For those questioning why Bobby didn't play much did you see his D when he was in the game?  It sucked.

Also, why was Lexus taken out in the early in 2nd half when we had momentum going?  He was all over the place and was pulled.  The kid doesn't get tired.

[HC]

So transferring out to another new program and going through it all over again makes sense? I would be willing to bet that not one of our core four freshmen has had that thought cross their mind, and if it has then good riddance. They are focusing on getting better and figuring out how to win.


With this seemingly being a rebuilding year maybe it will keep he bigger programs from poaching our coaching staff! I'd say get us this year, because brighter sky's are ahead for this group.

[Smj]

noticed in last two games that Lexus is the flow on this team. ...  confused by how long he sits at times.

It is not a total bust but i think it is going to be a long season.    Sometimes feel that all the combination changes have made it difficult for players to get a flow and rhythm with each other.    (too much to pick from - maybe)

[Smj]

When the post game interview is posted could someone add it here?

[oklahomamick]

I recall being a freshman and playing a DI sport.  We lost several games and despite receiving playing time, I was frustrated about losing and not understanding the system.  That lead me to think about transferring. 

[chef]

I'll only say a few things, because I understand everyone's frustrations and many of the points on here are valid. We missed dunks, lay-ups and open three pointers. I don't see how any of that is on Bryce. Wright State did a tremendous job on Lavonte - switching every screen. We ran several set plays for him and he couldn't get a look. He was not nearly 100%, but the biggest factor was Wright St.'s defense. One other point, Valpo runs a lot of set plays, more than most teams. Tonight WSU took those plays away and our young players didn't react well after the set plays were bottled up.

[rink]

Holy disappointing.  What an embarrassment on ESPNU.  Against a short-handed Wright St.  At home!?!  I was so pissed at our coaching staff, I could scream.  No strategy, no discipline, no game plan, no fundamentals, no leadership, HELLA BLEAPIN TURNOVERS ... just a giant cluster-F of ineptitude.  Bryce is just collecting a paycheck at this point?!?

We have nose-dived like no tomorrow since such promising appearances against Murray St and UCF.  Hell, our trio of losses at Illinois/ Ohio/ Evansville were far more promising than tonight's abomination.  How does this coaching staff not at least produce some semblance of that same promising team, at home, 45 days later?  Has the shakeup with Carter disrupted our flow this much?  Even so, why can't our coaching staff figure out how to at least make us competitive, at home, against a hamstrung conference opponent?

At least Lloyd McClendon was on the mic in the 2nd half to give our institution a little credibility.

[vu72]

I guess I don't understand the dramatic turnaround either.  We lose on a last second shot to a top 35 team in St. Louis and play very solid on the road at places like Illinois and then, we lay an egg at Oakland and worse, get pummeled by WSU.  The matchups are a mystery, the turnovers are what? 340th out of 345 D1 teams?  Sure, the coaches don't make bad passes but for some reason the team is backsliding and quickly.  The kids are losing confidence.  If we don't get the ship righted, and quickly, it could be a very long remainder of the season.

[wh]

Really insightful comments about all the issues we're dealing with right now.  Is there a more knowledgeable fan base anywhere? 

I want to credit Wright State for playing an excellent game.  The Oakland game was ours for the taking and we frittered it away.  Tonight was completely different.  Wright State outplayed and out coached us at both ends of the court from beginning to end.  The fact that they had guys out with injuries made their performance even more impressive.  I don't have any idea why they have struggled this year, but they certainly were impressive tonight.   

[justducky]

Vashil looks like the best candidate I  have seen in over a decade who could and should be converted to the underhand freethrow. Is there anyone still alive who remembers how to teach it other than maybe setshot? I had a 5'th grade coach that had me shoot underhand but my results were very similar to Vashils. How many in a row has he missed? I think it is at least 13.