Valpo vs Green Bay: Wed. Jan. 29 7 pm

[valpopal]

This should be the biggest game of the conference season thus far for Valpo and for Green Bay, which will come into town undefeated in conference play after the home win over Detroit. Also, there ought to be a pretty good crowd since the #24 jersey of Bryce Drew / Bruce Lindner will be retired and raised to the rafters prior to the game.

In a related note: Alec Brown was injured in the Detroit game. Early reports suggest a dislocated shoulder, though the extent of the injury and his availability to play on Wednesday are yet to be decided.

Update: From the descriptions of Brown's injury by Green Bay fans, I'd guess we won't see him play on Wednesday.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

[classof2014]

DON'T TURN OVER THE FREAKING BALL AND WE WILL WIN

[HC]

Which Valpo team shows up? I'm an optimist so I will say the good one and with the good one I think we can beat anybody's roster at full strength.

70-65 victory

They are celebrating the Crusaders birthday this night too. I'm nervous about all the mascots that will be there freaking out my almost 3 year old. Stay out of EE mascots!

[vu72]

Its too bad about Brown.  Hopefully he will be back as he has worked very hard.  I also would like a shot at them at full strength as I don't want an asterisk after the win!

[wh]

Its too bad about Brown.  Hopefully he will be back as he has worked very hard.  I also would like a shot at them at full strength as \i don't want an asterisk after the win!

This is a sad turn of events for Brown, GB, and even the league when one of its best players goes down.  I agree I would love to see him in uniform Wed. night.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Yeah, now we HAVE to win or we look like total weak sauce. 

The excuse train has left Union St. Station.  If you can't beat them without their 2nd best player, and at home, you'll never beat them.

Hope he locates that shoulder soon.

[historyman]

OTOH, Sykes, Fouse and company could easily beat a basically lackadaisical team that has trouble holding on to the ball on the offensive end and has had trouble making shots.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Eh, I don't know.  Look what they did against Detroit.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400506657

13-46 from the floor. 28.3%.

2-14 from deep.  14.3%.

THIRTY-FOUR of FORTY-ONE from the line.  (82.9%!)

Detroit, being the road team, shot fewer than half as many.  And before you say, "not home cooking", UWGB took all of 3 FTs in the last 4 minutes, so it's not because Detroit started fouling.

Wow.

They're not going to get 41 attempts on us.  Not on the road.

[a3uge]

I think Green Bay is still a really good team with or without Alec Brown. But that'll definitely hurt them. Their next tallest guy is Greg Mays   , whom starts at forward alongside Fouse. They usually bring Kenneth Lowe off the bench when Brown is out, but he's still only 6'7. This would be a good chance for the tubemen to succeed.



We beat them 3 times last year, and hopefully we beat them 3 more times this year!

[valpotx]

Alec Brown has given us trouble in the past, so his absence will be big for us.  This is especially the case as I was worried about both Vashil and Moussa fouling out early because of guarding against Brown.  I think we win this one, as GB will be trying to find an identity without their big man:

Valpo 73
GB 66

[SanityLost17]

The bad news: 
Even without Brown, GB is still the most talented team in the HL.  When Sykes is in the zone he can pretty much score at will and there is not much anybody can do about it.  Love and Fouse are excellend on ball defenders, which is not good for us because we can't even handle the pressure put on us by the half court line, side line, or base line...       

The good news: 
GB is 7-0, but they have not looked very good in 3 of their last 4 games.   Had the Detroit and Oakland games been on the road, I am confident they would have lost both of those.  Also, UIC outplayed them for 38 minutes, but I think they are cursed. 

As usual, anything could happen.  No result would shock me.   

[valpopal]

Green Bay has issued a statement lacking detail about Alec Brown's shoulder injury, simply offering that the prognosis looks good but he will undergo further tests as the week moves on. Coach Wardle will offer more information on Tuesday.

[classof2014]

Sounds pretty major for Brown which is a shame. He has played great and finally started living up to expectations and made me eat my words. Hopefully he won't miss the remainder of the season.

[oklahomamick]

I hate to say this, but I hope Green Bay wins out and we beat them in the HL championship game.  I think that would send 2 HL teams dancing. 

[LaPorteAveApostle]

look dude, you think that we are SO POWERFUL that TWO LOSSES TO US will KEEP THEM FROM the dance?

seriously?

like the committee will deny a 26-5 team from a good mid-major an at-large.

in fact they could make it with 25-6.

so go ahead, Phoenix.  Lose all 3 to us again this year.  You can still make it if you win out.

[valpotx]

GB is receiving 5 votes in the AP poll, technically #33

[vu72]

Found this on the GB Fan board:

GB sends out update on Alec Brown: "Early prognosis looks good. Will undergo further testing." And that's it. Wardle talks tomorrow.

Dan Koob (@dankoob)

Read more: http://www.phearthephoenix.proboards.com/thread/367/game-21-valpo#ixzz2ri6hovTy

[classof2014]

I really hope people will come out on a Wednesday night. GB has the longest win streak in college basketball (I think) and it would be great a win for us if we can take down GB. With Brown out and they haven't played great lately, I like our chances. As long as we can take care of the ball we should win this game.

[Grizz]

Hard to have the longest win streak in college basketball when their are a couple teams that have not lost this year, but what the heck, it sounds good

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Hard to have the longest win streak in college basketball when their are a couple teams that have not lost this year, but what the heck, it sounds good

LOLOLOLOL

[zvillehaze]

Found this on the GB Fan board:

GB sends out update on Alec Brown: "Early prognosis looks good. Will undergo further testing." And that's it. Wardle talks tomorrow.

Dan Koob (@dankoob)

Read more: http://www.phearthephoenix.proboards.com/thread/367/game-21-valpo#ixzz2ri6hovTy

Sounds like GB is being pretty tight-lipped on this.  Did anyone say which shoulder he hurt?  Obviously, any injury to the shooting side is hand/arm/shoulder is more serious. 

Whether he plays tomorrow or not, I hope he's back playing soon.  After years of having promising teams fall short, this might be the year GB gets back to the NCAA tourney for the first time in nearly 20 years.

[a3uge]

GB has the longest win streak in college basketball (I think) and it would be great a win for us if we can take down GB.

Uh...

[jjmiller]

It was his left shoulder, It was forward and he was leaning forward because of the pain. The players on Detroit's bench where yelling at the Ref's to stop the game. He walked over to their bench and just kneeled down. He had the trainer hold the arm while he walked to the locker room. Coach Wardle said he did not practice today.

[HC]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m9x2BFYpOXs just because