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

[valpotx]

I would really hope that Valpo basketball players weren't trying to get on board with this player union thing, to possibly get paid a stipend in the future.  Unless you are a mid-major program that is doused with cash, none of these types of players should be even attempting to get on board with this movement.  You are receiving a $25k-$30k/year scholarship to a really good academic school, not a cash cow like UT or Notre Dame, and should be taking advantage of this opportunity that you have been presented.  It is much different when the large money-making schools are making millions off of you, vs. schools like Valpo that are paying for your scholarships by donations and OTHER student's fees to attend the school.  I would question our player's intelligence if they truly believe they should be paid more for their scholarships, thinking that Valpo Athletics makes a lot of money.  Now, if it is about getting concussion protocols more standardized, and other non-monetary benefits, GREAT!  I received partial money for baseball/academics, and was HAPPY to just get that amount.

[jjmiller]

Per story in ESPN the only team in the HL that will get a NCAA berth is the Tournament Champion.

[vusupporter]

Lavonte's compression shirt was an off-white and didn't match the white on the jersey, so he was made to take it off.  Nothing more.

[Kyle321n]

Another area that we must improve on is free throws. Valpo ended up 17 for 26 but that was only because some different shooters finally got to the line. If it weren't for Peters, Adekoya, Dority and Carter getting to the line it would have been a lot worse. At one point in the game 7 FT's had been taken by both teams and only 1 FT was made. Early in the game Valpo was 2 for 8 on FT's with Coleman, Gueye and Capo taking the free throws. Normally you would have a lot of confidence that those three players would make their FT's. Yet only Bobby made any FT's and he was only 2 for 5. LaVonte, as usual, led the team by making all 6 of his FT's since he shot all of them in the 2nd half.

The poor FT shooting could have hurt us if Brown had been playing and the score had been closer.

Yes we only shot 65% this game, but that's a small sample size. We're shooting 76.4% for the season and are currently ranked 23rd in the country. Only Detroit (6th in the nation at 79.4%), Youngstown (16th in the nation at 77.6) and Wright State (20th in the nation at 76.8%) are ahead of us.  We're one of the best free throw shooting teams in the nation.

[a3uge]

Couple more thoughts:

Have you ever seen a team more ill prepared after dealing with an injury than Green Bay last night? Usually when an injury happens to a major player, other players step up. Where was the Horizon League frontrunner for player of the year? This game really made me think KP should win the award as he gets it done without a supporting cast. Wardle did not prepare his players for this. Bryce out-coached his opponent so bad that Wardle would've been better off laying outside on the parking lot ice for a couple hours instead of getting back up.

If Green Bay would have showed up a little bit at any point in the game, I wouldn't be saying all of this. They made no halftime adjustment and even down 20+, they refused to shoot outside, settled for ugly Fouse mid range jumpers or inside shots that were blocked at the rim. Defensively they abandoned the press too often and looked absolutely lost the whole game and left Valpo with wide open layups. They may have been thrown off by Bryce not running much P&R/perimeter swing stuff, but to not adjust at half time showed Wardle's deficiencies as a coach. Ironically Wardle is the one that's going to make his players defecate themselves at practice tonight when he's the one that really deserves it.

As for Valpo...

Jubril's best game simply because his spacing was awesome and he finished at the rim literally every chance he got (wide open for most, but still). 0 turnovers too.

Peters is still a work in progress. He's turning the ball over too much and lost confidence in his jumper. One play, specifically, he pump faked a 3 (awesome), but instead of taking a couple steps and shooting a jumper at the free throw line, he drove right at the defender and drew a charge.

Dority is a lock for 1st team. Guy can play.

Vashil had 4 blocks and 2 fouls. He impressed me, but still needs to go straight up when defending larger players.

[classof2014]

If LVD keeps up this level of play for the remainder of the year I think he might just pass Sykes and Perry for PoY.

So far in the two games Valpo has played against Sykes and Perry we're 2-0 and LVD has scored 53 points in those two games, by going 17-24 shooting (70.8%), 14-14 from the charity stripe, and 5-7 from beyond the arc.

While Sykes/Perry have gone a combined 34 points on 11-26 (42%) shooting, 11-20 free throw shooting, and 1-5 from beyond the arc.

The only saving grace for Sykes was his 9-12 free throw shooting, if it weren't for that he'd only have 10 or so points. You can't say teams don't prepare for LVD like they do for Sykes or Perry, if they didn't then that coach should be fired immediately. He's also made some really clutch shots, the one at the end against Murray State, the four-point play to give us the lead late against Mercer, and the game tying shot late against SLU, unfortunately we lost 2 of those games but if it were not for Dority chances are we don't have a chance.

Right now Dority is the best player in the league. In head-head matchups against Perry and Sykes he's come up huge while Sykes and Perry had lackluster performances. There's obviously a lot of time left to this season, including rematches against Perry and Sykes. But this recent stretch from Dority has definitely earned him the chance to be PoY. Like I said before, a lot depends on this 8 game stretch.

[talksalot]

Before the game started LaVonte had to take something off his jersey and it looked like Bobby and Clay also had had to do the same. Does anyone know what that was? It was speculated around me that it was something to do with the All Players United going on in Evanston.

it looked to me like the "t-shirt" he was wearing was not exactly the same "white" as the jersey top.  Shame on the ref's for not catching that during warmups... but that is the rule.  Notice Vashil's t-shirt was a perfectly tidy-whitey to match the jersey top.  LVD just took off the t-shirt and put the uniform back on. 

[LaPorteAveApostle]

It was speculated around me that it was something to do with the All Players United going on in Evanston

WOW if they did that, mad props.

Per story in ESPN the only team in the HL that will get a NCAA berth is the Tournament Champion.

Oh, well, then.  That certainly settles the matter.  No need to consult the Selection Committee now!

We're one of the best free throw shooting teams in the nation.

When was the last time that was true?  When Rob Cavanaugh was here?  Seriously, not too often you're that good nationally and 4th in the conference, unless you're playing in the B1G.

Have you ever seen a team more ill prepared after dealing with an injury than Green Bay last night?

Nope.  That injury to Wardle really left them rudderless.

[chef]

I thought the 92-93 team was in the top 10 in the nation in FT% most of the season. The 93-94 team may have been right there as well. I remember following Casey Schmidt around the tops in the nation all season, having made 38 in a row at one point and finishing at 92.6%....which was somewhere around 3rd in the country.

[mvandersee]

I would question our player's intelligence if they truly believe they should be paid more for their scholarships, thinking that Valpo Athletics makes a lot of money.  Now, if it is about getting concussion protocols more standardized, and other non-monetary benefits, GREAT!  I received partial money for baseball/academics, and was HAPPY to just get that amount.

I watched an interview a couple nights ago that CSN Chicago did with Kain Colter (Northwestern QB who is the vocal leader of this movement) and he said they are seeking better coverage on healthcare for injuries sustained during their playing careers and stated this as the reasoning behind the union they are trying to create. Now there could always be future players who change the goals of the organization to a pay-for-play union, but the current union leadership is not in place for the purpose of getting the players paid.

[valpopal]

I have now posted about 50 photos from the game and pregame ceremonies or post-game press conference interviews, including those below. The photos can be found at the following link: enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/96208998@N05/sets/72157640344724583/

[VULB#62]

Great Pics!  The only down side is that in some of them there are empty seats   

Looking at those pics I could not help but think that Valpo is such a great environment to escape to -- wish more people would make the trip.

We've continually gathered together a great bunch of "real" kids with super personalities and values.  The core fan group is loyal.  The Drews are a unique phenomenon.  We have got to fill those seats.