Valpo vs Detroit, 2/7/2014

[govalpogo]

I know we said that Detroit wasn't considered a rival anymore...but I still have a great distaste for their team.  This one really hurts.

[Chairback]

Why didn't Capo pass it to dority?  He was open.

[a3uge]

Carter going for the steal vs playing D was a bigger mistake than Lexus not boxing out vs SLU. Tough loss at home.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Good point.  The bad taste this leaves means they are still something of a rival.

Well, any time someone beats you 3 straight on your home floor, that's a big part of it.*

And another part is losing to an inferior team.  That adds bad taste too.

*yeah, they've done that to us, but we've done that to them too, except FOUR straight.

I don't know why we never saw this coming, since the last time the home team held serve in this series was 7 games ago.

[rink]

Cool, another loss on ESPN. More playing like crap. More letting teams with inferior talent beat us AT HOME. More terrible fundamentals.  God bleepin flippin frickin freaking holy mother of chrissake $#&%$%# get your head out of your asses and play better.  And COACH better.

[mj]

It's the little things that come back to bite you. Like going 14-23 in FT's. Or letting Bruinsma hit his 4th 3 pointer. Give them credit, Detroit had great defense tonight.

Just another drop in this roller coaster season.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Just another drop in this roller coaster season.

so, so true. every time.  hell, LVD missed 2 FTs himself.  Then again Vashil was the bomb...

Well, top seed is all but officially out.  Let's still get the double bye, people.

GAH LOSING TO CRAPPY TEAMS IS JUST THE WORST

[atkins]

Plenty of opportunities to win this one.  Freshmen played very well....Dority and the upperclassmen clearly did not.  A tough loss, but the better team won tonight.  Detroit outplayed us in nearly every area of the game. 

One of these days, Valpo will actually show the ability to win a game on national television.  When that occurs, I'll know we've made it into the same class as the SLU's, Butlers, and Creightons.  At least we didn't embarrass ourselves on national tv, but we have a long way to go to be viewed as anything more than a respectable mid-major. 

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I don't want to make this an annual post, but i dunno, it helped me last year and it did this year, and now i feel a little better about life:
http://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=1024.msg26229#msg26229

[historyman]

I don't know why we never saw this coming, since the last time the home team held serve in this series was 7 games ago.

Who didn't see this coming?

Here's kind of a wild prediction with several surprises.
@ UIC  W
UDM  L
OU  W
@ UWM  L
@ UWGB  W
YSU  L
@ WSU  W
CSU  W

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.

[valpotx]

Just watched the game on DVR, and couldn't have yelled any louder at the TV after that last series.  Carter should have had an easy tip or steal on that ball, or at least just played regular D, then that last play looked like a bunch of lost kids.  Seriously, we throw it to Moussa 2-3 seconds into the inbounds pass, he fumbles it, launches it to a covered teammate, and an impossible shot.  With 5.7 seconds left you should run a play where you have one of your fast players loop down low to get the ball on the run, and just take it to the basket.  At least give your team a chance!  It looked like our play was to receive the ball close to half-court, when that is more than enough time to go coast-to-coast, or get a better jump shot.  A really bad loss to a bad team...what else is new?

The only consolation for me today was watching the Mavs beat the Jazz at the AAC, and seeing Gordon Hayward play like crap .  This was one week after my last Mavs game, and seeing Ray Jr. sit on the pine all game

[justducky]

Carter should have had an easy tip or steal on that ball, or at least just played regular D, then that last play looked like a bunch of lost kids.

Was Carter healthy? Everything he did seemed to be in slow motion with no instinctual reactions. Maybe deadened by cold medication? Coleman as well contributed very little. Lots of mistakes elsewhere but had we any contribution from Keith or Jordan and the game still would have been ours.

[Smj]

Actually - if the HL would stop calling   fouls Lexus would have still been in the game.    His fouling out is why we lost.    He is so much better than anyone else on the team running point.   Everyone plays better with him in that role.   

(I just feel like too many games seem to be slowed down by the refs.    And I sometimes feel like they call some small crap and let fouls that impact the game go.  I am not saying unfair calls against us - just impact flow. )

BTW the three pointer by Howard was clutch. ...  His celebrating

[HC]

I will take the blame for this one, I never should've started that game thread 

Moussa had to have been gassed, he'd been in there since about the 13 minute mark I'd guess when Vashil got his 4th foul. Coleman gave us nothing, Lexus fouled out (that last one he committed was just dumb), and Valpo missed too many free throws (and it wasn't even Vashil's fault).

At least it's a quick turn around.

[valpopal]

Unfortunately, perhaps the highlight of the night happened before the opening tip:

http://youtu.be/vKAvfJljO8I

[usc4valpo]

Wow, thank you for sharing this wonderful clip.  It is about to motivate me to get off my butt and going full spin to clean the house!!  So great to see thanks and respect for those who have protected our country.

[valpopal]

Much of the credit for the Detroit win can be given to Juwan Howard, Jr. However, I think the difference in the game was the play of Evan Bruinsma, who was performing at his sister's school and in front of his whole family. Bruinsma had a double-double of 10 rebounds and 12 points. (To be fair, he almost had a triple double because he also had 9 turnovers!) He was all over the place and in the middle of just about every play since he was on the court more than any player of either team, 37 minutes.

Bruinsma created the disparity in rebounds (37-30), which should have been a strength for Valpo. Bruinsma also had 4 3-pointers, which was the other difference in this game since Detroit shot 50% from outside (10-20). In the game at Detroit, the Titans only shot 25% from the 3-point line, and Bruinsma was 0-2. He also had only 2 rebounds in that game. Control Bruinsma last night and Valpo wins the game easily!

Some photos from the game:

[classof2014]

Unfortunate game but overall I wasn't too upset with the lost because we deserved it.

I thought the officiating was just plain awful and completely dictated the pace of the game. We were never able to get into a groove because there was a whistle every 25 seconds it seemed. It was nice to see Alec play well, he seems to be coming back into early season form.

This loss basically eliminates us from having a legitimate shot at first but we're still in good shape for second. So it's not the end of the world. Disappointing way to lose it. Give credit to Howard, he hit a tough shot. And I thought the final play of the game was awful, I really would've liked an inbound to LVD or KC and have them run the length of the court and throw up a 3 or get in the lane for a 2. Can't blame Moussa, fumbled the ball and panicked a bit. Still got off a shot that almost went down.

We have a quick turnaround and we will beat Oakland. They have no defense and we typically play well after a disappointing game.

Give credit to Detroit in this one, their defense was suffocating.

[vu72]

Unfortunate game but overall I wasn't too upset with the lost because we deserved it.

I thought the officiating was just plain awful and completely dictated the pace of the game. We were never able to get into a groove because there was a whistle every 25 seconds it seemed. It was nice to see Alec play well, he seems to be coming back into early season form.

This loss basically eliminates us from having a legitimate shot at first but we're still in good shape for second. So it's not the end of the world. Disappointing way to lose it. Give credit to Howard, he hit a tough shot. And I thought the final play of the game was awful, I really would've liked an inbound to LVD or KC and have them run the length of the court and throw up a 3 or get in the lane for a 2. Can't blame Moussa, fumbled the ball and panicked a bit. Still got off a shot that almost went down.

We have a quick turnaround and we will beat Oakland. They have no defense and we typically play well after a disappointing game.

Give credit to Detroit in this one, their defense was suffocating.

Didn't get to see it live but the replay was just as bad!  No, you can't blame Moussa for fumbling the ball, that is part of his skill set.  I can blame Coach Drew for putting him in that position.  With 5.9 seconds to go we sure should have gotten a better shot off than a half court heave. 

[vufan75]

Unfortunate game but overall I wasn't too upset with the lost because we deserved it.

I thought the officiating was just plain awful and completely dictated the pace of the game. We were never able to get into a groove because there was a whistle every 25 seconds it seemed. It was nice to see Alec play well, he seems to be coming back into early season form.

This loss basically eliminates us from having a legitimate shot at first but we're still in good shape for second. So it's not the end of the world. Disappointing way to lose it. Give credit to Howard, he hit a tough shot. And I thought the final play of the game was awful, I really would've liked an inbound to LVD or KC and have them run the length of the court and throw up a 3 or get in the lane for a 2. Can't blame Moussa, fumbled the ball and panicked a bit. Still got off a shot that almost went down.

We have a quick turnaround and we will beat Oakland. They have no defense and we typically play well after a disappointing game.

Give credit to Detroit in this one, their defense was suffocating.

Didn't get to see it live but the replay was just as bad!  No, you can't blame Moussa for fumbling the ball, that is part of his skill set.  I can blame Coach Drew for putting him in that position.  With 5.9 seconds to go we sure should have gotten a better shot off than a half court heave. 

Armchair QB'ing it will sound like, but, I still do not understand why Moussa was even in the game the last 5.7 seconds. He has trouble catching passes in normal situations, let alone a last second play, and he was not needed on the court to play defense at that point. I thought he should of been substituted for someone who is more versatile, used to handling the ball and catching inbounds or other passes, someone who if needed, could put the ball on the floor and dribble downcourt, or look for the open man.   

[StlVUFan]

I would suggest Howard came dangerously closed to taunting and that he would have done better to strut like that in front of his own bench instead of ours.

I seriously do not understand why UDM players insist on rubbing salt in an open would like that.  It can only come back to haunt them later.  It does not give them any advantage whatsoever.  It's a quick high that can easily lead to a long drawn out low.  It's a cheap thrill with an expensive backlash.

And that is squarely on one Ray McCallum, Sr.

[wh]

The game atmosphere last night was amazing, from the singing of the National Anthem all the way to the final buzzer!  Win or lose, there is no better place to be than the ARC watching our Crusaders battle for a victory. I wish all of my forum brothers could have shared in the experience.

As to the game itself our guys fought hard; it just wasn't their night. Even with the loss I love this group.

[classof2014]

The game atmosphere last night was amazing, from the singing of the National Anthem all the way to the final buzzer!  Win or lose, there is no better place to be than the ARC watching our Crusaders battle for a victory. Our guys fought hard; it just wasn't their night. Even with the loss I love this group.

Too bad we couldn't get the W. Hoping it'll be just as alive for Oakland tomorrow.

I can't believe how blessed we are to have a great young coach. The job they did recruiting for this year was phenomenal. We have 3 freshmen starting and we're in 3rd right now with a possibility of finishing 2nd. When Alec, Lexus, and Jubril are juniors and seniors this team will be hard to beat.

[Smj]

Another armchair qb...   We have struggled a couple times this season when the clock is running down.   Needed to catch the ball on the run so that a player could run the length of the court.   Overall very fun game to watch. ... 

This team has a some great potential for the next few years.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Who didn't see this coming?

don't break your hand patting yourself on the back just yet, since you didn't have the stones to post your prediction in this thread.

also, every coach since James Naismith's grandfather has been warning people that missed Free Throws would come back to bite them in the tuchus, so i'll just give you 51% credit for those two.

although it is harder to warn about missed FTs being one of the better-shooting teams in the nation, so let's up you to 60.9%, noncoincidentally our percentage last night.