Valpo at Green Bay 2/20/14 Thursday 7:00 p.m. CT game thread

[valpotx]

They didn't call any body contact when we drove the lane.  Yes, they may have blocked it up top, but they were just running into us in mid-air with no call.  It made Dority look so bad, but both he and Coleman should have taken another 10 FTs or so between them...

[valpopal]

Green Bay is a good team, and they may have still won the game if the calls were made more evenly, but the Horizon League ought to be embarrassed about how this game was officiated, especially since the game receives so much attention because Green Bay clinched the #1 seed.

It appears Dority, Coleman, Williams, and Carter played a total of 82 minutes, and all four often drove to the basket; however, only once was a foul called against Green Bay, and that was on a Coleman shot at the end after the game result already had been decided.

How does the Horizon League explain Dority, Williams, and Carter getting ZERO free throws in an entire game when driving to the basket as much as they did, and Coleman only getting to the line that one time? Until this game it would seem to me statistically impossible. Too bad the win by Green Bay is tainted in the eyes of many by the officiating.

[justducky]

Am I the only guy that didn't think the game was called that badly? If I was watching the same game you were I would have sworn that we were just completely outplayed. End of story- back to the drawing board!

[HC]

^^^yes, you are alone, and apparently you've been drinking!

[jjmiller]

Funny part is the GB fans weren't happy either. At least 4-5 times the officials got booed off the floor. The HL league officials are horrible that everyone can agree on.

[EddieCabot]

I agree with 20 of the last 21 posts ... the refs clearly gave this game to Green Bay.

[historyman]

Was that Aaron Leavitt who almost got the technical for arguing the refs calls?

Good for him!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klSaf1SfsBg&list=PLTxRmOti-0BPgpYaVIFgAPcXOJs7eluNc

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I agree with 20 of the last 21 posts ... the refs clearly gave this game to Green Bay.

EDDIE MY BOY WELCOME BACK

...unless you're just being sarcastic again

IN WHICH CASE

DAMMIT

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Previous low of FTs shot this year?  15 (twice). 

YES THAT'S FEWER THAN HALF AS MANY ATTEMPTS TONIGHT

That was @ CSU and @ Evansville, btw.

Last year's low was 9, but that was against NIU in the wee small hours (remember?), so clearly the refs were a little off their game too.

(If you compare last year and this year, you'll see how much better we get to the line, though some of that might be EVERYONE shooting more free throws with these "new rules":
http://valpodaily.com/valparaiso-basketball/game_stats
vs
http://valpodaily.com/valparaiso-basketball/game_stats/2012-2013 )

Before that you have to go back to 11/25/11, the infamous "one for two" game at Ohio.  Ye gads.

Here's a little trip down Travesty Lane:


WE MANAGED TO WIN TWO OF THESE GAMES, PEOPLE (although loyola and chicago st don't count for full credit)

(two of these were at home!!!)

remember the 2001 midcon championship?  gah. i thought i'd forgotten until i saw that score.

[HC]

If Leavitt did about get a T he owes our Matt Carter an apology for having to get on Matt for yelling at refs at our home games.  If it was he who got on Matt.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

SO WE HAVE PLAYED LIKE NEARLY 600 GAMES IN THE LAST 17 YEARS

AND THIS GAME WAS TIED FOR 6TH FEWEST FTS.

WE ARE THE 99%!!!

OF HL REFS

[EddieCabot]

I agree with 20 of the last 21 posts ... the refs clearly gave this game to Green Bay.

EDDIE MY BOY WELCOME BACK

...unless you're just being sarcastic again

IN WHICH CASE

DAMMIT

Valpo outscored by 17 at the FT line and loses by 14 ... draw your own conclusions about what caused this loss.  Would love to hear from guys who were there ... maybe chef and pgmado can give their insight into the officiating.

[HC]

Paul wasn't there, but his twitter feed is a great follow and would let you know exactly how he felt about the officiating.

[justducky]

^^^yes, you are alone, and apparently you've been drinking!

Boy is this a testy group so this time I will try to refrain from throwing any more raw meat to the angry mob. 

I do not think the offense generated 12 really good shots at the basket for the entire game (should we include in that the Moussa jumper and the Jubril 3-pointer?). You just can not win many games when you are taking off balance contested 3 pointers and drives to the lane against always 2 (with Brown as the backstop) and often 3 defenders.

Do any of you think that if we make no adjustments we have any more than a 20% chance of winning up there in 2 1/2 weeks? On the bright side I think a lot can be learned from this and we will need to take those lessens to engineer some better shots against WSU and CSU.

[valpopal]

The worst part of the poor officiating is that Dority apparently may have injured his back due to one of those slams to the court that went as a no-call. Let's hope he heals quickly!

[valpo84]

justducky -- our offense was not gelling well last night agreed. However, when you are not getting calls inside, it bottles up the offense even more because people start to force outside looks and when they go to the lane eventually you get tentative and shoot worse inside shots or turn the ball over. One thing we didn't do early is that we did remain aggressive going to the basket. The 1st half comeback was helped in part because we didn't back down. We had a couple really good 5 min stretches and some atrocious 5 min stretches. Look we lost that game. GB was as hyped, had a title on the line, home court and senior night. A bad, bad combination to start with. We withstood that and were within a bucket at the half. GB's 1st 5 of 2d half was very good and we slipped into a tentative stretch (aided in part by more no calls, but still they went on something like a 10-0 run.

Upset keys: "our bigs have to score in total 11 or more and block 6 shots (Moussa and Vashil), we have 10+ offensive rebounds and Peters scores 15, oh and <15 turnovers"

Moussa and Vashil had 5 total (all Moussa).
12 O rebs
Peters 11
Turnovers 14

Defense and Rebounding were solid. Neither team reached 70.

Not in the plan:
GB total fouls 12 (barely over the double bonus in a full 40)
Dority 3/13 FGA
Brown and Sykes were held in pretty good check and especially FG%

[gamelord]

I think all Horizon League teams should give up their 1 charter flight a year in exchange for better refs. Even the Summit League and Valpo High probably have much better officiating. No excuse for the Dority mishap when they wouldn't let him in the game during the timeout.

[classof2014]

If everything was equal we probably win. I thought we played really well, very frustrating game when you go step-for-step with GB and the refs decide they want GB to win...

[valpopal]

The game summary is up at the Valpo Athletics page. These summaries are always very well written (by Aaron, I believe), and they can be revealing. The summary includes the following: "Green Bay (22-5, 12-2 Horizon), which clinched the league regular-season title with Thursday's win, was led by Keifer Sykes, who scored 19 points despite going just 4-of-13 from the field as he was sent to the foul line 12 times, making 11.  In all, the Phoenix was awarded 25 free throw attempts, making 22, while Valpo was just 5-of-7 from the charity stripe, its fewest free throw attempts in a game since Nov. 25, 2011."

I think it is interesting that the summary makes a point of noting Sykes was only 4-13 from the field, but "he was sent to the foul line 12 times." Remember that Dority was similarly 3-13 but was sent to the free throw line ZERO times, despite being sent to the floor a number of times and injuring his back. Also, the note about the disparity in free throws and that this was the fewest for the Crusaders in years suggests to me an official Valpo recognition of the poor officiating, and it serves as a subtle jab at the Horizon League, which frequently links to the summaries on its own page.

[valpotx]

Can anyone explain what Bryce was so hyped about?  The announcers stated that our SID almost got Valpo a technical foul, so was it Aaron complaining to the refs, and Bryce lecturing him?

[valpopal]

Can anyone explain what Bryce was so hyped about?  The announcers stated that our SID almost got Valpo a technical foul, so was it Aaron complaining to the refs, and Bryce lecturing him?

It appeared that Bryce called a time out to get Bobby and LaVonte into the game, both of whom were kneeling at the scorer's table. However, the officials didn't allow Dority into the game. Bryce & Aaron seemed to be arguing the point. If you look at the replay, it is clear that Capo and Dority are both at the scorer's table long before the time out was called. Bryce & Aaron were correct, and the officials were wrong again on a night in which they were wrong often, and this time the tape replay proves it.

[agibson]

I wondered if it was Aaron they were talking about.  I knew he had a more impressive title now, "Assistant Director of Athletics for Media Relations" but I guess he does still act as SID for MBB.

I'm not much of a judge of foul vs. no call.  So, during last night's game my thought process was something like, "Wow - Brown's really good at getting clean blocks without committing a foul.... or is this the star treatment?"  I don't have a clear personal impression on whether contact was called fairly, or not.  Relative to other games, or to other players.

It did feel like LVD failed to adjust.  Or was slow to adjust, to the circumstances. It seemed like he kept driving into awfully difficult situations, and throwing up what seemed like very improbable shots.

What a remarkable series of runs.  I really thought the game was over after the first eight minutes or so, when statistically we were on track to score about a dozen points.

We at least made it very interesting - which was really about all I was hoping for.  Maybe it was the refs that prevented it from becoming more than that.

[agibson]

Atrocious Wisconsin refs.

But not so much a Green Bay thing, maybe?  The particular refs from last night were in their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd game at Green Bay this season.  Two of them do spend some time elsewhere in the Horizon League.  Including one with two games at Valpo.

We'll see if they resurface...

[chef]

Can anyone explain what Bryce was so hyped about?  The announcers stated that our SID almost got Valpo a technical foul, so was it Aaron complaining to the refs, and Bryce lecturing him?

It appeared that Bryce called a time out to get Bobby and LaVonte into the game, both of whom were kneeling at the scorer's table. However, the officials didn't allow Dority into the game. Bryce & Aaron seemed to be arguing the point. If you look at the replay, it is clear that Capo and Dority are both at the scorer's table long before the time out was called. Bryce & Aaron were correct, and the officials were wrong again on a night in which they were wrong often, and this time the tape replay proves it.

That's a very accurate description of what happened.

[wh]

From the GB board:

I forgot to mention this before. I was really annoyed at the 8 or 12 minute timeout in the second half. Valpo was questioning something that the officials looked in to and then denied them. Bryce tried to storm past the officials and go to scorer's table but had to be pushed back. At the same time some little dude on the Valpo radio broadcast jumps up and starts running to the scorer's table yelling and pointing. He gets sent back to his seat an yells at the officials and pounds his hands on the padded table top. So anyone claiming Valpo didn't get a call is missing that they avoided what should have been two technical fouls right there. Oh and they are also missing that maybe the second best shot blocking team in the country did what they do...block shots. For goodness sake Coleman blew a wide open fast break for fear that his shot would be blocked.

Speaking of which GB missed 5 bunnies as well. The margin of victory should have been 20 or more.