Valpo at Oakland Friday 1/2/2015 7:00 p.m. EST/6:00 p.m. CST O'rena

[valpotx]

Peters will be fine.  He played poorly today, but is still the top player in the HL.

I thought that it was ridiculous watching how any time Felder initiated any type of contact, standing or in mid-air, they gave the foul to Oakland.  The dude ended up 19/24 from the FT line.  They received a lot of bail out calls that we didn't get (Tevonn Walker offensive rebound and put back, where he was shoved from behind).  If I were Bryce, I would have been tossed long before he got his T, as it was ridiculous to watch the disparity.  I never chalk up a loss to the refs, but they did not call this one down the middle at all.  We were getting slapped on our arms on some of those bunnies we missed (Peters and Vashil), yet if Felder pushes off, he gets to go to the line.  We will get our redemption when we beat the crap out of Oakland at home by 20...

[vu72]

Disaster.  Keith was terrific but Felder was better.  We now see what the rest of the conference will do against Alec.  Tough loss, but not the end of the world.

[beastkiller]

1.Alec struggled  the whole game after he missed the bunny they should of  look to get carter and T. Walker more looks .2 why call a play at crunch time for vashil he has no post moves .3 cant complain about the refs the turnovers killed us 

[oklahomamick]

Disaster.  Keith was terrific but Felder was better.  We now see what the rest of the conference will do against Alec.  Tough loss, but not the end of the world.

Oakland put an athlete on Alec.  We tried posting up Alec.  It didn't work and I expect other teams to put an athlete on him.

[Smj]

Sorry but horizon league refs suck.....   I have watched a lot of basketball already and right when the season starts - refs show that they can't consistently call a game.    It is not just me ...   Kampe was all over them and Bryce was called for a tech when he noticed the lopsided calling.    (announcers started saying refs will probably call a foul this time down the court - like they have a foul calling plan.)

i love valpo basketball but i want to watch good basketball and horizon league work to make the refs part of the show.   Sorry but it is just horrible - maybe the replacement NFL refs could do better.

[rink]

If we burn our wings
Flying too close to the sun
If the moment of glory
Is over before it's begun

If the dream is won
Though everything is lost
We will pay the price
But we will not count the cost

When the dust has cleared
And victory denied
A summit too lofty
River a little too wide

If we keep our pride
Though paradise is lost
We will pay the price
But we will not count the cost

[LaPorteAveApostle]

"What's that jargle?  Scritcher?  Are you quotin' Scritcher?"

[FWalum]

Normally would say the the difference in fouls would be because we were not aggressive going to the basket, but that was not the case tonight. Maybe we did not throw ourselves at the defender the way Felder does, but that should not make a difference in the way the game is called.  Any newbie ref should be able to discern between a legitimate attempt to score versus an attempt to concoct a foul. No way in the second half does a team only commits 5 fouls in 25 minutes of play in a tight game, a game that went into OVERTIME, I repeat, NO STINKING WAY.  This crew needs to be shunned by the league office.

Did we play great? NO
Did we foul 28 times? Probably
Did they foul only 5 times in the second half and overtime?  With complete certainty I can say NO

[HC]

Bad ref job (they were bad in the UIC/YSU game too, not this bad) that horse has been beat just about enough....bad three point shooting (1st half especially)....horrid defense, can double the freshman, not Petros though...hard to win any road game in the HL.

[SanityLost17]

OU Gameplan... 

Play 1:
Felder aggressively drives to the basket for either a layup or a foul call.  Kampe knows the HL refs love to blow the whistle, and Bryce must of forgotten this, because we did not drive with the same aggression. We had 13 more shot attempts, but far more jump shots.   

Play 2: 
Dribble to the left side and dump it to Petros in the post.  He waits for the double team and then dumps it down to a cutting Hayes for a layup or Petros kicks it out for an open 3 pointer from one of their guards.  This play worked all night and Bryce kept with the double team, which I just don't understand.

That said.  OAKLAND IS BAD AT DEFENSE AND WE MISSED A LOT OF WIDE OPEN SHOTS.  It was almost as if their defense was so bad that we couldn't help but shoot wide open jump shot after wide open jump shot.  I mean, I understand it.  When you are open you are supposed to shoot it.  The problem is they are still lower percentage shots than getting to the basket and in this league you must go to the basket because the refs WILL reward you.     

[Valpofan00]

Let's go to the MVC? A10?

[HC]

Because we can just go ahead and do that whenever we as fans would like?  One loss and some of ya'll go coo-coo crazy.

I'm looking forward to seeing a whoopin on Sunday when Valpo beats up the Penguins.

[Kyle321n]

To every one wishing for MVC refs please go to their forums and read comments after a loss. There aren't great CBB refs in the mid-majors.

That said outstanding game from Keith and I give this team a shitload of credit for the comeback and forcing it to overtime. They were clearly out of gas in OT and the loss was disappointing. But in a building we've lost in even as a tournament team, we've shown resiliency and heart. I still like this team to finish 2nd in the league

[LaPorteAveApostle]

There aren't great CBB refs in the mid-majors.

[hailcrusaders]

It's always difficult to win on the road. In the 2012 season we were only 5-4 away from the ARC during league play.

Not a lot of things went our way tonight. Peters (understandable) and Walker had off nights. Several players got into foul trouble. The officiating was questionable on either end of the court. None of that excuses a loss, but this was a tough to win game against a no-slouch opponent who was on their game in front of a home crowd, and we fell just short. I'm still confident that we'll compete, and we'll learn a thing or two about this team's tenacity on Sunday.

I'll go against popular opinion and give my "€@¢& you" of the day to the demise of the HLN rather than tonight's referees.

[Kyle321n]

Oh and ESPN3 on my 4g phone worked perfectly fine while I had drinks at Franklin House. Not sure the complaint there.

[FWalum]

That said.  OAKLAND IS BAD AT DEFENSE AND WE MISSED A LOT OF WIDE OPEN SHOTS.  It was almost as if their defense was so bad that we couldn't help but shoot wide open jump shot after wide open jump shot.  I mean, I understand it.  When you are open you are supposed to shoot it.  The problem is they are still lower percentage shots than getting to the basket and in this league you must go to the basket because the refs WILL reward you.     

Logically you are correct, but what do bad defenses normally do?  They normally committ bad fouls.  That is why OU is averaging over 19.8 fouls a game. Could we have been more aggressive... sure, but I think our guards took the ball to the rack pretty well tonight. To have only 12 fouls, with the opposition having nearly double that many in a game that went into overtime, is unusual. Refs should not reward players who throw themselves into the defense in order to create fouls. That happened several times tonight.  Even in the blow out games that we played there was never more than an 8 or 9 foul differece between the teams.  The difference tonight was 16.

[valpotx]

Now that I have calmed down a bit in playing with my 8 month old, it has been good to see Tevonn find his stroke from 3 over the last few games.  He was shooting pitifully from 3 before these last 4 games, and he wasn't shy about shooting them.  He has gotten up to 26%, and seems much more confident taking quality shots.  He still does the Lavonte Dority every now and then, when he runs 'balls on fire' straight into the defense, having you saying 'what the heck are you doing...never mind, great job Tevonn!'

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Oh and ESPN3 on my 4g phone worked perfectly fine while I had drinks at Franklin House. Not sure the complaint there.

well you were drinking.  jerky distorted video seems par for the franklin house course

2nd half was much better for me--anyone else?

[Grizz]

This whole week has been so interesting reading what you guys have said about this game. You will win by 5 and then look back and say how did that ever happen. Peters will have 37, Class2014 you were only off the final margin by 39 points, you got the player of the year, the defender of the year ect ect ect. Bottom line..... we have beaten your 6 of the last 8 and Bryce(best coach in the league) is 1-5 vs us. The one win was a last second shot by a freshman who never played and left the team. Then one of your idiots like some 5 year old comes on our message board and says yea but we will still finish a head of you in the standings. The only thing missing was a na na na. By the way your center got 0 blocks, your stud had 7 points ( of course our defense will never get credit for that.) and even though you blew through the 225 best schedule in the country you are 0-1. Deal with it. Oh, I know, you got cheated. And for the guy who thinks Petros sucks, why did your coach think he's good enough to double every time he touch the ball, allowing a freshmen to score 16 on lay ups. Why, because he's the best center in the league!

[Kyle321n]

Yeah while I probably have the most reasoned thoughts pregame, I will completely disagree with Petros as the best center in the league. That title belongs to Bobby Hain right now.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Oh, I know, you got cheated.

Hey, at least he admitted it.  Big of him.

[Grizz]

Kyle; you weren't even close in your write up about us. You had Jalen Hayes coming off the bench. If you knew what you we talking about you would have know that he had 16 against Pitt and 12 against Maryland and was a starter. Heck he's been the Freshman of the week in the league the last 2 weeks. But why would you want to deliver the facts. Also, Corey's numbers are against real comp. 4 of the top 20 teams in the country and Pitt and Clemson. Not against the crap comp that Youngstown and Valpo have played. I know, Bader was just a chucker. And you got cheated. For those who don't know, Terry Wymer did the game tonight and he has only done the last 2 final 4"s so I really don't know what league you could go in to get away from him.

[Grizz]

Also interesting that you all are saying your guys were out of gas in overtime, yet we had one guy play 45 mins, one play 44 and one play 41. oh yea, our coach has no idea what he is doing, just trying to get good stats for our guys.

[hailcrusaders]

Then one of your idiots like some 5 year old comes on our message board

*he says as he comes on our message board*

but we will still finish a head of you in the standings.

Oh we will. Of that I'm confident. Go ahead and gloat in your victory today, we'll take our season over yours. And our last few seasons. And our next few seasons.

On a related note, it'd be nice to see a little rivalry develop here. The games are sure competitive enough.