Valpo @ CSU, Fri 2/27 9 PM CST ESPNU

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Shake it off and let's go 2-1 on Senior Nights.

Pretty much everything we wanted before Wednesday night is still on the table, with the exception of having the most wins in school history before the postseason (nice but not that great) and the possible exception of an at-large bid (because that wasn't a great chance to begin with).

I say we come out sharp, eager to get the upper hand.  CSU won't be able to match at first--being from The Cleve, they always come out Flats.

[a3uge]

Easy stuff: win the next 3 games. Only one on the road, the next two at home.

[wh]

I agree. I feel good about this game. We match up well with CSU.

[valpotx]

I don't see us recovering from tonight's disappointment, and on 48 hours' rest, we have tired legs.  We blew an excellent opportunity, and unfortunately end up in the NIT, since we won't have the home-court advantage in the conference tourney:

CSU 71
Valpo 65

[wh]

We'll, we're definitely going to have to shoot better. Alec 3-11, Derrick 6-15, Tevonn 1-5, EVN 0-2 including a 3 pt air ball that didn't come within 2 ft. of the rim, Fernandez 1-3. 2nd game in a row that Tevonn has really struggled after winning FOW. How many shots did we have blocked at rim because nobody will ball fake?

Bryce was quoted as saying they need to get back to the way they were playing earlier in the conference. Sadly, they have 1 day to figure it out, or we will go from hosting the tournament with a great chance of representing the HL in the tournament to playing on someone else's court as an underdog. What a shame it would be that all the work over all this time to put them in a position to have one of the most memorable seasons in Valpo history could all disappear essentially overnight.  Like it or not, this game will determine the storyline for this entire season. CSU is a much better team than Detroit...

I just realized that in my rambling I have completely reversed my optimistic position of only few hours ago. I think they call this manic depression. 

[historyman]

Alec 3-11, Derrick 6-15, Tevonn 1-5, EVN 0-2...............I just realized that in my rambling I have completely reversed my optimistic position of only few hours ago. I think they call this manic depression.

AND replaced Walker with Smits! 

[Valpofan00]

No way we win this game, we needed the one at Detroit. CSU by 7.

[humbleopinion]

I worry about us at Cleveland State.  It seems that we have a hard time shooting in their arena.  Perhaps it has something to do with the mural of the fans behind the basket (and often there are more fans in the mural than in the seats).

[crusaderjoe]

The way I see it is that essentially, Valpo's regular season ended yesterday.  The HL tournament starts tomorrow night in Cleveland, with the winner going into the "winner's bracket" for the remainder of the tournament.

It will be interesting to see how both teams respond coming off throw away games. Normally I would be worried about 48 hours rest, but does anyone really think VU left it all on the floor last night at Detroit?  I think we'll still have some legs.  Four days rest didn't do a damn bit of good for us.  Maybe it won't do a thing for them either.  Should be a great game.

[HC]

I feel like Valpo has been holding back on offense not wanting to show much, at least I hope that is what is going on and its not that everyone is figuring us out.

Valpo spoils $1 beer $1 taco night at Cleveland and wins in a romp, 75-60

[a3uge]

While we only had 10 turnovers, we had so many stupid fouls on defense that did us in. Jubril is fouling at Kenyon Martin-like levels. We could have easily had more than 10 turnovers as a couple of times the ball was rolling around on the floor and we came back up with it.

[classof2014]

Win tomorrow night and yesterday doesn't matter. I'm happy that we have such a quick turnaround, I'm sure the way the game ended will be in their minds knowing they should've forced OT. This is a big game, sucks we have to play two teams on their senior night, but that's just the luck of the draw sometimes. Win tomorrow, we are 13-3, 26-5 in the regular season and host the tournament. We are still in a great spot and control our own destiny.

I'm hoping the offense comes alive and puts up 75+ on a stingy Viking defense.

[covufan]

Win tomorrow night and yesterday doesn't matter. I'm happy that we have such a quick turnaround, I'm sure the way the game ended will be in their minds knowing they should've forced OT. This is a big game, sucks we have to play two teams on their senior night, but that's just the luck of the draw sometimes. Win tomorrow, we are 13-3, 26-5 in the regular season and host the tournament. We are still in a great spot and control our own destiny.

+++

I agree.  CSU may be ready for the team that showed up last night, but not for the Valparaiso team that shows up tomorrow!

Valpo   65
CSU      59

[valpo84]

1. Attack the rim with your guards on drives and have guards attack offensive glass. Forces us to leave guards home and limits those guards getting out on the stretch passes for transition hoops.
2. Power into Vashil. Keep him from being effective at blocking shots and may get him in foul trouble.
3. Double Alec/focus on limiting him. We have to be better swinging the ball. Too many times in 2d half we were slow or tentative to swing to opposite side away from double and where players were wide open.
4. Play physical when Valpo drives to the hoop forcing the refs to determine whether they're going to call everything

These have been keys to beating us. In losses to Mizzu and UNM, we were outrebounded. In losses to Oakland and Detroit, FTs harmed us, particularly on drives by guards. Of late, teams are forcing the O to go through others.

[wh]

Vashiel has averaged 21 M/G for the last 4 games, down from 29 in the previous 7. Would someone please explain why our starting center and #1 shot blocker and intimidator has gone from playing 3-quarters of the game to half the game in favor of an undersized backup who isn't a bigger scoring threat than Vashiel?  Bryce says we need to get back to playing like we were earlier in the conference season. So, how about starting by keeping the best defensive center in the league on the court for 30 min. minimum?  And, as already been mentioned get our premier point guard back in the starting lineup and let him run the offense for 25 minutes.

[a3uge]

Vashiel has averaged 21 M/G for the last 4 games, down from 29 in the previous 7. Would someone please explain why our starting center and #1 shot blocker and intimidator has gone from playing 3-quarters of the game to half the game in favor of an undersized backup who isn't a bigger scoring threat than Vashiel?  Bryce says we need to get back to playing like we were earlier in the conference season. So, how about starting by keeping the best defensive center in the league on the court for 30 min. minimum?  And, as already been mentioned get our premier point guard back in the starting lineup and let him run the offense for 25 minutes.

100% agreed. We can't have Nickerson and Jubril playing 20+ minutes each when they were having awful games. They were absolutely terrible last night.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Vashiel has averaged 21 M/G for the last 4 games, down from 29 in the previous 7. Would someone please explain why our starting center and #1 shot blocker and intimidator has gone from playing 3-quarters of the game to half the game in favor of an undersized backup who isn't a bigger scoring threat than Vashiel?  Bryce says we need to get back to playing like we were earlier in the conference season. So, how about starting by keeping the best defensive center in the league on the court for 30 min. minimum?  And, as already been mentioned get our premier point guard back in the starting lineup and let him run the offense for 25 minutes.

It's my earlier rant about wasting a player because of worries about fouls.  Some coaching book somewhere tried to teach everyone when to auto-bench someone and it really is as outdated thinking for the game as high sox and short shorts.

[Valpo89]

I didn't get to watch much of the game, but it sounds to me like a classic "playing not to lose" performance by the Crusaders.

[agibson]

Vashiel has averaged 21 M/G for the last 4 games, down from 29 in the previous 7. Would someone please explain why our starting center and #1 shot blocker and intimidator has gone from playing 3-quarters of the game to half the game in favor of an undersized backup who isn't a bigger scoring threat than Vashiel?  Bryce says we need to get back to playing like we were earlier in the conference season. So, how about starting by keeping the best defensive center in the league on the court for 30 min. minimum?  And, as already been mentioned get our premier point guard back in the starting lineup and let him run the offense for 25 minutes.

It's my earlier rant about wasting a player because of worries about fouls.  Some coaching book somewhere tried to teach everyone when to auto-bench someone and it really is as outdated thinking for the game as high sox and short shorts.

Indeed, he was picking up fouls at a "faster than ideal" rate.   And, contrary to some games, he was out playing with 4 fouls with 3-4 minutes to go.

Adekoya also had 4, I think?

Is part of the logic that you want to be able to mix up defenses?  To keep the opponents from getting comfortable?  So, if you're concerned your shot blocker is going to foul out, better to have him foul out relatively late, so you can maximize the number of times the defense switches?

[talksalot]

Vashil picked up his 4th with about 7:30 to play... and Jubril picked up his 4th with about 6:30 to play.   

[atkins]

If we don't have the energy to recover quickly for a game like this (which we certainly did not have against Detroit), we're one-and-done wherever we end up.  I don't have a good feeling about the end of this season. 

[classof2014]

People are definitely overreacting to a 3 point loss, on the road, on senior night. Right now we're 25-5 and still control our own destiny. Cleveland St is beatable, we've done it already. It definitely seemed like the Crusaders were holding back yesterday. Why? I don't know but that's what it seemed like. Detroit is better than their record shows, it sucks to lose and force a must-win game in Cleveland. This team has rebounded well after losses, after our tough loss in Green Bay, we came out and absolutely destroyed an okay Milwaukee team.

It is senior night once again but that might be nullified a bit because its such a big game anyways for both teams. A loss tomorrow wouldn't shock me, hopeful we win and I think we will but Cleveland is very strong and has beaten everybody except Valpo.

Hopefully we come out on fire and jump out to a big lead that we never come close to relinquishing. If we win the Detroit game is nothing but a distant memory.

Valpo 72 Cleveland 59

[covufan]

really is as outdated thinking for the game as high sox and short shorts.

high sox and short shorts are outdated?  Oh, crud!

[mj]

The Valpo team last night showed characteristics we haven't seen all season long. But...they are characteristics we've seen in previous Valpo teams. This team has been amazing all season long. At times, it's looked like we might making "the next step". This game will prove whether we have taken "the next step" or if its another typical Valpo team.   

We got killed last night in the paint. Hogan, a physical player, had his way with us. For whatever reason we couldn't rebound. Our offense just wasn't clicking. Hopefully it' was just one off night.

[covufan]

Before the UDM game I was looking at the fact that we play two road senior night games.  Not sure if anyone at HL monitors this, but it seemed unfair that we played two this season.  I looked up the schedule for this season and WSU, MIL and our team all will play two road senior nights this year, with YSU, CSU and Oak playing one road senior night game.  GB, UIC and Det were lucky this year.  I'm sure that over time this will even out, but it didn't seem fair.

I'm looking at the start time for tomorrow's game - is it really starting at 10 PM local (Cleveland) time?