(13) Valpo vs. (4) Maryland NCAA 'Second' Rd Fri 3/20 4:40 PM EDT TNT

[classof2014]

I do wonder what offense we will see Friday. Early season offense when we score 70-80 a game or late season offense of 50-60 a game. Changing up our style and tempo of play may catch Maryland off guard but it would be a pretty big risk.

My guess is we'll be as close to 100% healthy as we've been all year. EVN looks fantastic, KC looks recovered, Tevonn is practicing at 100% speed and Darien is didn't break his nose. Definitely seems like we're playing the best basketball of the season at the right time.

I have faith that Bryce will pull all the right strings to give us the win. He's outcoached both Waters and Wardle in the last 3 games when they mattered most. I know nothing of the Turgeon guy, never really heard of him till we drew Maryland. Before I can consider Bryce as one of the best coaches in the country he has to win a few in the tournament.

[hailcrusaders]

If we're all that interested in height, does someone with time on their hands want to weight average height of each team by minutes played? That way we could take into account playing time of their big guys who spend most of the game on the bench.

[hailcrusaders]

Never mind, I went ahead and did it myself.

Average height, weighted by minutes played on the season, a summation of player height in inches * minutes played, then divided by total team minutes:

Maryland Terrapins: 78.56" or 6' 6.56".
Valparaiso Crusaders: 77.66" or 6' 5.66".

Our number may be slightly misrepresentative given that Keith Carter (6-1) missed significant time and E (6-8) wound up taking more minutes than expected. I imagine we'll see 10 or so more minutes of Keith Friday than we will E., even though season statistics show that they played almost even minutes (630 KC vs. 613 EVN).

Their number may be skewed for other reasons. Eyeballing it, they played thirteen players on the year, although lets hope we see no more than eight on Friday.

[bbtds]

There are obviously multiple keys to the game, but one keeps coming back to mind.

It's time for Peters to be the horse we know he can be, to show the country.  If he's going to get some of the press and attention of Doug McDermott, it starts Friday evening.  He has a good matchup in Layman, even if they won't always be on one another.

It doesn't need to be a "freshman year vs. Evansville" kind of game, just solid.  Your winners have to win their match ups and lead the way.

Trying to find comparables from the Horizon is difficult.  Layman mat be similar to Anton Grady(6'8" 225).  Trimble maybe to Trey Lewis (similar size) and Dez Wells to Juwan Howard or maybe Paris Bass? Trimble is only 175 lbs.  Layman only goes 205 and Wells at 215.  Clearly these guys are not the typical BIG muscular type guys but rather great shooters and extremely quick. 

The other two starters against Michigan State were Pack at 6'3", 185 and Dodd at 6'9" 240.  Overall we could match up--actually be bigger then the Terps which certainly was not the case against Michigan State two years ago. 

You mat be correct, mat be not! Mat or door I don't think we'll come out baaaa! 

[vu84v2]

Turgeon is a Kansas guy, therefore I would expect Maryland to play a style consistent with the traditional Kansas style. Tough man-to-man defense, try to dominate the boards, prefer inside-outside offense, look for secondary break open shots. I am not that familiar with Maryland, but it seems everyone who comes through Kansas has more or less followed this style.

[a3uge]

Turgeon is a Kansas guy, therefore I would expect Maryland to play a style consistent with the traditional Kansas style. Tough man-to-man defense, try to dominate the boards, prefer inside-outside offense, look for secondary break open shots. I am not that familiar with Maryland, but it seems everyone who comes through Kansas has more or less followed this style.

So uh does that mean losing way earlier than they should?

[historyman]

I really would like to pick Valpo and I do think that the Crusaders will keep it close through out most of the game. OTOH, Valpo has been prone to give up 10+ point leads in games. Maryland may have a small lead at half then Valpo may bounce back to take the lead by 2-3 points but eventually the Terrapins will win it by 7.

Valpo        62
Maryland   69

[agibson]

Crusaders to Depart for NCAA Tournament at 10am Wednesday Morning
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Join the send-off from the Athletics-Recreation Center on Wednesday morning, as the Valparaiso men's basketball team departs for Columbus and the 2015 NCAA Tournament at 10 a.m!  All are invited to help wish the Crusaders luck as they prepare to take on Maryland Friday afternoon at 3:45 p.m. CT, live on TNT.

Not so much notice.  I'd begun to think they were leaving Thursday.

I wish I'd grabbed my notes for my 10:30 class!

[gamelord]

After rewatching the 1998 miracle game, has anyone else noticed the similarities to this year? Ole Miss had an excellent player named Keith Carter and we also had Jaime Sykes (as opposed to Keifer). I don't know if it means anything, but is kinda déjà vu.

[78crusader]

Just can't pick VU on this one. Maryland has beaten Wisconsin, Iowa State, and MSU --twice.  Oren has Maryland by 12.  I hope it's that close.  And I hope my prediction is dead wrong.

VU 44
Maryland 65

Paul

[crusadermoe]

That's pretty rough.    How about Maryland 66  Valpo 57.    Been tough to score much lately.

[FWalum]

Valpo should hold the rebounding edge, Maryland isn't very good on either glass, while Valpo had one of the best rebounding margins in the country.

Lets be honest here, rebounding against Michigan State, Wisconsin and Purdue is a little different than Youngstown State, UIC and Wright State.

[agibson]

A little more detail on the send-off tomorrow.  (e.g. it's outside, not in the gym or something)

Fans, come to the ARC Wednesday morning and help send off your Valpo men's basketball team as they depart for the NCAA Tournament!
The players will leave from the front of the ARC at approximately 10 a.m. on Wednesday, and all are invited to gather and help wish the team luck as they depart for Columbus.

[justducky]

If everything goes right then VU by 3. If everything goes wrong then Maryland by 15.

Did they have to hire an extra bus so they could get every last one of those different Walker boys to Columbus? Hope they don't forget any of them!   

[valpotx]

Have my tickets all lined up for our game.  Since I am coming all the way from TX, we can't lose, correct?

[bbtds]

I'll be in Columbus on Friday also but I'll be driving myself.

Go Valpo!

[truth219]

I'll be there to.  My wife is making us shirts. 209 row h...better than not being there. Made a mix tape for the drive.

[historyman]

Did they have to hire an extra bus so they could get every last one of those different Walker boys to Columbus? Hope they don't forget any of them!   

No extra bus but I heard that they were picking up Derrik Smits Walker and his cousin, San Francisco-Golden Gates-Will-I-attend Valpo-Smits in Boone County.   

[atkins]

Wasn't able to convince anyone in the office pool to select Valpo against MD.  Thought I'd get a couple to at least humor me. As one colleague told me, "You couldn't beat the worst Mizzou team in history, so how can you stay on the court with Maryland?" I think he's wrong, but he's got a valid point. 

[vu72]

Wasn't able to convince anyone in the office pool to select Valpo against MD.  Thought I'd get a couple to at least humor me. As one colleague told me, "You couldn't beat the worst Mizzou team in history, so how can you stay on the court with Maryland?" I think he's wrong, but he's got a valid point. 

OK, try, "very young team", or, "it was our first road game and our players didn't know each other"  or... Think of something!

[historyman]

Wasn't able to convince anyone in the office pool to select Valpo against MD.  Thought I'd get a couple to at least humor me. As one colleague told me, "You couldn't beat the worst Mizzou team in history, so how can you stay on the court with Maryland?" I think he's wrong, but he's got a valid point.

90% of the brackets on Yahoo so far tonight have picked Maryland. I thought a few more bracket-pickers would pick Valpo.
100% for Kentucky over Hampton.

[agibson]

90% of the brackets on Yahoo so far tonight have picked Maryland. I thought a few more bracket-pickers would pick Valpo.
100% for Kentucky over Hampton.

On ESPN it's 14% for Valpo.

An, I suppose in the event that Maryland gets that far, 5% pick Maryland over Kentucky!  (11% take ND over KY, if it comes to that; or 16% Duke over KY)

[a3uge]

Alright guys!!!

[bbtds]

Wasn't able to convince anyone in the office pool to select Valpo against MD.  Thought I'd get a couple to at least humor me. As one colleague told me, "You couldn't beat the worst Mizzou team in history, so how can you stay on the court with Maryland?" I think he's wrong, but he's got a valid point. 

OK, try, "very young team", or, "it was our first road game and our players didn't know each other"  or... Think of something!

Why do we have to have excuses for being better later in the season? Many teams learn to play better together as the season progresses. Excuses don't make a team play better. If we lose we didn't play well enough for the game that was played (Mizzou) and if we have a good to great win we played better against an accomplished team (Murray State). It really doesn't reflect that much on the good to great team we are about to play. There is sometimes too much analysis done on the sideline. Some great teams have really bad games and some poor teams have great games many others fall somewhere in between. The Mizzou game will not effect the Maryland game in any way except for the Maryland overanalyzers and Maryland's game against Oakland will not effect Valpo vs Maryland in any way except for the Valpo overanalyzers. We don't need excuses for our friends or colleagues if we truly believe Valpo will beat the Terrapins!!!!

[frontrowfan]

I am probably responsible for a little of those results on ESPN....picked Valpo over MD (of course) and Notre Dame to win it all