Game 9: Belmont 12/3

[VULB#62]

Let's see if the Ball State wake up call was received.  The alarm was pretty loud, so it should have.

[talksalot]

So far... Belmont... has only played 1 home game...Like many non-BCS conference men's basketball programs, Belmont will spend a fair amount of
November and December away from home. While this year Belmont will play 11 of 15 non-conference games away from home

The Bruins return 11 letterwinners from a team that represented the Ohio Valley Conference in the 2015 NCAA Tournament

They have 7 total blocks for the season

Beat Marquette 83-80
Bradds scores career-high tying 24 points and draws charge on Henry Ellenson with 14 seconds left, while Luke secures game from the line

Lost to Arizona State 83-74
Luke tallies 17-8-5-3 and Bruins force 22 turnovers, but Belmont fights through 8-for-31 three-point shooting, while ASU goes 10-for-21.

Beat Western Kentucky 90-85
Bradds tallies 16 & 9, Egekeze adds 15, and Luke provides 9 & 11 assists, while Josh Lester sparks 22-6 Bruin run to close the first half.

Lost to Evansville 93-88
  Bradds has career day of 28-14-4 on 13-for-13 shooting and Egekeze adds 19,

Beat South Alabama 98-85
Bradds continues his remarkable stretch of play, scoring a career-high 30 points on 14-for-15 shooting as Bruins shoot 63 percent for the game

Beat Kennesaw State 80-55
Egekeze, Bradshaw and Bradds score 17 points each as Bruins make 13 three-pointers and hold Kennesaw State to 33 percent shooting.


Lost to BYU 95-81
... Plays Lipscomb on 12/1 (also plays Lipscomb on 12/7)

Link to YTD Stats...

http://www.belmontbruins.com/sports/m-baskbl/2015-16/files/bel.mbb.1516combined.pdf

these 4 started every game... points / rebounds:
Bradds  30 min/gm 19.6 / 7          6'7 205 SOPH
Bradshaw 30 min/gm  16.6 / 4     6'3 210 SR
Barnette  25 min/gm  16.0 / 2      6'3 185 JR  (Transfer from Virginia)
Luke 19 min/gm  6.9 / 3.3      6'3 200 SOPH

also started
Egekeze 6'8 220   20 min/gm 12.0 / 4.5 SOPH started 6 games... did not play at BYU... article does not say why
Hadden 6'10 240 SOPH started 1 game

[HC]

Valpo wins 82-70

I have to miss to coach my 8th graders vs. mighty River Forest. Hoping to catch then end on the radio on the drive home.

[zvillehaze]

I noticed that Plymouth's Mack Mercer had 16 points in 20 minutes at BYU.  His first appearance of the season due to a foot injury.  Assume a few Plymouth folks will make the short drive over for the game on Thursday.

[bbtds]

I noticed that Plymouth's Mack Mercer had 16 points in 20 minutes at BYU.  His first appearance of the season due to a foot injury.  Assume a few Plymouth folks will make the short drive over for the game on Thursday.

Yes, US 30 between Valpo and Plymouth will be a Rockie Road Thursday night/Friday morning. Hope nobody hits a boulder in Wanatah.

[VULB#62]

Nothing on the schedule or Valpo Athletics site yet about video. Anybody know anything about the broadcasting?   

[chef]

every home game will be on ESPN3 unless it is a nationally televised game.

[covufan]

I think that the team will be making a statement after the loss at Ball State.

Valpo   76
Belmont 64

[justducky]

Anybody know anything about the broadcasting? 

Yes I know that we should be broadcasting our behinds into every available seat in the ARC. I think I saw on the Belmont site that they could view it on ESPN 3.

I had temporarily forgotten about Belmont's last 2 victories over us. Two years ago they beat us by grabbing Mercer and last year they snatched Adelsperger right out of our hands. I think a US 30 roadblock should be constructed Thursday night for all Valpo bound vehicles bearing either Marshall (Plymouth) or Miami (Peru) county plates.

[covufan]

I had temporarily forgotten about Belmont's last 2 victories over us. Two years ago they beat us by grabbing Mercer and last year they snatched Adelsperger right out of our hands. I think a US 30 roadblock should be constructed Thursday night for all Valpo bound vehicles bearing either Marshall (Plymouth) or Miami (Peru) county plates.

I think we should treat these players and their families with all the respect that we showed when we were recruiting them, maybe more so.  You never know when a quality kid wants to be closer to home.

[justducky]

I had temporarily forgotten about Belmont's last 2 victories over us. Two years ago they beat us by grabbing Mercer and last year they snatched Adelsperger right out of our hands. I think a US 30 roadblock should be constructed Thursday night for all Valpo bound vehicles bearing either Marshall (Plymouth) or Miami (Peru) county plates.

Wait! I forgot Jeff Laidig from Penn HS. I do not remember us recruiting him but maybe we should include St Joe and Elkhart county plates in that US 30 roadblock. So does Belmont have any players on the roster who are not from northern Indiana?

[bbtds]

I had temporarily forgotten about Belmont's last 2 victories over us. Two years ago they beat us by grabbing Mercer and last year they snatched Adelsperger right out of our hands. I think a US 30 roadblock should be constructed Thursday night for all Valpo bound vehicles bearing either Marshall (Plymouth) or Miami (Peru) county plates.

Therefore the boulder in Wanatah!

[talksalot]

Here's the Belmont side of the story of last night... sounds impressive!

http://www.belmontbruins.com/sports/m-baskbl/2015-16/releases/20151201wz7bow

and here's the box score
http://www.belmontbruins.com/sports/m-baskbl/2015-16/boxscores/20151201_upk2.xml

16 of 31 from 3point range and 23 assists

[a3uge]

I think Valpo matches up pretty well against Belmont - they run and shoot a ton of threes, but Valpo is pretty good at guarding the perimeter. Last year opponents shot 33% from 3pt vs Valpo, and only are shooting 30% this year. The most similar opponent might be Iona, who shot 6-22 (26%) vs Valpo... in their other 3 games, Iona was 11-36, 16-34, and 19-40 - so 33 3PA per game. Belmont averages 30 3PA per game and has shot 30 or more 3pa in 6 of their 8 games. Last year Belmont shot the 5th most 3pa in the country at 866 (Iona was 4th at 869... and as an aside, VMI shot 1078 threes).

You'll probably see Valpo either shoot a bunch of threes or a bunch of free throws playing more up-tempo to combat a smaller lineup. My gut says Peters eats up Belmont inside and scores 25, with half his points coming at the line.

[zvillehaze]

I had temporarily forgotten about Belmont's last 2 victories over us. Two years ago they beat us by grabbing Mercer and last year they snatched Adelsperger right out of our hands. I think a US 30 roadblock should be constructed Thursday night for all Valpo bound vehicles bearing either Marshall (Plymouth) or Miami (Peru) county plates.

So does Belmont have any players on the roster who are not from northern Indiana?

They've got a total of five Indiana kids (compared to two for Valpo).  Not sure what the connection might be, but Belmont sure does recruit Indiana heavily.

[oklahomamick]

I had temporarily forgotten about Belmont's last 2 victories over us. Two years ago they beat us by grabbing Mercer and last year they snatched Adelsperger right out of our hands. I think a US 30 roadblock should be constructed Thursday night for all Valpo bound vehicles bearing either Marshall (Plymouth) or Miami (Peru) county plates.

So does Belmont have any players on the roster who are not from northern Indiana?

They've got a total of five Indiana kids (compared to two for Valpo).  Not sure what the connection might be, but Belmont sure does recruit Indiana heavily.

Just another reason for them to join the Horizon. 

[valpotx]

Valpo 81
Belmont 76

[wh]

The spread: Valpo -8

[cmack]

I didn't realize anyone from Valpo knew Wanatah existed!

Therefore the boulder in Wanatah!

[Jordan]

Any news on Walker tonight? Seems likely out to me. Could really use him guarding either Bradshaw or Barnette. They might be the best shooting backcourt in the nation. 164-409 (40%) last year, 43-96 (44%) this year from 3. Yikes.

[agibson]

Any news on Walker tonight?

I've not listened to the coach'' show (yet), but Oren's piece (yesterday?), quoting or paraphrasing Bryce, made it sound like it could be a while.  Maybe a chance we could see him tonight, but also a significant chance he could be out for a week or two.

[agibson]

I didn't realize anyone from Valpo knew Wanatah existed!

One eventually begins to think about neighboring communities, even neighboring counties...

I've heard they have reasonable BBQ, even had a taste (not enough to evaluate).  I've also heard rumors it's coming to Valparaiso (on a more-permanent basis than setting up temporary shop in Ironwood). 

And that's not even the first thing I heard about Wanatah!  I had a friend, parents of son's classmate, who had some kind of medical practice there.  I think I saw a goat there one while bicycling, and had fond thoughts of the possibility of quality cheese.

[wh]

Looks like another mediocre turnout - my guess is 3000-3500 by game time.

[govalpogo]

#no3'svalpo

[hailcrusaders]

VU media has touched on this so far this game, but it's been true all season -- for a team that isn't outstanding at 3 point shooting, we shoot wayyy too many of them.