The Detroit Trip -- Games 15 and 16

[bbtds]

Floor level highlights from the YSU/OU game in case you didn't want to watch the full game on ESPN3's site.

http://www.goldengrizzlies.com/collegesportslive/?media=517883


http://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/_/id/2711418/size/condensed/

[mb230611]

No idea who the writer is, but he certainly lays it on the line.

Terry Foster, formerly of the Detroit Free Press.

Terry Foster was a sports writer for the Detroit Free Press and, most recently, the Detroit News. I believe he was the Pistons beat writer for a while back in the Bad Boys era. He also co-hosts the Valenti and Foster radio show M-F afternoons on one of the Detroit sports stations. The paper wanted him to go back on the Pistons beat full time, but he didn't want to do all the travel (he has kids in high school or younger) or give up the radio gig, so he took an early retirement/buyout deal. He wants to keep writing, so Oakland brought him on board as an "Oakland Insider." As an Oakland fan I'm thrilled not only with the additional coverage by a long-time journalist, but also with the athletics department giving him full access and allowing him to write about what he sees without watering it down or making it a fluff piece. We're lucky to have a reporter in our locker room who has spent time in professional locker rooms.

[VULB#62]

No idea who the writer is, but he certainly lays it on the line.

Terry Foster, formerly of the Detroit Free Press.

Terry Foster was a sports writer for the Detroit Free Press and, most recently, the Detroit News. I believe he was the Pistons beat writer for a while back in the Bad Boys era. He also co-hosts the Valenti and Foster radio show M-F afternoons on one of the Detroit sports stations. The paper wanted him to go back on the Pistons beat full time, but he didn't want to do all the travel (he has kids in high school or younger) or give up the radio gig, so he took an early retirement/buyout deal. He wants to keep writing, so Oakland brought him on board as an "Oakland Insider." As an Oakland fan I'm thrilled not only with the additional coverage by a long-time journalist, but also with the athletics department giving him full access and allowing him to write about what he sees without watering it down or making it a fluff piece. We're lucky to have a reporter in our locker room who has spent time in professional locker rooms.

Good move for Oakland. Good coverage for the HL as well. Need more of that kind of thing across the league. Valpo is lucky in that regard with Paul and Brandon providing insider insights.

[SanityLost17]

This will be our 2nd toughest road trip of the season, with Oregon/Oregon State being the toughest.  I do not see us going any worse than 1-1.  If we lose to Oakland we will take out our aggression on Detroit and win big.  If we beat Oakland the Detroit game will be really close and will come down to the last few possessions.   

[VULB#62]

Detroit will be coming off a probable home win against UIC, but there's no telling what state of mind they will be in or who shows up. One thing for sure is that they are #10 of 10 in HL scoring defense. As long as we play great defense, we should get our shots.  Just have to get by OU first -- no easy task.

[mb230611]

Good move for Oakland. Good coverage for the HL as well. Need more of that kind of thing across the league. Valpo is lucky in that regard with Paul and Brandon providing insider insights.

I agree. I enjoy reading the Valpo coverage and appreciate that it often touches on the HL in general. We all want maximum coverage for our individual schools of course, but it's nice to be able to get regular updates concerning the league as a whole without having to condense info from 10 different schools' media sites or forums.

[oklahomamick]

Should we separate game 15 and 16 into their own posts? 

[agibson]

[tweet]684774514547384321[/tweet]

They seem to archive many, maybe all, of them at
http://www.wdfn.com/media/podcast-the-greg-kampe-show-TheGregKampeShow/

[VULB#62]

Should we separate game 15 and 16 into their own posts?

My thought in posting a road trip string with both games was that we only have 1 day between games. I can change this to the Oakland game only (I think) if posters want me to.

[wh]

Leave it the way it is.

[VULB#62]

Yeah, I'm kinda thinking this will go heavy on Oakland up to and through post game and then morph into prelim UDM through Sunday's post game.

[Valpower]

It's interesting, but not surprising, that for being highly ranked in the various mid-major polls and doing well all season, we seem to get but a passing mention from most in the national media.  It's not surprising, of course, because the media is enamored of scoring and loathes fundamental basketball and defense.  When they're not busy analyzing Ben Simmons' breakfast and pay a little attention to the mid majors they can't help but gloss over teams who play balanced, effective basketball and focus on the supposed "high-flyers". I get it; it's entertainment.  But man, watch this College Insider piece on 5 mid-major contests to see (from Angela Lento, remember her) and listen to the relative lack of superlatives for the Crusaders compared to Oakland and most of the others teams described therein.

http://collegeinsider.com/my-5-video.php

It starts with Oakland:

Oakland is one of the top scoring teams in the country and they have one of the nation's best in Kay Felder...

...Iowa State transfer Percy Gibson has given [Grizzlies] a great inside presence...

Then you get to Valpo and you'd think they'd paint a picture of one of the best defensive teams in the nation, favored to win the Horizon, coming off an NCAA Tourney appearance, but you get:

Valpo is lead by junior Alec Peters who lead the Crusaders in points and rebounds...

Last season Tevonn Walker showed glimpses of stardom as a freshman...the 6 foot 2 sophomore can play.

Cap it off with the puzzling statement below and you've got me laughing:

There are five or six teams that can represent the Horizon League in the NCAA Tournament but most people believe that either Oakland or Valparaiso will be dancing   

Now, I know that Oakland has been doing a good job in marketing Felder and building their brand around the kind of 98 to 100-point scoring, black-top playing, street-balling type of play that the marketing experts believe the public wants, but is that the difference or is defense THAT boring? All I'll say is that I wish opposing coaches thought our brand of basketball was as un-noteworthy as Angela does.  We'd catch everybody by surprise.

[blackpantheruwm]

Paul just had a good segment on Greg Kampe's coaches show, 1130 AM in Detroit. Homer Drew is on now.

[vu72]

Paul just had a good segment on Greg Kampe's coaches show, 1130 AM in Detroit. Homer Drew is on now.

Listen to the show, it is very interesting.

[agibson]

Paul just had a good segment on Greg Kampe's coaches show, 1130 AM in Detroit. Homer Drew is on now.

Listen to the show, it is very interesting.

The archive seems to be up already, in two parts
http://www.wdfn.com/media/podcast-the-greg-kampe-show-TheGregKampeShow/

[bbtds]

It's interesting, but not surprising, that for being highly ranked in the various mid-major polls and doing well all season, we seem to get but a passing mention from most in the national media.  It's not surprising, of course, because the media is enamored of scoring and loathes fundamental basketball and defense.  When they're not busy analyzing Ben Simmons' breakfast and pay a little attention to the mid majors they can't help but gloss over teams who play balanced, effective basketball and focus on the supposed "high-flyers". I get it; it's entertainment.  But man, watch this College Insider piece on 5 mid-major contests to see (from Angela Lento, remember her) and listen to the relative lack of superlatives for the Crusaders compared to Oakland and most of the others teams described therein.

http://collegeinsider.com/my-5-video.php

It starts with Oakland:

Oakland is one of the top scoring teams in the country and they have one of the nation's best in Kay Felder...

...Iowa State transfer Percy Gibson has given [Grizzlies] a great inside presence...

Then you get to Valpo and you'd think they'd paint a picture of one of the best defensive teams in the nation, favored to win the Horizon, coming off an NCAA Tourney appearance, but you get:

Valpo is lead by junior Alec Peters who lead the Crusaders in points and rebounds...

Last season Tevonn Walker showed glimpses of stardom as a freshman...the 6 foot 2 sophomore can play.

Cap it off with the puzzling statement below and you've got me laughing:

There are five or six teams that can represent the Horizon League in the NCAA Tournament but most people believe that either Oakland or Valparaiso will be dancing   

Now, I know that Oakland has been doing a good job in marketing Felder and building their brand around the kind of 98 to 100-point scoring, black-top playing, street-balling type of play that the marketing experts believe the public wants, but is that the difference or is defense THAT boring? All I'll say is that I wish opposing coaches thought our brand of basketball was as un-noteworthy as Angela does.  We'd catch everybody by surprise.

You'd think that with Valpo being in the tops of the mid-majors people would get the pronunciation of Valparaiso correct but the New York City native can't even get that correct as she pronounces it ValparIso. If you want to be a good collegeinsider reporter get the school's name right! She seems young but it turns out she graduated in 1993. She is one of the founders of collegeinsider.com and should be doing a better job.

[oklahomamick]

Paul just had a good segment on Greg Kampe's coaches show, 1130 AM in Detroit. Homer Drew is on now.

Listen to the show, it is very interesting.

I enjoy the show.  I hate to admit it but I like Kampe too.   

[crusadermoe]

I'll admit to enjoying Kampe too.    He's been great for the rivalry and kept some class during their first 0-15 start against us that had so many near misses.   Remember Tarrance Price hitting crazy run of threes?

[valpotx]

Valpo 77
Oakland 72

Valpo 72
Detroit 59

[talksalot]

A little history... and nervous time

Oakland is Game 15 of the season
Detroit is Game 16 of the season

Game 15 of the season... over the past 29 years, Valpo is 12-17 (lowest % of the last half of the season)
2014-15 - Valpo beat James Madison by 27
2013-14 - Valpo lost at East Tennessee State by 11
2012-13 - Valpo lost at home to Loyola by 9
2011-12 - Valpo beat Green Bay 90-87
2010-11 - Valpo lost to Butler 76-59
2009-10 - Valpo lost at home to Green Bay 64-58
2008-09 - Valpo lost @ Milwaukee 61-48
2007-08 - Valpo lost @ Butler 73-65

Game 16 of the season, 16-13 over the past 29 seasons
2014-15 - Valpo lost @ Oakland 89-75 in Overtime
2013-14 - Valpo beat UIC 87-72
2012-13 - Valpo beat Cleveland State 74-50
2011-12 - Valpo beat Detroit 73-71 at Calihan
2010-11 - Valpo beat Youngstown State 79-55
2009-10 - Valpo lost @ Detroit 77-67
2008-09 - Valpo beat Detroit 64-41
2007-08 - Valpo lost to Milwaukee 71-69

[FWalum]

Then you get to Valpo and you'd think they'd paint a picture of one of the best defensive teams in the nation, favored to win the Horizon, coming off an NCAA Tourney appearance, but you get:

    Quote (selected)

        Valpo is lead by junior Alec Peters who lead the Crusaders in points and rebounds...


    Quote (selected)

        Last season Tevonn Walker showed glimpses of stardom as a freshman...the 6 foot 2 sophomore can play.



    Cap it off with the puzzling statement below and you've got me laughing:

    Quote (selected)

        There are five or six teams that can represent the Horizon League in the NCAA Tournament but most people believe that either Oakland or Valparaiso will be dancing   



    Now, I know that Oakland has been doing a good job in marketing Felder and building their brand around the kind of 98 to 100-point scoring, black-top playing, street-balling type of play that the marketing experts believe the public wants, but is that the difference or is defense THAT boring? All I'll say is that I wish opposing coaches thought our brand of basketball was as un-noteworthy as Angela does.  We'd catch everybody by surprise.



You'd think that with Valpo being in the tops of the mid-majors people would get the pronunciation of Valparaiso correct but the New York City native can't even get that correct as she pronounces it ValparIso. If you want to be a good collegeinsider reporter get the school's name right! She seems young but it turns out she graduated in 1993. She is one of the founders of collegeinsider.com and should be doing a better job.

Could she be any less enthusiastic???  I almost fell asleep listening to her "date night" excitement.

[mb230611]

Could she be any less enthusiastic???  I almost fell asleep listening to her "date night" excitement.

I think Ben Stein would have sounded more enthusiastic.

[justducky]

Could she be any less enthusiastic???  I almost fell asleep listening to her "date night" excitement.

I think Ben Stein would have sounded more enthuiastic.

Yes she was awful but she was awful for all 10 teams. Maybe she was a student of Ben Stein?  So how did she get this job again? Was she the most qualified candidate who was willing to work for nothing? If so she has earned her money.

[Grizz]

Opened at Valpo -1. Already up to 2.5.  All the money going on valpo

[bbtds]

She is one of the founders of collegeinsider.com

She gave herself a job. You might remember that collegeinsider.com runs a post-season tournament. It's the least impressive of the post-season tournaments. Called the CIT. But it is a way to tout a more impressive resume' if your team is looking to impress other selection committees in future seasons.