Game 33: Texas Southern at the ARC, NIT First Round

[VULB#62]

I'm really surprised that a Mike Davis coached team is this undisciplined WRT technical fouls. Is not line there's egregious officiating out there. TSU is just losing their cool at odd times.

Yeah, they unravelled a bit in the second half.  But gotta hand it to them, they came to play.  Quicker than us and very athletic.  Can't believe some of the shots they made in close.  Davis is a class guy.  Wish him and TSU the best next year.  They play in the SWAC and all those teams are underfunded.  Imagine 11 OOC games on the ROAD.

[valpo84]

Big hurdle to overcome.  Psychologically we needed to win this tourney game.

[vu72]

Will Florida State be the first ACC team ever to play at the ARC??

[HailVU2014]

Will Florida State be the first ACC team ever to play at the ARC??

Without looking anything up, if Notre Dame's pre-ACC tenure counts, then no.

[ValpoHoops]

Will Florida State be the first ACC team ever to play at the ARC??

Without looking anything up, if Notre Dame's pre-ACC tenure counts, then no.

With looking, the only current member of the ACC to play at the ARC is Notre Dame. And they were, obviously, a long ways from joining when they did.

[talksalot]

We played Louisville in the 1923-24 season (Pre-ARC, Pre-Hilltop, Pre-Boucher Gym)... and we won... but the online record book does not show home/away information.

[agibson]

63 and sunny?  Now what will the excuses be?

It's been a georgeous day for this time of year. Hopefully, a good crowd tonight!

The thunderstorms were conveniently shifted to after the game. Light show was getting started as we left the ARC.

[agibson]

Valpo was on the wrong side of #6 on the SC Top 10. Not a play I remember so we'll, some kind of an alley-oop (or salvaged into one?) way high off the background.

The one I remember better and -would- like to see again was their 23 with a reverse jam on an alley-oop.

When he dunked on the empty possession at the buzzer, I'd have been happy to see him 360. Athletic young man, for sure.

[agibson]

Vashil within striking distance tonight of that triple double someone called for earlier this season.

Tied VU record with eight blocks, and hit four straight FT's besides. I noticed him having a modestly quiet night offensively, was consoled by affected shots, etc. Hadn't noticed eight blocks!

[historyman]

Got a bad time slot. To be honest even as a valpo fan I'm more interested in the vandy v witchita stat play-in game than I am in the valpo game. If I lived in valpo I think I'd stay in or go to a bar and watch that game instead of going to this game that shouldn't be close. Am I the only one that thinks this way?

Yes, you were.

[historyman]

was consoles by affected sh!ts,

A very unfortunate typo.

[agibson]

A very unfortunate typo.

Well, there you go.

[valpotx]

Fun game to watch.  TSU was much better than I had predicted.  Their athleticism caused us some problems, and you could tell that they were used to playing on the road.  I think that FSU will be in for a rude awakening, as our guys will get up even more for that game.  The whole, 'Power 5 teams refused to play us this year,' chip on our shoulder.

[SanityLost17]

Our on ball defense continues to suffer when Tevonn is not in the lineup.  The last half of the conference season his scoring was down, but he was still playing good defense.  Both GB and TSU did the same thing to us, put their head down and went strong to the basket.  Only difference between this game and the GB game is we hit a greater % of our shots and they missed several open 3 pointers.   

Hopefully we play better on Thursday, but we still seem to be in a bit of a funk.   Not saying we played bad, just not to the level we saw the first half of the conference season.  During that 6 game stretch, we could have beaten anyone in the country.   

[oklahomamick]

Our on ball defense continues to suffer when Tevonn is not in the lineup.  The last half of the conference season his scoring was down, but he was still playing good defense.  Both GB and TSU did the same thing to us, put their head down and went strong to the basket.  Only difference between this game and the GB game is we hit a greater % of our shots and they missed several open 3 pointers. Hopefully we play better on Thursday, but we still seem to be in a bit of a funk.   Not saying we played bad, just not to the level we saw the first half of the conference season.  During that 6 game stretch, we could have beaten anyone in the country.

Well said.  Totally agree.  Permineter defense thinks if opponent dribble penetrates Vashil will save us.  Seems like we aren't defending or rebounding as well as the beginning of the year. 

[FWalum]

Our on ball defense continues to suffer when Tevonn is not in the lineup.  The last half of the conference season his scoring was down, but he was still playing good defense.  Both GB and TSU did the same thing to us, put their head down and went strong to the basket.  Only difference between this game and the GB game is we hit a greater % of our shots and they missed several open 3 pointers.   

Hopefully we play better on Thursday, but we still seem to be in a bit of a funk. 

Tevonn is an integral part of this Team, we seem to really suffer when he is not in the lineup or playing well.  I wish things were different, but if they were unwilling to test the ankle last night I don't see him really able to go on Thursday anywhere close to 100%.

[FWalum]

Did I miss something last night or did somebody forget to tell the officials and the ESPN crew that the NIT was suppose to allow a sixth foul in the tournament.  Didn't TSU have a player foul out with only 5 fouls?

[talksalot]

We actually asked the officials about it... and the NCAA changed their mind about this... No Rules Changes for the tournaments.   

[ValpoHoops]

We actually asked the officials about it... and the NCAA changed their mind about this... No Rules Changes for the tournaments.   

In all honestly, I'm glad. Why do we need six fouls?

NBA games are 120% the length of a college game, and they get 120% of the fouls. One foul per eight minutes.

No reason to change the college game.

[FWalum]

We actually asked the officials about it... and the NCAA changed their mind about this... No Rules Changes for the tournaments.   

Thought I saw a little discussion at the table and was wondering if that question was being discussed.

[valpo84]

Thomas and Griffin were legitimate upper mid-major-power 5 type players.  Mike Davis has an uncanny knack of accumulating talented players who have lost their way at other schools.  Not the greatest bench coach (otherwise his career wouldn't be descending the conference levels (IU-UAB-TXS) but he seems to reach the kids.  Our defense on Thomas was generally pretty good, he is a great driver and the best guard Carter has had to try to stop all year (including Felder and Love).  Thomas has a flying arm bar when he drives that should have been called at least 2x and even a third.  He ran over E Vic and there was no call.  But hey, if they let you do it.... The Griffin off the backboard with 10 or so secs left was pretty, especially because Thomas was able to see and make the pass.  When you're down 13 with 20 secs left....why not!  Well, we now have our Power 5 in the ARC. Go Crusaders!

[vu84v2]

For a game clearly not at the top of the priority for ESPN coupled with all of the NCAA tourney talk, I thought that the announcers that ESPN assigned were quite good. Admittedly, the color guy was pretty pro-Valpo and offered some solid arguments why the NCAA tourney selection is stacked against mid-majors...so that helped my opinion. But they were knowledgeable, a little quirky, and reasonably energetic. I have to admit that, for whatever reason, the play-by-play guy's voice sounds like he is an experienced bobsled announcer and the color guy sounds like he does color for the World Series of Poker.

[agibson]

Admittedly, the color guy was pretty pro-Valpo and offered some solid arguments why the NCAA tourney selection is stacked against mid-majors...so that helped my opinion.

Adams... Is it Mark Adams? I think he's one of the main ASN guys and apparently a Valpo and Wichita State fan (and not shy about saying it on Twitter).

He's on the game Thursday too. He's my source (admittedly the only legit source I've heard; you figure he's Ina. Good position to know, but could be wrong) for the broadcast being on ESPN News (a network they did -not- use last year).

[talksalot]

We actually asked the officials about it... and the NCAA changed their mind about this... No Rules Changes for the tournaments.   

Thought I saw a little discussion at the table and was wondering if that question was being discussed.

this was discussed in the pre-game meeting between our clock ops/scorer and the officials (I wasn't there)...

There were several conversations at the table.  The one that was Blanks 5th foul and the T on Chris Thomas where the conversation was on the order of events... turned out that Blanks foul was the Team 10 so the number of shots was immaterial; and one where they called EVic on a charge at the end of the game... and signaled the foul on Skara (they changed it); and one on a replay for Riley's 3-pointer with 6:30 to play in the game, was he behind the line; and what did we put in the book ... one official signaled a 2 the other signaled a 3.... it was a 3 which is what we put on the board.

All three of those officials have NCAA calls... Don't know who's working our game on Thursday... but it won't be an NCAA tournament official crew

[Kyle321n]

All three of those officials have NCAA calls... Don't know who's working our game on Thursday... but it won't be an NCAA tournament official crew

I thought the officials were overall pretty good. They let the teams play a little more than I'm sure Bryce would have liked but overall can't complain about a pretty evenly called game.

As long as we don't get a Horizon League crew, I'll be happy. There's the team with the 2 bald refs, one of which looks like David Kaplan, which is just awful and as soon as I see them on the court I tell my wife we're in for a long game.