Game A - Exhibition vs Hillsdale Chargers Sat Nov 5, 2016 7:30pm

valpospartan · October 05, 2016, 11:12:50 PM

Quote from: VULB#62 on October 05, 2016, 06:18:09 PM
This string is veering a bit off the topic, but Stevens is demonstrating at least one praiseworthy trait, that has been brought up here, as the Celtics HBBC -- he is winning at the highest level with less than prime talent. He can motivate and adjust in-game. Tough combination to beat. Not taking anything away from BD, but my gut tells me Matt has Stevens-like qualities.

A bit?

The name Hillsdale hasn't been in a post for some time.

bbtds · October 15, 2016, 03:00:38 PM

Quote from: bsmith21 on October 06, 2016, 01:39:37 AM
Fair enough what's the hillsdale scouting report? I'm gonna be honest other than not recieving federal funding I don't know much about there basketball team.

The Chargers are Div II. Last year Hillsdale was 18-10. They finished 13-9 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (includes Findlay, Grand Valley State, Wayne State, Saginaw Valley, Ferris State, etc.) which was good enough for 4th place in their division (GLIAC has two divisions).

Their best player, Kyle Cooper, graduated. He was named the GLIAC player of the year last season. http://www.hillsdalechargers.com/sports/mbkb/2015-16/releases/20160229f7fda2, Cooper had six games of 30 points or more.

Jason Pretzer, a 7'0" center, who averaged 9.9 points a game last season also graduated.

So the Chargers certainly had a lot to replace.

Stedman Lowry was probably their next best player. This season he is a 6'3" junior shooting guard who averaged 13.9 points per game last season. He shot 39% from three.

Senior Nick Archer is their center at 6'8" who averaged 5.5 ppg last season. He is a senior.

Ryan Badowski is a junior transfer from Longwood University who can play immediately due to moving down to Div II. He made the Big South Conference all freshman team. He played 34 games for Longwood last season. He scored 22 against Radford.

Steve Giannakopoulos and his twin brother Chris Giannakopoulos from Athens, Greece both red shirted last season. at 6'5" Steve is a guard with a lot of promise and his brother Chris (also 6'5") at forward seem full of promise also. As with many foreign players they need more game time.

Rhett Smith, a red shirt senior emerged in 2014-15 as the 6th man. He red shirted last season due to injury.

agibson · November 05, 2016, 11:49:32 AM

I guess this is the Gameday thread.

7:30 tip. Time change early AM tomorroe, I guess that gets us -extra- sleep?

Looks like no video, WVUR/streaming audio.

VUSWIM08-12 · November 05, 2016, 08:06:47 PM

listening on WVUR, holy friggin foulss

a3uge · November 05, 2016, 08:27:20 PM

Is this streaming some how?

historyman · November 05, 2016, 09:03:51 PM

The Walker seems to really be trying to catch fire in the second half.

FYI, no video cameras but one in the ARC.

Bradford really skyed to commit that 3 point foul.

Sorolla is a fine shot blocker.

Bradford's speed and hops is impressive. Getting him to play under control will be the key.

historyman · November 05, 2016, 09:34:42 PM

I've seen it all now. Not only is Alec mopping the floor with the opposition, he was actually mopping the floor with a towel.

VUfan · November 05, 2016, 09:58:47 PM

A normal First Game sloppy, more work needed! Good to get a game played.

M · November 05, 2016, 10:51:06 PM

Thought there were some opening night jitters (Bradford, Smits). Looks like Lottich wants to pound the post, although that could've been due to our guys being much bigger. On defense we were really trapping high on the ball. Were any records set for fouls or time elapsed in the first half? That was rediculous.

vufan75 · November 05, 2016, 11:28:17 PM

Quote from: M on November 05, 2016, 10:51:06 PM
Thought there were some opening night jitters (Bradford, Smits). Looks like Lottich wants to pound the post, although that could've been due to our guys being much bigger. On defense we were really trapping high on the ball. Were any records set for fouls or time elapsed in the first half? That was rediculous.

Ridiculous for sure. Told my wife each team had 10+ team fouls before 10 minutes had been played. There was no flow to the game that half at all. Constant whistles were annoying. I get the refs want to make there points of emphasis which seem to fade away as seasons go on. But geez.

M · November 05, 2016, 11:35:52 PM

32 first half fouls 👎👎👎

wh · November 06, 2016, 08:55:49 AM

Quote from: bsmith21 on November 06, 2016, 07:59:35 AM
Does anybody know how many people were at the game?

My guess would be 2700, possibly as high as 3000. Definitely the biggest crowd for an exhibition game that anyone in my family can recall in recent years. The student section was packed, which was a pleasant surprise. Lower level bleachers were mostly full. Upper level maybe 40% (very good for an exhibition game). Chairbacks maybe 40% filled, but probably a lot of paid no-shows.

agibson · November 06, 2016, 09:11:58 AM

Quote from: bsmith21 on November 06, 2016, 07:59:35 AMDoes anybody know how many people were at the game?

Box says 2571. The mezzanine had a decent crowd - definitely better than some regular season games last year. The student section was comfortably full. There were plenty of empty seats in the chairbacks, but also plenty of people sitting in chairs.

VULB#62 · November 06, 2016, 09:18:38 AM

In light of everyone, it seems, being worried about the PG position, how did Lexus do? Saw some comments about Bradford below, but Lexus was the starter and played decent minutes. Speaking about guard minutes, Max played a lot. Besides bulking up how did he play?

M · November 06, 2016, 09:32:15 AM

Lexus looked good, had a big smile after he hit his first basket in forever. Max still has zero offensive game, I would think he will be used only as a defensive stopper in an offense for defense end of game substitution role (or foul trouble). Micah looked a bit overwhelmed, but I'm going with first game butterflies and suspect him to be better every game.

I was impressed with Sorolla's play inside, minus one crazy shot, he looked good.

justducky · November 06, 2016, 10:50:22 AM

Quote from: wh on November 06, 2016, 08:55:49 AMDefinitely the biggest crowd for an exhibition game that anyone in my family can recall in recent years.

Yes but will they show up for the likes of Southern Utah and Coppin St?

Quote from: M on November 06, 2016, 09:32:15 AMLexus looked good, had a big smile after he hit his first basket in forever.

If he can start the season with a 2 to 1 or better A/T ratio plus hit 35% from 3 then we are right where we would like to be. We should have an excellent picture of his game and recovery by our return from Oregon.

So Derrik launched a couple 3 balls? After we had signed him I joked that if he committed to doing some remedial work on his perimeter game I might soon be able to forget that he was 8 or 9 foot tall! But-But-But I was just joking!

What does his perimeter shooting form look like?

Chairback · November 06, 2016, 01:30:17 PM

From watching the game here are my thoughts:
-Point guard depth is going to kill us this year. To the point where it will cause us to lose games. Lexus is not as fast as he used to be. It is the truth. Bradford lacks strength and will be easily pushed around by guards with any size. I'm ok with having Shane bring the ball up as I think that is out best option at this point.
-At times we looked completely lost on both offense and defense. Almost unorganized or unsure of what to do.
-To me Smits looks good. He has great hands and his outside shot is actually good. However, he's 7-2. He needs to stay down low and open things up for Alec. He got beat on defense many times. I would start Smits over Jabril to add height to start the game.
-I think Sorrola is going to be a crowd favorite eventually. He's fun to watch.
-I miss Skara.
-The refs where just horrible. Every touch was a foul. It came to a point in the first half I was seriously ready to leave because it was so bad. Between the refs and the annual shot clock not working in the ARC made the first half one of the worst games to watch as a fan.
-I noticed the assistant coaches are not quick to get to the players during timeouts. in the past they were up on the players talking to them before they sat. Maybe hard to tell from one game but they don't seem vocal.

IndyValpo · November 06, 2016, 04:30:57 PM

Quote from: Chairback on November 06, 2016, 01:30:17 PM
From watching the game here are my thoughts:
-Point guard depth is going to kill us this year. To the point where it will cause us to lose games. Lexus is not as fast as he used to be. It is the truth. Bradford lacks strength and will be easily pushed around by guards with any size. I'm ok with having Shane bring the ball up as I think that is out best option at this point.
-At times we looked completely lost on both offense and defense. Almost unorganized or unsure of what to do.
-To me Smits looks good. He has great hands and his outside shot is actually good. However, he's 7-2. He needs to stay down low and open things up for Alec. He got beat on defense many times. I would start Smits over Jabril to add height to start the game.
-I think Sorrola is going to be a crowd favorite eventually. He's fun to watch.
-I miss Skara.
-The refs where just horrible. Every touch was a foul. It came to a point in the first half I was seriously ready to leave because it was so bad. Between the refs and the annual shot clock not working in the ARC made the first half one of the worst games to watch as a fan.
-I noticed the assistant coaches are not quick to get to the players during timeouts. in the past they were up on the players talking to them before they sat. Maybe hard to tell from one game but they don't seem vocal.

An awful lot of conclusions based on one exhibition game.

valporun · November 07, 2016, 02:09:05 PM

From those who were at the game, do any of you think Nick Davidson is going to be a contributor, or was he coming in early on to spell any foul trouble from our guards? Also, besides Sorolla, who else is a "first off the bench" guy, based on what goes on early?

vufan75 · November 07, 2016, 03:57:24 PM

Nick seems like a great young man and true team player. But IMO if he plays other than late game minutes that will be surprising.

bbtds · November 07, 2016, 07:43:51 PM

Quote from: VULB#62 on September 28, 2016, 07:53:21 PM
Quote from: M on September 28, 2016, 07:31:55 PM
Hammink, Walker, Peters, Adekoya, Smiths

Maybe Bradford in and Hammink off the bench to keep AP at the 3?

Oh and a 20 point Valpo win.

Wait! That's a starting 6 with the Smith brothers.

Our Smith Brothers were two guys you wouldn't just cough up a line about.

bbtds · November 07, 2016, 07:47:15 PM

Quote from: valporun on November 07, 2016, 02:09:05 PM
From those who were at the game, do any of you think Nick Davidson is going to be a contributor, or was he coming in early on to spell any foul trouble from our guards? Also, besides Sorolla, who else is a "first off the bench" guy, based on what goes on early?

I think Coach Lottich has a heart for end of the bench guys and an exhibition plus foul trouble gave him a good opportunity to play the end of the bench players. I think you will definitely see those guys in blow out games.

I wasn't at the game but I do get first hand reports.