Game #4 - #4 Univ of Oregon @ Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene Oregon 11/17/16 8pm

[oklahomamick]

Rough....rpi dropped to 242 after that.  Was that our worst lost in 5 years?

[vu84v2]

RPI is meaningless during the first month of the season because there is no sample. Consider that Abilene Christian's RPI is 2 right now, coming off their big win over New Hampshire.

People need to not get too wound up about this loss to Oregon. Oregon played well and is extremely athletic, but Valpo went toe to toe with them for a half without shooting well from the outside (not looking for moral victories, just assessing performance). I had two concerns coming into this game: guard play beyond Hammink and how well the new bigs are developing. I thought that the guard play (Walker, Williams, etc.) was fairly solid. The bigs certainly need a lot of work. The games in Las Vegas are going to be a better indicator, given that Valpo should be able to play with and have a decent probability of beating any of these three teams.

[wh]

Personally, I'm not concerned even a little bit about Alec's 3-point shooting woes. That kid came out of the womb dead-eyeing 3's. He's probably as likely to hit 6-8 as 2-8 next time out. Keep on shooting, Alec!

[VU2014]

http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2016/11/18/no-4-oregon-overpowers-valparaiso-76-54/

No. 4 Oregon overpowers Valparaiso 76-54
Associated PressNov 18, 2016, 9:59 AM EST

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) An embarrassing road loss to Baylor may prove to be a valuable lesson for Oregon.

If the fourth-ranked Ducks want to meet their own lofty expectations, they'll have to earn it on the boards.

Two days after losing by 17 points to the unranked Bears, Chris Boucher had 25 points and nine rebounds to lead Oregon to its 27th consecutive home victory, 76-54 over Valparaiso on Thursday night.

Boucher was coming off a 12-point, two-rebound performance against Baylor.

"His activity allowed him to him to have the 25 points," Oregon coach Dana Altman said. "He had no defensive rebounds the other night and we lost the rebounding battle by 11.

"Tonight we won it by 13, and that was the difference in the game."

Jordan Bell added 15 points and seven rebounds for the Ducks (2-1), who took control early in the second half with an 11-4 run fueled by Bell's eight points to open a 52-38 lead. Bell scored 12 points in the second half as Oregon shot 15 of 27 from the field.

"That was our goal, just to go inside," Bell said. "Against Baylor we went 3 for 21 at the 3-point line, so we just wanted to go inside."

Alec Peters led the Crusaders (3-1) with 24 points to become the school's second-leading career scorer. Tevonn Walker added 12 points.

Valparaiso shot just 23.3 percent in the second half as Peters was its only starter to make more than half of his attempts. The Crusaders finished 4 of 21 from 3-point range.

"I think it's pretty evident that we are not shooting the ball very well," Valparaiso coach Matt Lottich said, "and to beat a team like Oregon you're going to have to hit shots from the outside."

Backup freshman point guard Payton Pritchard had nine points and five assists for the Ducks, who led by as many as 25 points in the second half.

Oregon had a 40-27 rebounding edge and blocked six shots.

Altman said his team's size and rebounding ability should be what sets the Ducks apart.

"If you're not beating people on the boards, you're not taking advantage of your athleticism," he said. "Our goal should be a plus-eight or -nine on those boards for the season, and if we do that, it'll be really positive for our team."

The Ducks played again without preseason All-America Dillon Brooks, who continues to recover from offseason foot surgery. Altman was noncommittal about the junior forward's availability for the Maui Jim Maui Invitational when Oregon opens play Monday against Georgetown.

"I don't know if he'll play in Maui," Altman said, "and if he does, it won't be very much."

BIG PICTURE

Valparaiso: Coming off a 30-win season and deep run in the NIT, the Crusaders were held 28 points below their season average while shooting just 32.1 percent from the field against the Ducks.

Oregon: The Ducks likely will slip in Monday's poll off their 66-49 loss at Baylor, but they may regain Brooks' services while in Hawaii.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Despite Thursday night's win, Oregon's best-ever No. 4 ranking likely will take a hit after its 66-49 road loss to unranked Baylor on Tuesday.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Boucher, who has scored in all 38 games he's played at Oregon, had 18 points by halftime and missed his career high by one.

HIGHLIGHT REEL

Though not known for his ball-handling, the 6-foot-10 Boucher flashed some nifty moves when he picked off a cross-court pass, dodged a Crusader at mid-court, dipped inside another off the dribble and smoothly threw down a one-handed dunk in the first half to cap a 9-0 run.

UP NEXT

Valparaiso plays Alabama on Monday in Las Vegas at the four-team MGM Grand Main Event. The Crusaders will face either BYU or Saint Louis on Wednesday before heading home.

Oregon heads to Hawaii to play Georgetown on Monday in the first round of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational. The Ducks will face either No. 9 Wisconsin or Tennessee on Tuesday.

[EddieCabot]

It was not even close and Chris Boucher made Vashil look like a freshman.
We are not ready for prime time and, actually. We msy be more ready next season.

I think blaming Vashil is silly.

[VU2014]

My thoughts on the Oregon Game:

The Key Stats:
- Valpo FG%: 32.1% (18-56) Oregon FG%: 48.2% (27-56)
-Valpo 3PT: 19.0% (4-21)      Oregon 3PT: 33.3% (7-21)
-Valpo REB   : 27                      Oregon REB: 40
-Valpo ONLY had 5 assists the whole Game!
-Are only true center on the roster had a combined 21 minutes. Sorolla 17min. Smits 4 min.

-Give Oregon credit. They are a very good team.

-To beat a team liken Oregon we were going need to shoot the ball at a respectable clip. Alec is one of the best pure shooters in the country, who is in a really bad shooting slump. He's still finding a way to be an impact player.

-Offenses don't respect our backcourt outside shot other then Alec. Micah's a good outside shot but its hard to rely on heavy minutes from freshman.

-We are badly missing Vashil's rim protection and rebounding ability. I don't blame Lottich for not playing Sorolla/Smits heavy minutes because they are just so young and inexperienced and you don't want to just throw them to the wolves if they aren't ready for the moment.

[bbtds]

Holy crap, Oregon is not the second coming, no matter the pronouncements of the press.

Holy carp! Valpo sure made Oregon look like the second coming last night.   

[justducky]

I think blaming Vashil is silly.

Well we need a fall guy and if we can't blame Vashil then we might start blaming you. You only seem to show up when things are going badly so obviously you must be a jinx!

I don't blame Lottich for not playing Sorolla/Smits heavy minutes because they are just so young and inexperienced and you don't want to just throw them to the wolves if they aren't ready for the moment.

Confidence is much more important for a freshman guard than a freshman big. Vashil as a sophomore was usually fouled out after 16 minutes of play but he learned fast and was HL defensive player of the year as a junior. So put these guys on the floor and let them make their mistakes. We have almost zero chance of at-large or sub 13 seed NCAA inclusion unless Sorolla/Smits can quickly be turned into MEN.

[VU2014]

So put these guys on the floor and let them make their mistakes. We have almost zero chance of at-large or sub 13 seed NCAA inclusion unless Sorolla/Smits can quickly be turned into MEN.

I understand what you mean but the coaching staff knows these guys better then we do. I agree that we are going to need Sorolla and Smits to step up if we want to have successful season because just relying on Jubril is not a successful formula. These guys do need to get up to speed on the rebounding and protecting the paint. I don't think we should expect them to be vashil, but just to get to that competent level of play where they will make those freshman mistakes but Coach Lottich trusts them to play in key moments down the stretch.

I think being a 13 seed and outright bid should not be what we are realistically looking forward to with this team this year. We won't be as bad as we've showed last night but we are going to have to fight for wins and see some of these guys step up. This roster has talent on it but we are going to need the rebounding/rim protection to step up and to get out of this shooting rut.

I'm still fairly positive about this season but we need guys the guys to step up and start knocking down shots.

[SanityLost17]

This team is not as good as last years team.  But they COULD just as good as the team from 2 years ago, and that team almost won an NCAA Tournament game.   So, no need to panic, yet. 

However, there is a lot of work to do and this team is going to take the entire season to become as good as that team was. 

So, the coaching staff needs to asses our weaknesses and get players in the game that need the minutes to help us improve in those areas throughout the season.  We need some post scoring and defense, so starting getting those guys in.   May lose a few games early, but in turn we will win some later.     I don't think this is going to be a great 3 point shooting team because outside of Peters, nobody has ever shown consistency in that area.  Flashes, yes, but no consistency.  Will we be hot some games, absolutely!  But we can't build a team solely around the 3 point shot, unless that person is Peters.     

[bbtds]

Nobody saw this struggle in shooting percentage at the beginning of the year but there were predictive signs of struggling.

26-8 but we win the HL tournament because we are the team that takes out the #1 seed in the HL championship game. Then we surprise a #3 seed in the first round of the Big Dance by being the team that we all thought we would be at the beginning of the year. We then lose an O.T. game to a very tough #6 seed.

[valporun]

In terms of Sorolla and Smits, they'll improve, but we have to remember, we had 4 games over 7 days. We opened on Friday, played the next night, had Sunday for practice, played Monday, then practice and travel on Tuesday/Wednesday (depending on NCAA required day off), then played Thursday. Where was there time to focus any thought into what J or Derrick have thought about their minutes of play so far? What was their thought process on what things they needed to do, wanted to do, need to pay attention in practice to get ready for the next game? In previous years, we didn't play this many games in the first week of the season. They'll grow, they'll improve, they'll show what we hope they'll be. Right now, they need to get their feet underneath them in the college game, and get an idea of the pace of the game. Too many of you need to step away from the ledge, and realize that Sorolla and Smits are getting a grasp of what the college game is by being on the court, instead of watching tape or games on tv. They'll be fine, the Crusaders will be fine. We'll take our lumps, we'll improve our defaults, and we'll grow to winning games that we're supposed to win, and we'll win the stats categories that we're supposed to win. Right now, just be patient with our youth in the paint, and our shooting issues. Things will come to us. We're just playing a few too many tough, physical games right away. We'll get there, and I'll take my lumps, bruises, and BS from those of you who want to throw me over the ledge for not panicking because we're missing the shots we usually make, we're not 4-0, we didn't blow out the Trolls by 400, or that we've not looked like the dominant team that we will be in February. Just like Michigan St., we're a tested team, and we'll hit our stride by the time January and February are here, and we'll be fine.

[VULB#62]

I share your prognosis. However, I would have been happier with a lot more playing time for both J and Smitts in the Trinity game and maybe Coppin State. Though you allude to it, the fatigue factor definitely plays a key role. Tired legs consistently throws shooting off and Alec has been logging tons of minutes. Later in the season that will not be a factor as he will have built up his stamina. But the other players have to also improve their %age.

Could it be a confidence thing?  These guys are still finding their team identity. In the meantime there has got to be a question in their minds as to who they are and will be. I believe that in the next couple of games they will find that point and things will come together.

[valpo64]

New season, new lineup, TWO new big men that are young, new Coach and system.......patience, everyone, patience.

[justducky]

New season, new lineup, TWO new big men that are young, new Coach and system.......patience, everyone, patience.

Agree. After some reflection I think my patience with the team is sufficient but Matt is as wet behind the ears as some of the kids and deserves the same approach.