Game #5 - Mon Nov 21, Alabama at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas 11pm CT

[hailcrusaders]

Valpo takes a 34-31 lead into the break. A lot of turnovers, 10 for Bama, and we got 20 points off of those turnovers, and we couldn't keep the paint closed. Bama got a lot of their points in the paint, instead of extended or from the perimeter. Have a lot of work ahead of us in the second half, if we're going to keep the Tide down stem the Tide.

[a3uge]

The hack on the alley oop isn't called, but they get Peters twice in a row when the guy lowers his shoulder. Some brutal officiating going on.

[VUOR63]

A win is a win.  I'll take it.

[jloose128]

Nice game. Never really got behind, great games by Alec and Jubril. That's a Power 5 victory!

[VU2014]

Good team win! Not perfect but a much better game. Shot the ball better. The Zone Defense was good tonight. Great game from AP, Jubril and all the guys. Great positive step forward in the maturation of this team.

Seems like we have a 7-8 man rotation in the early going. Coach Lottich seems to trust Sorolla for about 15-20min.

Here comes the BYU rematch!

[FieldGoodie05]

Solid solid win.  Funny to see the "Vashil effect" from the other side.  We couldn't slash with bama's big man camping.  Last week our shooting % combined with no cutting ability would have sunk us.  Good progression.

Good defensive effort for VU.  Hope our guard play improves against BYU which should have better guard play than tonight.

P.S.  Looking forward to HL play where we might be able to get Derrick some good playing time for his development.  We need him...

[a3uge]

Alec Peters was cold blooded. Guy just ices games.

[valporun]

It was definitely a nice win. We put in the effort, and had good energy. The biggest thing I wish we could have had was 3-6 of the missed threes have a little more behind them to go in the net, rather than clank off the front of the rim, but it seems like our threes that miss on the short end just never have a chance to bounce off the rim and spin towards the net or the backboard to get in the net. We seem to clank them off the front end of the rim, and they deaden before being rebounded by the opponent. Otherwise, good win, just need to get shots really falling against a very physical BYU squad. We'll need Jubril to control his foul situations, and have Sorolla play big. I'd love to Smits breakout in a big way on Wednesday, but it has to be in his mindset to do it. It won't just happen to happen, but he has to set himself in a way to make it happen. Going to be a tough game, and Luke was saying it will be a tough game because of the older, veteran club that BYU has with a couple guys back after Mormon mission service. Good luck to our guys, and get some rest and good film and book study in on this year's BYU squad, between what we remember from MSG to what the Cougars showed against Saint Louis tonight.

[hailcrusaders]

Can't complain too much about a win over a Power 5 team, but I'll try:

I know they had the size advantage on us, but it sure seemed to me like we gave them a TON of second looks.

Alabama had a few possessions where they snuck one of their big guys down to the baseline behind our 2-3 zone and fed him for an easy bucket. If it happens once I get it, but they had three or four baskets that way.

Almost looked like we tried taking the air out of the ball too early and it nearly cost us.

I shudder to think what would happen if we played them in football.

Otherwise, great to see us grind out a close one. I don't see this team blowing out as many opponents as last year, so we'll need to win games like these for a successful season.

[bbtds]

I'd say that the best Marx Brothers' movie that tells the tale of this game was At the Circus because you really didn't know which act coming out was going to fail or succeed. I'm not sure which team was shooting poorer from beyond the arc but both were pretty brutal. I'm glad it was this three ring act from Alabama that the Crusaders were playing tonight/this morning because I don't know of many SEC teams that could have been worse. I'd really have to say our shooting percentage numbers aren't much better since the beginning of the year against Hillsdale and in general are pretty poor. Our game will have to really improve greatly Wednesday night or we will get totally embarrassed by a BYU team looking for revenge from their NIT loss last season in Madison Square Garden. That was a sweet victory in Manhattan last March but we are no where near the team that we were during March Madness even in the crucial free throw last few minutes section of the game.

I think we can go away with a thought of Love Happy but it may truly be a case of A Night at the Opera where the fat lady sings on Valpo against revenge of the Cougars. Where Valpo wished they had mormon who could shoot better. 

[FieldGoodie05]

Must have missed it....why'd Bradford get such limited minutes?  Hurt?

[valpotx]

Lexus and Max are playing better, so they are getting the PG minutes.  With Tevonn back and other options at SG, Micah is going to have to do something special in limited minutes in order to get more time, or Lexus/Max are going to have to play worse.

I enjoyed this victory not only because it is a Valpo win over a Power 5 team, who was also in the NIT last year, but because there is some d-bag at my son's daycare that always says 'Roll Tide' when he picks up his kid.  It has every kid in that room saying the same stupid thing, including my own on occasion.  I hate Alabama soooooo much .

[78crusader]

After 5 games it is clear that Smits is not ready to play at this level.

Paul

[wh]

I enjoyed this victory not only because it is a Valpo win over a Power 5 team, who was also in the NIT last year, but because there is some d-bag at my son's daycare that always says 'Roll Tide' when he picks up his kid.  It has every kid in that room saying the same stupid thing, including my own on occasion.  I hate Alabama soooooo much .

LOL

[oklahomamick]

Lack of post play and bench production is a huge drag on this team.  Needs to improve before conference play.....

This team is no where near last years team.  Makes me appreciate even more how special they were.  However, this group got a win against a P5 team.  I remember a good Rowdy team couldn't beat a very poor P5 Nebraska team years ago.

[valpo4life]

Can't complain too much about a win over a Power 5 team, but I'll try:

I know they had the size advantage on us, but it sure seemed to me like we gave them a TON of second looks.

Alabama had a few possessions where they snuck one of their big guys down to the baseline behind our 2-3 zone and fed him for an easy bucket. If it happens once I get it, but they had three or four baskets that way.

They had 13 offensive rebounds, which is a lot, but we had 8 of our own. So we didn't get burned as bad as it seemed in that department with second chance points being a 7-7 tie.

As far as the easy buckets, gotta expect a couple of those to happen each game when playing zone. Especially with how active how wings are. You don't want that to happen, but I will accept it for the overall defense we played. Also on this topic, I kept wondering how long Alabama was going to keep trying to ball screen their way through the zone before they figured out it wasn't going to work but they just continued to do it over and over. It's useless at the top of the key where the guards can just pass the dribbler off to one another. Whatever, I'm glad we made them stagnant and our first win that feels like it's worth something of the season. On to BYU.

[vu72]

Nice win!  Definition of a tough night: 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, in 2 minutes of play.   

[valpo84]

I think we all need to relax and understand this is not a schedule for developing young players.  This is a schedule to help showcase AP and to build a resume for post-season.  We are trying to maximize the veterans on this team.  Our early season games are designed to try to win games against mid-100 type opponents before conference season destroys our RPI.  There will be some games in December to help develop Micah and Derrick but the goal is to win 2 out 3 of these west coast games.  Oregon we played for about 30 minutes but we have been exposed as not a good 3-point shooting team and we have some weakness on the interior. Vashil is not back there to clean up messes.  Sorolla has shown some signs and Derrick is more rusty than expected at this stage.  Max has been greatly improved and Lexus is playing very good D, just needs to stay out of foul trouble.  But we miss a true 3-pt shooter other than AP.  BYU will be a good test game.  We need some confident 3 shooting and really need Tevon to be a dependable 3d option.  Plus, Shane needs to be aggressive against bigger programs when going to the hoop.  Seems to shy away from the contact instead of generating the contact when playing the Bamas  and Oregons of the world, but dominating against Thunderbirds and lesser birds of prey.  We need him to have 16-18 tonight/tomorrow here in the ET.

[a3uge]

The first step to ending the stigma against mid majors is for fans of mid majors themselves to stop pretending that beating power conference teams (while favored, and covering spread) is somehow more meaningful than beating other better callibar mid major teams.

[bbtds]

Lack of post play and bench production is a huge drag on this team.  Needs to improve before conference play.....

This team is no where near last years team.  Makes me appreciate even more how special they were.  However, this group got a win against a P5 team.  I remember a good Rowdy team couldn't beat a very poor P5 Nebraska team years ago.

As you will remember there is a huge difference playing at the P5's place in Lincoln or playing at a neutral court in Las Vegas.

I do not think we win this morning's game in Tuscaloooooosa.

[oklahomamick]

Both on the road.....There were about the same amount of fans in the stands.  Probably more distractions in Vegas when compared to Lincoln. 

[talksalot]

If you want to watch the replay ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdfNhq-imTE

[vu84v2]

The first step to ending the stigma against mid majors is for fans of mid majors themselves to stop pretending that beating power conference teams (while favored, and covering spread) is somehow more meaningful than beating other better callibar mid major teams.

Beating BYU would be a much more meaningful win than beating Alabama, since BYU is a much better team.

[agibson]

The first step to ending the stigma against mid majors is for fans of mid majors themselves to stop pretending that beating power conference teams (while favored, and covering spread) is somehow more meaningful than beating other better callibar mid major teams.

Seemed to me that Alabama, even as a middling SEC team, was playing with a different caliber of athlete than you normally see on mid-major teams. Watching their big guys show off their athleticism in the first half did make it seem special when our zone stymied them in the second half.

It'll be even better to beat a ranked team someday, mid-major or not. But, I'll still celebrate a win against a top-100 team. With a little special zest if they're from a "big" conference.

Gives you some confidence that we can play in a post-season setting, even if we're of course not looking to find the likes of Alabama. Maybe some kind of freak second or third round NCAA game?

But, gives me some hope that size and athleticism alone aren't going to intimidate us.

BYU will be very interesting - looks like a really tough test.

[oklahomamick]

I think we would all agree that beating Rhode Island would be better than beating Alabama or BYU