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

[FieldGoodie05]

Beating our next opponent is all that matters.  Both BYU and URI are likely further along than we are this season.  So I'd take a good performance against BYU first.

[bbtds]

Did the announcer really complain about the weather being in the 60's and 70's and being "cold?"

I thought I had misheard him but I was rewatching the game and yes he did complain about the weather being "cold" in the 60's and 70's.

[atkins]

Many good points by all posters.  I never thought we would miss Vashil this much.  Jubril and Alec are all we have inside, at least until Sorolla gains strength and smoothness.  I hope Derek can develop into a starter by his senior year.  He is obviously not ready yet, and Sorolla is way ahead of him.

We do not match up very well against BYU or URI, but we can try to keep it close.  Maybe we will shoot the lights out.

I shudder to think about how badly we will be beaten by UK.  Every starter on their team is better than Alabama's top guy, and that says a lot.  I am sure UK could care less about us at this point, but their game plan should consist of pounding the ball inside constantly and getting easy dunks.  I will be impressed if we can keep the final score within 25. 

[VUOR63]

Best thing about beating Alabama?  A game on ESPN2 that I don't have to watch on my phone/computer and listen to an inexperienced commentator. 

[M]

Besides the weather comment he said our jerseys are neon yellow and Max Joseph was a top 20 player in Illinois at one point.  Now I am sick and watched the replay at 3:30 this morning after throwing up so I very could've heard him wrong.

[a3uge]

So let's just judge our wins and losses on the actual quality of the opponent we beat. Sure Alabama has size, but they aren't good at shooting and they don't move the ball well. This is why we were favored and why we won by 8. Lottich did a good job with the lineups (other than the Smits thing) and Valpo was able to switch Peters to their big guy and have him go to town at the top of the perimeter.

It shouldn't matter if they play in the SEC, MEAC, or Horizon. Beating an average team is beating an average team. Beating a good team is beating a good team.

[vusupporter]

We weren't favored, Alabama was favored. Alabama is a top-75 team in the Sagarin and the KenPom ratings, and was picked to finish in the top half of the SEC. It's not like beating a top-10 team, but they're far from average.

[vu72]

Best thing about beating Alabama?  A game on ESPN2 that I don't have to watch on my phone/computer and listen to an inexperienced commentator. 

I was hooking up my computer to my tv via a hdmi cable but found a better answer with something called Chromecast.  It is a device about the size of a siver dollar that plugs into your tv's hdmi port and cost $35 one time purchase price.  Then, whatever you can get on your phone is "cast" to the tv by pushing a button.  Bam!  HD picture with full screen.  Can't help you with the commentators!

[agibson]

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

It's really a remarkable schedule they put together this year. Only a few RPI drains in the non-conference (some complained about the Trolls; but at least they don't hurt the RPI!). And some remarkable games, home, neutral, and away. Maybe you'd have asked for something a notch better than Missouri State for a true away test, while still being winnable, but that's really splitting hairs. Really terrific (dose of luck?) scheduling.

[agibson]

Besides the weather comment he said our jerseys are neon yellow and Max Joseph was a top 20 player in Illinois at one point.  Now I am sick and watched the replay at 3:30 this morning after throwing up so I very could've heard him wrong.

The Joseph comment was there, for sure. He immediately followed it by correctly saying that he and Tevonn had played prep together. Very odd.

[mgovalpo]

So let's just judge our wins and losses on the actual quality of the opponent we beat. Sure Alabama has size, but they aren't good at shooting and they don't move the ball well. This is why we were favored and why we won by 8. Lottich did a good job with the lineups (other than the Smits thing) and Valpo was able to switch Peters to their big guy and have him go to town at the top of the perimeter.

It shouldn't matter if they play in the SEC, MEAC, or Horizon. Beating an average team is beating an average team. Beating a good team is beating a good team.

Where did you see we were favored? Every line I saw had Alabama as a 2-3 point favorite. Not saying you're wrong, just wondering where this line was. Even KenPom had Valpo as a 2-point underdog.

[agibson]

Where did you see we were favored? Every line I saw had Alabama as a 2-3 point favorite. Not saying you're wrong, just wondering where this line was. Even KenPom had Valpo as a 2-point underdog.

I know that I was confused by VUSWIM's comments in this thread - maybe I'm just not down with the gambling jive. I didn't double check at the time, figuring Valpo by 2 might be plausible since we were close in the KenPom (even if Alabama remains ahead of us there after the win). And now I can't even check the line movements - the university (sensibly, arguably?) seems to have restricted the obvious sites.

[a3uge]

We weren't favored, Alabama was favored. Alabama is a top-75 team in the Sagarin and the KenPom ratings, and was picked to finish in the top half of the SEC. It's not like beating a top-10 team, but they're far from average.

I stand corrected on being favored - I misread the lines, and I'm probably being overly harsh on Alabama by calling them average. My point is that we keep bringing up games like the Nebraska game, or the Missouri game and try to measure teams based on a handful of games. Valpo fans bracket these teams and elevate them to an undeserved tier... and then when it comes tournament time we wonder why the selection committee doesn't value mid majors.

[SanityLost17]

I think Smits is a lot better player than what he has shown so far.  He seems to have no confidence right now.   In the first couple games he had a few really good looks that were really close to going down.  Last night I thought both foul calls on him were pretty ticky-tac.  After that he couldn't even catch an easy pass, but I think that was mental.  We all know that he has better hands than that.  Those of you who have played sports know what he is going through.  Everything is going wrong and you start putting pressure on yourself and are nervous about making another mistake, and it only makes it worse.   

Hopefully after the BYU/RI/Kentucky stretch he can get some minutes and get his game/confidence back. 

[bbtds]

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 .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-shWSCtOEGI&feature=youtu.be

[valpotx]

One of the commentators also mentioned near the beginning that Peters will take his 'usual' 26 shots to get 24 points.  While that may have been the case over the first 3-4 games, he obviously did no research on his first 3 years, when he was near the top of the list in scoring efficiency each season!

[vu72]

Some have said that Alabama isn't very good and that may be true, who knows.  I was curious about their talent level and looked at the player bios.  They have guys that Valpo would only dream of recruiting. Look at this info on how they were ranked coming out of high school:

ESPN #37

#3 ranked player in Alabama

6A Player of the Year

Top 10 center in the country

#56 ranked point guard

ESPN #69

ESPN #98

Mr. Basketball in Alabama

#2 ranked player in the state.

ESPN #33

ESPN #81

And they are coached by Avery Johnson.  I think we did just fine.   

[a3uge]

Some have said that Alabama isn't very good and that may be true, who knows.  I was curious about their talent level and looked at the player bios.  They have guys that Valpo would only dream of recruiting. Look at this info on how they were ranked coming out of high school:

ESPN #37

#3 ranked player in Alabama

6A Player of the Year

Top 10 center in the country

#56 ranked point guard

ESPN #69

ESPN #98

Mr. Basketball in Alabama

#2 ranked player in the state.

ESPN #33

ESPN #81

And they are coached by Avery Johnson.  I think we did just fine.   

That's amazing. And none of those guys were able to score more than 10 points against a team whose highest ESPN recruit was 3 stars (and played 2 minutes). Goes to show how important player development and experience is.

[wh]

Some have said that Alabama isn't very good and that may be true, who knows.  I was curious about their talent level and looked at the player bios.  They have guys that Valpo would only dream of recruiting. Look at this info on how they were ranked coming out of high school:

ESPN #37

#3 ranked player in Alabama

6A Player of the Year

Top 10 center in the country

#56 ranked point guard

ESPN #69

ESPN #98

Mr. Basketball in Alabama

#2 ranked player in the state.

ESPN #33

ESPN #81

And they are coached by Avery Johnson.  I think we did just fine.   

Interesting and informative. 

[valpotx]

I wanted to mention that same thing, as I believe that they have 3 players from the prestigious Oak Hill Academy??

[StlVUFan]

I was amazed at how bad Alabama looked Wednesday Night against SLU.  It seemed like they didn't really start caring about winning until the final minutes, they did stay with SLU throughout, but I thought SLU outplayed them (except on the scoreboard).  The coach was frantically gesturing at guys who were not where they were supposed to be all game long.

As for our game, the MGM grand announcer was horrible (though the 2 guys doing the game on ESPN 2 were not all that great either).