Game #6 - BYU Wed 11/23 MGM Grand Main Event, Las Vegas 11PM CT

[VULB#62]

On to BYU for the championship.  Up early and thought it good to start this right away for Wednesday Night.

[M]

I will go with a 76-73 Valpo victory!

[Kyle321n]

Well we'll be playing on Thanksgiving Day, so that's something!

Right now KenPom has us losing 79-74 (32% chance of winning) as they are the #43 team in the country.

They have a 6'10" kid, Eric Mika, who is returning from something, as he hasn't played since 2014 but is still listed at a sophomore. He's averaging nearly 21 points a game and 11 rebounds. Against Princeton, their best opponent this season, he had 9 OFFENSIVE rebounds. He's an all inside player, but he's also a good FT shooter, so Hack-A-Mika won't work to slow him down. He's also pretty good on the defensive side of the ball too.

Their guard Nick Emery returns from last year's game. He's still a bit of a slashing guard, if you remember from last year, we did a good job on him inside the 3 point line. He's only hitting 27.3% of his threes this season, but he went 3 for 6 in the semifinal last year. A 1-7 game against Princeton is bringing him down.

Against St. Louis, senior forward Kyle Davis has a career game. I trust Alec to shut him down again as he did a good job in the semi-finals, holding him to 5 points.

Keeping them off the offensive boards will be the key to this game. They shoot well, but they also do well getting Oboards. Also winning the free throw "battle" will go a long way to winning this game.

If we sweep Vegas, we could be looking at two potential top 50 RPI wins at the end of the season. This one will be tougher. We've not seen their best player, but the 3 guys who are his sidekicks (and it really looks like they are mostly his sidekicks) have been seen and handled by Valpo.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/sbncollege/status/801079886009942017

"The Men Who Speak Up Main Event field has had mid-major fans craving for the potential BYU-Valparaiso final since before the season began. Luck was on their side in Las Vegas late Monday night as both BYU and Valparaiso took care of business to set up that match.

It was relatively smooth sailing for the Cougars, as BYU put away Saint Louis by a final of 92-62. The Billikens kept things close in the first half but were worn out by BYU's dominant forwards Kyle Davis and Eric Mika. Davis led all Cougars in scoring with 22 points on 10 of 13 shooting from the floor. Mika chipped in 20 points of his own with 10 rebounds for a double-double and threw in three blocks for good measure. It was that dominant interior presence that lifted the Cougars to the win on a night where they struggled from distance, shooting just 3 of 13 from three point range. BYU is now 4-0 to start the year.

Valparaiso was met with much heavier resistance. The Crusaders battled Alabama from start to finish with the largest lead by either team only reaching 10. Valparaiso finally began to show signs of shaking off their team-wide three point shooting slump, hitting on 7 of 18 attempts from long distance. Turnovers hurt the Crusaders and allowed Alabama to stay in the game. Two big three-point plays from Alec Peters in the final minutes helped solidify the Valparaiso win. Peters led all scorers with 24 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and was a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line. Jubril Adekoya also played a big role on offense for the Crusaders, knocking down three shots from long distance. The Crusaders improved to 4-1 on the year with the win.

This sets up a battle of titans on Wednesday night. BYU and Valparaiso are expected to be among the best teams mid-major basketball has to offer this season. A win on Wednesday could also go along way on Selection Sunday, depending on how the rest of the season shakes out. Neither team wants to end up in the NIT again, where they met in the semifinals last year."

[valpo84]

Mika likely went on a Mission Trip for 2 years, a common occurrence for BYU athletes.  They come back as a 2 year older, more world experience person.  Like a 2-year redshirt without the training though.  Guess Mika hasn't missed anything from his frosh year!

http://www.espn.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/64988/new-mission-policy-could-change-byu-recruiting



[url]http://byucougars.com/m-basketball/dastrup-haws-and-mika-play-cougars-2016-17]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865596950/Eric-Mika-TJ-Haws-receive-mission-calls.html?pg=all[url]

[url]http://byucougars.com/m-basketball/dastrup-haws-and-mika-play-cougars-2016-17

[VU2014]

Lets not overreact it was a good win but I haven't seen anything that would suggest that Alabama is going to be anything close to a top-50 RPI team. SEC is not very good.

Agreed. I thought we looked better overall but I also think Alabama isn't a great team. BYU is going to be a much tougher match up.

[Kyle321n]

Lets not overreact it was a good win but I haven't seen anything that would suggest that Alabama is going to be anything close to a top-50 RPI team. SEC is not very good.

Agreed. I thought we looked better overall but I also think Alabama isn't a great team. BYU is going to be a much tougher match up.

I probably should have said top 100. Either way, in the long run, it will be in the top 5 of our wins this season.

[agibson]

Mika likely went on a Mission Trip for 2 years, a common occurrence for BYU athletes.

Anybody know how it works for eligibility? Normally it's "five years to play four", right?

Luke, on the post game, mentioned one of their players who took his mission before his first year, so was roughly a 21 year old freshman.

[vu84v2]

Mika likely went on a Mission Trip for 2 years, a common occurrence for BYU athletes.

Anybody know how it works for eligibility? Normally it's "five years to play four", right?

Luke, on the post game, mentioned one of their players who took his mission before his first year, so was roughly a 21 year old freshman.

I know that BYU's players have the ability to not count up to two years on a mission against the 'five years to play four rule'. However, this rule applies to any Mormon at any school - my daughter has a friend that is Mormon and plays for Harvard and he got the same exemption with a two year mission. My guess is that the religious exemption applies beyond Mormons, but I am not exactly sure how the exemption is defined.

It normally is five years to play four unless a player is granted a medical exception and is allowed to play a sixth year. Greg Tonagel is an example of a player that received the sixth year of eligibility.

[agibson]

14.2.1.2 – Service Exceptions to the Five-Year Rule.
Time spent in the armed services, on official religious missions or with recognized foreign aid services of the U.S. government is excepted from the application of the five-year rule.

Apparently the Peace Corps works, or the Army. Maybe Lutheran Volunteer Corps.

[vu84v2]

So far this season, Valpo has played to form on wins and losses (though the performance was not solid against some weak foes). Last night was a good win against a decent team with Valpo playing good, but not exceptional. Valpo can beat BYU with an exceptional game. BYU won big over Saint Louis, but I do not believe that Saint Louis is that good of a team. However, BYU has quality size and multiple offensive options.

BYU 85
Valpo 76

[vu84v2]

14.2.1.2 – Service Exceptions to the Five-Year Rule.
Time spent in the armed services, on official religious missions or with recognized foreign aid services of the U.S. government is excepted from the application of the five-year rule.

Apparently the Peace Corps works, or the Army. Maybe Lutheran Volunteer Corps.

It is great that they allow that flexibility, but I wonder if there have ever been issues defining 'official religious missions'. Religious would certainly have some degree of ambiguity and who makes it official? If someone belonged to a church that did not have some form of national governing body and decided to take a mission, who would deem it official?

Sorry for digressing. Regardless, BYU is a big game for Valpo on Wednesday.

[agibson]

It is great that they allow that flexibility, but I wonder if there have ever been issues defining 'official religious missions'. Religious would certainly have some degree of ambiguity and who makes it official? If someone belonged to a church that did not have some form of national governing body and decided to take a mission, who would deem it official?

The IRS seems to manage to live with a similar amount of ambiguity. I suppose here the NCAA would make the determination.

Maybe not too big of a deal until AIA or smeone starts running two-year basketball-training intensive service trips/basketball camps with substantial stipends.

[valpotx]

Tough one to call.  Just like when we played St. Mary's and BYU last year, we aren't going to be blown away by their athleticism.  It will come down to how hot they are shooting-wise on both sides.

Valpo 77
BYU 72

[vu72]

Tough one to call.  Just like when we played St. Mary's and BYU last year, we aren't going to be blown away by their athleticism.  It will come down to how hot they are shooting-wise on both sides.

Valpo 77
BYU 72

Agree.  They beat Princeton by 9 at BYU.  Although Princeton is picked to win the Ivy, they play small ball for the most part and chucked up 35 3's in the game only to hit 10.  The box score would indicate some "home cookin" as BYU took 41 free throws and made 30 while Princeton was 9 of 12.  That's a 21 point advantage and were tied with 7 to go.  If we play decent defense and hit a few shots we clearly can win this one.

[valporun]

They have a 6'10" kid, Eric Mika, who is returning from something, as he hasn't played since 2014 but is still listed at a sophomore. He's averaging nearly 21 points a game and 11 rebounds. Against Princeton, their best opponent this season, he had 9 OFFENSIVE rebounds. He's an all inside player, but he's also a good FT shooter, so Hack-A-Mika won't work to slow him down. He's also pretty good on the defensive side of the ball too.

Eric Mika was on his Mormon mission from 2014-2016. Because of it being a "religious/life changing experience", Mika is considered to be on a "leave of absence", but doesn't lose any eligibility for it. This is why he's still listed as a sophomore.

[a3uge]

I only saw a little bit of the BYU/SLU game, but it didn't look like they were running as much of their 1-3-1 zone that was giving valpo fits last year. Maybe our increased pace will match up better this time. If they run that zone, Valpo has to be ready to finally make some shots.

[ValpoDad89]

I have only been to one game this year and that was Coppin State. I saw some good things but saw a lot from what we are missing from last year. It's already been said enough but 3 point shooting and Peters doing too much to make up those differences.
Skara, D Walker and most importantly Vashil and Keith Carter are gone. The first 2 we kinda replaced but the latter 2, very, very hard to do so. What we had last year was experience and even with hockey type line changes...chemistry. We don't have that yet. And I say yet. I think that will come and we will be fine but when you have a non con start like we have, you need that early on. We beat BYU tomorrow and we are ahead where I thought we'd be.
Surprised at Juame's abilities and touch near the hoop. He will be a presence and someone we are going to be happy that Valpo made their home. Smits is disappointing as I thought he'd be more of an inside presence offensively at least. His defense interior wise against Coppin State was okay but his offense game needs work, a lot of work. That is the surprising part. Micah is only a freshman and looks like he's in 8th Grade but can handle the Rock and has some really good awareness. His minutes should be limited as he is limited at this juncture but Joseph and Williams are big time pleasant surprises and Alec will be fine. Looks like he's finding himself these past 2 games. Good to see Jubril have a good if not great game yesterday. And Hammink looked like the most polished player on the court at least at the Coppin State gsme. It's hard to comment when all you're reading is the stat lines and only saw one game in person.
I like the rotations even they frustrate sometimes as they will lead to greater things down the road.
Winning tomorrow and beating Bama will help us as well. Here's to Valpo, here's to you guys and here is to one more great season with greater things to come especially with some of the recruits and transfers we have coming or have come in.

[bbtds]

On to BYU for the championship.  Up early and thought it good to start this right away for Wednesday Night Thursday morning.

Thursday morning prediction:

Valpo   59
BYU     76

[bbtds]

I only saw a little bit of the BYU/SLU game, but it didn't look like they were running as much of their 1-3-1 zone that was giving valpo fits last year. Maybe our increased pace will match up better this time. If they run that zone, Valpo has to be ready to finally make some shots.

And if you were BYU and saw what Valpo has been shooting from three what would you do?

[crusadermoe]

SLU is horrible and BYU wasn't leading by much after 3 quarters.  That win doesn't mean much.

I get to watch the team for my first time.  Hoping the poor shooting and weak inside play doesn't continue in the way you guys are describing.

Weird to see Oregon going up and down.  They got beat badly by Georgetown who in turn got crushed by Wisconsin.   

[a3uge]

Weird to see Oregon going up and down.  They got beat badly by Georgetown who in turn got crushed by Wisconsin.   

It's almost as if some teams play well one game, and then poorly in the next

[VU2014]

Announcer's just said AP has the flu tonight

[jloose128]

This is a disconcerting start. Can they miss from 3 or...

[bbtds]

Happy Thanksgiving Day everybody!

Just not in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir1doPUM5_c

yet.