Game #15 - Oakland Friday Jan 6, 8pm (CT) ESPN2 @ the ARC

[justducky]

We clearly are not in the same league athleticly with Oakland. 

We were out defended, out shot, out hustled and out coached. Even with Jubril we likely would have lost. Unless Oakland goes back to their Kay Felder play and mentality, they should remain the HL team to beat.

[valpotx]

Btw, the announcers were praising the defense of Dorsey-Walker on one particular play against Peters, and that was a foul before he even attempted to strip it.  The guy had his fingertips in Alec's chest, clear as day on the replay they showed, which according to the foul call initiatives in the last few years, you cannot do anymore.  You are no longer allowed to use your arms in that manner, like you were able to do several years back.  I hate how they call that type of stuff in non-conference, and as soon as conference season begins, it magically goes away.

[Pgmado]

I'm curious to get some thoughts here that don't really correspond to the game itself. I thought the "in-arena" music tonight was the worst I've heard in a long time. There was some sort of Hawaiian night promotion which seemingly came out of the blue. I saw one person in the stands wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Was the music picked to represent some sort of island theme? I heard more Beach Boys than I was used to.

Regardless, here is my question...should the music be catered to the older chairback fans or to the younger student fans? I thought Kentucky's gameday atmosphere was outstanding as they had an in-house DJ that was spinning music. The vibe was upbeat from the moment I entered Rupp. I know the ARC isn't Rupp, nor does it pretend to be, but there was absolutely no energy in the building tonight. The music was flat. The only thing to ever look forward to music wise is if Valpo goes on a run and Timber gets played for 10 seconds before we get an ad for a muffin.

I'm not quite old enough to be complaining about the music being too loud and to be yelling at kids to get off my lawn. Stop playing music from the 50's, 60's and 70's at games. It's old, it's tired and it drains the energy. Create a strong gameday atmosphere that doesn't revolve around Dion and the Belmonts.

[NativeCheesehead]

Good point. I thought the music was awful. A key point was when OU took a timeout right before the 12 min media, which apparently then turned into the 12 min media. So crowd on its feet, clapping along with Timber, then we cut the music for bounce the ball into the garbage can, then into music for the theme. Theme nights scream desperation to me. You want to give away a tshirt? Fine. Let's make it a brown and gold shirt with a big valpo logo that people can wear into the community. This blue garbage I got last night will go in the drawer next to the never worn 90s night monstrosity from last year.

[M]

Music was bad, like it is most games.

Crowd wanted something to cheer for but anytime Valpo got it close Oakland hit a 3 or Shane turned it over in spectacular fashion or Alec turned it over.....

[valpopal]

Funny, as we were putting our coats on to go out into the near-zero temperatures at the end of the game, a fan commented: "The music was the only redeeming quality on an otherwise miserable evening," and others around agreed. It was nice to go one game without hearing "Handclap," "I Love It," and the other usual offerings. However, I will agree there was a flatness that I never felt before at a conference game, especially against Oakland—partly because the seemingly lackluster play on the court by Valpo, acknowledged by Lottich after the game, set the tone. However, as one of my friends noted during the game, there's a lot less necessity in winning than there used to be. So much more used to be at stake in every conference game played. Winning or losing the game now seems to matter little. Even winning the conference season doesn't mean much: the tournament won't be coming to Valpo but will be in Detroit, basically a home court advantage for Oakland. At a recent postgame news conference, Shane Hammink almost revealed a similar feeling among the players when he was asked about the most important lesson from last year's conference play, and he said: "Don't lose in the conference tournament." On the other hand, I will agree last night's giveaway shirts were not the kind anyone will proudly wear in the future.   

[VU2014]

My thoughts on the games last night:
-Give them credit. They were the better team last night and outplayed us.
-They looked very athletic which bothered us on the 2nd chance rebounds. They fought for those critical rebounds for second chance point. We looked some what complacent on the boards. (we actually out-rebounded them 39-35)
-I'm actually very please with Derrik and Jay's offensive game development but they definitely look like freshman defending the paint. Great learning experience for them.
-They forced turnovers and we were too loose with ball security. They're transition game was fantastic last night.
-Field Goal %: Oakland 47.% to 36.2%. You'll lose almost every time with that differential. We didn't knock down shots.

Overall these losses are not all bad. Taking one off the chin like this will help us later in the season. 

[VU2624]

I'm curious to get some thoughts here that don't really correspond to the game itself. I thought the "in-arena" music tonight was the worst I've heard in a long time. There was some sort of Hawaiian night promotion which seemingly came out of the blue. I saw one person in the stands wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Was the music picked to represent some sort of island theme? I heard more Beach Boys than I was used to. Regardless, here is my question...should the music be catered to the older chairback fans or to the younger student fans? I thought Kentucky's gameday atmosphere was outstanding as they had an in-house DJ that was spinning music. The vibe was upbeat from the moment I entered Rupp. I know the ARC isn't Rupp, nor does it pretend to be, but there was absolutely no energy in the building tonight. The music was flat. The only thing to ever look forward to music wise is if Valpo goes on a run and Timber gets played for 10 seconds before we get an ad for a muffin. I'm not quite old enough to be complaining about the music being too loud and to be yelling at kids to get off my lawn. Stop playing music from the 50's, 60's and 70's at games. It's old, it's tired and it drains the energy. Create a strong gameday atmosphere that doesn't revolve around Dion and the Belmonts.

It was billed as Hawaiian Beach Night.

[M]

I agree with almost everything above save one thing. I thought Sorolla dominated the paint in the second half on defense. He seemed to block nearly every attempt his guy took down there.  Can't wait to see what he develops into as he learns to block shots from the help side.

[bbtds]

I agree with almost everything above save one thing. I thought Sorolla dominated the paint in the second half on defense. He seemed to block nearly every attempt his guy took down there.  Can't wait to see what he develops into as he learns to block shots from the help side.

Sorolla made a few freshman mistakes but he played very well the second half. When it was time to equal up on the three point shots when the Crusaders were down by more than 10 (a possible Tarrance Price-full moment) they threw the ball away trying to get lay-ups and should have started putting up threes. Joseph hit one but didn't attempt another. Why?

Also, I'll show my age here, I kind of liked the difference in the music. It was probably incongruent with the other forms of music and maybe a few better transition music pieces could have been chosen.

[Valpo89]

I hate the muffin commercials for Family Express. Good point PGMADO.
As I mentioned earlier, atmosphere was awful which was surprising for a very good non-student crowd.
Never felt like a Valpo-Oakland game, and maybe that has as much to do with Oakland's play as anything else.
But the whole night was lame. Other than Sorolla's coming-out party, an awful Friday night.

[VU2014]

Postgame Press Conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6jjQuisong

[Just Sayin]

I'm curious to get some thoughts here that don't really correspond to the game itself. I thought the "in-arena" music tonight was the worst I've heard in a long time. There was some sort of Hawaiian night promotion which seemingly came out of the blue. I saw one person in the stands wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Was the music picked to represent some sort of island theme? I heard more Beach Boys than I was used to.

Regardless, here is my question...should the music be catered to the older chairback fans or to the younger student fans? I thought Kentucky's gameday atmosphere was outstanding as they had an in-house DJ that was spinning music. The vibe was upbeat from the moment I entered Rupp. I know the ARC isn't Rupp, nor does it pretend to be, but there was absolutely no energy in the building tonight. The music was flat. The only thing to ever look forward to music wise is if Valpo goes on a run and Timber gets played for 10 seconds before we get an ad for a muffin.

I'm not quite old enough to be complaining about the music being too loud and to be yelling at kids to get off my lawn. Stop playing music from the 50's, 60's and 70's at games. It's old, it's tired and it drains the energy. Create a strong gameday atmosphere that doesn't revolve around Dion and the Belmonts.

If they start playing rap music, the place will be empty. Just Sayin'

[Just Sayin]

I'm curious to get some thoughts here that don't really correspond to the game itself. I thought the "in-arena" music tonight was the worst I've heard in a long time. There was some sort of Hawaiian night promotion which seemingly came out of the blue. I saw one person in the stands wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Was the music picked to represent some sort of island theme? I heard more Beach Boys than I was used to. Regardless, here is my question...should the music be catered to the older chairback fans or to the younger student fans? I thought Kentucky's gameday atmosphere was outstanding as they had an in-house DJ that was spinning music. The vibe was upbeat from the moment I entered Rupp. I know the ARC isn't Rupp, nor does it pretend to be, but there was absolutely no energy in the building tonight. The music was flat. The only thing to ever look forward to music wise is if Valpo goes on a run and Timber gets played for 10 seconds before we get an ad for a muffin. I'm not quite old enough to be complaining about the music being too loud and to be yelling at kids to get off my lawn. Stop playing music from the 50's, 60's and 70's at games. It's old, it's tired and it drains the energy. Create a strong gameday atmosphere that doesn't revolve around Dion and the Belmonts.

It was billed as Hawaiian Beach Night.

Sometimes life's a beach!

[M]

I wonder if reporters get tired of asking the same questions and getting the same responses at these post game press conferences?

[crusadermoe]

I watched the game.  I'm not a good observer of the game.  Matt L. said he won't play people who take possessions off or don't get back on defense, but I'm not sure who might be at risk.  Maybe SH?  Was Tevonn neutralized because there were so many similar athletes? 

Unfortunately, we aren't as deep as Oakland.  And with 2 slow-footed (though improving) freshmen, we especially lack enough guys to keep up with their 10-deep quickness.  That will be a huge problem in a tournament game if we fall behind and are not able to slow the game to our pace.   

[VUfan]

This team played like a tired team , especially Alec. that is a major Coaching problem going forward.   

[M]

I thought they looked more distracted then anything. We will see tomorrow if they're refocused.

[valporun]

Other than hoping for a Valpo win last night, the matchup had NOTHING to look forward too. It was like going to a Valpo-Oakland game in say 2001 or 2002, right, valpotx or pgmado? I mean I was excited to watch the game, but nothing about this game really made me too excited like previous matchups with a Kay Felder or Keith Benson-type shooter who could take the game in his own hands. Even Alec was unimpressive to me...

I don't know about the music, but it probably beat playing the same songs from both Ozzie and the pep band, since the band has been off for a couple of weeks now. I would guess the music was a last minute response to the Hawaiian theme night that might have been thrown in to bring some excitement to a game that would have mostly local fans in, instead of a mix of locals and Valpo students. Watching online, it seemed the crowd was dead, not only because Valpo didn't really play well, but also because the local student crowd that came on free tickets didn't bring ANY energy as they had NO connection to this team like they would VHS or one of the surrounding high schools they cheer their heads off for weekly. This was just an overall bad night of basketball for the Crusaders team and the Valpo community as a whole just felt ho-hum about a big game, when they come with ZERO energy.

[wh]

The outcome of this season continues to hinge on the outcome of the Jubril situation. It has already cost us 2 wins that we'll never get back, a possible future Top 25 ranking, and a higher NCAA tournament seed than we have any possibility for now. Moreover, Oakland now is clearly in the driver's seat for the regular season and conference championships and the League's auto bid. There is still an opportunity to salvage the season, but unless Jubril returns we have very little chance IMO.

Lastly, the lack of information about Jubril's penalty is nothing short of bizarre. I understand the need for confidentiality, but no one can tell me that announcing the number of games he has been suspended violates anyone's privacy rights. Or, are we expected to believe the penalty still hasn't been decided after all this time. That's absurd. Or if it hasn't, it's becoming a scandalous miscarriage of justice. Either way, why aren't Paul, Todd and Michael asking the AD and coaching staff ON the record, "Is there any update you can share with us about the Jubril suspension?"  Or simply, "Can you say at this point whether a final decision has been rendered?"  Enough time has passed that ML or Matt should offer up something - anything.

[historyman]

I think first and foremost the energy in the game comes from the team. If they can't bring the energy and don't take care of the ball against a team that has finally decided to play defense against a normally superior offensive team then maybe those players should NOT START. THAT would send a real message. Walking the walk and not just talking the talk, coach!!


Has the program reached a zenith and will it fall to the mediocrity that many on here predicted after the Drews' departure? Or will it rise up and show us that they are the superior program in the Horizon League? I throw down the challenge!!

[humbleopinion]

One thing that the loss accomplished -- it was the first time this year that there was both a story and a picture on the front page of the Times sports section.  Perhaps a win will merit such publicity some day.

[M]

That's bizarre knowing all the big hs games that happened that night. Luckily only like 7-8 people get the newspaper anymore.

[NativeCheesehead]

Agree with wh, I don't think it's a problem for the university to answer a simple yes or no to the question, "Is Jubril unquestionably done for the year?" But this was discussed last year in that the local media don't really care about this team. In the post we get substandard reporting (the article about the Skara issue that tried to blame Vu a great example.) In the Times we get an outstanding reporter who, as it was pointed out to me last year, also happens to teach at the university. So it doesn't seem like we're going to get anything on this until the university wants us to. I'll reserve full judgement on this until if/when all the details come out. But there's something very hypocritical when Valpo says, "We'd like you to support the team, buy tickets, merch, etc. But we're going to hold back key information that may influence your enjoyment of the product." If he's done just say that. If there's a chance he comes back, just say that. That one question can be answered yes or no, without violating anyone's privacy. This has been hanging over the team and fans for too long.

[wh]

Jubril in street clothes again. There goes someone's theory that he might be reinstated at the beginning of the 2nd semester. The mystery continues...