Game #22- Northern Kentucky Sunday January 29 1:30pm ARC

[VUSL98]

About the game and our opponent: I get the feeling this NKU team may be a spoiler in the HL tourney.   They really like to shoot the 3 and fought back from big deficits in both halfs.

[hailcrusaders]

Some opportunity for improvement lies with the team itself.  We can't forget how small of a school we are.  Boots on the ground can help...I remember Kikas Gomez being all over campus when we were there.  Playing in volleyball games outside Brant Hall etc. Any thoughts on being a bigger part of the student life?  Can coach and his kids move around the dorms introducing themselves. I open myself up to criticism here, but a community feel has to be mutual in that students are involved with the players and coaches.  Maybe we consider bon fires and more social webbing. Are the basketball players in their own housing?  All us athletes were in Alumni 2nd and 4th floors...a lot of intermixing.

At another mid-major school I have attended, players and coaches would roam the student Union handing out tickets to the games. Tickets were free for students anyway, but they found it a worthwhile effort just to increase awareness. That said, it's a much bigger school and basketball is not the flagship sport.

Bryce Drew used to stop by the Union during active meal times to intermingle with students and talk up upcoming games, didn't he? Perhaps that's something Lottich, Peters, and co. can continue to do?

[justducky]

I get the feeling this NKU team may be a spoiler in the HL tourney.   They really like to shoot the 3 and fought back from big deficits in both halfs.

They played smart defense. They boxed out and went to the glass. They took away our drives. They made reversing the ball difficult. They packed it in and still got out to our shooters! Had they shot just a little bit better we could be lamenting a defeat. Next year this is one of the teams we may be chasing.

Just noticed that Cole Murray is from Delphi. Did it look like NKU drew much of a fan base?

[VUBBFan]

A few years ago there were Videos being made by Audio Visual students that seemed to get the students excited about the sports programs. I remember seeing Bobby C. doing Christmas Carols, Rowdy in gangum style parody, Harlem Shake and other skits that got people going and enthused about sports and the campus. Somewhere that creativity and excitement left. It seems the void created has been filled with indifference and a lack of passion. The school needs someone with some artistic talent to bring back that energetic feeling.

[vu72]

So we win, and win ugly, but still win.  Alec's worst shooting game of the year and others step up. 

Was glad to see Micah hit some shots and play a solid game. That left Lexus as the odd man out with Max continuing to play well.  .I wonder what will happen next year when you bring in a very talented Bacari Evelyn, but will worry about that next year.

Derrik continues to play incredibly soft with 1 point and 1 rebound in 12 minutes.  Lots of work to do.

First place baby!!  GO VALPO!!  Oh, and one more thing: CONGRATS TO ALEC for breaking the career free throw record of Ed Eckart which was held more a mere 53 YEARS!!! 

[EddieCabot]

So we win, and win ugly, but still win.  Alec's worst shooting game of the year and others step up. 

Was glad to see Micah hit some shots and play a solid game. That left Lexus as the odd man out with Max continuing to play well.  .I wonder what will happen next year when you bring in a very talented Bacari Evelyn, but will worry about that next year.

Derrik continues to play incredibly soft with 1 point and 1 rebound in 12 minutes.  Lots of work to do.

First place baby!!  GO VALPO!!  Oh, and one more thing: CONGRATS TO ALEC for breaking the career free throw record of Ed Eckart which was held more a mere 53 YEARS!!! 

I think you determined a few weeks back that Bradford would transfer.  I hope not, because he's been playing well lately.

[usc4valpo]

Walker's stats may not show it, but he was definitely the Budweiser player of the game

[crusadermoe]

We have seen the student attendance get progressively worse over 10 years.  Contrast the school spirit with Dayton or Butler sometime.  It's not close! 

Maybe greek life is picking up, and maybe that will draw more of the "team player" students who used to come out strong in the 90s and early 00s. They could  balance out the musicians, poets, philosophers, internationals, and 24-hour video gamers we see at VU now. The pile of excuses will only grow when we get to mid-terms and fortunately we go on the road then.  During this time without mid-terms, some will cite conflicts with Groundhog Day plans, extensive President's Day preparations, violin recitals, poetry readings, and "stare at your smartphone" nights. 

Forget the fieldhouse since the crowds, especially students, just don't warrant it.  If the students don't get pumped up to watch a future NBA player, they won't be showing up next year either. What a shame. Sorry to rant, but I agree with the other folks.

[usc4valpo]

If attendance is dropping because of the Greek system, then this school has a problem

[valpopal]

Frankly, I'm also tired of all the lame excuses for lack of student support. In years past the team would eagerly rush into the student section to be swarmed and celebrate a victory together at the close of the game. Now, it seems the team sometimes looks toward the empty student section with embarrassment at the end of a game.

[wh]

While we're on the subject, even the band looks like it's going through the motions. Bands in the past really got into it with swaying motions, etc. while they played. Now they just sit there like statues. And, it's a smaller group than I've seen in the past. There was one full timeout today where neither the band played nor was any piped in music playing for the entire timeout. The only noise was 3000 people chatting. Embarrassing. It used to be that anytime we got on a run that forced the opposing coach to call a timeout, the entire crowd would jump to its feet, music would blare, and everyone would clap in unison for the duration of the song.  Now when we jump up and start to applaud, half the time it's cut off by a lame Family Express commercial or a lame announcement. That was always To be expected for scheduled media timeouts, but not for optional team timeouts. There's just way too much rigid, atmosphere-killing structure built into the script these days.

The bottom line is the entire ARC game atmosphere this season is a mere shadow of its former self. The whole presentation just seems flat, scripted and tired.

[agibson]

half the time it's cut off by a lame Family Express commercial

Those audio ads are lame indeed. Hopefully they're being reconsidered. Annoying, and take time from the pep band or perhaps other worthwhile activities.

[M]

It all starts with that terrible (especially compared to years past which were excellent) hype video.

[agibson]

It all starts with that terrible (especially compared to years past which were excellent) hype video.

Was the video under new authorship? With the previous guy having moved on to Notre Dame.

[oklahomamick]

Again have to admit Bradford played well tonight.  He's really starting to contribute and be more consistent.  at the beginning of the year he was a huge liability.

[wh]

From the game recap:

The win moves Valpo's record to 18-4 through 22 games for the third consecutive year. Prior to the 2014-15 season, the Crusaders had not won at least 18 of their first 22 games since the 1944-45 campaign.

[NativeCheesehead]

ARC atmosphere has been very down this year. This topic alone should give us plenty of fodder for the off season. My company just added a guy who has about 20 years game management exp on the college level. We've talked a few times in the past  week. I invited him to a game and think we'll be able to swing it for one of the next two. It will be interesting to see Valpo game day through the eyes of someone who's never been to one. WH would like this guy. He told me "Don't ask my opinion on this unless you want an honest answer." So we'll see.

Game overall was meh. Offense needs a little work against that trapping 1-3-1. But if not for a couple of quick stretches of 3s NKU is never in this game. 

[FWalum]

While we are on the subject of production values for the ARC experience, lets talk about the ESPN3 feed.  This year they have had all kinds of problems with the Audio portion of the broadcast. Low mic levels, uneven mic levels, no audio, and not exclusive to yesterday but yesterday was perhaps the worst, static making it distracting and annoying to listen to the feed.  Has anyone else experienced this or is it just me?  Made the broadcast sound very amateurish.

[valpolaw]

I noticed the static on the ESPN 3 video yesterday.  I guess I can live with that so long as the audio and video are working. 

[VU2014]

Yep the ESPN3 audio has been rough this season. There was one time that there was no audio for a good 5-10min of game play. I think that was on the road that game.

NativeCheesehead, its always good to hear honest opinions with a fresh set of eyes. Let us know what he thinks.

[Valpower]

While we are on the subject of production values for the ARC experience, lets talk about the ESPN3 feed.  This year they have had all kinds of problems with the Audio portion of the broadcast. Low mic levels, uneven mic levels, no audio, and not exclusive to yesterday but yesterday was perhaps the worst, static making it distracting and annoying to listen to the feed.  Has anyone else experienced this or is it just me?  Made the broadcast sound very amateurish.

Is this a problem of the broadcast doing double duty as radio and video feed?  Audio levels have never been consistent and the quality has always left something to be desired, though I'll say that the amateur feel for me relates more to the fact that we've got radio-style play-by-play for a video broadcast.

[oklahomamick]

No one is talking about Davidson's reaction/celebration to the Hammick Hammer.  It's the best one yet. 

[valpo84]

Smits has got the I'm 7' and anytime I move my arms I get a foul thing going right now.  Picks up too many silly, irrelevant fouls.  He needed to be in there against the 1-3-1 because he can hit the 10-12'er from the baseline (the best place to attack the 1-3-1 btw) or make the pass over the top of a collapse.  Can't do that when you're on the bench with 2 early fouls and then more in 2d half.  I would really also like to see Derrick play angrier,  He's too nice right now.  Not mean, just more intensity, own the paint.  Jay is doing a much better job of keeping arms high, straight and not moving to affect shots and to rebound.  We are suffering from our height in conference because no one can match it and they are still freshmen who need to learn how to play big without fouling.  let us all remember how long it took Kikas and Vashil to learn this. There has been much improvement out of the center position since the holidays.  I'll continue to say though, Jay has a soft touch inside 8' and needs to speed up the delivery of the shot, and not dribble once, but a consistent left and right hook and learning a drop step like AP's, and he will be unstoppable inside.    And Derrick can shoot when confident, also with soft touch and they both make FTs!

[a3uge]

I've always felt the audio from Ickow and Co came through distorted. I've been hearing complaints about the audio quality since we were still on the HL network. Are they using really old microphones or something?

It's really frustrating listening to the game on TuneIn sometimes because I'll have to crank up the volume and then quickly remember to turn it down before a commercial starts blaring. Also when Todd gets loud, the audio gets super distorted.

[a3uge]

Smits has got the I'm 7' and anytime I move my arms I get a foul thing going right now.  Picks up too many silly, irrelevant fouls.  He needed to be in there against the 1-3-1 because he can hit the 10-12'er from the baseline (the best place to attack the 1-3-1 btw) or make the pass over the top of a collapse.  Can't do that when you're on the bench with 2 early fouls and then more in 2d half.  I would really also like to see Derrick play angrier,  He's too nice right now.  Not mean, just more intensity, own the paint.  Jay is doing a much better job of keeping arms high, straight and not moving to affect shots and to rebound.  We are suffering from our height in conference because no one can match it and they are still freshmen who need to learn how to play big without fouling.  let us all remember how long it took Kikas and Vashil to learn this. There has been much improvement out of the center position since the holidays.  I'll continue to say though, Jay has a soft touch inside 8' and needs to speed up the delivery of the shot, and not dribble once, but a consistent left and right hook and learning a drop step like AP's, and he will be unstoppable inside.    And Derrick can shoot when confident, also with soft touch and they both make FTs!

Smits stat line the past three games combined:

39MP - 5pts - 2R - 2A - 1S - 4B - 9PF

I don't really understand how someone that tall can only have 2 rebounds in 39 minutes. It's remarkable that he still has a higher usage % than Sorrola, inside and outside of conference.

It seems like the reason his usage is higher is because Smits has a much higher free throw rate. Smits has 18 free throws vs 36 fga in conference while Sorolla has 9 FTA to 55 fga. The difference? Sorolla hasn't missed a free throw in conference. Derrik is 8-18.

There's probably some recency bias going on, but this past homestand, Sorrola has been active:

14-22, 32pts, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks.

While Smits hasn't:

5-12, 11pts, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 blocks.

And if you were watching football like me, you didn't see Smits shoot 10 times and grab 6 boards.