Game #23- Wisconsin Milwaukee Thursday February 2 7pm Panther Arena

FieldGoodie05 · February 02, 2017, 07:50:44 PM

Some really early shot clock possessions on offense. Need to move off the ball, posting up Alec is difficult with a two man shade.

Good defense with a few mental lapses.

Cant remember the last time we didn't make the Bonus in a half with Alec on the team.

hailcrusaders · February 02, 2017, 07:53:09 PM

ESPN3 announcer suggested we go 2-for-1 with 38 seconds left... that'd be a little late wouldn't it? Go the length of the court to put up a decent shot would take 5 seconds at least, and UWM would milk the shotclock on their end, we'd have to go the length of the court again with less than 10 seconds left. Instead, we miss our shot out of the TO and give them 25 seconds to work with.

Joseph and Bradford have had nice drives/shots, and played well except for Bradford fouling a 3 point shooter. Sorolla is in fact playing. Peters has had better halves but we've been bailed out by the rims being unkind to UWM.

We mocked it in another thread, but the UWM student section is as big as I can remember it for a Valpo game. Usually, they only come out for games against Green Bay or Madison.

hailcrusaders · February 02, 2017, 07:55:55 PM

Quote from: VU2014 on February 02, 2017, 07:46:56 PMSo Jay is playing? I just tune in for the last 5 min of the 1st half. So I guess Coach is going to suspend him for a different couple games, possibly?

He checked into the game fairly early, so he is playing. I don't believe there have been any official announcements about a suspension (where have we heard that before?). We only know of the infraction from the newspaper and are guessing a two game suspension based on similar offenses a few years ago.

rink · February 02, 2017, 07:57:46 PM

Reporting from row 2. IMO, the guys look really lethargic. On the court and off. Low energy, worn out seeming.

FieldGoodie05 · February 02, 2017, 08:03:35 PM

Quote from: rink on February 02, 2017, 07:57:46 PM
Reporting from row 2. IMO, the guys look really lethargic. On the court and off. Low energy, worn out seeming.

Well put. How is the VU contingent? Good showing from fans?

VU2014 · February 02, 2017, 08:06:26 PM

Good effort and energy coming out of the 2nd half

VULB#62 · February 02, 2017, 08:07:43 PM

From sec 322, i really miss having Vashil protect everything in the paint.

Pep band has about 25 and a adult conductor. Good student turn out

Tevon just was immense under the basket

wh · February 02, 2017, 08:13:29 PM

Quote from: VULB#62 on February 02, 2017, 08:07:43 PM
From sec 322, i really miss having Vashil protect everything in the paint.

Pep band has about 25 and a adult conductor. Good student turn out

Tevon just was immense under the basket

Wish I was there. Enjoy!

VU2014 · February 02, 2017, 08:24:01 PM

QuoteFrom sec 322, i really miss having Vashil protect everything in the paint.

I miss Vashil's rim protection too. Vashil had that freakish wing span that really forced players attacking the rim to have to alter their shot.

From the freshman big guys so far what I've seen is they sort just hold their ground and stand straight up with their arms because their afraid of getting called for the foul. Which is a bit understandable because freshman big men 8 out 10 times will get call for the foul by the ref in those situations but sometimes. They've both had some good moments so far, especially offensively.

I just can't wait till both add on some muscle and learn position their bodies better defensively and also learning to more consistently box out for rebounds. Also as they get more experienced they will both get the benefit of the whistle from the refs.

hailcrusaders · February 02, 2017, 08:57:43 PM

Bradford played his best game all year, and as a result, we saw very little of Williams.

I think Milwaukee really plays as Wichmann does. He can be a matchup problem when he hits his shots, but he was off for most of tonight.

HUGE matchup at the Wretch Saturday. Phoenix narrowly held off UIC this evening.

NativeCheesehead · February 02, 2017, 11:02:30 PM

Was torn on the J thing. Read this. Now i say, if some copied papers and a little beer is the worst we've got.....drink up!
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/18609289/lagerald-vick-josh-jackson-kansas-jayhawks-eyed-vandalism-case

vu72 · February 03, 2017, 09:03:43 AM

I thought we played well, when you win by 18, shoot 47% from 3 and don't exceed the team goal of 12 or less turnovers, what else can you say!

A couple of thoughts: First, Bradford REALLY looks like he figured it out and as a result Lexus' minutes are going down and maybe way down. Second, we will miss J a bunch when he has to sit. Again last night he was significantly better than Derrick who has now scored 2 or less in the last four games coupled with 1 rebound or less over that time period. That is the definition of soft--really soft. J, on the other hand is averaging 8 and 4 over the same time period.

a3uge · February 03, 2017, 09:09:24 AM

Quote from: vu72 on February 03, 2017, 09:03:43 AM
I thought we played well, when you win by 18, shoot 47% from 3 and don't exceed the team goal of 12 or less turnovers, what else can you say!

A couple of thoughts: First, Bradford REALLY looks like he figured it out and as a result Lexus' minutes are going down and maybe way down. Second, we will miss J a bunch when he has to sit. Again last night he was significantly better than Derrick who has now scored 2 or less in the last four games coupled with 1 rebound or less over that time period. That is the definition of soft--really soft. J, on the other hand is averaging 8 and 4 over the same time period.

I only watch part of the game, but Kudos to Lottich for sticking with Bradford all year. This will hopefully pay off come conference tournament time.

talksalot · February 03, 2017, 09:34:48 AM

Here are the UWM-Edited Highlights...

http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/#.WJShOFMrJEY

VULB#62 · February 03, 2017, 09:54:59 AM

Quote from: vu72 on February 03, 2017, 09:03:43 AM
I thought we played well, when you win by 18, shoot 47% from 3 and don't exceed the team goal of 12 or less turnovers, what else can you say!

A couple of thoughts: First, Bradford REALLY looks like he figured it out and as a result Lexus' minutes are going down and maybe way down. Second, we will miss J a bunch when he has to sit. Again last night he was significantly better than Derrick who has now scored 2 or less in the last four games coupled with 1 rebound or less over that time period. That is the definition of soft--really soft. J, on the other hand is averaging 8 and 4 over the same time period.

Quote from: VU2014 on February 02, 2017, 08:24:01 PM
QuoteFrom sec 322, i really miss having Vashil protect everything in the paint.

I miss Vashil's rim protection too. Vashil had that freakish wing span that really forced players attacking the rim to have to alter their shot.

From the freshman big guys so far what I've seen is they sort just hold their ground and stand straight up with their arms because their afraid of getting called for the foul. Which is a bit understandable because freshman big men 8 out 10 times will get call for the foul by the ref in those situations but sometimes. They've both had some good moments so far, especially offensively.

I just can't wait till both add on some muscle and learn position their bodies better defensively and also learning to more consistently box out for rebounds. Also as they get more experienced they will both get the benefit of the whistle from the refs.

Don't get me wrong _ see some real potential in these kids. But, yes, they are freshmen, and, yes, there is much room (and time) for improvement; however, being in the arena and focusing on both of them for extended periods of time last night, I noted that Jay is the more aggressive on both ends, and Derrik, at times looked lost or reacted much too slowly to obviously developing (to me at least) patterns coming at him. For both, I wondered why, when smaller players drove to the hoop why they stayed flat-footed with arms straight up. At times even that got called a foul. Hey, if you are going to be called for a foul anyway, why not work on being a rim protector? Near the basket, leap and swat at the ball as the driver goes by -- force shot changes, make things difficult inside of 8 feet. Last night at times, 6-2, 6-3 guards were just putting up layups inside despite a 7-2 guy standing there with his arms up.

wh · February 03, 2017, 10:41:00 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNsN4OC9OKY

VU2014 · February 03, 2017, 10:55:06 AM

Some high praise and a lot of respect from coach Jordan. Jordan is a good coach and he's going to build that program up again. I thought the Horizon League teams have made some really good coaching hires in Linc Darner (GB), LaVall Jordan (UWM) and Bacari Alexander (Detroit) the last few years. And McClain can recruit so there is that. And of course Coach Lottich seems to be a very good hire stepping in for Bryce.

VUSL98 · February 03, 2017, 11:11:49 AM

On the bright side, Derrick did exhibit a nice touch with that shot from 12'. He and J are showing more offensive skills than Vashil ever did.

talksalot · February 03, 2017, 11:34:48 AM

I was going to make a comment that our bigs have some wiggle room in their offensive improvement...but I won't.

vu84v2 · February 03, 2017, 11:41:25 AM

Quote from: a3uge on February 03, 2017, 09:09:24 AM
Quote from: vu72 on February 03, 2017, 09:03:43 AM
I thought we played well, when you win by 18, shoot 47% from 3 and don't exceed the team goal of 12 or less turnovers, what else can you say!

A couple of thoughts: First, Bradford REALLY looks like he figured it out and as a result Lexus' minutes are going down and maybe way down. Second, we will miss J a bunch when he has to sit. Again last night he was significantly better than Derrick who has now scored 2 or less in the last four games coupled with 1 rebound or less over that time period. That is the definition of soft--really soft. J, on the other hand is averaging 8 and 4 over the same time period.
I only watch part of the game, but Kudos to Lottich for sticking with Bradford all year. This will hopefully pay off come conference tournament time.

I was also at the game last night. Kudos to my friend, who is a Milwaukee professor, for buying us center court seats six rows off the floor.

Without repeating some of the other comments, here are a few of my own:
-Talked with chef before the game. Always a class act that represents Valpo very well.
-I agree that J is ahead of Smits. A few posters have criticized the internal defense, but I see real progress in J. There were several cases where a Milwaukee guard drove with their man on them and J adjusted behind the defending guard to prevent a shot. This is what Vashil learned to do really well.
-Bradford is getting better, but is still a work in progress. He shot well, but made several bad decisions in the first half. In the second half, he seemed generally more solid with the ball - but struggled when Milwaukee pressed with about 6 minutes left. I couldn't figure out why Milwaukee didn't try pressing earlier - though Valpo did adjust nicely after about three poor possessions.
-Peters coming off of a screen to hit a deep three is beautiful.
-Milwaukee had a good environment given that they are a developing program. They had a lot of students, though this was partly because of free transportation and free food.
-Milwaukee had a promotion that I have never seen. If, in the second half, an opposing player misses both free throws when he has two attempts, everyone gets something (I think it was Chick Filet). This lead to some pretty funny moments in the last several minutes with Peters, Bradford and J shooting free throws (neither missed both). I think that Bradford and J got a real kick out of it.
-Milwaukee's student section, at one point, started an F___ Valpo chant. I have seen this "F____ ____" chant at a few other schools recently too. There is nothing creative or original about this...it is just rude and doesn't make your school or student section look very good.

talksalot · February 03, 2017, 11:51:31 AM

Quote from: vu84v2 on February 03, 2017, 11:41:25 AMMilwaukee had a promotion that I have never seen. If, in the second half, an opposing player misses both free throws when he has two attempts, everyone gets something (I think it was Chick Filet). This lead to some pretty funny moments in the last several minutes with Peters, Bradford and J shooting free throws (neither missed both). I think that Bradford and J got a real kick out of it.

At Rupp they put that announcement on the video board as the player steps to the line (no announcement other than that)... at Rupp, its a free taco at taco bell ... of course, with 24,000 people there, that's a nice incentive!

bbtds · February 13, 2017, 07:53:16 AM

Quote from: vu84v2 on February 03, 2017, 11:41:25 AM-Milwaukee had a promotion that I have never seen. If, in the second half, an opposing player misses both free throws when he has two attempts, everyone gets something (I think it was Chick Filet). This lead to some pretty funny moments in the last several minutes with Peters, Bradford and J shooting free throws (neither missed both). I think that Bradford and J got a real kick out of it.

What was truly amusing is that after Alec, Micah and J all made their second free throws the Valpo fan section signaled to the Milwaukee student section with a crossing of the arms and yelled "No Chicken!" It was a huge tease that 3 Valpo players gave the Milwaukee fans a chance at free Chick-Fil-A but all 3 crushed their hopes.