MBB 2017-18

[VU2014]

It looks like the guys got the day off today and Micah went home for the day and is still in the gym.
https://twitter.com/barrybradford3/status/937439886218612736

[VU2014]

Dang, Coach Lottich did 2 sports radio interviews and I missed them. I wish the Valpo Basketball twitter account could give us the heads up when he's going to be doing radio broadcasts.
https://twitter.com/BigSportsShow/status/937869610468208641
https://twitter.com/BigSportsShow/status/937812378527391744
https://twitter.com/WJOB12301047/status/937837197537013760

[VU2014]

It looks the Valley Offices uploaded the Coach Lottich interview.
https://twitter.com/ValleyHoops/status/937892999480176640

https://soundcloud.com/user-423077123/the-valley-show?utm_content=buffer0e2f4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/938261763191123968
https://twitter.com/CoachZimba/status/938263249925132293
https://twitter.com/ValparaiZone/status/938258936800694272

[VU2014]

The Valley was so underrated coming into the season. Big win tonight from Loyola.

[4throwfan]

Speaking of win by Loyola,

Here's a nice story on the MVC from the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/jeff-gordon/tipsheet-mvc-flexes-its-mid-major-muscle/article_394be194-c8a7-55f0-aba2-cf17021ae2f9.html


So maybe there is life after Wichita State after all for the Missouri Valley Conference.

In its first since the Shockers bolted for the American Athletic Conference, the MVC still features impressive depth. That was evident again Wednesday when Loyola-Chicago won at No. 5 Florida 65-59, scoring still another impressive non-conference victory for the St. Louis-based league this season.

As ESPN noted, the Ramblers had lost 29 of their last 31 games against Associated Press-ranked teams. Their last victory over Top team came Dec. 22, 1984 over No. 4 Illinois.

The Ramblers (9-1) were also playing without star point guard Ben Richardson, who is sidelined with a broken hand. But Porter Moser, a former SLU assistant coach, has built a team strong enough to overcome that loss.

The program is off to it's best season start since the 1965-66 season.

"It's huge for us," Moser said. "We're just trying to turn the culture of the program. It's huge for us because of Florida's program. They've been to Final Fours. They were in the Elite Eight last year. They're fifth in the country.

"I'm not going to undersell the importance. It was a really good win for us and I'm really proud of our guys. ... Obviously, when you win a game like this, it's a good spotlight on you. But you want that spotlight to burn even more inside as we prepare and get better as the season goes on."

This victory proved Loyola is ready to take a run at the MVC title. Missouri State and Northern Iowa also look ready to bid for the title, newcomer Valparaiso is 8-0 heading into its game at No. 21 Purdue and SIU Carbondale could factor in the race if key forward Thik Bol returns from his knee injury.

The Salukis took a good run at the good Billikens Wednesday night but faded after center Kavion Pippen fouled out.

Here are some other key, ratings-building victories for the MVC this season:

Indiana State 90, Indiana 69 at Bloomington in the debut of new Hoosiers coach Archie Miller.
Drake 77, Wake Forest 74 in the relocated Paradise Jam. The Bulldogs knocked down 15 three-point shots against their ACC opponent.
Illinois State 69, South Carolina 65 in relocated Puerto Rico tipoff. Former Billiken Milik Yarbrough scored 18 against the SEC's Gamecocks.
Illinois State 85, Tulsa 68, also in the Puerto Rico tipoff. Keshawn Evans scored 29 points against Frank Haith's Golden Hurricane.
Northern Iowa 61, SMU 58 in the Battle 4 Atlantic tourney in the Bahamas.
Northern Iowa 64, North Carolina State 60 in the second round of the Battle 4 Atlantis. The Wolfpack upset No. 2 Arizona to reach this game.
Northern Iowa 77, UNLV 68 in overtime at home. The Runnin' Rebels were 6-0 coming into the game, with a lopsided victory over Utah -- which hammered Mizzou earlier this season.
Evansville 59, Fresno State 57 in the Cancun Challenge in Mexico. That was a notable upset of a high-scoring that is 7-1 otherwise this season.
SIU Carbondale 81, Winthrop 66 on the road. The Salukis beat a traditional mid-major powerhouse shorthanded, playing without both Bol and guard Marcus Bartley.
At last check, the MVC ranked seventh in conference Ratings Percentage Index, behind only the Power 5 conferences and the Big East.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/941355960068648960
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9DGZq4N0dQ

[bbtds]

Micah and Mileek working on day off.

https://twitter.com/barrybradford3/status/941841395593109504

[historyman]

Derrik Smits and impractical joker Joe Gatto




Derrik Smits‏ [/size]@SmitsDerrik[/size][/color]Follow[size=1px !important]Follow @SmitsDerrik[/size][/font][/b][/color][/size]
[size=1px !important]More[/size][/font]
[/size]I walked up and said "excuse me can I get a picture with you, I'm a huge fan" his response "literally" #ImpracticalJokers[/size]






9:30 AM - 16 Dec 2017

[VU2014]

A great article on John Kiser.
https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/942559794556293120

Man in the mask: Broken nose doesn't slow Valparaiso's John Kiser
Michael Osipoff
Post-Tribune
December 17, 2017

John Kiser described the surgery he underwent to repair his twice-broken nose.

"They stick a glorified butter knife up there and pop it back," Valparaiso's 6-foot-5 sophomore guard/forward said. "I was knocked out, fortunately."

Kiser broke his nose the first time on the first day of practice, defending senior guard Max Joseph.

"I was a little too close and Max got me with his forearm across my face," Kiser said.

Kiser got his nose repaired a week later, restricted to noncontact participation for two weeks. Two days into the process, a ball struck him in the face during a shooting drill and broke his nose again, requiring another operation.

............ http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-mens-basketball-valparaiso-john-kiser-st-1218-20171217-story.html

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/BBCHSAthletics/status/944305309325168641

[valpotx]

Micah is a good kid that puts work in.  I truly hope that he rights his season starting tomorrow.

[oklahomamick]

well said TX, I often get frustrated with Micah's performance.  At the end of the day, he represents Valpo well and is a great kid. 

[VU2014]

Pretty cool to see the play being replicated.
https://twitter.com/Valpo_Hoops/status/947184399023509509

[valpotx]

Geez, they took the longer version

[VULB#62]

Oz on Marty Linssen --Click on the Trib link for the full story.

[tweet]948354781151748096[/tweet]

[valpolaw]

I'm a numbers guy and think numbers always tell a lot. I checked the stats through last nights game on the Valpo basketball website and a few things jump out at me as mentioned below with some thoughts. Feel free to berate me. I know many will disagree with some things but the way the season is going something has to change and these are my thoughts.

1. The team as a whole should improve on free throws about 10 percent or so. We currently shoot 69%. Micah, Marty, and Max are generally the lowest percentage free throw shooters of those getting decent minutes. Micah at 48%, Marty at 55%, and Max at 59%. That extra 10% can make a difference in close games

2. Our three point shooting is bad, real bad, and last in the mvc per the announcers at Bradley last night. Micah has taken the most and is 17 of 62 for 27%. Max hasn't taken as many but he is 4 of 19 for 21%. Tevonn is 20 for 65 for 30%.

3. Our two 7 footers need a lot of work. Others have mentioned it but I wish they played with some passion/grit. They just seem to be out there going through the motions. From the fouls, missed layups that should be dunks, lack of rebounding, etc. It is really hurting the team. A 7 footer should be dominating in rebounds but that's not the case. For example, John Kiser averages 16.9 mins and has 50 total rebounds while Jay averages 16.2 mins with 49 total rebounds and Derrik averages 15.9 mins with 60 total rebounds and has played in two more games than Jay and Kiser. Max and Markus are leading the team in rebounding with 71 and 63 respectively.

4. We are really struggling at the 4 and desperately need production there. That is the biggest hole in the stat sheet. Parker is essentially non-existent on the stat sheet. I'm not sure what's going on there. Do you think he will stick around for 3 more years? He's probably a good kid but we need production.

5.  The excuse that the team is young and needs experience is getting real old and I personally think it's a lame excuse to make up for getting an @** beating. 

6. If I were coach, which I know I'm not, I'd cut some minutes from Micah and spread them around to the others until Micah started producing at a productive clip. I'd also give some of Jay and Derriks minutes to Marty until it put a fire under Jay and Derrik to start playing like men.

[vu72]

I'm a numbers guy and think numbers always tell a lot. I checked the stats through last nights game on the Valpo basketball website and a few things jump out at me as mentioned below with some thoughts. Feel free to berate me. I know many will disagree with some things but the way the season is going something has to change and these are my thoughts.

1. The team as a whole should improve on free throws about 10 percent or so. We currently shoot 69%. Micah, Marty, and Max are generally the lowest percentage free throw shooters of those getting decent minutes. Micah at 48%, Marty at 55%, and Max at 59%. That extra 10% can make a difference in close games

2. Our three point shooting is bad, real bad, and last in the mvc per the announcers at Bradley last night. Micah has taken the most and is 17 of 62 for 27%. Max hasn't taken as many but he is 4 of 19 for 21%. Tevonn is 20 for 65 for 30%.

3. Our two 7 footers need a lot of work. Others have mentioned it but I wish they played with some passion/grit. They just seem to be out there going through the motions. From the fouls, missed layups that should be dunks, lack of rebounding, etc. It is really hurting the team. A 7 footer should be dominating in rebounds but that's not the case. For example, John Kiser averages 16.9 mins and has 50 total rebounds while Jay averages 16.2 mins with 49 total rebounds and Derrik averages 15.9 mins with 60 total rebounds and has played in two more games than Jay and Kiser. Max and Markus are leading the team in rebounding with 71 and 63 respectively.

4. We are really struggling at the 4 and desperately need production there. That is the biggest hole in the stat sheet. Parker is essentially non-existent on the stat sheet. I'm not sure what's going on there. Do you think he will stick around for 3 more years? He's probably a good kid but we need production.

5.  The excuse that the team is young and needs experience is getting real old and I personally think it's a lame excuse to make up for getting an @** beating. 

6. If I were coach, which I know I'm not, I'd cut some minutes from Micah and spread them around to the others until Micah started producing at a productive clip. I'd also give some of Jay and Derriks minutes to Marty until it put a fire under Jay and Derrik to start playing like men.

Well said. Totally agree.  When I checked the box score from last night the thing that jumps out is how we were killed on the boards, like 45-30.  That is not Valpo basketball.  Micah is WAY off and you just can't have a guard shooting 48% from the line.  I also agree that Marty should be getting more minutes.  Matt has consistently said he needs more production at the 4 and that is why McMillan is getting the start.  Looked better last night, still a LONG way to go.

[valpotx]

Micah's shot selection has always been an issue, but he is barely getting rim on most of his shots now.  He needs to sit a few games to gather himself.  He is shooting worse than Jay Harris did while at Valpo.

[VU2014]

Micah's shot selection has always been an issue, but he is barely getting rim on most of his shots now.  He needs to sit a few games to gather himself.  He is shooting worse than Jay Harris did while at Valpo.

We can't afford to sit him though. We're forced into playing him with no Joe and Kiser. Plus he's one of the only players that can "theoretically" fill it up and shoot the 3 ball well, even though the only games he's proven he can do that is against Non-D1 competition...

The strange thing is I was hearing a little buzz on how good Micah looked this preseason. I know coaches are never going to talk down players but wow what a disappointment he has been. I think Valpo's primary PG target was Marcus Ottey who signed with UIC instead of us and then we landed Micah instead. The ceiling is so much higher with Ottey. Ottey isn't a great shooter but who is more athletic and quick then Buggs. His mistake choosing UIC over us, imo.

I actually thought Micah did a few nice things in the Bradley game. He was finding open guys but his shooting/shot selection/free throw shooting is truly pitiful. And he is suppose to be a scorer. Watching him air ball 3s and suck at the free throw line is maddening. He needs to start shooting the ball better.

[VU2014]

I'm going with UNI.
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/949388134361350144

[VU2014]

I wouldn't mind Valpo getting more media coverage state-wide. Tweet at them that you want them to cover Valpo Basketball!
https://twitter.com/IndyCoverage/status/949463932489564160

[valpotx]

Overall, I would say Drake.  They are the only team that we will play in all sports.  Since this is a basketball-specific question, I would say Evansville.

[FieldGoodie05]

These are some interesting numbers based on published rosters in the league (not necessarily starters or most minutes played).

MVC Standings (1/6/2018)

Upperclassmen (Senior & Juniors)
1. Missouri State (63%)
2. Drake (62%)
3. Bradley (54%)
4. Southern Ill (83%)
5. Illinois State (43%)
6. Indiana State (36%)
7. Loyola (53%)
8. Evansville (58%)
9. Valpo (23%)
10. UNI (41%)

It would be interesting to see starters minutes and the corresponding rankings.  Also, number of years in the program.  But I am not yet that bored to research that much.  Possibly as the season deepens and so does my seasonal affective disorder . . .

But I would expect that a list including number of years in the program would be even MORE telling as to our inconsistency and offensive ineptitude.

[VU2014]

Does our 23% include Joe Burton?