Game #0 - EXH - Robert Morris (Chicago) Thursday 11/2/17 7pm ARC

[talksalot]

I guess it's time to start talking about reality...  the only Exhibition game coming up against the Eagles.  They actually start on 11/1 in Peoria against Mr. Wardle and Bradley...

Here is the RMU stuff... but the question for the board... NAME THE STARTERS.

Last Year:
Conf.  Pct. Overall   Pct   Streak   Home   Away   Neutral
18-2   .900     27-7   .794   Lost 1   17-1    10-2    0-4

Their Roster:  (Not showing any Freshmen ... this is 1/2 of the number of players on last year's team)  They graduated their top 4 scorers (62ppg out of 91)

Othyus Jeffers - Head Coach - 1st season

Othyus Jeffers (born August 5, 1985) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Jeffers played college basketball with the University of Illinois at Chicago for two years, before transferring to Robert Morris University for his senior season. He then started his professional career with the Iowa Energy of the NBA D-League, a minor league basketball organization owned and run by the NBA. He has had stints with three prior NBA teams: the Utah Jazz, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Washington Wizards. He has also spent a short stint in Italy with NGC Cantù.

#   Name   Cl.   Pos.   Ht.   Wt.   Hometown   Previous School
2   Omarr Gilbert   JR   G   5-9       Chicago, Ill.   Lyons Township HS   5.8ppg, started 5 games
10   Greg Carter   SR   G   5-10       Berwyn, Ill.   Morton HS/Triton College  5.6ppg started 4 games
11   Dallis Flowers   SO   G   6-3       Oak Park, Ill.   Oak Park HS   6.8ppg  started 8 games
20   Dorian McCraney   JR   G   5-10       Homewood, Ill.   Homewood-Flossmoor HS  .4 ppg  no starts
22   Kyle Ward   SR   G   6-2       Joliet, Ill.   Lockport HS/Moraine Valley C.C.  6.5ppg  16 starts
23   Blake McElroy   JR   G   5-11       Richton Park, Ill.   Rich South HS/Rock Valley C.C.   3.4 ppg no starts
32   Drew Hardville   SR   G   6-0       Racine, Wis.   Horlick HS/McHenry C.C.  1.7ppg no starts
33   Brian Young   SO   F   6-6       Chicago, Ill.   Juarez HS   4.6 ppg no starts
42   Kyle Longfield   JR   F   6-5       Worth, Ill.   Shepard HS  .4 ppg no starts
44   Tywan Jones   JR   G   5-10       Chicago, Ill.   Kenwood HS/Kenndy-King College  4ppg no starts

More On the head coach...

Community college and Illinois-Chicago[edit]
Jeffers, who did not qualify academically for a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I scholarship, opted to attend Los Angeles Southwest College, a community college near the city of Los Angeles. He starred and averaged 22.3 points and 10.7 rebounds as a freshman. However, after a year, he returned home to Chicago and transferred to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He reportedly rejected offers from Big East and Big 12 conference schools and chose to attend Illinois-Chicago in order to be close with his family who lived near the school. He started his college career with the UIC Flames in 2005, after sitting out the 2004–05 season while establishing academic eligibility.

In the 2005–06 season, Jeffers played in all 31 games, 30 as a starter. He led the Flames in rebounding (7.6 rebounds per game) and assists (3.0 assists per game) and also ranked second in scoring with 11.6 points per game. He won the Horizon League Newcomer of The Year awards for his debut season with the Flames. He improved his performance in his junior season by averaging 15.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in 32 games, all as a starter. He recorded a career-high 27 points and 14 rebounds at the University of Pennsylvania on December 21, 2005. He led the team in both scoring and rebounding and was named in the All-Horizon League First Team. However, he had a difficult relationship and frequently clashed with head coach Jimmy Collins.  [VALPO Did not play UIC in 2005-06 season]

Shooting incident
A few weeks after his junior season finished, Jeffers was shot in the leg while trying to defend his sister from Andre Childs, his sister's boyfriend. His sister earlier called Jeffers for help in a dispute against Childs. Jeffers came to his sister's defense and confronted Childs. After a fight, Childs allegedly pulled a gun fired several shots. Two bullets hit both Jeffers and his sister. Jeffers was shot in the left thigh and his sister was hit in the left calf. Jeffers and his sister survived and Childs was later arrested and charged with attempted murder.
Jeffers was fortunate that the bullet went through his thigh without hitting any major arteries. He left the hospital that night after getting treatment, even though the doctor wanted him to stay overnight for further observation. Jeffers, who wanted to play basketball as soon as possible, was supposed to use crutches for three weeks but he only used them for three days. He then began to play basketball again in less than a month.

Robert Morris University
After the shooting incident, combined with his conflict with coach Collins, Jeffers transferred schools once again.[1] He transferred to Robert Morris University who played in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). By transferring from an NCAA school to an NAIA school, Jeffers did not have to sit out another season. He also switched his major from psychology/sociology to business major. He concluded his college career there by averaging 24.0 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game as a senior. He led the RMU Eagles to a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) championship and was named as the CCAC Player of the Year. He then played in the NAIA Basketball Tournament, leading the Eagles to the Final Four, where they were defeated by the Concordia University. Despite failing to win the championship, Jeffers was named as NAIA Player of the Year by The Sporting News and as co-Player of the Year the Basketball Times.

I found a Vu Connection:   On April 24, 2014, Jeffers and Ron Howard were named the co-MVPs of the NBA D-League for the 2013–14 season.

He has never coached at any level prior to this assignment.

[VU2014]

Does anyone know if this game will be broadcast on ESPN3? It may just be a exhibition against a D2 team but I'm just looking forward to seeing Valpo play again. In my time of being a fan I can't remember any Valpo team being such a mystery going into a season.

So many question marks about this new team:

Top 5 things I'll being watching for:

-How do Bakari Evelyn and Joe Burton look? Are either of them going to turn into the impact guys we think they can be?

-Does Tevonn embrace the role of being "the guy"? Has he improved his 3pt shooting.

-Who plays the 4? How do our freshman forwards look? Will the 4 be the weak link of this team?

-Has Micah taken the next step in his development?

-Have the Sophomore 7 footers evolved their games since last season?

[VUBBFan]

Does anyone know if this game will be broadcast on ESPN3? It may just be a exhibition against a D2 team but I'm just looking forward to seeing Valpo play again. In my time of being a fan I can't remember any Valpo team being such a mystery going into a season.

According to the schedule put out on the Crusaders website, the game will be on " The Valley ESPN3 "

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/925426450043371520

[VU2014]

Basketball returns to the ARC tomorrow against Robert Morris and RM has an exhibition against fellow MVC member Bradley tonight.

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/20171031/bradley-faces-naia-powerhouse-robert-morris-chicago-in-final-exhibition-game

Bradley faces NAIA powerhouse Robert Morris-Chicago in final exhibition game
By Dave Reynolds
Oct 31, 2017

...

On Thursday, meets NAIA Division II Robert Morris-Chicago at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Braves coach Brian Wardle is looking for consistency and improvement in all areas as well as combinations that play well together as the Braves look toward their season opener Nov. 11.

"They're very aggressive and play very fast," said Wardle about RMU. "It'll be great for us. We'll see a lot of speed and transition defense will be a key. We don't know much about them, but I know they have a lot of talent."

RMU has been a powerhouse at its level the past two decades under coach Al Bruehl, who retired from coaching last spring. He will remain on the school's athletics staff as director of basketball operations.

Bruehl led the Eagles to 14 NAIA D-II national tournaments, including seven final fours. He won 609 games during his 20-year run, winning 14 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season championships and 12 CCAC tournament titles.

Bruehl won the league's Coach of the Year award a dozen times.

His associate head coach, former NBA player Othyus Jeffers, has taken over the head coaching reins. The Eagles, who finished last season ranked 10th in the nation, are 12th in the preseason coaches poll.

RMU is a junior-dominated team with eight players from the Chicago metro area.

...

[covufan]

Our starters:

Walker
Evelyn
Joseph (Senior, not many other starts)
Burton
Smits

Exhibition, so all 12(13?) will see minutes.

Valpo  96
RMU   59

[FieldGoodie05]

Our starters:

Walker
Evelyn
Joseph (Senior, not many other starts)
Burton
Smits

Exhibition, so all 12(13?) will see minutes.

Valpo  96
RMU   59

Who players starter minutes is my interest.  It seems that some players "start" for reasons other than merit.

Lock for minutes:
Bakari
Walker
Burton
Sorolla

Insider for starters minutes:
Parker
Joseph
Smits
Bradford
Golder
Linssen

Outside looking in:
Kiser (?)
McMillan
Helm

Not eligible this yr:
Fazekas

[vusupporter]

Helm is not eligible this year either.

[VU2014]

Lineup Prediction:

PG: Joseph (He'll give the nod to the Senior as a sign of respect but Bakari will get heavy minutes)
SG: Walker
SF: Burton
PF: Hazen (Hazen will start but all Mileek and Linssen will all get in the game)
C: Smits

Is Sorolla's suspension counting for the exhibition games or does it begin for the official start of the season against North Park?

[VULB#62]

I would think a suspension is only applicable for a regular season game. IMO, Exhibitions are like scrimmages.  Even if this wasn't true, I'd think that Matt would apply the suspension to a regular season game for the sake of propriety.  Suspending him for an exhibition would come off as a sleazy P-5 maneuver.  Bad perception.

[VU2014]

I would think a suspension is only applicable for a regular season game. IMO, Exhibitions are like scrimmages.  Even if this wasn't true, I'd think that Matt would apply the suspension to a regular season game for the sake of propriety.  Suspending him for an exhibition would come off as a sleazy P-5 maneuver.  Bad perception.

Agreed. I think it would start for the North Park game but I remember other teams "suspending" kids for exhibitions in the past.

[FieldGoodie05]

Helm is not eligible this year either.

I could see that, but he's not on scholarship.  How does that come into play?

Also, wasn't he D2 / NAIA....

[VUBBFan]

I would think a suspension is only applicable for a regular season game. IMO, Exhibitions are like scrimmages.  Even if this wasn't true, I'd think that Matt would apply the suspension to a regular season game for the sake of propriety.  Suspending him for an exhibition would come off as a sleazy P-5 maneuver.  Bad perception.

Agreed. I think it would start for the North Park game but I remember other teams "suspending" kids for exhibitions in the past.

In a similar case with Shane, He played the exhibition game and then was suspended for the cupcake games between R.I. and Oregon. So I think it will be North Park and Trinity Christian. I am assuming it's going to be two games, although I've heard the coach and staff have leeway in determining punishment.

[EddieCabot]

I would think a suspension is only applicable for a regular season game. IMO, Exhibitions are like scrimmages.  Even if this wasn't true, I'd think that Matt would apply the suspension to a regular season game for the sake of propriety.  Suspending him for an exhibition would come off as a sleazy P-5 maneuver.  Bad perception.

Agreed. I think it would start for the North Park game but I remember other teams "suspending" kids for exhibitions in the past.

In a similar case with Shane, He played the exhibition game and then was suspended for the cupcake games between R.I. and Oregon. So I think it will be North Park and Trinity Christian. I am assuming it's going to be two games, although I've heard the coach and staff have leeway in determining punishment.

Am I the only one who thinks it's silly to suspend him now for something that happened 9 months ago?     I'm sure he's been disciplined in private and has learned his lesson ... why punish the team (and new teammates that weren't even here 9 months ago) by making him sit out games this season?

[VULB#62]

I agree Eddie.  While coaches perhaps should have some latitude in applying the suspension, it still should be as close to the infraction as is practical.

Going back to Jubril's situation, although I guess  it had NCAA ramifications, he was suspended immediately. BTW, shouldn't Valpo have self-reported the Jay  infraction to the NCAA, Federal authorities, League of Women Voters, and special prosecutor Mueller    Uh,  sorry. Lost it there for a second.

[VU2014]

We now know the Starters for tomorrow night's game.
https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/925850586725212160

[VULB#62]

We now know the Starters for tomorrow night's game.
https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/925850586725212160

6-2
6-2
6-6
6-7
7-0

Freshman starter? Is Matt setting Parker up to be the next Alec?

CAN'T WAIT!!!

[vu72]

We now know the Starters for tomorrow night's game.
https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/925850586725212160

6-2
6-2
6-6
6-7
7-0

Freshman starter? Is Matt setting Parker up to be the next Alec?

CAN'T WAIT!!!

I'm a little surprised by Bakari starting instead of Max.  I think it really says something about his talent as he is only a sophomore.  I'm sure Max will be first off the bench.  Great depth even if some of it is freshman. 

[Smj]

Was thinking about the suspension....   If any of you have a dog think about how it would work to yell at your dog today for pissing on the rug 9 months ago....   dumb...

Starters for this exhibition game is not that important to me. I just hope a lot of players see the court. I am a true basketball fan but must admit I don't always see what coaches see in players. I usually get surprised because some player will have an amazing first couple games and then rarely see the court the rest of the season...

I think the only goal for tonight is to see the team work well together....

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[EddieCabot]

Valpo  96
RMU   59

Bradley beat RMU by 30 last night, so this prediction might not be far off.

[VULB#62]

Valpo  96
RMU   59

Bradley beat RMU by 30 last night, so this prediction might not be far off.

And in another MVC exhibition NIU lost to Wisconsin 38-69 yesterday. I can understand that.  What I can't understand is why the Badgers would then next schedule UW-Stout, a D-III team who were 13-13 last season and only managed a 4-10 record in the WIAC.  Repay a favor?

[FWalum]

Jacobson's thoughts about 31 point exhibition loss to Wisconsin

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/926102994910941184

[talksalot]

What a great night for the officials at Peoria last night....

we had this crew at the ARC a couple of years ago...

Rick O'Neill, Mike O'Neill, Tom O'Neill Jr.

Scouting the Eagles based on the game last night... they have a LONG roster... played 9...  Final Score was 87-57

Starters last night:

#1 Frazier 6-1 Chicago played 35 minutes 10 pts 6 rebs 4 TO 3 assists
#10 Cadzow 6-5 Australia played 31 minutes 9 pts  4 rebs 0 TOs 4 assists
#23 Murphy 6-7 Denver played 22 minutes 8 pts 3 rebs 3 tos 0 assist
#15 Williams 6-6 Louisville  played 24 minutes 7 pts 3 rebs 1 TO 1 assists
#5 Tate 6-3 Chicago played 21 minutes 6 pts 7 rebs 2 TOs 0 assist
off the bench

#12 Katumbusi 6-0 Chicago played 22 minutes 9 pts 5 rebs 3 TOs 1 assist
#22 Biggins 6-0 San Francisco played 19 minutes 6 pts 1 reb 3 TOs 2 assists
#24 Holiday 6-1 Chicago played 17 minutes 2 points 3 reb 2 TO 1 Assist
#34 Leddy 6-11 Conway Springs, Kansas played 9 minutes No Points 2 Rebounds 1 TO

=================
They shot 20 of 70 from the field, 11 of 45 from 3pt range 6-11 from the line

They have another Freshman on their team - Kameron Jackson (#40), from Merrillville

[valpo64]

With respect to the earlier comment about is Parker
Hazen being set up to be the next Alec P....in a local TV interview with Hazen taped when he announced he was going to Valpo, Parker indicated that the coaching staff was hoping that could be the case with him.  Time will tell.