Game #1 - North Park University Vikings @ ARC Friday 11/10 7pm

[VULB#62]

Virtually nothing in the Torch (on line version) either.

[M]

I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout for the exhibition game.  Anything less then that would be a bit disappointing.

[FWalum]

This is also the game that Tevonn will get his 1,000th point. That doesn't happen every game....

[covufan]

Lottich had a tweet earlier, wanting a large crowd. The athletic office needs to send out a tweet with 'show this tweet and get $x off your walk-up ticket'


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/CoachLottich/status/928998643901792256
https://twitter.com/ValpoBasketball/status/929056963782160386
https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/929045224927711232

[talksalot]

1/4-page ads in the Times several times this week...and last week...

agreed it would be nice if they could add the "VALLEY ON ESPN3" to their "daily sports television shows" lists...

no early upsets in NCAAB today... Webber was up 2 on Stetson at the half... but the Hatters won by 10.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/929135331626094594

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/929138301050785792

[FieldGoodie05]

Bradford and Smits showing some offense. 

We are fairly lost in our half court offense, this early in the season.

Smits can't grip a basketball to save his life, Vashil offensive hands.

Tevonn cold and yet we are still finding ways to score.  (AGAINST A GLORIFIED REC LEAGUE TEAM)

Still think we have 2-3 losses in November because of "experience/cohesion" development or lack thereof.

[VU2014]

Yeah the half court offense is just looks off tonight. There was no flow at times during the game. This team is definitely still trying find itself. Also the rebounding needs to get cleaned up.

[FieldGoodie05]

Micah Bradford is not a team player.  Makes me sick watching him AT TIMES.

[a3uge]

Is Parker Hazen the next Alec Peters?


Lol

[vu72]

Micah Bradfor will be hard to keep off the court.  Absolutely was electric out there tonight, albeit against the JV team.  HUGE improvement over last year.

[VU2014]

Micah Bradford is not a team player.  Makes me sick watching him AT TIMES.

I'm not sure I'd classify him as a selfish player but he definitely has a scorers mentality. Micah was instant offense at one point when he was out there. It looks like this year he might not be playing a traditional point guard role. Todd kept on hammering that he need to hit over 35% from 3 while he's out there. He's fighting for future minutes every time he's out there.

This team's FREE THROW shooting is going to drive me absolutely crazy if it doesn't get cleaned up by the end of the season. It is so out of character for Valpo teams. We were 5th in the nation last year. Today we were 29-46 from from charity strike 

We definitely have things to clean up in the half court and rebound department.

Is Parker Hazen the next Alec Peters?

Todd was on Paul's podcast and he said he thinks he could develop into a Dan Oppland type player which would be amazing. I will say Parker is the least of a freshman liability on the court while he's out there. He plays hard and is pretty good at grabbing boards for a freshman.

[Valpower]

Micah Bradford is not a team player.  Makes me sick watching him AT TIMES.

I have no idea what Lottich wants Micah to do when he puts him in, but I feel absolutely certain that there will be times when Valpo will need him to do what he did tonight. As VU72, pointed out, this was against a JV team, so it remains to be seen whether he can be effective against better opponents.  Hopefully, if he's not blowing by his opponent or making his shots he has the good sense to distribute more, but if it's working...well, it's working.

[valpopal]

I don't know which was worse, the free throw shooting or the P.A. sound system: they both sucked!

This team's FREE THROW shooting is going to drive me absolutely crazy if it doesn't get cleaned up by the end of the season. It is so out of character for Valpo teams. We were 5th in the nation last year. Today we were 29-46 from from charity strike 

[govalpogo]

Similar sentiments to everyone else.  Pretty "meh" with maybe a couple of head shakes from time to time nevertheless the team got the job done in comfortable fashion as expected.  I'm sure not having two starters doesn't help the offense flow so I am not overly concerned with anything...except free throws.

I think everyone has rose colored glasses on with our team's FT history, or perhaps mine are sludge colored.  Alec Peters was really good at free throws and shot A LOT of them.  All the Valpo teams in my time (07-11) seemed to be mediocre at free throw shooting, and they have always made me anxious to watch ever since.  Nevertheless, please team...do better. 

The depth of this team is fun to watch.  At any time in any game, any player on the court can surprise with a big play or a nice run.   Even when Lottich "empties the bench" one feels good about the group on the floor.  Pretty sweet. 

Do work on Monday and let's get into the varsity games!

 

[a3uge]

Bradford had three games in double figures last year and had a PER of 3.6. He goes 8-12 and has a career high and all of the sudden he's too selfish now.

[wh]

Bradford had three games in double figures last year and had a PER of 3.6. He goes 8-12 and has a career high and all of the sudden he's too selfish now.

According to Matt, Micah did exactly what he wants him to do:

"We recruited Micah for a lot of reasons; from the basketball side of it, he has a unique ability to score in bunches," Lottich said. "Our conversations with Micah have been to be a scorer. Be who you are. Time and score will dictate when you can be more aggressive. I was really pleased to see his offensive outburst today."

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/crusaders-open-season-with-rout-over-north-park/article_0927834b-2355-5da7-a4da-a82645d1b830.html#tracking-source=home-latest-1

[agibson]

Even when Lottich "empties the bench" one feels good about the group on the floor.  Pretty sweet. 

I was delighted that I struggled to identify "the end of the bench". And that the whole crew was doing some useful stuff.

Obviously the weak competition helped.

[VU2014]

I don't know which was worse, the free throw shooting or the P.A. sound system: they both sucked!

Didn't they Athletics Department get a "sound specialist" recently to help fix the sound quality? I thought I remember someone mentioning that.


Question: Is the ARC still playing those deafening Family Express commercials during every timeout? I haven't been able to make it to a game at the ARC yet. I honestly hope they somehow tweaked those because it actually takes away from the game, imo. Instead of hearing the band you'd sometimes get blasted with those annoying ads. It partially takes away from the whole atmosphere of being at a college game, imo.

[agibson]

Question: Is the ARC still playing those deafening Family Express commercials during every timeout?

I didn't notice them. So, I suspect they were absent tonight. Hooray!

[VU2014]

Question: Is the ARC still playing those deafening Family Express commercials during every timeout?

I didn't notice them. So, I suspect they were absent tonight. Hooray!

Good to hear! I can't wait to make it to a game.

Also props to the Athletics Department for investing in the new video equipment! The video and sound quality have been great! They did a really nice job! 

[VU2014]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyHtbvs3cx0

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/_amleavitt/status/929225777886957569