Game #3 - @ Southern Illinois Univ-E'ville Cougars 11/15/17 7pm - FoxSports MW

[VULB#62]

Turds?  C'mon man, these are kids you are evaluating  as if they were NBA millionares.

[a3uge]

Turds?  C'mon man, these are kids you are evaluating  as if they were NBA millionares.

Okay, next time they'll be frowny faces.

[VULB#62]

Well done 

[justducky]

Turds?  C'mon man, these are kids you are evaluating  as if they were NBA millionares.

Okay, next time they'll be frowny faces.

In defense of our freshmen, they all looked like raw rookies playing their first true D-1 road opponent. A few mistakes shouldn't surprise or discourage either us or them. All of them will get plenty of opportunities to show their stuff and I am looking forward to watching their development.   

[VU2014]

Hazen, I'm not sure how much more  starter can continue to put up 0-0 games. The one time he did drive, he fell straight on his butt for a turnover. McMillan was bad on both ends. 5 fouls in 11 min.

Hazen sort of looked the most ready early at the 4 among the freshman. Maybe he's just the best option right now. All I want out the freshman this early on is to be reliable. Limit the fouls and don't be a liability on defense and position themselves to grab boards. There is enough offense on this team to make up for the lack of production coming out of the 4 right now. Linssen only played 5 minutes but had 3 rebounds. Maybe Coach doesn't fully trust linssen yet. I love watch Marty (lets get that nickname going) hustle out there but he looks a little lumber out there at times.

My second thought is how evenly distributed the minutes are. Tevonn was the only player who played over 25 minutes the whole game. Maybe that won't be the case during tougher games but it really speaks to the depth of this team.

A big game for Coach Lottich whose family was at the game.
https://twitter.com/CoachLottich/status/931015969434202113
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/931007966295281664
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/931008237939380225
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/931008457725104134
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/931008717562183681
https://twitter.com/TheReal_MG3/status/931018284329328641

[vusupporter]

If being invisible on the offensive end in a game where we shot 53%, scored 94 points and led by double figures for the last 25 minutes is a bad thing, consider me a fan of bad things. It tells me that Burton wasn't forcing anything on that end of the floor. Not everybody needs to score double figures every time out, especially when things were clicking like they were tonight.

[wh]

MEN'S BASKETBALL: SIUE falls to Valpo in home opener
Cougars now 0-2 to start 17-18 season
By MATTHEW KAMP, mkamp.edwi@gmail.com Published 10:03 pm, Wednesday, November 15, 2017

http://www.theintelligencer.com/sports/article/MEN-S-BASKETBALL-SIUE-falls-to-Valpo-in-home-12361413.php

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/PostTribSports/status/931012378443091968


Road warriors: Tevonn Walker and Valpraiso roll past SIU Edwardsville
By: Michael Osipoff
Post-Tribune


Valparaiso had little trouble in its first road game of the season, playing against its first Division I opponent.

Senior guard Tevonn Walker had 22 points and four steals and sophomore point guard Bakari Evelyn had 14 points and seven assists Wednesday night as the Crusaders topped Southern Illinois Edwardsville 94-69.

Valparaiso (3-0) routed North Park and Trinity Christian at the Athletics-Recreation Center in its first two games and continued to roll against Edwardsville (0-2).

........ http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-mens-basketball-valparaiso-siu-edwardsville-st-1116-20171115-story.html




Valparaiso has 16 steals, leading to blowout over SIU-Edwardsville
Paul Oren Times Correspondent
Nov 15, 2017

The Valparaiso men's basketball team passed its first road test with flying colors on Wednesday night.

The Crusaders opened the Division I portion of their schedule with a dominating 94-69 victory over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville as Tevonn Walker used back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the first half to break open the game.

Walker finished with a game-high 22 points, marking just the second time in his career that the senior has delivered consecutive games of at least 18 points.

.......... http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/valparaiso-has-steals-leading-to-blowout-over-siu-edwardsville/article_145854ec-853c-5cca-9523-8818b64888dc.html




https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/931023429477814272

Crusaders Handle SIUE On Road Wednesday Night
Wednesday, November 15, 2017

The Valparaiso University men's basketball team was playing on the road for the first time in the regular season Wednesday night, but other than the venue, the game played out quite similar to the Crusaders' first two outings of the season, as Valpo used a big first-half run to take control in a 94-69 victory at SIUE.

How It Happened

........ http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/news/2017-18/17794/crusaders-handle-siue-on-road-wednesday-night/#.Wg0e5mJSxQI

[nkvu]

A few observations. Our three freshman 4's. Not much contribution now. Lots of potential. Wish the German kid could redshirt. With a year of diet and weights turning 15 to 20 pounds of baby fat to muscle he could maybe finish some of his moves to the basket.   He certainly shows lots of want to.  Unfortunately I can't see all of them staying in the program til all three can contribute. I think one or two will transfer for more playing time, particularly with The transfer kid waiting in the wings for next year.  If coach Lottich can keep everyone happy and contributing, he should get a raise.

[Valpower]

Not a good game to get a better read on the team, the entire 2nd half was stop and go with the constant fouling so neither team could really sustain any flow offensively. What I could decipher is that our on ball defending has improved and we can score without having to rely on transition offense. I was surprised however with Joe's lack of involvement on the offense, with the exception of that stretch in the middle of the second half he didn't really touch the ball at all. I'm just hoping this is because he his trying to get back into the flow after not playing for over a year.

No game will give you a perfect read, but each starts to add up. It will be an interesting game to compare against Purdue's (in greater detail than I have so far). What immediately jumps out is that Purdue beat them by 31 at home and we, by 25 on the road; a mere 6-point margin differential.

[FieldGoodie05]

Not a good game to get a better read on the team, the entire 2nd half was stop and go with the constant fouling so neither team could really sustain any flow offensively. What I could decipher is that our on ball defending has improved and we can score without having to rely on transition offense. I was surprised however with Joe's lack of involvement on the offense, with the exception of that stretch in the middle of the second half he didn't really touch the ball at all. I'm just hoping this is because he his trying to get back into the flow after not playing for over a year.

No game will give you a perfect read, but each starts to add up. It will be an interesting game to compare against Purdue's (in greater detail than I have so far). What immediately jumps out is that Purdue beat them by 31 at home and we, by 25 on the road; a mere 6-point margin differential.

That's a "fools errand" comparing margin of victory.  Though I also immediately looked at the same thing.  Purdue is going to shoot a lot of FT due to our bigs lack of athleticism.  I cringe thinking of how quickly Smits will foul out....

Like the Kentucky game last year, just going to be tough to watch.

[valpo4life]

Not a good game to get a better read on the team, the entire 2nd half was stop and go with the constant fouling so neither team could really sustain any flow offensively. What I could decipher is that our on ball defending has improved and we can score without having to rely on transition offense. I was surprised however with Joe's lack of involvement on the offense, with the exception of that stretch in the middle of the second half he didn't really touch the ball at all. I'm just hoping this is because he his trying to get back into the flow after not playing for over a year.

No game will give you a perfect read, but each starts to add up. It will be an interesting game to compare against Purdue's (in greater detail than I have so far). What immediately jumps out is that Purdue beat them by 31 at home and we, by 25 on the road; a mere 6-point margin differential.

One thing I will add. I saw rebounding being mentioned a couple times earlier in this thread, SIUE also out rebounded Purdue. We gave up 13 offensive rebounds to them and Purdue gave up a whopping 24. Clearly they have a focus on crashing the offensive glass, which can be a great theory, but probably is also contributing to them giving up 105 and 94 in their first two games.

[covufan]

Not a good game to get a better read on the team, the entire 2nd half was stop and go with the constant fouling so neither team could really sustain any flow offensively. What I could decipher is that our on ball defending has improved and we can score without having to rely on transition offense. I was surprised however with Joe's lack of involvement on the offense, with the exception of that stretch in the middle of the second half he didn't really touch the ball at all. I'm just hoping this is because he his trying to get back into the flow after not playing for over a year.

No game will give you a perfect read, but each starts to add up. It will be an interesting game to compare against Purdue's (in greater detail than I have so far). What immediately jumps out is that Purdue beat them by 31 at home and we, by 25 on the road; a mere 6-point margin differential.

One thing I will add. I saw rebounding being mentioned a couple times earlier in this thread, SIUE also out rebounded Purdue. We gave up 13 offensive rebounds to them and Purdue gave up a whopping 24. Clearly they have a focus on crashing the offensive glass, which can be a great theory, but probably is also contributing to them giving up 105 and 94 in their first two games.

I know that there are +/- stats for points when each player is on the floor - is there the same thing for rebounds?  Linssen may become a rebound machine in a year or so


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[vu72]

When you add up the stats for our three centers, they played a combined 40 minutes, shot 5-11 from the field, made 8 of 10 Free throws, had 8 rebounds, 4 turnovers and 18 points.  I'll take that all day and all season long.   

[Valpower]

When you add up the stats for our three centers, they played a combined 40 minutes, shot 5-11 from the field, made 8 of 10 Free throws, had 8 rebounds, 4 turnovers and 18 points.  I'll take that all day and all season long.   

Indeed.  Additionally, you have 15 fouls to give before you run out of centers. 

[wh]

When you add up the stats for our three centers, they played a combined 40 minutes, shot 5-11 from the field, made 8 of 10 Free throws, had 8 rebounds, 4 turnovers and 18 points.  I'll take that all day and all season long.   

Strong numbers for sure. Unfortunately, they should have been even better.  All 4 TO's (or at least 3) resulted from Derrik and J shuffling their feet on shot attempts right under the basket.  All 4 (3?) nullified what were sure baskets. That's 6-8 sure points we just threw in the toilet.  Unlike Vashil, for example, 7' players that aren't real active on the defensive end have to be able to score bunnies on the offensive end to make up for it. 

[SanityLost17]

SIUE was pretty short.  No surprise that our 7 footers had an ok game.   However, I think we can all agree that the #4 and #5 positions will be a work in progress the entire season.  This year our strength is in the #1,#2,#3 spots.   Lots of potential at the #4/#5, but they are all freshman and sophomores.  We show some patience and 3/4 the way through the season we might just be able to put it all together.   

[VULB#62]

Related to play in the paint, the other stat that stands out is Blocks (or the absence of same).  We had a grand total of TWO.  SIUE had 4. A shorter less athletic  SIUE got 20 Points-in-the-Paint and we only had 2 whole blocks the entire game -- and they were by 1st year players Maleek and Marcus.  I know it is water under the bridge from two years ago but when you are used to Vashil averaging close to 10 bpg by himself, you get spoiled I guess. Can't that skill be coached?

[VULB#62]

OTOH, the steals stat tells you how quick and athletic this team is:

[tweet]931041613379403776[/tweet]

[agibson]

I know it is water under the bridge from two years ago but when you are used to Vashil averaging close to 10 bpg by himself, you get spoiled I guess.

I love it! (Vashil averaged an... NCAA best?... 3.3 BPG his last season).

[VULB#62]

Things tend to get fuzzy over time  -- still 1.3 more blocks than the whole team vs. SUIE.  And he does hold the single game record of 8.  But you know what I was getting at. 

[FieldGoodie05]

Any links to re-listen to Todd's call on the radio from last nights game? 

Also, tried to find the replay of SIUe vs VU, but Fox app had no replays...

[agibson]

Any links to re-listen to Todd's call on the radio from last nights game? 

Also, tried to find the replay of SIUe vs VU, but Fox app had no replays...

I don't think the radio calls are normally available on archive (probably WVUR keeps copies, some place?).

There does seem to be an archive of the OVC on-demand feed
http://ovcdigitalnetwork.com/watch/?Archive=5037&type=Archive

The first 10 or 13 minutes of game time might be pretty weird; one camera only, under the basket, no audio. I think they eventually switched to the Fox feed.

And it does seem to be wide-screen, which I never got with the Xfinity Go stream.

[vu84v2]

I know it is water under the bridge from two years ago but when you are used to Vashil averaging close to 10 bpg by himself, you get spoiled I guess.

I love it! (Vashil averaged an... NCAA best?... 3.3 BPG his last season).

If you include the post-season (NCAA, NIT, etc.), Vashil lead the nation in blocks per game in the 2015-2016 season.

One thing that I noticed in the game last night...Smits and J both seem better at moving off a screen and catching the pass. This sounds simple, but it requires good hands, footwork and agility. This probably took Vashil three years to learn (the ultimate project with tremendous payoff). I was encouraged by my first glimpse at how Smits and J are progressing.

[FWalum]

One thing that I noticed in the game last night...Smits and J both seem better at moving off a screen and catching the pass. This sounds simple, but it requires good hands, footwork and agility. This probably took Vashil three years to learn (the ultimate project with tremendous payoff). I was encouraged by my first glimpse at how Smits and J are progressing.

I do think that both, Smits especially, seem to have improved considerably over the off season. However, I think some credit needs to go to BK and Tevonn. In 3 years BK could be top 3 all-time in assists if he continues at his current pace and the pass that Tevonn made to Smits was a perfect pass.