Game #8 - Utah State 7:00pm Tuesday 11/28 @ The ARC

[covufan]

Good win!

We need to get better in our 3 pt shooting if we are to win on the road in the MVC.

[talksalot]

I figure we must be doing something right... John Higgins and Eric Curry were two of the officials working the game tonight.  I don't know how many final 4s they have worked... but those two guys generally get to pick the games they want to work...

BTW, our NolanRPI is at 52, and the SOS is 217.

[talksalot]

It was a see-saw game for the first 15 minutes... and then this happened with the score tied at 25...

05:14 25-26 BRADFORD,MICAH made free throw

and we never trailed after that.... his only point of the game.

[valpospartan]

Still can't get over the ref who called a foul on Golder's clean block, and then T'd him up.

That ref kept an eagle eye on Golder from the time of the foul until he t'd him up.  Of course Golder was upset, and was "jawing" (but not directly at the ref) , giving the ref his "justification" for the T. I guess he didn't like being called out for making a lousey call.

[VU2014]

Any win is a good win but this was not a great performance from us. Too many mistakes that we can't get away with against teams like Purdue, Northwestern and Ball State.

I grade this performance as a C+/B-. If Tevonn and Sorolla didn't have big nights we'd lose this game. Lazy & terrible passes at times tonight. Overall strong defense but the offense struggled all night to find its rhythm. If we played this way against Purdue we'd get run out of the gym. We need more focus.

I'm happy we're 8-0 but we are better then what we showed tonight.

[justducky]

I am glad we are winning without Burton but his limited contributions are now starting to worry me. Is he saving his best for the Boilermakers?

Golder has certainly got the fire but sooner or later it will earn him an ejection. I hope it doesn't happen in the next 3 games.

Will more than 10 play at Purdue?

[crusadermoe]

I was on a long conference call tonight and only could watch the "live stats" during the game.   

It was pretty brutal watching all the "missed 3 pointer" messages.   The number jumped off the screen for Tevonn and Sorolla.

The low number popped out for Burton and Smits.  I suspect Burton is hurt because he has been used so sparingly.  He turned it on a couple times late in the game, but I'm puzzled.  What happened to Smits?  Low minutes tonight.

How many students in the student section?  Missed seeing that too.

[chef]

Smits's lack of minutes were in conjunction with how well Sorolla played. Tough to take Sorolla out when he's completely controlling the paint on both sides of the court.

[VU2014]

Love this kid. I've never seen someone become a fan favorite so quickly.
https://twitter.com/TheReal_MG3/status/935714102168743936

[VU2014]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-jF6QAiuic

[bbtds]

You mean you haven't watched every second of film on Utah State that has ever existed in their history? You need to find a way to break the space time continuum to make an informed decision. I expected better of you man 

He's having trouble staying awake in class lately. Blame on my boring posts.

[vu72]

A win is a win but...Where is Joe Burton?  He has disappeared of late.  Too many guys just not showing up.  Hazen?  Bradford?  The three went off for a combined 3 points, 5 turnovers and 5 personal fouls.   

[valpo4life]

A win is a win but...Where is Joe Burton?  He has disappeared of late.  Too many guys just not showing up.  Hazen?  Bradford?  The three went off for a combined 3 points, 5 turnovers and 5 personal fouls.   

The positive about being a deep team is you don't have to worry about that because there are others capable of stepping up. The negative about being a deep team is if a player doesn't have a good start to his game, his minutes are likely going down and his chance to find a rhythm is gone. If someone is out playing you for the night, you aren't going to see the court very often. Plain and simple.

[SanityLost17]

What is the root cause of the inconsistency for several of our players?   

Is it a talent thing or is it because we are playing 12 guys and several guys need more playing time to get into a rhythm?

My biggest complaint on Burton is effort.  He seems to not be playing very aggressively at all, especially on his cuts off the ball to get open.  Gotta work hard to get open.   He was touted as more than just a spot up shooter, correct?   

Kiser is simply out working him right now.   

[oklahomamick]

We will need to shoot better from 3 point. 

Last night, Tevon was the only one to hit from 3 point.  We shot 15% 

Against UNC Wilmington we shot well at 40% from 3 point.  However, we only attempted 12 3's and it was only 12% at halftime. 

Against Kent St. we shot 20% 

Must get better at 3 in order to spread the court and open driving lanes for our athletes.  Also more post room for our 7 footers. 

[valpolaw]

I agree that it looks like Joe lacks effort at times.  Marty is fun to watch and really aggressive.  Wouldn't mind seeing him get more minutes. 

Parker has a total of 106 minutes played through all games according to the stat sheet on the valpo basketball website and only 16 points and 10 turnovers.  Certainly hope he changes it around.  He looks to have the physical capabilities.  I didn't follow him much in high school.  Was he a big scorer?

[vu72]

I agree that it looks like Joe lacks effort at times.  Marty is fun to watch and really aggressive.  Wouldn't mind seeing him get more minutes. 

Parker has a total of 106 minutes played through all games according to the stat sheet on the valpo basketball website and only 16 points and 10 turnovers.  Certainly hope he changes it around.  He looks to have the physical capabilities.  I didn't follow him much in high school.  Was he a big scorer?

He was THE scorer on a terrible team.  He also was playing out of position at the 5 as I recall as he was also the tallest kid.

[agibson]

How many students in the student section?  Missed seeing that too.

Pretty good not great. Half to two-thirds full? Overall crowd was a little lighter than we've seen at some points in the season, but respectable.

The amount of energy and noise in the room was immediately noticeable... compared to Savannah. It wasn't just my family and the Ragland family making noise! But, I did hear one of the Ragland girls from clear up in EE. "Defense, Valpo, defense!"

[VUBBFan]

I was pleased with the student section turn out. There was a lot of concern they would all be studying for finals but they were pretty engaged. It was also nice that it appeared the whole basketball team from Hillcrest Ill came out to see one of their own playing for Utah.

[VU2014]

How many students in the student section?  Missed seeing that too.

Pretty good not great. Half to two-thirds full? Overall crowd was a little lighter than we've seen at some points in the season, but respectable.

The amount of energy and noise in the room was immediately noticeable... compared to Savannah. It wasn't just my family and the Ragland family making noise! But, I did hear one of the Ragland girls from clear up in EE. "Defense, Valpo, defense!"

Solid turnout especially for finals coming up. It kind of makes me sad looking at the student section the last few years. I honestly don't know what happened. Valpo Admissions is getting the intellectual types but we need to start admitting the intellectual types that like basketball. I'm not too far removed from my college days and I remember the students section being more crazy. Literally 2 years ago the swim team was showing up in speedos to games. The student section needs a little bit more of that. V-Rex is always mr. reliable and a we have an outstanding group of hardcore students that get to every home but there can could be more. I don't want to be a downer after a good crowd especially for a coming up on Finals weak but if I were in the Athletics Department I'd be taking a deep look at why the student section has been shrinking in recent years.

But I want to give credit to the @happeninghoops crew who have been handling the social media on the @Valparaizone twitter account. They've been very active and I do think they're efforts have made a difference this season. I know they've been trying to rejuvenate the student section.

I think it's just a "student/fan culture" that needs to be built and sustained from year to year. When I went to school it was fun because the student section was more packed. The band was going strong. Maybe it's easy to lose that or maybe its cyclical with certain classes. I'd honestly try and reach out to one of the marketing classes in the business school and make this a fun class project or something.

Also the incoming student need to be indoctrinated at the beginning of every year to the Valpo Basketball fanbase. Bring them down to the ARC and teach them the cheers. Introduce them to the basketball team and coaches.

[vu84v2]

VU2014 - I agree with the sentiment and many thoughts in your post. I think having marketing classes do a project regarding how to get greater attendance and enthusiasm is a great idea, and might yield important insights that many (including al of us on this site) might not consider.

I do have to ask, though, what admissions methodology you would apply to find new students who are intellectual types that like basketball? (smile) 

[VULB#62]

[ V-Rex is always mr. reliable

Was Bat Cow in attendance?

[VU2014]

[ V-Rex is always mr. reliable

Was Bat Cow in attendance?

I didn't see Batcow but definitely saw V-Rex.
https://twitter.com/RyCunn/status/935707620345868288
https://twitter.com/jamesedharper/status/935692141506039808

[bigmosmithfan1]

Golder's "T" was definitely soft. Have seen guys get away with a lot more after an obvious blown call like that. That said, he probably has to rein it in for a while, just to avoid getting an undeserved rep.

I understood his frustration, though - fouls were 10-3 in favor of USU at the time, with two completely different standards of contact on each end for the 2nd half until this point. I'm sure the fact that Markus had just been knocked to the floor on a drive on the other end with no call led to his reaction, too.

[FWalum]

I agree that it looks like Joe lacks effort at times.  Marty is fun to watch and really aggressive.  Wouldn't mind seeing him get more minutes. 

Parker has a total of 106 minutes played through all games according to the stat sheet on the valpo basketball website and only 16 points and 10 turnovers.  Certainly hope he changes it around.  He looks to have the physical capabilities.  I didn't follow him much in high school.  Was he a big scorer?

He was THE scorer on a terrible team.  He also was playing out of position at the 5 as I recall as he was also the tallest kid.

As a Junior on a good team with his brother Brachen, Parker averaged 15.8 PPG and 6.6 RPG. Last year with a new coach and being the only returning starter playing the 5 (defenses collapsed on him) he had a rough go of it to start the season and improved as it went on, ending the season averaging 16.29 PPG and 7.3 RPG.  I still expect Parker to contribute more as the season goes on and he gains more confidence.