Southern Illinois 3pm Saturday January 6th

[M]

Easy guy...I'm going to set it up my way!

[M]

I've been pretty critical of the half court offense...it's looked so much better the last two games. Really happy for our two big guys, Micah and Max after they all had nice games. Let's hope it's not just a 30 minute thing and they can carry this over Wednesday night.

[oklahomamick]

1-3 in the mvc is like 3-1 in the horizon league

[valpopal]

Just watched the postgame conference, and I was pleased to see Lottich and Derrik both say the difference in this game was that the team, especially Smits and Sorolla, was more determined to be "aggressive" (following the example put forth by Tevonn), a word I have used in a couple of my recent posts about what characteristic was needed to be borrowed from Walker by the rest of the team, especially the big men. Plus, they proved that being aggressive doesn't necessarily mean more fouls, since the two big men combined only got called for 3 fouls. This is a step in the right direction, but a real test of sustainability will come against Drake.

[VU2014]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQoxrQPcbt0&t=0s

[VU2014]

Lucky sevens: Derrik Smits and Jaume Sorolla stand tall in Valparaiso win
Michael Osipoff
Post-Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-mens-basketball-southern-illinois-valparaiso-st-0107-20180106-story.html

Offense clicks as Valparaiso uses 23-2 run to take control over Southern Illinois
Paul Oren Times Correspondent
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/basketball/college/offense-clicks-as-valparaiso-uses---run-to-take/article_a6942dd7-da12-5a2d-9aad-5ed6b593e230.html

https://twitter.com/THefferman/status/949817939645157377

[SanityLost17]

Anybody who has had Mono knows even when you "get better" there are days that you just feel lethargic.   I have a feeling Tevon's 1-10 performance yesterday was a result of tired legs, but he made up for it by working his tail off in all other phases of the game.   That is why he is one of my top 5 all time favorite players in a Valpo uniform.  A lot of guys save their energy so they can make shots, he is not one of those guys. 

As for the rest of the game, I am not sure how excited to get.   
1.  We are not going to shoot over 50% from 3 very often, maybe once every 10 games, if that.  At the same time Walker is not going to shoot that poorly very often, so perhaps those 2 things even out. 
2. The bigs played really really well, but SIU was really small with their injuries.  I want them to have that kind of performance against a Northern Iowa who has 2 or 3 capable big men.
3.  I think we are starting to see the team adjust to Burton being gone.  Once we get Kiser back there is a chance we could go .500 in league play, which I would see as an overwhelming success in year 1 with this team.

I just really want to go to Arch Madness, so we need to make sure that we avoid the Thursday night game so I can take a Friday off work and drive down there.  Thats all I want.  haha       

[vu72]

Bakari has now hit 11 of 16 shots from the 3 over the last 4 games.   

[wh]

For those more closely in tune with the university's academic calendar, I was wondering how many home games the Crusaders will be playing this season while the students are on break?  It's something we talk about a lot, but I've never stopped to consider how often it comes into play.

[valpotx]

Didn't the HS reports on Parker mention that he needed to work on his outside shot, but was already fine tuned on his inside game?  It was the exact opposite of what was said about Peters coming in.  Lottich seemed to be playing him with the intent that he would get outside shots to work on, which was probably a selling point for Hazen committing to Valpo.  I don't remember Hazen doing anything except floating around the perimeter, and that is not his game as of yet.  His transition is going to be more akin to Dan Oppland, versus what Peters had to work on.  Dan became a pretty good FT and 3-pt shooter, after not showing as much during his first 2 seasons. 

Good showing by Smits and Sorolla.  For those teams in the MVC that also have a true Center, I think that our current roster is built out well to compete.  For those that have fast-paced big guys, we will lose.

[valpopal]

For those more closely in tune with the university's academic calendar, I was wondering how many home games the Crusaders will be playing this season while the students are on break?  It's something we talk about a lot, but I've never stopped to consider how often it comes into play.

There were two home games during Thanksgiving break and two during Christmas break.

[underdawg]

Congrats for the win over my Salukis---we got back on the bus defensively after the first 12 minutes of play--and Bol and 6-7 Wiley were our best big defenders--but you got to go with what you got--I'm not feeling very well today--but congrats for a great win

[FieldGoodie05]

Congrats for the win over my Salukis---we got back on the bus defensively after the first 12 minutes of play--and Bol and 6-7 Wiley were our best big defenders--but you got to go with what you got--I'm not feeling very well today--but congrats for a great win

Underdawg, it's nice to have well meaning intelligent point of views from league mates.  Hope you stick around on the board!

[wh]

Congrats for the win over my Salukis---we got back on the bus defensively after the first 12 minutes of play--and Bol and 6-7 Wiley were our best big defenders--but you got to go with what you got--I'm not feeling very well today--but congrats for a great win

At least you had the best player on the court - Fletcher. He didn't get enough help, but his individual performance was worth the price of admission by itself.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/_amleavitt/status/950383254443618304

[vu72]

https://twitter.com/_amleavitt/status/950383254443618304

I suspect that SIU wasn't very big particularly with a couple of their starters out but at the same time the combined contribution from our 5's was nothing short of outstanding.  28 points, 10 boards only 3 turnovers and only 3 fouls in 38 minutes.   

[valpo64]

It was great to see our "bigs" get more aggressive, want the ball and be ready to take a shot if available.  Their rebounding also improved but I think it could still be better.  Love to see a consistent effort and results from both guys.  I hope this was a big turn-around game for us and now we can bring Drake back down to earth and lelt people we are now more confident and ready to compete in the MVC.  Great effort!

[agibson]

This game is being billed as - White Out 219 - Appreciation day. What the heck does that mean? Are people expected to wear white or are they just talking about the snow? I think I saw something about a towel give away but am not sure.
Does anybody know what it's about? I just love it when there is a promotion and it never gets mentioned or promoted.

I was completely unaware of any white out. I did notice some 219 activities. On the video screen they had some highlights of various VU athletes native to the region. A nice idea. (At the time, I didn't realize it was some kind of "219 Day".) I think Saturday's game, and at least a couple of others over break, was also free to _any_ students (not just VU) with ID.

I did see some towels being twirled around. I've never really understood those.

In other developments, it seems like Centier has dropped their sponsorship of made Valpo long distance shots. Who'd have guessed that was a calendar year contract? This was my first game of the year at the ARC, but I'm guessing that it may have disappeared as of Jan 1.

In other branding news, I happened to catch some of the (re-?)broadcast of the game Saturday evening on TV. They seemed to have worked particularly hard on background shots around campus and the community. They had the chapel, maybe from two different angles (one included the welcome center, shot close to it). A shot of downtown Valpo. A shot of kids sledding at Forest Park. Really nice!

[bbtds]

https://twitter.com/_amleavitt/status/950383254443618304

It seems maybe we could come up with a better word but to challenge our big men's pride and dignity has evoked in them a response that was extremely positive.

[wh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQoxrQPcbt0&t=0s

One advantage to playing an entire month on the road is no post game press conferences with that annoying humming/buzzing sound in the background.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpNSscwuCl0

[NativeCheesehead]

I really liked the 219 idea and hope they bring it back. Like a lot of new ideas, it needs some fine tuning. I would like to see an all out marketing effort region wide to bring as many in from surrounding areas as possible, then have the students they highlighted on the video board come out during a timeout. Let this be the one game someone from say, Laporte or Portage attends, and sees the kid they cheered for at their high school on the court being acknowledged.

I know one of the great struggles in marketing this program is with the traditionally fierce local high school rivalries, how do you not have Valparaiso University automatically labeled as "Valpo's College". It's a tough challenge that our marketing department has yet to solve, but I think something like this is a really good effort that should become an annual thing.

[humbleopinion]

how do you not have Valparaiso University automatically labeled as "Valpo's College"

  The Times had a headline referring to the high school girl's team as the "Crusaders" this last weekend.

[Valpo89]

They were selling long-sleeved 219 shirts for $20.