Game #22 - Wednesday Jan 24 7pm ARC - Evansville on ESPN3

[valpo84]

Concur FW.  We talked about the necessity to make adjustments night in/night out in the MVC.  Teams are adjusting on D to us. This is not the Horizon where we could dictate what we wanted to do, and teams could try to adjust but didn't have the talent to stop us.  The MVC teams have more depth, better coaching and a number of very experienced teams.  If you are going to be consistently better everyone said, we need to move up in conference.  Well, if we are the mid-major program we believe we are and believe we want to be, we have to work through this season and the growing pains. 

Another example with UNI for teams having down years--Vanderbilt 7-13, 2-6 conference.  Sometimes it's just not your year. Did Bryce and that coaching staff suddenly lose their competency? Bryce also has his big class coming in next year.

[bbtds]

I can name a bunch of kids who looked pretty unimpressive their freshman year.

How about players that weren't very impressive their freshman year and went downwards for the majority of their sophomore year? Name one of those.

[VU2014]

I am more optimistic than most on this board. With Joe Burton, this team was decent. Not great but decent. You loose arguably the best player on the team mid season without a true number 1 on the team to take the load (Walker is a good player, but he has always been an inconsistent scorer) and this is what you get. Team is young, and as pointed out, some recruits have not played well at all. If next year, Fazekas and Freeman don't pan out then yes we can worry, but if they are as good as advertised we should have a lineup that can compete.

G - Evelyn - JR
G - Freeman - FR
F - Fazekas - JR
F - McMillen - SO / Goulder - JR
C - Smitts - JR

I'm definitely optimistic about our future. That looks like a pretty good roster and a good chunk of the core will have played a year together. Add in the fact that we have 2 scholarships available. Sprinkle in maybe another talented high level transfer (redshirt) & keep an eye on Daniel Sackey who was the Canadian PG recruit who visited during the Loyola game. He looks like an impressive player and would probably get minutes over Micah Bradford. Much more athletic and quicker then Micah and probably could shoot better then 31.3% and 41.7% from the FT Line. He looks like he'd be a strong recruit.

[vu72]

31.3% and 41.7%

After last night make that 25.3 and 41.5 

[valpotx]

Sounds like I picked a good game to miss!  That was the first streamed game I haven't watched in a few years, due to work commitments.  I hope that these guys are learning from each loss, and take it into next year, otherwise we are in for more of the same in 2018-2019.

[talksalot]

otherwise we are in for more of the same in 2018-2019.

SO... I decided to look at the valley Next year... "who are the current seniors that won't be around to pick on Valpo next year...."

seniors in the Valley   Player   ppg
Bradley   Donte Thomas   10.5

Drake   Reed Timmer   18.1
Drake   DeAntae McMurray   10.9
Drake   Graham Woodward   10.2
Drake   Ore Arogundade   6.7
Drake   Cj Rivers   5.4

Evansville   Blake Simmons   11.7
Evansville   Dalen Traore   2.7

Indiana State   Brenton Scott   15
Indiana State   Qiydar Davis   10.8
Indiana State   Brandon Murphy   7.6
Indiana State   Demonte Ojinnaka   2.1

Loyola   Aundre Jackson   11.9
Loyola   Donte Ingram   11.6
Loyola   Ben Richardson   5.6
Loyola   Carson Shanks   1.3
Loyola   Nick Dinardi   0.4

Missouri State   Alize Johnson   14.9
Missouri State   Jared Rhodes   9.1
Missouri State   JT Miller   8.3
Missouri State   Ronnie Rousseau   6.2

Northern Iowa   Bennett Koch   12.7
Northern Iowa   Klint Carlson   9.2
Northern Iowa   Hunter Rhodes   1.3
Northern Iowa   Ted Friedman   1

Southern Illinois   Jonathan Wiley   7.2
Southern Illinois   Tyler Smithpeters   7.1

Valpo Tevonn Walker   15.3
Valpo Max Joseph  7.8  (out of 71.2 ppg... and Burton's 11.5)...total 34.6 points of 71.2

oh, AND this one...
Illinois State   NONE   There are no seniors on the Redbird roster

Valpo's leading returning "scorers" for next year...

Bakari  11.4
Markus 8.2
Derrik 7.4
Micah 5.3
Jaume 5.2
Mileek 3.5
John 3.2
Martin 2.3
Parker 1.1

[VUGrad1314]

+Fazekas +Freeman-Liberty Hmmm Maybe it won't be so bad going forward...

[VU2014]

otherwise we are in for more of the same in 2018-2019.

Valpo Tevonn Walker   15.3
Valpo Max Joseph  7.8  (out of 71.2 ppg... and Burton's 11.5)...total 34.6 points of 71.2

oh, AND this one...
Illinois State   NONE   There are no seniors on the Redbird roster

Valpo's leading returning "scorers" for next year...

Bakari  11.4
Markus 8.2
Derrik 7.4
Micah 5.3
Jaume 5.2
Mileek 3.5
John 3.2
Martin 2.3
Parker 1.1

We're going to need some guys to take their game to the next level to find success next season. We'll also need Fazekas to be as good as we think he can be.

Javon looks like he's going be a huge part of this team going forward but I hate placing lofty goals on freshman. If he could be what Tevonn was his Freshman year I think I'd be happy: 10.3 PPG, 44.4 FG%, 34.2 3P%, 2.5-3.4 FTM-FTA (I think Javon can get to the line more), 3.4 REB, 1.1 STL, 27.1   MIN. Tevonn was a great defender. I've heard Javon is pretty good defender and has quick hands but I doubt he'll be a better perimeter defender and rebounder then Tevonn.

Losing both Tevonn and Max is going to be a hit to our perimeter defense in my estimation next season.

[wh]

otherwise we are in for more of the same in 2018-2019.

Valpo Tevonn Walker   15.3
Valpo Max Joseph  7.8  (out of 71.2 ppg... and Burton's 11.5)...total 34.6 points of 71.2

oh, AND this one...
Illinois State   NONE   There are no seniors on the Redbird roster

Valpo's leading returning "scorers" for next year...

Bakari  11.4
Markus 8.2
Derrik 7.4
Micah 5.3
Jaume 5.2
Mileek 3.5
John 3.2
Martin 2.3
Parker 1.1

We're going to need some guys to take their game to the next level to find success next season. We'll also need Fazekas to be as good as we think he can be.

Javon looks like he's going be a huge part of this team going forward but I hate placing lofty goals on freshman. If he could be what Tevonn was his Freshman year I think I'd be happy: 10.3 PPG, 44.4 FG%, 34.2 3P%, 2.5-3.4 FTM-FTA (I think Javon can get to the line more), 3.4 REB, 1.1 STL, 27.1   MIN. Tevonn was a great defender. I've heard Javon is pretty good defender and has quick hands but I doubt he'll be a better perimeter defender and rebounder then Tevonn.

Losing both Tevonn and Max is going to be a hit to our perimeter defense in my estimation next season.

Losing both Tevonn and Max is going to be a hit to our perimeter defense in my estimation next season.

Luke Gore said in a recent postgame that Tevonn is the best defensive player to play for Valpo in Luke's time with the program. He went so far as to say Tevonn is the best defensive player on the court in every game he has ever played. He also said that Tevonn should be named league defensive player of the year every year.

[bbtds]

I'm still having a tough time dealing with the fact that Mileek McMillan played hardly any of the second half after hitting 3 threes in the first half. He starts the game, gets hot shooting the three which is what we really needed and why we stayed close in the first half and we used him to promote the game for local (Lake County) fans.

https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/955526658450223104

And then we go away from what was working! Why? Why? Why?

[FieldGoodie05]

I'm still having a tough time dealing with the fact that Mileek McMillan played hardly any of the second half after hitting 3 threes in the first half. He starts the game, gets hot shooting the three which is what we really needed and why we stayed close in the first half and we used him to promote the game for local (Lake County) fans.

https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/955526658450223104

And then we go away from what was working! Why? Why? Why?

How was his defense?

[M]

It was at least as good as anyone else who was playing.

[vu72]

+Fazekas +Freeman-Liberty Hmmm Maybe it won't be so bad going forward...

We are also adding a 6'7" and 6'4" starters to replace a pair of 6'1" starters.  We will play a totally different style most likely.

[SanityLost17]

A lot of people talking about our youth.   We also have a young and inexperienced coach who was able to hide some of his flaws last year with an NBA player on the roster.  I do not for a second believe we have the 10th best talent in The Valley this season.  Without Burton 6th or 7th seems very reasonable but not 10th.   

So coach needs to improve just as much as the players on the court.  Get players in positions where they can thrive.   I understand that the defense in this league is much better.  I hope he makes some strides as well so he is also coaching at a higher level next year when we can hopefully move up into the top 5.       

[NativeCheesehead]

Agree to a point on Mileek. He needs more minutes to develop. But while his 3 pt shooting has been a nice surprise, that's been about half his total shot attempts. Offensively, he's basically a 6'8 shooting guard. He looks completely lost on defense, and his rebounding is nowhere near where it should be with his size and athleticism. He also fouls way too much.

But, as I said, his needs some more time on the floor to develop, and as we get to the point where we're locked into a play in game for St. Louis, we should look to play him, Golder, and Marty more to get them ready to be key contributors next year.

[M]

He definitely fouls too much and is out of positions on defense, which would improve with more experience....but his rebounding is right on par with the rest of our bigs 

He did have one real athletic rebound in the first half that showed yet another glimpse of what is possible!

[VU2014]

I'd like to see Mileek get on the court a little more too but let's be honest he's not forcing the coaches hands with his play. Mileek has shown glimpses but he's still really raw. I've like some of things I've seen from his game but he has a lot to work on. He still makes too many silly fouls, leaves a lot to be desired on from a rebounding perspective. I'm really high Mileek's future but he has a lot to work on & I trust the Coaching Staff knows best how to handle his development.

[M]

So you're cool with how they handled his PT in the last game?

[VU2014]

So you're cool with how they handled his PT in the last game?

I would have liked to see him play more especially when he had the hot hand from 3.

[bbtds]

Javon looks like he's going be a huge part of this team going forward but I hate placing lofty goals on freshman. If he could be what Tevonn was his Freshman year I think I'd be happy: 10.3 PPG, 44.4 FG%, 34.2 3P%, 2.5-3.4 FTM-FTA (I think Javon can get to the line more), 3.4 REB, 1.1 STL, 27.1   MIN. Tevonn was a great defender. I've heard Javon is pretty good defender and has quick hands but I doubt he'll be a better perimeter defender and rebounder then Tevonn.

I knew I would have to keep repeating this for 3 to 5 years. LET JAVON BE JAVON!

[bbtds]

I'd like to see Mileek get on the court a little more too but let's be honest he's not forcing the coaches hands with his play. Mileek has shown glimpses but he's still really raw. I've like some of things I've seen from his game but he has a lot to work on. He still makes too many silly fouls, leaves a lot to be desired on from a rebounding perspective.

Whose overall game was better than Mileek's that got to play instead of Mileek?

[VU2014]

I knew I would have to keep repeating this for 3 to 5 years. LET JAVON BE JAVON!

Agreed. I was just pointing out that if we got similar level of production from Tevonn's freshman year I'd be happy. They're games are different. I feel like there is already a considerable amount of expectations on the young man and he hasn't even finished his senior year of high school yet.

[bbtds]

I feel like there is already a considerable amount of expectations on the young man and he hasn't even finished his senior year of high school yet.

BINGO! He's almost guaranteed to disappoint. If he does anything near Tavonn I'll be very happy. Sometimes the hype machines can go overboard. If the hype websites aren't overdoing it on JAVON then that's a big plus.

I kind of feel the hype that Keith Carter got on the Chicago websites we're what might have played the most into the NCAA not granting him another year. In NCAA thinking "how could Valpo land a transfer like Carter without there being something dubious since SLU says so."

[vu72]

I knew I would have to keep repeating this for 3 to 5 years. LET JAVON BE JAVON!

Agreed. I was just pointing out that if we got similar level of production from Tevonn's freshman year I'd be happy. They're games are different. I feel like there is already a considerable amount of expectations on the young man and he hasn't even finished his senior year of high school yet.

With accolades come expectations.  Good or bad. If we looked back on the expectations of Alec Peters I think you would be able to read similar comments.

[VU2014]

Over 5 years ago now. http://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=970.msg17682#msg17682

We got lucky with landing 2 program changing recruits in Broekhoff and AP the last 8 years. Rowdy wasn't the instant contributor AP was but none the less both altered the trajectory of this program. Knock on wood we have one coming down the pipeline.