MVC Hoops: 2018-19

[GoldenCrusader87]

Other than the 5 game win streak to open up league play, what's a high of the Valpo season? Honestly asking.

[NativeCheesehead]

Yep. Let's not forget what happened the first time this year's team took the floor.

[VUGrad1314]

Other than the 5 game win streak to open up league play, what's a high of the Valpo season? Honestly asking.

There's nothing. Take away that 5-1 start and there's nothing to point to.


We are an 11 games under under .500 basketball team since last year's Utah State win. That cannot be allowed to stand much longer

[VALPO LI]

Other than the 5 game win streak to open up league play, what's a high of the Valpo season? Honestly asking.

The Illinois State road win for sure!!!!
Loyola at home was a high because of the game atmosphere and close win I would think.

[VUGrad1314]

Other than the 5 game win streak to open up league play, what's a high of the Valpo season? Honestly asking.

The Illinois State road win for sure!!!! Loyola at home was a high because of the game atmosphere and close win I would think.

Illinois State was part of that win streak.


That Loyola loss was far from a high. I don't do "good try." In fact that loss more than any other has shattered my hope for the future right now. Give me SOMETHING Matt! I'm begging you. I want to believe but I just can't.

[VALPO LI]

Be patient my little grass hopper the season is still not over.... If, and that is a BIG IF we win the next 2 I am sure we will be singing a different tune.....until we lose in the conference tourney.

[a3uge]

Other than the 5 game win streak to open up league play, what's a high of the Valpo season? Honestly asking.

There's nothing. Take away that 5-1 start and there's nothing to point to.


We are an 11 games under under .500 basketball team since last year's Utah State win. That cannot be allowed to stand much longer

Wait, why are we taking away wins and using a start date of some random time last year?

[VUGrad1314]

Other than the 5 game win streak to open up league play, what's a high of the Valpo season? Honestly asking.

There's nothing. Take away that 5-1 start and there's nothing to point to.


We are an 11 games under under .500 basketball team since last year's Utah State win. That cannot be allowed to stand much longer

Wait, why are we taking away wins and using a start date of some random time last year?

Would you prefer that I add those 8 wins back in? Here are the numbers then:

29-32 (25-32 vs D1 competition) 13-21 in conference Any way you look at those numbers that's unsatisfactory.

This also includes losses to UCR and High Point and an 0 fer so far against in state schools Ball State Indiana State and Evansville.

[a3uge]

Other than the 5 game win streak to open up league play, what's a high of the Valpo season? Honestly asking.

There's nothing. Take away that 5-1 start and there's nothing to point to.


We are an 11 games under under .500 basketball team since last year's Utah State win. That cannot be allowed to stand much longer

Wait, why are we taking away wins and using a start date of some random time last year?

Would you prefer that I add those 8 wins back in? Here are the numbers then:

29-32 (25-32 vs D1 competition) 13-21 in conference Any way you look at those numbers that's unsatisfactory.

This also includes losses to UCR and High Point and an 0 fer so far against in state schools Ball State Indiana State and Evansville.

Obviously still unsatisfactory, but those games happened. They were winning before getting a few injuries, which was a surprise considering how bad they did in conference last year. Im going to let these last few games play out before making a two-year assessment of the program.

[bbtds]

Next 7 days will be fun in the Valley...

Drake 10-6  NET 134    H- Ind State   @ Mo St  Lost twice to Loyola, Beat Mo State once
Loyola 10-6  NET 127   @ No Iowa   H- Bradley  Lost twice to Missouri State
Mo St  10-6  NET 159   @ Ill State    H- Drake

No Iowa  9-7  NET  163   H- Loyola  @ Ind State

Bradley  8-8  NET 178   H- Valpo  @ Loyola
So Ill    8-8  NET 147  @ Evansville   H-Ill State
Ill State 8-8 NET 202   H-Mo St    @ So Ill

Valpo 7-9  NET 180    @ Bradley   H-Evansville

Ind State 6-10  NET 196   @Drake  H-No Iowa

Evansville 4-12 NET 206  H-So Ill   @ Valpo

Tie Breaker:

Head-to-Head
If Still Tied.  All tie breakers are the NET next Sunday morning.

Valpo's Road to Friday appears to be:

Win Twice, end at 9-9
Bradley loses twice falling to 8-10   If we beat Bradley and they beat Loyola, they will have a better NET than Valpo and Bradley will take the tie breaker.

If Northern Iowa loses twice to also end up at 9-9, we lose that Head-to-head tie breaker.

Either Illinois State or Southern Illinois loses twice 8-10.  Only one can lose twice, since they play each other.  We hold the tie breaker over the ISU-SIU winner if we tie either of them.

If Valpo loses on Wednesday, the best they can do is 7-seed if either SIU or ISUr lose twice.

So... Let's go to Carver Arena at the Peoria Civic Center and come out with a smile!

Wardle is a lot like Hinson. Those are the two coaches that we have faced in previous conferences and they continuously lose at Valpo. Too bad the game is in Peoria.

[VUGrad1314]

This game is for everything. Lose and we're for sure a Thursday team. Win and we still have hope of a top 6 finish. Go Valpo! Play like your season depends on it!

[GoldenCrusader87]

I refuse to celebrate a BLOWN loss at home to Loyola as a high point of the season! If your expectation is that we can draw 5,000 fans once a season that's full of hopefuls who WANT this to be a rivalry and potentially even WANT Valpo to be The Region's Team only to have their dreams CRUSHED with a blown loss at home due to being out-coached and out-schemed and out-performed down the stretch and down 2,000 + fans per game since then - THEN WE HAVE VERY DIFFERENT VIEWS ON SUCCESS. Sorry.

[GoldenCrusader87]

And if we want to celebrate the 8 wins to start off last season, my oh what conclusions we could draw or at least what questions we could ask.

What was going right then that's since largely gone wrong? Loss of players who opted to leave or who we couldn't figure out how to coach? Or keep eligible? What did they see in Parker to start him 8 games and then never play him again? Mileek? Why'd Linssen (sp?) leave? Idk. Just asking. Why have we yet to have a stretch like that again? Have players regressed? We didn't have LeBron then. Are we really going to chalk it up to injuries? Or have players been forced to play ML's style of basketball and since regressed? Were those 8 games indicative of guys playing more of a fast-paced game? Maybe they don't do as well when they're forced to run set plays all the time. Maybe it's hard for Golder to have been forced to leave behind his natural tenacity. If you recall, Matt didn't put up with it. Maybe it's hard for a guy like Daniel to be benched and not be coached up. Maybe it's hard for Mileek to find his identity when he's afraid of screwing up and knowing one mistake and he's OUT. That's what I see. I see tentative players afraid of making a mistake. Hence why Kiser gets playing time. He doesn't "make mistakes" ... he's the "glue guy" ... ok, great. But, who is he sticking together? A bunch of guys who are afraid to make mistakes? Bakari isn't afraid. Gotta give him credit. Down the stretch vs Southern Illinois you got to see what Lavender will do IF given the chance - he can be a game changer. But instead we have player regression because they don't fit his scheme. Sorry for the rant. Disagree. It's all good. But that's how I feel.

[SanityLost17]

Despite the loss to UNI, nothing has changed.    We needed to steal 1 game on the road and beat Evansville at home to avoid Thursday.  We still have the opportunity to do that. 

As the great philosopher, Lebowski once said, "Nothing is F*&*ed here, Dude."     Although, things are getting much closer.   

[Valpo89]

Does it really matter if they have to play on Thursday? Even if they don't, a Friday loss is bound to happen either way.

[SanityLost17]

Does it really matter if they have to play on Thursday? Even if they don't, a Friday loss is bound to happen either way.

I dunno about that...

1. We matchup well with MoSt if we somehow get them. 
2. UNI beats us by 11 at their place and we beat them by 11 at our place.  Neutral floor about even.
3. Swept IllSt and SIU if we somehow get one of them.

All is not lost until it is actually lost.  You don't have to be happy but you don't have to give up YET either. 

[Valpo89]

I like your optimism, but I gave up a while ago. My attention is now on VHS making a run in the state tournament, which can happen if they get past a mediocre Merrillville in the sectional on Wednesday night. Other than that, I'm looking forward to getting out of town at the end of March.

[VUBBFan]

This game is for everything. Lose and we're for sure a Thursday team. Win and we still have hope of a top 6 finish. Go Valpo! Play like your season depends on it!

We really need to win both of our last two games to avoid Thursday. Lose to Bradley and mathematically the best we finish is 7th. Win both and we are guaranteed 6th place because of tie breakers. Beat Bradley lose to Evansville, the stars have to exactly align with fingers crossed to have a shot at 6th. So basically any loss we say hello to Thursday.

[NativeCheesehead]

Everyone does realize we're going to beat Bradley by 25 then lose at home to EVille, right?

[vufan75]

Jerry Palm tweet regarding Valpo and Arch Madness chances based on Paul Oren tweet about what ML said today about team health.

https://twitter.com/jppalmCBS/status/1100076277401305089?s=19

Love Valpo MBB and hope I'm proven wrong but just not ready to believe again based on up/down performances. Thoughts?


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[valpo64]

It is sometimes very hard to  understand the criticism on this board regarding Matt L, his staff and players.  Sure Matt had made some mistakes, but...  Have any of you dissenters paid any attention to the overall MVC results this year?   And for the most part, teams that have struggled have "veteran" coaches and some veteran players, particularly in the back court. And we start freshman guards,  sprinkled with guys playing only because of injuries to players who would normally start in front of them, a head coach only in his 3rd year.  I believe cooler heads should prevail.  If you were a Loyola fan I can't imagine what you would be saying about Moser, probably the most overrated coach in the MVC .  Or how about the coaching situations at Bradley, Southern Illinois, and Illinois State, etc.  It is time for cooler heads to prevail regarding Matt and this team. For the most part,  this whole season has gone south because of injuries, inexperienced players and perhaps inexperienced coaches.  Matt really started from scratch, inheriting a veteran team but with  a not so hot incoming class recruited by Bryce.  Then we jump into the MVC.  Then he had to re-build a coaching staff.  Give the man a chance.  Even some of the first year MVC coaches had head coaching experience prior to coming into the MVC.  And for some of you who are members of the "Drew Crew" gang,  I wonder how they would have done under the situations Matt has had to face.  I too have been disappointed in the season, especially after the great start to the MVC season,  but let's show some support to Matt and the team for these last 2 games and MVC tourney.  It could be fun.  Then next year lets have a good year,  We're due...GO VALPO!

[Valpo89]

Agree 64. Basically, the MVC is just a bunch of mediocre/bad teams this year. Whoever emerges from Arch Madness most likely will be a one-and-done in the NCAA Tournament.

[tiny707]

Well said Valpo64!

[GoldenCrusader87]

64 - who wouldn't want to support what you said? But, that's a sugar coated depiction of what's actually a much more grim reality. Talking about other coaches in the MVC doesn't mean anything in regards to concerns we've posted here about his lack of owning the losses and such. I'd go so far as to say your points about the other teams actually make matters worse because the league is WIDE OPEN. And yet we're not taking advantage. But sure, I'll jump on the bandwagon and ignore the flashing red lights that clearly portray a much different story.

[oklahomamick]

Valpo64, Lottich Chance should be 4 years.  If team doesn't make noice next year, you have what everyone already knows, a lame duck.  We will just wait for more facts on something we already know....

And I will apologize if I'm wrong.