Wake Forest at MB Invitational Sunday,Nov.18 10:30 a.m.EST / 9:30 a.m.CST ESPNU

[nkvu]

Think Smits played about as well as he can today. Managed to get some shots to fall and didn't foul out. Hope he gives this kind of effort every game.

Still, giving up second chance points and not hitting 3s will be the death of this team. Cut the second chance points in half, we win. Shoot a decent percentage from 3, we win.

[M]

Good job by Smits....

Is VU just a bad shooting team? Bakari certainly hasn't found any kind of consistent shot. Maybe time to swap him and Golder in the lineup.

Can't lose both the rebounding battle and the 3 point shooting battle and expect to win very often.

[a3uge]

Why is Golder sitting so much?  He has a good FG% and rebounds with intensity. Why is Bakari taking threes when the game is on the line? Bakari made one FG all game.

I'm baffled by this as well. Golder became Valpo's best player after struggling to find playing time last year, and this year he again isn't starting, while Bakari and Fazekas have brought nothing to the lineup. Golder is forced to play along side Kiser and McMillan, so he's not getting ANY opportunities in transition.

[VULB#62]

Marcus should be averaging 20+ minutes a game off the bench. He had, what, 17 today and was not on the floor at all in crunch time when the team needed speed, skill, rebounding and accurate shooting.

[justducky]

Credit Smits with a terrific game against good D-1 big man competition (not Concordia) and hope this is his turning point toward consistently being the player he has always had potential to become.

Obviously Wake decided to pressure our outside shooting and gave Derrik one on one coverage and plenty of room to operate. With this opportunity he showed some of his potential on offense.

4) Live and die by the 3 ball because why drive to the basket.

This was kind of a chess match. Wake gave us the option to feed an open Smits or drive and dish against the tight outside coverage. Matt seemed to make the choice of giving Derrik the ball and the opportunity to carry the team. Yes he played very well but the scoreboard shows that we still lost. Longer term I like this approach.

[justducky]

If Sorolla had been available and if McMillan was just a touch further along with his development then this game would have again offered us the opportunity to play some minutes with Fazekas at the 3.

Our play at Myrtle Beach really has me excited to see what the Crusaders can do in Feb and March. I can already see where and how some of our improvements can come. I am going to continue to be very patient while we fumble along thru November.

[FieldGoodie05]

Why is Golder sitting so much?  He has a good FG% and rebounds with intensity. Why is Bakari taking threes when the game is on the line? Bakari made exactly one FG all game.

The team shot under 30% (21.1%) for 3ptrs - again. Zeke still not hitting for %age. Wake hit over 40%.

Smitts came up with 7 RBs to go along with 23 pts.

I am a bit disappointed with Bakari's selfish early shot clock hoists from deep.  The problem we have is that he's as close to a team leader as we have, right?  Or who? 

How do we take a leader off the court in a game where we are consistently playing from behind?

Honestly our best lineup is probably

Lavender
Freeman
Golder
Fazekas
Smits (sub Sorolla)

In that lineup we only have 2 guys that can actually dribble drive or distribute though and that's a problem playing from behind.

Golder might be seeing less minutes because he doesn't have strong handles? 

[valpo64]

Bakari looks lost on offense.  We sure do handle the ball well...AT NEAR THE MID COURT LINE!!!!  Will we have ANY 3-point shooters this year?

[VUGrad1314]

If we can shoot the ball and rebound just a little better this team can and should win a lot of games. I know it gets harder and harder to discuss and take moral victories but I'm very encouraged by what I saw today. The second half defense was stellar and the crunch time offense was great until the last 30 seconds. Too many little plays (missed layups missed rebounds threes that rattled out turnovers) went against us while Wake Forest hit some tough shots down the stretch. We could also stand to get a little better on rotations\closeouts but that wasn't the big story today.

Bakari and Golder are better players than they showed today. They will improve. Golder needs more PT

Fazekas is a better shooter than he's shown so far. This was just his fourth game back from sickness\injury that essentially sapped him of two years. By conference time he should be close to becoming the player we all think he can be.

Javon looks great. I expect big things from him.

Nobody can stay with Sackey. Once he harnesses that speed and plays more under control he will be a force.

Smits was our second half offense and had a great game. But he has got to get better on defense and on the glass (though this was actually one of his better rebounding games) we all know he can score in bunches.

Lavender played well. He hit some big shots to keep us in it and generally made good decisions with the ball.

I love Kiser's heart hustle grit effort toughness rebounding and defense but I'm honestly good if I never saw him play another minute. We have guys that can play the same level of defense  but who can actually contribute something on offense. Maybe I'm being too hard on him but I view him as a net negative when he's on the floor. That said there's a lot to be said about the intangibles he brings and I honestly think the team might lose something if he were to be completely phased out. I like him a lot I just don't know if he brings enough to the table. Very conflicting player for me.

I think the new muscle has affected McMillan's shot. It looks really flat and I don't remember it looking that bad last year. I'm good with him not shooting any more threes until his shot adjusts to his new muscle. We need him to be a force inside anyway. The shooting and ball handling are just a bonus. Until that shot improves and can be safely relied upon, he is best utilized as a post player. That said I firmly believe that his shot will come around and once it does he will be an absolute nightmare for opposing bigs to guard.

This team fought like hell against a more talented team with multiple top 100 recruits on its roster. They have nothing  whatsoever to be ashamed of. With a few improvements this team will win a lot of games. This is not a bottom tier MVC team. They may not be a top contender this year (maybe they could be  nobody's really separated themselves yet) but they will be a factor in the race this year and will make life difficult for opposing teams all  season. Say what you will of Lottich's shortcomings but his teams fight scrap and battle  on defense like few others. I just hope that eventually (hopefully very soon) all this effort  translates to results for their sake so that they have unassailable tangible objective proof of the strides they are making that we can all see as we watch this team grow. I believe that those results are coming soon. As much as delving into moral victories sucks and can get tiresome I'm encouraged by what I've seen so far and I hope you are too. Brighter days and better seasons are ahead of us. Keep the faith and as always  Go Valpo!

[tiny707]

I thought Golder not playing at the end could have been the difference. He brings energy and can hit a three. Also could have used Jay again for defense.

[vu72]

First game I have been able to watch this season. A few observations over these few last seasons.

Lottich coaching style:

1) Make no investment in individual player development

2) Do not use ball movement. Rely on individual circus shots and hope they go in.

3) ignore the concept of team basketball and how every succesful Valpo team in the past share the basketball.

4) Live and die by the 3 ball because why drive to the basket.

5) never learn from previous mistakes.

6) Energized defending and rebounding is optional.

7)  No need to work on free throws, why bother. Obviously too overwhelmed with neglecting other aspects of coaching.

Disclaimer for the Lottich apologists: yes this is critical. Yes it is unfair because I am a fan who is not directly involved in the program. Yes he has had a rough start to his tenure and has had a lot of bad luck. Just observations of how the Valpo program has changed over the past few years.

I think you were watching a different team.  Thanks for posting though.

[crusadermoe]

In summary, I thought Myrtle Beach was a very good performance.  Considering our poor shooting and lack of rebounding, I would have predicted blowouts.  When Sorolla returns we will have a bit more defense in the middle.

We won a game and we kept both of the losses close vs. an ACC team and the favorite to win the American conference (WKY).

I'll take it! 

[valpotx]

Thought that calling the rebounding foul against Fazekas as flagrant was wrong - but Valpo will take it. Huge four point play.

Valpo looked good at the beginning because the ball was moving and it opened up the offense. Given the terrible stretch on offense (lots of bad possessions) and getting killed inside, Valpo fortunate to be down 3. Can win this game if they play defense and block out like they did in the last four minutes.

I thought that the Fazekas call was right on, per the rule that the announcers were talking about.  Fazekas was camped under the rebound, not even having to box anyone out, and the WF player undercut him on the way down.  He wasn't making a play on the ball at all.

The opposite call against Valpo was complete crap.  It was a general foul, but not the same as the Fazekas situation, as they tried to make it out to be.  We were actively boxing the guy out to get the rebound, when the WF player tried to jump over/around Lavender.  Lavender WAS trying to make a play on the ball by boxing out.  Power 5 pressure on that one to also call it a flagrant.

[VUGrad1314]

Thought that calling the rebounding foul against Fazekas as flagrant was wrong - but Valpo will take it. Huge four point play.

Valpo looked good at the beginning because the ball was moving and it opened up the offense. Given the terrible stretch on offense (lots of bad possessions) and getting killed inside, Valpo fortunate to be down 3. Can win this game if they play defense and block out like they did in the last four minutes.

I thought that the Fazekas call was right on, per the rule that the announcers were talking about.  Fazekas was camped under the rebound, not even having to box anyone out, and the WF player undercut him on the way down.  He wasn't making a play on the ball at all.

The opposite call against Valpo was complete crap.  It was a general foul, but not the same as the Fazekas situation, as they tried to make it out to be.  We were actively boxing the guy out to get the rebound, when the WF player tried to jump over/around Lavender.  Lavender WAS trying to make a play on the ball by boxing out.  Power 5 pressure on that one to also call it a flagrant.

Even so the game was lost when we fouled the shooter on the four point play that doubled their lead. That or when Valpo committed that boneheaded foul when they had the guy  dead to rights for a ten second violation

[M]

Was Bradford unavailable or is he still hurting (or just that far in the doghouse or down the depth chart)? I know he's just as streaky a shooter as anyone else we got.

[justducky]

Was Bradford unavailable or is he still hurting (or just that far in the doghouse or down the depth chart)?

Just a guess but he looked not to be 100% and there seems to be no pressing need to hurry his full return. Lavender has already shown me that a full strength Micah will be facing more bench time than I had imagined. If Bradford is physically ready I would look for Matt to give him some significant playing time vs SIUE. Whenever you have 2 players redshirting everybody else needs to be healthy.

[VUBBFan]

Just my observation but I thought Micah was moving around a little bit stiff as he walked up and down by the bench.

Definitely not moving fast, but being on the bench there was no need to hurry. Will find out soon enough.

[bbtds]

I think the new muscle has affected McMillan's shot. It looks really flat and I don't remember it looking that bad last year. I'm good with him not shooting any more threes until his shot adjusts to his new muscle. We need him to be a force inside anyway. The shooting and ball handling are just a bonus. Until that shot improves and can be safely relied upon, he is best utilized as a post player. That said I firmly believe that his shot will come around and once it does he will be an absolute nightmare for opposing bigs to guard.

One huge hole that you left out about Mileek is his unnecessary fouling which knocks him out of the game. We need him in the game longer. Playing aggressively with 3 fouls in the first half just can't happen anymore. It's such foolish and plain stupid play. I do believe Mileek can become an absolute nightmare for opposing bigs to guard but if it's only for a few minutes in the first half it means very little to the team.

BTW, Mileek isn't shooting any worse than Fazekas (1 for 5) and Evelyn (1 for 7) from three. He just wasn't in the game long enough to get more 3 point shots. No one for Valpo hit more than one three pointer. 

[agibson]

We won a game and we kept both of the losses close vs. an ACC team and the favorite to win the American conference (WKY).

WKY is picked to win CUSA, rather than the American.

I don't know much about these box out rules, etc. but my read on the situation was very similar to what valpotx is saying.

https://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=3277.msg105811#msg105811

On the Fazekas play it didn't seem like a conventional box out at all - the Wake player slid in late, undercutting him. The commentator's analysis of that play seemed off base, almost like they were talking about another Wake player and a conventional box out.

[bigmosmithfan1]

The flagrant on Lavender was ridiculous. He had position on his man, was boxing him out cleanly when the player went airborne over his back and the refs decided to let the Wake bench make the call for them. If that's the new rule, then getting good position for a rebound no longer has value if the opponent can just initiate contact, flip over your back and get a flagrant call.

[VULB#62]

I didn't see it. But if he went over Lavender's back trying for a rebound, it should have gone the other way and Lavender should have been at the line.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/nwipreps/status/1064378605105491968

[IrishDawg]

https://twitter.com/nwipreps/status/1064378605105491968

Western Kentucky would have been far more of a "marquee" win than Wake Forest, and I don't know if I would have classified either of them as a marquee win for Valpo.

[justducky]

Western Kentucky would have been far more of a "marquee" win than Wake Forest, and I don't know if I would have classified either of them as a marquee win for Valpo.

If we can define "marquee" as an at-large or better opponent then I would have to agree. By that measure we may not even have a marquee opponent on our schedule. WKU has a long shot chance to reach this status after they regain their point guard at semester break.

[valpotx]

They have some good recruits, but will probably win 4 games in the ACC this year.  Similar to the Nebraska game a few years ago, this was a prime chance to take out a P5 program