Game #11 - Ball State - ARC - Mon Dec 17 - 7pm - ESPN+ - the Payback continues

[talksalot]

According to RPI, this is the toughest game on the schedule.

With late-day action on Saturday, the Cardinals fall to #50... the Crusaders are #256.  RealTime Predictor has BSU with a 1-point win...

No students on campus.  Opposite the Saints / Panthers on MNF.

It's half-price ticket night... $10 chairbacks, $5 GA

Long week of finals ... coming off a decent shooting night.

BSU is currently on a 5-game winning streak, with Evansville on Sunday.  (BSU has already beaten Evansville once this year 82-72) .  AND they have beaten two other MVC teams, Indiana State 86-69 in the opener and @ Loyola 75-69.  Their three losses are to P5's  Purdue (by 9), VT (by 9)and Bama (by 18).

We owe them big time after what they did last year in Muncie.

[valpotx]

We surprise Ball State, and avenge last year's late loss:

Valpo 74
Ball State 66

[SanityLost17]

At least we have now given Ball State something to think about....  They are going to have to chose. 

1. Double Smits and make us both rotate the ball and hit 3's
2. Don't double Smits and make him beat them thus not giving us as many open looks.   

Personally if I was a coach of an opposing program I would make Smits beat us.  Make him have a really good game to win and put pressure on the 3 point line and see if Valpo falls into the trap of shooting bad 3's.

At GW we proved with good ball rotation we can hit open 3's after a double team.   Do we have enough discipline to NOT shoot 3's when we are not open?  Do we have people that can drive the ball effectively.  Can Smits scoring 22-24 points be enough to win a game when we are not hitting 3's. 

Still lots of questions.     

[valpopal]

Ball State lost at Evansville this afternoon, 89-77. Attendance at Evansville was 5672 with a good student turnout. Unfortunately, we play Ball State on a Monday after the semester ends.

[valpo64]

A few weeks ago BSU beat EU by about 9 or 10 at Muncie.  Odd scheduling for sure.

[VU2014]

I think we can win this game. Ball State is a good but we have the talent to match them. The real question is which Valpo team is going to show up on Monday? We haven't played great at home all season, which is bizarre. Another challenge will be determining what kind of energy is in the building with no students on campus (why can't both coaching staffs seem to figure this out? Play these in-state rivalry games when students are on campus).

I really want this game. That game last year left a really bad taste in my mouth. The Persons kid is a good player but smug. I'm going to be watching Branchen Hazen. The coaching staff heavily recruited him and we all know the story with his brother last season. Will he be extra motivated?

[valpopal]

I'm going to be watching Branchen Hazen. The coaching staff heavily recruited him and we all know the story with his brother last season. Will he be extra motivated?

Hazen hasn't played in the last four games due to injury. We'll see if he has healed by next Monday.

[IrishDawg]

Might depend on which Ball State team shows up as well.  They just lost to Evansville on the road, who's not as good as Valpo, so if their shots aren't falling, Valpo should feel pretty confident.  Also could depend on the whistle, as Ball State is team that gets to the line a lot, while Valpo doesn't commit many fouls.  Should be interesting to see what happens.

[VU2014]

I think everyone knows this by now but the Athletics Dept is selling half priced tickets for the Ball State game. I'm definitely going to make the trip for this game. It should be a good one.

https://twitter.com/ValpoAlumni/status/1072846134199095297

[FWalum]

I think everyone knows this by now but the Athletics Dept is selling half priced tickets for the Ball State game. I'm definitely going to make the trip for this game. It should be a good one.

https://twitter.com/ValpoAlumni/status/1072846134199095297

Only 38 Chairback tickets available as of 6:23 PM 12/12/18

[bbtds]

A few weeks ago BSU beat EU by about 9 or 10 at Muncie.  Odd scheduling for sure.

It's UE not EU.

[VUBBFan]

https://youtu.be/dYo0sZEc1c4

Ball State preview.

[VUBBFan]

https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/1073309961793482752

[vu72]

Looks like the crowd is going to be pretty big.  Now 18 chairbacks left and 105 on the reserve side.  Upstairs looks like about 7 or 8 rows deep gone. Still three days till game time.  It won't be a sellout but still the biggest crowd of the year to date.  As for the students, there are easily 100 kids living within a short drive if they can simply get off their A$$es and show up. 

[M]

That won't happen, and quite frankly I couldn't blame them after being treated to the game they saw last time at home.  Time to give away free tickets behind the basket to anyone with a high school ID.

Or get a couple different high school bands and stick um in the student section and let them alternate playing songs during timeouts.

[VU2014]

That won't happen, and quite frankly I couldn't blame them after being treated to the game they saw last time at home.  Time to give away free tickets behind the basket to anyone with a high school ID.

Or get a couple different high school bands and stick um in the student section and let them alternate playing songs during timeouts.

https://twitter.com/ValpoU/status/1073696846952976387

[VU2010]

Did anyone watch Valpo b-ball weekly? Literally for the first 2 minutes and 23 seconds he makes excuses.... flying here and there ... midterms .... doing laundry ..... like, seriously? I've never heard a coach make up so many excuses. Then he attributed the poor home performance to being too comfortable in a routine. Lol it's comical.

https://youtu.be/dYo0sZEc1c4

[FieldGoodie05]

Did anyone watch Valpo b-ball weekly? Literally for the first 2 minutes and 23 seconds he makes excuses.... flying here and there ... midterms .... doing laundry ..... like, seriously? I've never heard a coach make up so many excuses. Then he attributed the poor home performance to being too comfortable in a routine. Lol it's comical.

https://youtu.be/dYo0sZEc1c4

Yeah watched it last night, I'll admit to being annoyed by the excuses at first.  But a point is made regarding why we have been better on the road (more focus, less distractions).

He went onto point out that studies were difficult with that road / travel to start the season and players may have been distracted upon arriving home.  Question asked (why more effective on the road) and question answered ("excuses" as you put it).

[VU2010]

Sorry but the laundry comment really put me over the top ... literally laughing out loud ... ok maybe crying a bit ... but, mostly laughing

[wh]

Probably, it would be better to not be overly critical of Matt's comments. Next thing you know he'll clam up and turn into another Bryce, who could fill 15 minutes and say absolutely nothing of substance better than anyone I've ever seen. And, before someone misinterprets, I loved Bryce as both a player and coach.

[crusader05]

I agree with WH.

Also in the radio interview Matt made it clear he felt we really should be 7-2 and that we should have won the game at Wake Forest. I don't think he looks at them as excuses vs just reasons for the lower level of play. Also I actually am not surprised by the High Point game and feel like his reasoning is pretty spot on. That week is a horrible week for college students. Most have huge projects due, final tests that happen before the finals and everyone is pretty much exhausted. I wouldn't be surprised if that combined with the road travels and a bit of over-looking High Point all contributed to the complete travesty that was their play that night. They all looked like zombies.

[valpospartan]

Looks like the crowd is going to be pretty big.  Now 18 chairbacks left and 105 on the reserve side.  Upstairs looks like about 7 or 8 rows deep gone. Still three days till game time.  It won't be a sellout but still the biggest crowd of the year to date.  As for the students, there are easily 100 kids living within a short drive if they can simply get off their A$$es and show up. 

Very possibly a lot of BSU fans are buying some/most of these seats.

[EddieCabot]

Looks like the crowd is going to be pretty big.  Now 18 chairbacks left and 105 on the reserve side.  Upstairs looks like about 7 or 8 rows deep gone. Still three days till game time.  It won't be a sellout but still the biggest crowd of the year to date.  As for the students, there are easily 100 kids living within a short drive if they can simply get off their A$$es and show up. 

Very possibly a lot of BSU fans are buying some/most of these seats.

Lower arena looks pretty full, but lots of seats available up top.  I'm hoping for a big walk-up crowd to snag those $5 tickets!

[justducky]

I just glanced at the ESPN Power Index Projections which guesses us to finish #117 with 18.3 wins and 12.7 losses. A conference record of 10.4 and 7.6.  Hmmmm 

Our next 3 Div 1 games should answer many questions. Ball St, @ Texas A&M and Illinois St are all difficult but beatable opponents. 2 out of 3 and we are on track to meet the above projection. With a sweep we might catapult forward to the top of the MVC projections. With only 1 of 3, I will be resigned to admit that my optimism for the 18-19 season was much too high.

It all starts tonight. Be there  for the win. 

[valpopal]

Looks like Vegas favors Valpo by 1 point.