Valpo vs Illinois State - 1/2

[VUGrad1314]

We forced 14 second half turnovers. That's incredible. Great job guys! Keep it up!

https://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-state/halfcourt-shot-at-buzzer-lifts-valparaiso-over-redbirds/article_456e68ee-3dc2-5cce-96a6-865e34305407.html?mode=nowapp

[VUBBFan]

So who was the fan that held up the "GRITTY" sign?  I loved that!  If the team doesn't play that way they get blown out in the second half instead of battling back to give Golder the chance to heave one in at the buzzer.

That was me. I think every good team needs to have an identity or rallying call to call their own.


After listening to the post game interview from PNW and hearing the word Grit/Gritty I just wanted to help bring it out like Matt was doing.


As a fan I can just sit and do nothing or I can cheer the best I can. I'm trying to do the best I can.

[VUGrad1314]

So who was the fan that held up the "GRITTY" sign?  I loved that!  If the team doesn't play that way they get blown out in the second half instead of battling back to give Golder the chance to heave one in at the buzzer.

That was me. I think every good team needs to have an identity or rallying call to call their own. After listening to the post game interview from PNW and hearing the word Grit/Gritty I just wanted to help bring it out like Matt was doing. As a fan I can just sit and do nothing or I can cheer the best I can. I'm trying to do the best I can.

They should sell Gritty or Let's get gritty merchandise. Make it an identity for the team and the fanbase. For a coach "gritty " means coaching to the very end and leaving no stone unturned tactically  within the rules. For a player "gritty" means grinding and constantly battling on offense defense and rebounding no matter the score. For a fan "gritty" means showing up cheering loudly and proudly and never giving up. Just as the team shouldn't quit no matter the situation neither should we. Tonight was a lesson for coach player and fan alike. When you do things right and don't quit good things happen and you can overcome seemingly insurmountable circumstances. And some say sports can't teach good life lessons.

This would also help ingratiate us to the region at large. There's a certain toughness or grittiness that is required to make it here and having a team that embodies that would make the team more accessible and identifiable to the  region.

[nkvu]

So who was the fan that held up the "GRITTY" sign?  I loved that!  If the team doesn't play that way they get blown out in the second half instead of battling back to give Golder the chance to heave one in at the buzzer.

That was me. I think every good team needs to have an identity or rallying call to call their own. After listening to the post game interview from PNW and hearing the word Grit/Gritty I just wanted to help bring it out like Matt was doing. As a fan I can just sit and do nothing or I can cheer the best I can. I'm trying to do the best I can.

They should sell Gritty or Let's get gritty merchandise. Make it an identity for the team and the fanbase. For a coach "gritty " means coaching to the very end and leaving no stone unturned tactically  within the rules. For a player "gritty" means grinding and constantly battling on offense defense and rebounding no matter the score. For a fan "gritty" means showing up cheering loudly and proudly and never giving up. Just as the team shouldn't quit no matter the situation neither should we. Tonight was a lesson for coach player and fan alike. When you do things right and don't quit good things happen and you can overcome seemingly insurmountable circumstances. And some say sports can't teach good life lessons.

This would also help ingratiate us to the region at large. There's a certain toughness or grittiness that is required to make it here and having a team that embodies that would make the team more accessible and identifiable to the  region.
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So who was the fan that held up the "GRITTY" sign?  I loved that!  If the team doesn't play that way they get blown out in the second half instead of battling back to give Golder the chance to heave one in at the buzzer.

That was me. I think every good team needs to have an identity or rallying call to call their own. After listening to the post game interview from PNW and hearing the word Grit/Gritty I just wanted to help bring it out like Matt was doing. As a fan I can just sit and do nothing or I can cheer the best I can. I'm trying to do the best I can.

They should sell Gritty or Let's get gritty merchandise. Make it an identity for the team and the fanbase. For a coach "gritty " means coaching to the very end and leaving no stone unturned tactically  within the rules. For a player "gritty" means grinding and constantly battling on offense defense and rebounding no matter the score. For a fan "gritty" means showing up cheering loudly and proudly and never giving up. Just as the team shouldn't quit no matter the situation neither should we. Tonight was a lesson for coach player and fan alike. When you do things right and don't quit good things happen and you can overcome seemingly insurmountable circumstances. And some say sports can't teach good life lessons.

This would also help ingratiate us to the region at large. There's a certain toughness or grittiness that is required to make it here and having a team that embodies that would make the team more accessible and identifiable to the  region.

If I lived anywhere near Valpo and could attend a game I swear I would find a cowboy hat and an eyepatch and channel my inner Rooster Cogburn and flash a True Grit banner to support this team. A "True Grit" identity could give this team something to live up to.

[VUBBFan]

Attendance: 3818 Not bad.

Think a few of these folks might come back for Bradley after what they saw tonight? I suspect a few might tell some friends as well.

Maybe even get some to the Loyola game. Valpo is sponsoring a Bus ride, Dinner and Ticket to the game for $60.

[VUGrad1314]

Keep reinforcing that "gritty" mantra!

http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/news/2018-19/18729/golder-half-court-buzzer-beater-caps-comeback-valpo-downs-illinois-state-in-mvc-opener/

[VUGrad1314]

Another  idea would be using the Tonagel Broekhoff and Golder buzzer beaters and maybe some scenes from signature wins of the past (The Lutheran Miracle URI St Mary's FSU) in a commercial to promote the program and the kinds of moments that could await those who come out to the ARC to support the team (though the big limitation to this idea is that only Golder's shot promotes Valpo In the Valley). I don't know. Just spitballing. Love all the free publicity and wonder how we can take advantage of it to move the program forward and keep the momentum going.

[bbtds]

It will be one of our few wins if they don't clean up a bunch of stuff.

Bingo! We almost lost to a team I feel will finish in the lower half of the conference standings. Yarbrough is a turnover machine and ISUr had an awful shooting night except for one player. I was ready to turn off the video feed when Javon tried to pass it back to Marcus on what should have been an easy fast break lay up.

But then some kind of miracle happens where ISUr makes every mistake they shouldn't have (2 offensive fouls, 2 missed FTs on the front end of one and ones and fouling a three point shooter) to put the game in Golder's hands and he comes through with "the bank is open" half court miracle shot. It truly was an amazing finish!

[VUGrad1314]

Some of you honestly think scoring droughts of that magnitude and duration will be common? I sure don't. 13:50 is absolutely unprecedented. If we defend rebound and hustle like we did tonight we're going to be just fine and win our share of games.

[vu72]

To be honest, when we had scored one point in about a dozen minutes I was thinking the worst.  Not just a loss but laying another egg in front of a big crowd like we did against Ball State.  What I was thinking was that the crowd problem would only continue to get worse as in "who wants to spend time and money to watch this?"

Thank goodness it went as it did as now those same folks might just come back to watch this team fight and claw...and WIN!  Great team effort.   

[FieldGoodie05]

So who was the fan that held up the "GRITTY" sign?  I loved that!  If the team doesn't play that way they get blown out in the second half instead of battling back to give Golder the chance to heave one in at the buzzer.

That was me. I think every good team needs to have an identity or rallying call to call their own. After listening to the post game interview from PNW and hearing the word Grit/Gritty I just wanted to help bring it out like Matt was doing. As a fan I can just sit and do nothing or I can cheer the best I can. I'm trying to do the best I can.

They should sell Gritty or Let's get gritty merchandise. Make it an identity for the team and the fanbase. For a coach "gritty " means coaching to the very end and leaving no stone unturned tactically  within the rules. For a player "gritty" means grinding and constantly battling on offense defense and rebounding no matter the score. For a fan "gritty" means showing up cheering loudly and proudly and never giving up. Just as the team shouldn't quit no matter the situation neither should we. Tonight was a lesson for coach player and fan alike. When you do things right and don't quit good things happen and you can overcome seemingly insurmountable circumstances. And some say sports can't teach good life lessons.

This would also help ingratiate us to the region at large. There's a certain toughness or grittiness that is required to make it here and having a team that embodies that would make the team more accessible and identifiable to the  region.

Let's just start by being offered to buy Valpo merch that isn't fugly or impractical for today.  I see where you are going with this but I think VU has a hard enough time selling standard yellow VALPO t-shirts let alone seasonal mantra having duds.

[valpo04]

So who was the fan that held up the "GRITTY" sign?  I loved that!  If the team doesn't play that way they get blown out in the second half instead of battling back to give Golder the chance to heave one in at the buzzer.

That was me. I think every good team needs to have an identity or rallying call to call their own. After listening to the post game interview from PNW and hearing the word Grit/Gritty I just wanted to help bring it out like Matt was doing. As a fan I can just sit and do nothing or I can cheer the best I can. I'm trying to do the best I can.

They should sell Gritty or Let's get gritty merchandise. Make it an identity for the team and the fanbase. For a coach "gritty " means coaching to the very end and leaving no stone unturned tactically  within the rules. For a player "gritty" means grinding and constantly battling on offense defense and rebounding no matter the score. For a fan "gritty" means showing up cheering loudly and proudly and never giving up. Just as the team shouldn't quit no matter the situation neither should we. Tonight was a lesson for coach player and fan alike. When you do things right and don't quit good things happen and you can overcome seemingly insurmountable circumstances. And some say sports can't teach good life lessons.

This would also help ingratiate us to the region at large. There's a certain toughness or grittiness that is required to make it here and having a team that embodies that would make the team more accessible and identifiable to the  region.

Did someone say Gritty?

[humbleopinion]

I can't express how refreshing it is to wake up and read the positive posts on the board.  Of course, if the half-court heave would have clanged off the rim, there would have been calls for Lottich's resignation.  This is the same team that we have seen throughout the season with lapses and with successes.  We are building and if we can remember to last season, the team continued to improve. I'm glad that the board is supporting the team.  I hope that continues even if a shot falls short. Even the Times held the presses to celebrate the win (I guess there weren't many Lake County high school games to bump VU out of the sports section).

https://www.nwitimes.com/eedition/north/page-b/page_de027687-1513-51df-839d-23456ab47a90.html

[SanityLost17]

The Good
The defense was much better last night.  Seemed to play with a lot more intensity.  I really liked the effort.
Smits almost with a double double
Fazekas shooting well from 3 against a D1 team     

The Bad
Our overall team stat line.  Not a stat line that wins many games. 

The Ugly
Our offense still is struggling and it is painful to watch at times.
Some of the most painful turnovers I have ever seen on some really bad cross court passes.


A win is a win and I am happy we won, but I am not going to get too excited just yet.   I looked back at Illinois States's non-con record and who they beat and didn't beat.   This IllSt team is struggling and despite their talent they are a middle of the road MVC team (at best) who was playing on our home court and they had to collapse in order for us to pull out a miracle.       

[usc4valpo]

Grit is an admirable characteristic and one people are lacking from generation to generation. I love the support for this!

[oklahomamick]

I'm going to be criticized for this but here goes:

Yes grit is good.  Along with a lot of Illinois State late mistakes, grit won us the game against a lower level MVC team.  Who looses when leading 10 and 1:30 left? 

We didn't used to have to win by grit.  We won by skill and better teamwork.

I will close that our expectations as a program should not fade because our team has been bad the last 2.5 years.  Prior to last year, (Missouri St. had a NBA draft pick) we were 5-0 against Missouri St. in the last 5 meetings. 

Shouldn't we expect the Valpo program to beat a new roster and new coach Missouri St. on Saturday?

I get it, we haven't been very good as of late, so enjoy the win.  It felt good.  But is this where we have come to be?  Celebrating a 54-52 buzzer beater at home against Illinois St?

That was a fun game too.  Congrats to Golder, he will remember that play for the rest of his life.  The crowd did a good job too! 

I will drive 3 hours one way to Missouri St. from Tulsa on Saturday.  I used to fly to a couple games every year but those days are over.

[wh]

We scored 18 points in the first 18:03 of the 2nd half. We closed with 14 points in the last 1:57.

That's crazy!

[vu72]

grit won us the game against a lower level MVC team

Really?  The coaches picked them second.  They have three senior starters and two red-shirt junior starters.  They will win a lot of conference games.

[VUGrad1314]

So who was the fan that held up the "GRITTY" sign?  I loved that!  If the team doesn't play that way they get blown out in the second half instead of battling back to give Golder the chance to heave one in at the buzzer.

That was me. I think every good team needs to have an identity or rallying call to call their own. After listening to the post game interview from PNW and hearing the word Grit/Gritty I just wanted to help bring it out like Matt was doing. As a fan I can just sit and do nothing or I can cheer the best I can. I'm trying to do the best I can.

They should sell Gritty or Let's get gritty merchandise. Make it an identity for the team and the fanbase. For a coach "gritty " means coaching to the very end and leaving no stone unturned tactically  within the rules. For a player "gritty" means grinding and constantly battling on offense defense and rebounding no matter the score. For a fan "gritty" means showing up cheering loudly and proudly and never giving up. Just as the team shouldn't quit no matter the situation neither should we. Tonight was a lesson for coach player and fan alike. When you do things right and don't quit good things happen and you can overcome seemingly insurmountable circumstances. And some say sports can't teach good life lessons. This would also help ingratiate us to the region at large. There's a certain toughness or grittiness that is required to make it here and having a team that embodies that would make the team more accessible and identifiable to the  region.

Did someone say Gritty?

I was waiting for a post like this. Thank you for bringing a smile to my face this morning. That was very funny.

[vusupporter]

We didn't used to have to win by grit.  We won by skill and better teamwork.

We also used to play in the Horizon League, not the Missouri Valley Conference.

[oklahomamick]

Fair.  But we had HL recruits on the team playing against HL competition....

[VUGrad1314]

We didn't used to have to win by grit.  We won by skill and better teamwork.

We also used to play in the Horizon League, not the Missouri Valley Conference.

Bingo. Literally every successful MVC team I've ever seen that has won in the tournament from Wichita State to UNI to Bradley to SIU to Loyola has been marked by its grit. There is no glory without grit in the MVC. Grit is what allows this league to consistently challenge and beat P5 schools. The MVC embodies the axiom "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." Now I believe that we have a talented team, even if the results are inconsistent, and when talent and grit come together on the same team, then you can see some truly special things happen (See: Loyola last year and 2013 Wichita State.) We are heading in the right direction as long as we never lose sight of what got us this win. When our talent catches up to our grit, we could be in for a historic year.

[oklahomamick]

VU72, I couldn't copy your message, but in response (and respect) 

Until this game we have 1 senior and 3 red-shirt junior starters.  2 of which played P6.  So I don't see much of a difference.....Correct, Illinois St. was selected 2nd but time will tell whether they finish in the top or bottom half of the MVC.  Took ISUr OT at home to beat Cleveland St.  Remember CSU?

They are 7-6...well now 7-7 and 0-1 in conference play.

[VULB#62]

Just for perspective after Game #1 in MVC play:

Valpo 58 - ISUr 56
EU 82 - Drake 77 (2 OT)
Loyola 79 - ISUb 45
UNI 65 @ Bradley 47
SIU 75 - MO State 70

Next Game (Saturday 1/5):

Valpo @ MO State
Bradley @ ISUb
Loyola @ Drake
EU @ ISUr
SIU @ UNI

[VUGrad1314]

I will close that our expectations as a program should not fade because our team has been bad the last 2.5 years.  Prior to last year, (Missouri St. had a NBA draft pick) we were 5-0 against Missouri St. in the last 5 meetings. Shouldn't we expect the Valpo program to beat a new roster and new coach Missouri St. on Saturday? I get it, we haven't been very good as of late, so enjoy the win.  It felt good.  But is this where we have come to be?  Celebrating a 54-52 buzzer beater at home against Illinois St? 

I think "bad" is a poor characterization of the program in the Lottich era (although I have used it myself at times so this post is for me too)


Consider the following:


We were 19-4 when Peters went down and the team was built around him the sputtering finish was to be expected


Then we moved to the MVC a massive step up where we had to learn nine teams and they had to learn one


Right before conference play our leader gets sick and the guy we were running our offense through gets dismissed


That's a lot of tough sledding


Darn right I'm celebrating this win and taking stock of the progress we made. We're on our way to meeting high expectations.


Missouri State is pretty good (beat WKU and gave SIU all they could handle) and playing them in November\December vs January\February are two very different things


This post is as much for me as anyone else.