Game #20 Valpo @ Indiana State 1/23/19 6pm espn3

[VU2010]

Happy to hear he said it like it is - we were embarrassed. The up and down Jeckle and Hyde attitude of this team is inexcusable. They fought harder last year when they were in last place!!!!   

Playing like they've got nothing to win. Ex: Sarolla at one point literally caught a pass while standing out of bounds. And proceeded to just stand there. Those were the kind of thoughtless things that happened all night long. Not just him - you get the point.

I don't get that. You CAN control effort. And I don't see how basketball IQ can come and go from this team.

We have a lot of experience on the court. No excuses anymore for this kind of crap. Good for calling it for what it is and not sugarcoating it, Lottich.

[elephtheria47]

Turned the game off. I think we desperately need fazekas back, soon. Without him, and on the road, we are a dumpster fire. Valpo had no business being on that court. IN state was hardly .500 and looked like the globetrotters out there running circles around us.

[vu72]

Turned the game off. I think we desperately need fazekas back, soon. Without him, and on the road, we are a dumpster fire. Valpo had no business being on that court. IN state was hardly .500 and looked like the globetrotters out there running circles around us.

Bingo.  He changes everything.  Kiser is a good player but when he catches a pass in the corner you know he isn't going to shoot it.  Ryan will shoot it and make it 50% of the time.  That makes the zone far less effective and opens up the middle.  We just don't have another shooter like Ryan.

As for last night, Bakari should have been benched.  I saw Matt about jump out of the gym on one of Bakari's terrible passes.  It was a real $hit show to be sure.

[wh]

Turned the game off. I think we desperately need fazekas back, soon. Without him, and on the road, we are a dumpster fire. Valpo had no business being on that court. IN state was hardly .500 and looked like the globetrotters out there running circles around us.

Bingo.  He changes everything.  Kiser is a good player but when he catches a pass in the corner you know he isn't going to shoot it.  Ryan will shoot it and make it 50% of the time.  That makes the zone far less effective and opens up the middle.  We just don't have another shooter like Ryan.

As for last night, Bakari should have been benched.  I saw Matt about jump out of the gym on one of Bakari's terrible passes.  It was a real $hit show to be sure.

Obviously, the team has higher upside potential when it's leading scorer is playing. Unfortunately, that fact doesn't belong in last night's story line.

[SanityLost17]

Big game against Drake this weekend.   I doubt they will care about our Fazekas excuse... You know, since they lost their best player for the season.   

I don't mind that we lost, it was a road game against a team who is better than their record indicates.

[justducky]

There were several minutes when we tried to go with Sackey , Lavender and a big. Immediately ISU went zone and we are stuck with almost no outside threats. Good recognition by ISU but you can't win anywhere with only 2  3-point shooters on the floor.

[vu72]

There were several minutes when we tried to go with Sackey , Lavender and a big. Immediately ISU went zone and we are stuck with almost no outside threats. Good recognition by ISU but you can't win anywhere with only 2  3-point shooters on the floor.

When you think about it, we start four guys who are all pretty bad shooters. Jevon included as he is now shooting 29% from the 3.  Sackey and Kiser are both at 25%.  Why wouldn't you play zone and sag back like teams use to do when Buggs was our point? Then we bring in Bakari at 31% and Lavender at 28%.  Guess what?  Teams have now seen us and know that as long as Fazekas is out they have a clear path to beating us.

[valpopal]

Paul mentioned that Matt Kenney was attending the game last night. Too bad this was the Valpo game he got to see in person this season. He must have been puzzled by the "Gritty" label attached to this team, especially since Matt was truly gritty when on the court, and his 2012-2013 team (Kenney, Van Wijk, Broekhoff, Capobianco, Boggs, Bogan, Dority, Fernandez, Buggs, Coleman) set the Valpo bar for grittiness!

[crusadermoe]

No reason not run offense through Smits.   He is playing well, or at least better than ever before, and has a huge upside.  The other players are what they are except for Jevon's huge upside.

We won't contend for the title or bid if Smits doesn't continue to raise his game.  We need to give him every chance to show consistency at the high level rather than experimenting with offensive flows later in the year.    Keep it up, Matt.

[justducky]

There were several minutes when we tried to go with Sackey , Lavender and a big. Immediately ISU went zone and we are stuck with almost no outside threats. Good recognition by ISU but you can't win anywhere with only 2  3-point shooters on the floor.

When you think about it, we start four guys who are all pretty bad shooters. Jevon included as he is now shooting 29% from the 3.  Sackey and Kiser are both at 25%.  Why wouldn't you play zone and sag back like teams use to do when Buggs was our point? Then we bring in Bakari at 31% and Lavender at 28%.  Guess what?  Teams have now seen us and know that as long as Fazekas is out they have a clear path to beating us.

I will define "chucker" as any player who can instantly recognize an opportunity and confidently let it fly. Hypothetically this team could be vastly improved if we had one. "Chuckers" when hot, open up better shots for the guys who actually think before they shoot "thinkers". Right now our perimeter is manned by "thinkers" and "over-thinkers". While I am willing to concede that Bradford can be an "over-chucker", I think his availability could have benefited us last night. 

[M]

Teams are stupid if they don't at least start vs Valpo in the zone or at minimum double team Smith every single time he touches the ball until the Crusaders prove they are hitting shots outside.  Also, sounds like we need to recruit some shooters.

[valpo64]

While I have been one of the most out-spoken contributors to the poor effort last night, I guess we still do have to remember that while we do have some experience we still have alot of in-experience on the floor...2 frosh guards ,  Kiser who has not seen that much action, Lavender who is new to the team, plus the fact that Fazekas is out.   Every game is a new challenge so let's forget the past one and concentrate on Drake.  Remember we still are in first place.

If we think our loss was embarrassing, what about the Loyola faithful.  Now THAT  loss was embarrassing!

[justducky]

Teams are stupid if they don't at least start vs Valpo in the zone or at minimum double team Smith every single time he touches the ball until the Crusaders prove they are hitting shots outside.  Also, sounds like we need to recruit some shooters.

Until Fazekas returns I would expect everybody to show us at least some spot zone looks. As for recruiting more shooters how have our redshirts shot from 3 in the past and in practice?

[vu72]

Teams are stupid if they don't at least start vs Valpo in the zone or at minimum double team Smith every single time he touches the ball until the Crusaders prove they are hitting shots outside.  Also, sounds like we need to recruit some shooters.

Until Fazekas returns I would expect everybody to show us at least some spot zone looks. As for recruiting more shooters how have our redshirts shot from 3 in the past and in practice?

Both Eron and Nick shot 35% from the 3 their last year playing.  That's better than everybody other than Ryan and Marcus.

[wh]

I don't know how much zone INSU played last night, because I watched some and listened to some in the car. That said, was it purely a zone or was it a combination defense, like a triangle-and-2?  The reason I ask is there's almost no way a team shoots only 10 3's against a tightly packed zone. If a defense really packs it in, they can all but close your usual driving lanes and limit your big's touches, while giving up a lot of space on the perimeter. If that were the case, Marcus, for example, would have had several open looks from 3, but I don't recall that being the case when I was watching. Also, why was INSU smart enough to play zone, but the other very well coached teams we have beaten since Ryan has been out weren't smart enough to figure out that they should be playing zone. This isn't rocket science, and INSU didn't break the secret code that suddenly exposed our Achilles heel to the world.

[justducky]

I don't know how much zone INSU played last night, because I watched some and listened to some in the car. That said, was it purely a zone or was it a combination defense, like a triangle-and-2?  The reason I ask is there's almost no way a team shoots only 10 3's against a tightly packed zone. If a defense really packs it in, they can all but close your usual driving lanes and limit your big's touches, while giving up a lot of space on the perimeter. If that were the case, Marcus, for example, would have had several open looks from 3, but I don't recall that being the case when I was watching. Also, why was INSU smart enough to play zone, but the other very well coached teams we have beaten since Ryan has been out weren't smart enough to figure out that they should be playing zone. This isn't rocket science, and INSU didn't break the secret code that suddenly exposed our Achilles heel to the world.

Good questions. Unfortunately I was in and out while multitasking so without watching it over I'd guess 8 or 10 min minimum were zoned and they mixed it up to suit our lineup. Just a 2-3, I think and less of it while Golder was on the floor.


If you watch just the 1st half you can probably come back with all your questions better answered as I have been known to see things that aren't there.   

[VU2014]

Someone want to start the Drake Game thread? I'm riding a losing streak so I'm not going to start it.

[M]

I'll give it a go....

[valporun]

Oh ok - I forgot ... we always have to make excuses. Duh - they're in class. My mistake. And, they play basketball games. Embarrassing on my behalf - my apologies.

Did they have too much laundry to  do before this game too?

[valpopal]

Paul mentioned that Matt Kenney was attending the game last night. Too bad this was the Valpo game he got to see in person this season. He must have been puzzled by the "Gritty" label attached to this team, especially since Matt was truly gritty when on the court, and his 2012-2013 team (Kenney, Van Wijk, Broekhoff, Capobianco, Boggs, Bogan, Dority, Fernandez, Buggs, Coleman) set the Valpo bar for grittiness!

Just came across this as a recommended video on my YouTube, and I thought it would remind us of the truly gritty 2012-2013 team.

[VU2010]

Wow!!!!! How soon things change. Truly an amazing time to be a Valpo fan. Look at the stands! Ugh ... to go back!!!

[VUGrad1314]

We can and will have that again... We just drew 4160 for the Drake game last Saturday and until life threatening cold sabotaged the attendance of the Missouri State game attendance for conference games was right on par with the Horizon days. If we can get a couple of road wins this week it should stay that way.