Game #21 Valpo vs. Drake 1/26 7pm ESPN3 HOF Night

[justducky]

word is Smits is our two weeks. My guess is Markus is at least that. If Ryan isn't back this week we're headed for Thursday in St a Louis.

You can only worry about the things you can control. With that said I'd much rather be playing on Thursday at full strength than be a one or two seed with injuries.

[bigmosmithfan1]

Again, this many injuries year after year is not bad luck. We are either underinvesting our time/resources from a S&C standpoint or it's something else. I've noticed the ARC floor seems to have a lot less "give" than typical gym floors. Could that be part of the issue?

[NativeCheesehead]

I spent most of the game keeping my eyes on Bakari even when he didn't have the ball. Flat out, he's not healthy. He's not moving well, he winces a bit almost every dead ball. And anything from the knees down is going to cause havoc for a shooter.

[mj]

This team has been absolutely snake bit ever since Jubril was ruled ineligible.

This.

[valporun]

Not sure what got Smits, but two rolled ankles on the home floor... Hope that we can have Fazekas and Smits back soon. Evelyn seems to be a victim of his own head this season. I don't know if he's trying to be better than he is, or if he really is that kind of scorer, but can't get the shots to fall, but he's having points where he shouldn't be taking shots, but does anyway... Hope he overcomes this funk soon.

[justducky]

Freeman--40 minutes,   Sackey--37        Wow!    Its great to be able to bring these guys on slowly.

[NativeCheesehead]

Ok so now I've had a beer (or 3). Now I need a hug.

[VALPO LI]

On a positive note if there still is one
Attendance was 4,000+ (4,160) best all year

Even though we saw a good amount of Blue.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/rwweinstein/status/1089376092484485120

[Valpo2013]

Again, this many injuries year after year is not bad luck. We are either underinvesting our time/resources from a S&C standpoint or it's something else. I've noticed the ARC floor seems to have a lot less "give" than typical gym floors. Could that be part of the issue?

I'm pretty certain the floor was re done a few years ago due to what you are talking about
I'm sure someone on here knows for sure but I remember hearing about it getting renovated

[wh]

Proud as hell of these guys for competing tonight.

Couldn't agree more. Reverse the situation. If Drake was missing it's top 3 scorers and our top 3 were playing, the game would have been a complete blowout the other way. A very gritty performance by the Crusaders! 

[VU2014]

This game time decision on Derrik is strange... Did he hurt something in practice or in warm ups? That was a strange one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0XuJc7jkGs

[FWalum]

Again, this many injuries year after year is not bad luck. We are either underinvesting our time/resources from a S&C standpoint or it's something else. I've noticed the ARC floor seems to have a lot less "give" than typical gym floors. Could that be part of the issue?

I'm pretty certain the floor was re done a few years ago due to what you are talking about
I'm sure someone on here knows for sure but I remember hearing about it getting renovated

That was a knock on the ARC flooring originally, but the floor was completely replaced with a state of the art flooring system 7 or 8 years ago.

[VU2010]

2 scolardhip players sitting out to redshirt
+
Micah as a scholarship player who is now dressed as a manager and we've yet to be told (officially) why he's sitting out ...
+
Injured Ryan, Snitts, and Golder
=
WOW!!!!

And to not know Smitts wouldn't be available until game time?

[humbleopinion]

On a positive note if there still is one
Attendance was 4,000+ (4,160) best all year

Even though we saw a good amount of Blue.

From my angle, I doubt that there were over 150 Drake fans.  The student section was nearly filled.  The crowd saw a strong performance from a short-handed team.  I have to believe that the excitement for the team is building.

[VALPO LI]

Student Section was great.  A lot of enthusiasm!!!! They where making a lot of noise.
I especially liked the 3 bananas in the stands!


Imagine we had this on the other end of the court as well!!!

[vu72]

So now that I have had a night to sleep on it, here are my thought.  First, Marcus continues to be a ball hag and this time it cost him.  When ever he is on a break he NEVER passes but go head long into the basket, hoping for a highlite reel shot.

Second, I sure as heck hope we are not paying for Micah to sit out for his red-shirt--unless, he actually has a season ending injury.  Sure doesn't look like it.

Third, Sorolla played a great game, as did the freshman.  However, neither can shoot the three and as a result we saw zone the entire night.

Fourth, next year, given the new guys are are adding, the guy at the end of the bench, next to Langston, will be Bakari.  Maybe he is hurt, but he has performed at a high level maybe once, all year.  He looked lost again and continues to shoot terribly.

We are in deep doo do.

Other than these fews thoughts, I'm fine.   

[bigmosmithfan1]

That was a knock on the ARC flooring originally, but the floor was completely replaced with a state of the art flooring system 7 or 8 years ago.

So is it a S&C issue, then? Again we've gone beyond the "bad luck" phase of all these major injuries the past few years, with most of them suffered on our home floor. I can't think of a team that's had this level of major injury this consistently over the last 5-6 years. 

[SanityLost17]

I loved Sackey's effort last night but he will need to improve his 3 point shooting and free throw shooting if he is going to grow past an effort guy. 

Same with aggression on defense.   For every steal he had he also left his man Wilkins open for 3 when he was trying to do a 1 man zone hustling anybody he could find with the ball. 

He cleans those things up and he will be a star.    If he hit 80% of his free throws and could have hit just 1 3 to keep his defender honest this almost could have been a win on his effort alone.     

[craftyrighthander]

Every team that has significant injuries starts to wonder how and why.  Do other schools have big-time injuries?  See Mizzou.  Land No. 1 recruit in country, Michael Porter, and he plays a total of 60 minutes last year due to back problems.  He still hasn't suited up for Denver.  In first week of practice this year, younger brother, Jontay Porter, tears ACL, and is out for the season.  Jontay is a projected first-round pick.  Mizzou goes from being picked in the top third of the SEC this year, to having only one conference win.  I can tell you that Mizzou fans are analyzing everything from the floor to the diets of the Porter family.  Sometime, bad things happen. Sometimes you can explain, sometimes you can't. It stinks.

[VUBBFan]

Sound like Smits might have a back problem. He wasn't wearing a boot or knee brace. So this makes a little sense about why he sat.

https://twitter.com/happeninghoops/status/1089318089714470912

[nkvu]

I'm not really much of a silver linings kind of guy, but the injuries to our three top scorers could be good for the individual development of a few of the other guys. Sorolla could benefit from more minutes with more of a focus on his offensive game. Sackey will be forced to develop his game faster and if it doesn't break him will definitely make him stronger. On the other hand I'm not as sure it will benefit Freeman as his game seems to benefit more from the extra space having the injured guys on the court gives him.

In any event the guys that are playing need to continue developing and not get too down if they take some beatings until the injured guys get back. The most important thing to my mind is for the team to be playing well for the last part of the season going into the conference tournament.

[VUGrad1314]

I needed some time to process this game properly before posting. Here are my thoughts:

1. I humbly retract my statement about the lack of community support. That was a large and raucous crowd that was just waiting for a moment to explode. Unfortunately our shorthanded team was unable to give  that to them. Kudos to them for showing up and doing their job and shame on me for overreacting too early (though it looked bad just a few minutes before tip off which was why I posted. I was also upset that Smits was out. I hope the community keeps up the support despite the recent  run of losses.

2. This team clearly responded to Coach Lottich's challenge and played HARD. I really appreciated their effort. The freshmen Sorolla and McMillan all played great. We just didn't make shots.

3. The better team won last night. They hit from outside we didn't. They made their free throws we didn't. They exploited the size advantage  when Sorolla sat created by Smits' absence. Credit to them. They also brought a big and vocal group of fans which shouldn't have surprised anyone.

4. Sackey needs to shoot some free throws after practice. Lots of them. As much as his effort and energy kept us in the game his poor free throw shooting took us out of it. I love his leadership and what he brings to the team but watching him at the line was brutal.

5. What kind of dog shite officiating was that last night? I haven't seen such a one-sided performance in years. That crew should be ashamed of themselves and deserves to be reprimanded. It's really tough to win when they're calling the game that unevenly.

6. Here's the silver lining: Short term pain long term gain. All these minutes our shorthanded outfit have to play this year are going to pay off next year as the entire team to a man will be experienced tested and ready to contribute  when their number is called. While I wish we could play these last few games at full health and see where we are next year was always the money year. I just hope we continue to hold our own this year.

7. The losses might begin to mount and it might be painful but please keep coming out and supporting this team. Their effort deserves our thanks praise and support. I am proud of this team win or lose when it fights this hard. Despite the loss I am proud of what I saw and grateful to them for battling the way they did. I feel like everyone should feel this way right now. To anyone discouraged by the 3 losses in four games I ask: how far do you think Loyola would have gotten if you had taken Krutwig Ingram and  Townes OR Richardson off the roster? 

[M]

Rolling an ankle has nothing to do with S&C, that is bad luck. The possible back issue, idk, can't be easy to keep all 7'+ working properly all the time.

I missed the game but will be back Tuesday, bundled up, cheering for the guys who are able to play.

[Valpo89]

My take on a few items:
1. I don't think officiating cost Valpo the game.
2. VU72 nailed it on Markus. If he had made the right play, which was passing to a wide-open Kiser on the break, he wouldn't have tried to make the highlight reel play which led to his injury.
3. I don't know if it's the hard, unforgiving floor or not. It was at the same end of the court as the Fazekas injury.
4. I heard Lottich didn't know about Smits until about 6:30 last night.
5. What's the deal with the training staff? Seems when Rod Moore was here, an ankle injury didn't require an excessive recovery period. I have no idea who the current trainers are, but wonder about their qualifications.
6. It would have been nice to get DJ Wilkins for sure, and maybe the Murphy twins as well. However, I'm not sure if they had the grades.