Game #1 vs Toledo Tuesday 11/05 7:00 PM ESPN3

[vuny98]

According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index, Valpo has a 53.3% chance at winning, which surprised me given I doubt that takes into account much of our turnover in the roster. Still I think we lose a close one here: 77 Toledo 73 Valpo. Hope I am wrong, but more just want us to play a strong game.

[VUBBFan]

The have a LOT of size--four guys 6'10 or bigger but only one guy 6'8", then a lot of guards. Have never seen them play so don't know what to expect.  If they try to play like we did last year, trying to take advantage of their size, expect us to pressure all over the floor and RUN!!  Should be fun (I hope! )

Two of those bigs are sitting out the year. One is for Injury and the other I believe for transferring.

[bbtds]

Toledo     98
Valpo       97   3 OTs

Attendence   2799

[wh]

Just arrived and basically no one here yet. 32 min. To National Anthem.

[NativeCheesehead]

No pep band either. Wtf?

[VALPO LI]

No pep band either. Wtf?

They are warming up at Hilltop gym right?.... please say yes!

[VULB#62]

Damn! Ryan can shoot! Like the pace.  Don't like the score.

[valporun]

Hey guys!! Took a long sabbatical from the board... Don't know why we're trying to rush the pace. I'm okay with setting the pace, but we're trying to be quicker than what we should be. I don't know enough about Toledo, but the MAC is a conference that doesn't see a lot of classes separate. Most of the guys recruited to the MAC get playing time all four years, so they truly develop into solid pros overseas.

Our defense is looking really pathetic. Yes, Toledo is running on us, but we should probably be playing tougher.

What is with the phantom charge calls? The Toledo defender is never set. Is this a MAC officiating crew?

[SanityLost17]

I am willing to forgive what happened the first 10 minutes.   Looked like a bunch of nervous kids (deer) playing their 1st game (headlights).   

Defense has been getting better since the 10 minute mark.  Offense has been getting better since the 14 minute mark. 

1st 10 minutes was BAD...but I am starting to see some of the things posters were excited about.  Lets see if the good things continue.

[a3uge]

Hey guys!! Took a long sabbatical from the board... Don't know why we're trying to rush the pace. I'm okay with setting the pace, but we're trying to be quicker than what we should be. I don't know enough about Toledo, but the MAC is a conference that doesn't see a lot of classes separate. Most of the guys recruited to the MAC get playing time all four years, so they truly develop into solid pros overseas.

Our defense is looking really pathetic. Yes, Toledo is running on us, but we should probably be playing tougher.

What is with the phantom charge calls? The Toledo defender is never set. Is this a MAC officiating crew?

I, for one, welcome these new fast paced overlords.

Nothing was worse than last year's anemic low post offense. This team seems a lot more fun.

[wh]

The pace is frantic. Their guys were starting to look gassed over the last 5 min., leading to reach-in fouls, foul trouble,and some easy Valpo hoops. Javon, Daniel and Kiser are unrelenting on defense.

[a3uge]

Morgan and McMillan are clearly the anchors... Why not go back to the Dutch guy?

[elephtheria47]

Have to say I am impressed with what I've seen so far. Hope we can pull it out. Toledo is a good squad and has some ballers. Optimistic for the future.

[valporun]

Once our guys got back in the game, they started to look like they knew what they were doing again. Fouls will be a downfall for us.

[VULB#62]

VALPO WINS!

[VALPO LI]

1-0 guys!!!!!!
Nail bitter to the finish.

[a3uge]

What a win! Toledo definitely looked more talented, but Valpo gutted it out and fought harder. A breath of fresh air after painfully watching Bakari and Smits half-ass it game after game the last few years.

[nkvu]

Man that was exciting!  Didn't know what to expect going in but these guys didn't quit even when they got off to a bad start. Thought they made a few bad shot decisions at the end and credit Toledo for hitting some clutch 3s. Still Javon made up for the missed free throw with a great bucket at the end. This could be a fun year.

[hailcrusaders]

Thought we were going to get ran out of the gym after those first few minutes. Impressed with how they turned things around, despite the nail biting at the end.

It's been a while since we've had this much turnover from the previous season. The last one I can think of was the '13-14 squad after Broekhoff and company graduated. Will definitely be a true test of Lottich's abilities, but so far so good!

Underwhelmed with the crowd, definitely looked under 3,000. Students did a good job of showing up, but I was disappointed to see them sitting for so much of the second half.

If McMillan plays to the flashes of potential he's shown and the rest of our bigs prove serviceable, I think we can make some noise. Have no doubt that JFL, Fazekas, Sackey, and Kiser will create chaos and outhustle opponents.

[hailcrusaders]

Man that was exciting!  Didn't know what to expect going in but these guys didn't quit even when they got off to a bad start. Thought they made a few bad shot decisions at the end and credit Toledo for hitting some clutch 3s. Still Javon made up for the missed free throw with a great bucket at the end. This could be a fun year.

Rushed a few shots early in the clock in the last few positions, but I remember Valpo teams not too long ago that would take the air out of the ball wayyy too early and completely lose any sort of offensive rhythm. I think with the run-and-gun kind of style we may be playing this season, we'll see a lot of early shots that look brilliant if they go in and stupid if they don't. The Fazekas three towards the end comes to mind; fortunately it fell for us.

[govalpogo]

What a game.  Valpo showed more faith in themselves than I did at 21-7.  Toledo needed to hit every shot down the stretch...and they did (announcer jinxes EVERYWHERE btw).  JFL did his thing.  I think there is a pretty good case for a foul on McMillan on that last play but  . Now for the performances:

JFL: Overall nothing to complain about. 19pts, 5reb, 2stl.  Not his most efficient game but he and Fazekas kept Valpo's pulse going early.  Obviously hits the game winner.

Sackey: Mr. Energy.  8 assists! (that might hurt me in the o/u) 3 steals and disruptive defensive.  Good stuff.

McMillan: This may be a case where not having our 7fters helped Mileek.  Last year, he wouldn't have seen the light of day after a start like tonight.  This year, he gets a chance to right the ship, and I think did pretty well.  Big 3 pointer and hook down the stretch.

Robinson: Great 2nd half.  Really the x factor Valpo needed to push through with the W imo.  His post play today was better than anything we've seen since Peters    I'm confident that something good will happen when he has the ball.

Fazekas: 23 pts.  Scorer's gonna score.  I think we may have underestimated the effect that a fully healthy Ryan could've had on last year's team.

Morgan: A disappointing debut for sure.  I think he's D was good at the end of the 1st, but the quick turnovers were not so good.  Maybe tried to do too much in his limited minutes.

Clay: I liked what I saw from Donovan.  Got his rebounds.  Had a block.  Good energy.  Freshman in his first game.

Gordon: Not much from Eron tonight.  Perhaps still nursing his injury?  Saw him on the bike alot.

EFV: I really like Mr. Freese, both the stuff from Canada and tonight.  He has nice hands, seems to put him self in the right place, rebounded well, and I thought the D was decent too. 

Krikke: Not much from this Frosh tonight either.  I like his upside, but still looked a bit slow on both sides.

Kiser: We saw absolutely everything that we love from John Kiser tonight.

Lorange: Injury still bugging him?  Was dressed but perhaps only for emergency use?

Walk-ons: Thought we might see them when this game was young, but not a chance down the stretch!

Overall: Tremendous effort and very solid win!  Did you notice the absence of a 5-7 minute scoring drought!?! 

[SanityLost17]

Not goin to lie.... I cringe every time McMillan has the ball and for stretches of the game my cringes were justified by his play.   However, he had lots of good moments too.  He does appear to be improving.  A few of those 3's go down and we might be looking at his night very differently. 

I expected more from Gordon.   I love Robinson!!!  Kiser plays with everything he has.   Clay was timid but he LOOKS the part.  Sackey with 8 assists, enough said.   JFL is a star.  Fazekas only 4/10 from 3, scary to think he can be hotter than that.  Morgan = ROUGH game.  Krikke/FV = Not enough info but looked like 5-10 minute a game role players who won't F it up but won't do a lot either.   

Why did we win?
Strong Defense between the 10 minute mark and the 35 minute mark -- 1st 10 minutes and last 5 minutes not so much. 
OFFENSIVE rebounds -- They shot a better % from the floor and from 3, but we shot the ball 18 more times. 
20 assists to 14 turnovers
Solid FT shooting -- except the one key miss down the stretch

[VU2014]

Great win. Showed heart and effort. And some promise

[NativeCheesehead]

Holy Toledo!

[elephtheria47]

great win, was not expecting this. toledo is a solid team, and they did not lose this game (we deserved to win). this is a game that can be beneficial short and long term. as hawk harrelson always said, dont stop now boys!