Game #11 Valpo @Charlotte 49ers Mon 12/16 6:00P WVUR 95.1

[oklahomamick]

27 free throws to 4.....

[govalpogo]

Siiiigh.  Frustrating to say the least.  Apart from another abysmal start...Everything that Valpo hopes to do and be was on display at Central Michigan...everything they don't want to have happen in game style happened tonight.  Didn't get out in transition at all.  Freeman was human.  Robinson (often the 2nd option now) goes down early.  Sackey is not only an offense non factor, he's actually starting to make things worse when he's on the court.  When this stuff happens, you are simply going to lose with this team. 

If Robinson misses extended time, this could really become another hard season to watch.  Not that it's hopeless.  Charlotte has shown they can win against almost anyone at home...but still...

[valpolaw]

Where do we go from here? Sink or swim?

[VUBBFan]

This pretty much sums the game up. Turn overs are the things we should be able to manage. No control over refs. Only heard the game didn't see it, so don't know if the foul calls were legit for both sides (anyone see the game? comment on accuracy?). I say turn overs are what killed us.

https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/1206754398287925249

[NativeCheesehead]

Unable to properly express my frustration with the current state of this program without using very unChristian language so I'm logging off. Rant coming tomorrow.

[oklahomamick]

The money the athletic department saved by cutting men's soccer and men's tennis could go to the coaches buyout.  Oh wait, no one really knows what his contract is. 

[justducky]

It is actually not possible to play worse than we did the 1st 4 minutes of the game.  For 4 minutes, we were the WORST team in the country.

First half I listened to the 49ers broadcast and they stressed their great defensive play. Listened to Todd for the second half and he, you  and this board seem to think many or most of our errors were self inflicted with the Robinson injury making everything worse.  .  What is up with Sackey He has to be able to take and hit an occasional 3 to keep the floor open for penetration. Not only does his sagging defender handcuff him but it also helps clog the middle for everybody! Coming into the season he was much improved and now his shooting is spiraling counterclockwise down the crapper!

[EddieCabot]

It is actually not possible to play worse than we did the 1st 4 minutes of the game.  For 4 minutes, we were the WORST team in the country.

First half I listened to the 49ers broadcast and they stressed their great defensive play. Listened to Todd for the second half and he, you  and this board seem to think many or most of our errors were self inflicted with the Robinson injury making everything worse.  .  What is up with Sackey He has to be able to take and hit an occasional 3 to keep the floor open for penetration. Not only does his sagging defender handcuff him but it also helps clog the middle for everybody! Coming into the season he was much improved and now his shooting is spiraling counterclockwise down the crapper!

Have to wonder why Siggy didn't see the floor.

[vu72]

This pretty much sums the game up. Turn overs are the things we should be able to manage. No control over refs. Only heard the game didn't see it, so don't know if the foul calls were legit for both sides (anyone see the game? comment on accuracy?). I say turn overs are what killed us.

https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/1206754398287925249

I did and the stats pretty much says it all.  They are not a very good team though they did play very good defense on Javon and others.  The refs were fine.  that wasn't the issue.  Javon forced to shoot 10 3's and he and Sackey turning it over 8 times.  Mileek and Donovan were the stars tonight.  Lots of potential  but still a ways to go,

[wh]

The money the athletic department saved by cutting men's soccer and men's tennis could go to the coaches buyout.  Oh wait, no one really knows what his contract is. 

This is a ridiculous comment, Mick. You're better than this.

[wh]

I don't know many teams missing 2 of their top 3 players that aren't going to struggle on the road against a respectable team. As to Javon looking "normal" Todd said more than once they were double and triple teaming him. of course they were. Does anyone think they would have been doing that if Fazekas and Nick were on the court? 

On the encouraging side, Todd also said that he thinks Fazekas will be back sooner than later, hopefully by the start of conference play. Assuming nothing is seriously wrong with Nick, we could be back in business soon. If they don't come back, we'll continue to struggle. That's life, and it's nobody's fault. Stuff happens. We have some people that probably should take some deep breaths and exhale slowly.

[oklahomamick]

I don't know many teams missing 2 of their top 3 players that aren't going to struggle on the road against a respectable team.

We have heard that before.  Starting to sound like a broken record. 

To be fair I think we beat Charlotte 7 out of 10 times on the road.  This was one of the 3.  Also, we have not played in a week. 

[VALPO LI]

I don't know many teams missing 2 of their top 3 players that aren't going to struggle on the road against a respectable team.

We have heard that before.  Starting to sound like a broken record. 

To be fair I think we beat Charlotte 7 out of 10 times on the road.  This was one of the 3.  Also, we have not played in a week. 

Ummm I think I heard that one a few weeks ago leaving the Wolverine State.  Good teams will deal with adversity and change on and off the court as we did earlier this year when Ryan went out with his injury.  Unlike last year and recent years in the past we have found a way to win some games this year without one of our best players.  Now the true test will be how do we deal with another player out?  Will we struggle against a sub par team in High Point NC and flop against the Hogs from Arkansas?  Or does Valpo surprise us all?
From what I read from NWI Times Nick suffered from "back tightness" after jumping up to block a shot at the 59ers game
-btw who are the 59ers?

https://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/turnovers-sting-as-valpo-falls-at-charlotte/article_6318c784-d108-5a2f-830b-264ba1880f77.html#1

[GoldenCrusader87]

Per Robbie's Twitter,

"Matt Lottich tried to walk back to VU's hotel from Charlotte's arena because it was warm outside and he wanted to clear his mind but ended up calling an Uber partway through.
"It was insane. It was highway the whole way, so I'm not tryna get hit by a car."

I didn't watch the game. Wasn't going to pay to watch it. But this seems to sum things up rather well.

[SanityLost17]

Refs were just fine.   We didn't shoot free throws because we didn't attack....EVER.   Jump shots all game.  When we tried to attack we dribbled it off our foot, our their foot, or a refs foot, or passed it out to the 1st row of the bleachers. 

Something has to be wrong with Sackey.  No way he is 100%.  He doesn't look anything like he did a month ago or during the summer.   Nobody regresses that much in a short amount of time.   

Our defense is back to being terrible.  EVERY player on Charlotte's team was able to beat EVERY player on Valpo's team on the drive.  Even if they didn't get all the way to the rim they got close enough to cause defensive rotation to create other opportunities.   WE CANT KEEP PLAYERS IN FRONT OF US.

The most important point is right here:
EVERY PLAYER outside of Javon has a tendency to give up more points on poor defense than they score on any given night offensively.....Can't win that way since you know... The goal is to outscore the other team.

How in the world we turned into such a bad defensive team is beyond me.   
 

[valpo84]

As to Sackey, this was asked on November 12 following the SLU game on November 9:

"Paul- what is Sackey's status?  He also left game late with what appeared to be some upper body extremity injury after tough fall?"

Might this have been the beginning of Sackey's struggles?  He came down hard on his left wrist/hand.  Enquiring minds want to know. 

BTW, Ohio State lost it's first game of the year when their star player was unable to play over the weekend.  The road is a very fickle place, and as I have said for years a win is a very good thing on the road.  We were spoiled being in the Horizon where road wins weren't difficult but still had to be won.  YSU was a dump, but you had to motivate to get past home court advantage.  There's a reason why home court in college basketball gets 4 points. 

Go to High Point, right the ship and then head to Ar-kansas and see what you can do. 

[Just Sayin]

I don't know many teams missing 2 of their top 3 players that aren't going to struggle on the road against a respectable team. As to Javon looking "normal" Todd said more than once they were double and triple teaming him. of course they were. Does anyone think they would have been doing that if Fazekas and Nick were on the court? On the encouraging side, Todd also said that he thinks Fazekas will be back sooner than later, hopefully by the start of conference play. Assuming nothing is seriously wrong with Nick, we could be back in business soon. If they don't come back, we'll continue to struggle. That's life, and it's nobody's fault. Stuff happens. We have some people that probably should take some deep breaths and exhale slowly.

This is going to be a problem going forward. How to deal with the fact that opponents are going to go overboard to make it difficult for our stud to get open looks and to score. What will the coach do to address this inevitability? It's not going away. Are there others who can step up and become scorers? Double and triple-teaming him should leave others open. Coach needs to address this NOW. Or else ugly will be back.

[VUGrad1314]

I wonder if Javon is getting tired of carrying this team. I would consider him a major transfer risk. He already tried once and things haven't exactly improved all that much this year. I hope he stays but I wouldn't exactly blame him if he chose to leave.

[IrishDawg]

Going to be plenty of ups and downs this season with 4 of the 7 main rotation guys are freshman and sophomores. When guys like Robinson and Fazekas, who can give consistent offensive production are out, puts a lot more pressure on guys who haven't been relied upon in that role.

Defense wasn't great by any means, but the offense was a far bigger issue last night, in my opinion.

Still wouldn't worry about JFL as a transfer risk, and the team still has plenty of potential for growth between now and the end of the season.

[NativeCheesehead]

Potential for growth, or progressing nicely?

[JD24]

I wonder if Javon is getting tired of carrying this team.

I would hope we can assume this hasn't exactly been a bulletin to him.

[VUGrad1314]

Come on... Whether it's injuries youth or whatever he doesn't have enough help. Why has UNI been able to surround Green with a capable cast but we can't?

[vu72]

Whether it's injuries youth or whatever he doesn't have enough help.

We can always use more "help"!  He is getting more consistent help from a variety of players.  The operative word is "consistent".  One guy is beginning to stand out and that is Donovan Clay. Last night he went for 11 points, 6 boards, was 3 of 5 from the 3 with 4 assists and 0 turnovers.  The previous game he had 10 points.  Against Central Michigan Eron Gordon got 14 points, going 2 for 2 from 3 and 4 for 4 from the line, 2 assists and 0 turnovers.  Ben and Kiser are good for 13 points and 7 boards per game, combined.

It will be tough to consistently put together a solid backup group.  Why Sigurd isn't getting a chance, particularly with the way Sackey is playing, is hard to figure out.

[wh]

Come on... Whether it's injuries youth or whatever he doesn't have enough help. Why has UNI been able to surround Green with a capable cast but we can't?

Half of UNI's roster are 4-year players. Valpo has 1 active senior (John). Different as night and day.

[bbtds]

-btw who are the 59ers?

It is the 49ers. You would think they would get it correct since there is an NFL team in San Francisco by the same nickname.

The nickname "49ers" derives from the fact that the university's predecessor—Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina (CCUNC – established in 1946) was saved from being shut down by the state in 1949 by Bonnie Cone, when the Charlotte Center became Charlotte College.