Valpo vs Drake @ The ARC 1/11/20 3pm CST on ESPN3

[VUGrad1314]

You're right. We're lucky. But you need a little luck. Sometimes that's what a struggling team like ours needs to turn it around. I hope we look back at this game as a turning point for our season and the post-SIU row\consensus as a turning point for this board. I know it was for me personally!

Oh I'll take all the luck I can get, just wish we could be lucky AND improve our shooting defense. I'm not greedy, I get that we gamble to get steals and create possessions for ourselves, but a 4 or 5% improvement makes a big impact on our record, with the close losses we've had (Cincinnati, Arkansas, Loyola).

And our perception and our feelings on the season. Imagine if we had those wins on our resume... Maybe this year is the year we learn how to get them and next year is the year we get them consistently.

[FieldGoodie05]

Did I just hear the Valley called a one bid league?! WE DON'T KNOW THAT YET! STOP PUTTING THAT IN PEOPLE'S HEADS AND PUSHING THAT NARRATIVE! We CAN be a multibid league. If the freaking OVC can do it the MVC can have years where they get three. For Christ's sake.

...

[nkvu]

Missed the first half. Watched the first few minutes of the second half where we turned Drake over four straight times and turned it into ZERO points. Had to leave when we were down six. Came back with us up one with just a few seconds left wondering how we were going to blow it. Saw Robinson pass up a home run ball to JFL. Then watched Kiser throw it into no man's land and JFL come out of no where to run it down, then drain the free throws, then a steal and Clay draining two free throws to ice it.

My conclusion is that for this team to win I can only watch the last five seconds of the game. Timing could be a problem though.

[valpotx]

I know that there are a lot of Kiser haters out there, but I am still a fan.  The guy does so many little things for us, and it showed today.  Yes, he is not an offensive dynamo.  No, he is not fast, and quicker Guards can blow by him.  Look back at the film, however, and you will see that he battled the hell out of their 7-footer, and made some key plays for us throughout the game.  He is the 'glue guy' for us, in playing whatever role we ask of him, and not panicking when things get rough.  Go Kiser!

[VUGrad1314]

Did I just hear the Valley called a one bid league?! WE DON'T KNOW THAT YET! STOP PUTTING THAT IN PEOPLE'S HEADS AND PUSHING THAT NARRATIVE! We CAN be a multibid league. If the freaking OVC can do it the MVC can have years where they get three. For Christ's sake.

...

Again, if Belmont can, ANY MVC team can. You can't challenge that point. They get even less help from their conference mates than we do. I refuse to accept that conferences consistently rated lower than the MVC can do it but somehow the MVC is uniquely unable to do it. No. Sorry. Can't accept it and won't accept it because it isn't true.

[craftyrighthander]

Reading this thread may be more entertaining than the game itself.  We're terrible, Matt's terrible, it's not Matt's fault, Matt can recruit, Matt recruited horrible players,  we play defense, we don't play defense, shoot, don't shoot.  It's a thread from fans who want the best for the program, and could see us at either 4-0 in conference or 0-4.  I get it.  I don't see enough of the games online, and frankly, this is my main source for information about games. 

I really only know two things about this team:

1. I wish the fans in the VU stands had as much passion as the people on this thread.

2.  I did see JFL in person last year in the Valley tournament in STL.  Even when he's not on the top of his game, he is a huge difference-maker.  Rebounding, steals, FTs, defense. Glad we have him.

[wh]

I think the radio guys said in the post game something about Ryan being back in the lineup on Wed. Did anyone else hear anything?

[bbtds]

KISER!

Also they have missed A LOT of open looks from 3. We've been pretty lucky.

Penn is killing us.

The first thing I said when the half started was Kiser and Sackey should not be shooting the ball. Then as John was in motion on his MADE three I yelled "NOOOOOOO---okay"

[bbtds]

People are seriously sitting right now?! Boo...

I was standing at home.

My housekeeper wanted to vacuum in the room & I had to find my ear buds. :-)

[bbtds]

YES DANIEL!!! THERE'S THAT DEFENSE AND FIGHT!!!

Yes, play like that but don't shoot, don't turn the ball over and play the BUGGS way! Drive the ball to the basket and make lay-ins!

[valpopal]

Perhaps still too early to make any conclusion, but the attendance figures for home conference games are not moving in the right direction: Loyola, last year 5148, this year 4363; Drake, last year 4160, this year, 3190. That is a drop of (785 + 970) an average of nearly 900 per game or about 19% each date. The trend is not our friend, especially with Loyola from Chicago and Drake having all the Northwest Indiana players on their roster, one might expect these to have been the highest drawing conference teams to visit, as they were last year.

[talksalot]

BUT the student section was almost at capacity and the band member number was good !!

[VUGrad1314]

That's concerning. I think it's because the fans are a little gun shy after getting burned by a good start last year that cratered into a 9th place finish. A winning streak and signs of sustainability should fix that and bring the fans back. Better weather would have helped today too. I think that kept a solid number of walk-ups away. Loyola not being fresh off a final four run and the down year of the MVC in general also probably hampered the numbers a bit. Like it or not as a small private Lutheran university with an alumni base that often moves out of the area we are going to need to rely on townies and casual fans to drive attendance numbers. Therefore,  Valpo needs to get better and the MVC has to have a strong year (which they're doing a solid job of but they have to finish in March). If we see those things excitement should be high and attendance should improve. I bet you'll see lots of full houses when Valpo is contending for an MVC title in the future. I think there's a big fan base that's just ready to come out of the woodwork engage and explode in this area. They just need a reason to get excited. Go Valpo!

[bbtds]

That's concerning. I think it's because the fans are a little gun shy after getting burned by a good start last year that cratered into a 9th place finish. A winning streak and signs of sustainability should fix that and bring the fans back. Better weather would have helped today too. I think that kept a solid number of walk-ups away. Loyola not being fresh off a final four run and the down year of the MVC in general also probably hampered the numbers a bit. Like it or not as a small private Lutheran university with an alumni base that often moves out of the area we are going to need to rely on townies and casual fans to drive attendance numbers. Therefore,  Valpo needs to get better and the MVC has to have a strong year (which they're doing a solid job of but they have to finish in March). If we see those things excitement should be high and attendance should improve. I bet you'll see lots of full houses when Valpo is contending for an MVC title in the future. I think there's a big fan base that's just ready to come out of the woodwork engage and explode in this area. They just need a reason to get excited. Go Valpo!

With or without Matt Lottich? Just testing that new dedication to a positive outlook for the Crusaders. :-)

[VUGrad1314]

That's concerning. I think it's because the fans are a little gun shy after getting burned by a good start last year that cratered into a 9th place finish. A winning streak and signs of sustainability should fix that and bring the fans back. Better weather would have helped today too. I think that kept a solid number of walk-ups away. Loyola not being fresh off a final four run and the down year of the MVC in general also probably hampered the numbers a bit. Like it or not as a small private Lutheran university with an alumni base that often moves out of the area we are going to need to rely on townies and casual fans to drive attendance numbers. Therefore,  Valpo needs to get better and the MVC has to have a strong year (which they're doing a solid job of but they have to finish in March). If we see those things excitement should be high and attendance should improve. I bet you'll see lots of full houses when Valpo is contending for an MVC title in the future. I think there's a big fan base that's just ready to come out of the woodwork engage and explode in this area. They just need a reason to get excited. Go Valpo!

With or without Matt Lottich? Just testing that new dedication to a positive outlook for the Crusaders. :-)

As always, whatever situation is best to develop this program into a consistently contending\respectably performing MVC team. Since the one thing the post Bryce era has taught us is that coaching changes suck and are very hard on a program and take years to fully implement and bear fruit, my preference would be that he shows enough to stick around. So, preferably that is WITH Matt Lottich. I can't stress enough that it was and is never personal with Matt and  any negativity was only concern for the future health of the program. Matt Lottich the man is a stellar individual and a great representative. Matt Lottich the coach will hopefully deliver the results we need. Then we will have yet another reason to feel honored to be led by him. Hopefully this win is step one of him proving conclusively that he is the man to lead us into this hopefully great era. Once again Go Valpo!

[NativeCheesehead]

I've stated my opinion on Matt but I'll also say this: I want to be wrong. I'm not some Skip Bayless or Colin Cowpie wannabe who wants to be right more than anything. Unlike some boards everyone here wants this program to succeed.

The ideal situation for me would be buying all of you fine people beers in St Louis when we're a top 2 seed in 2021 or 2022 with Matt at the helm.

[VUGrad1314]

Man, in a year we have a shot at winning in St Louis I am SO GOING. I've wanted to experience Arch Madness since I was young but it would mean so much more if my team is in it until the end!

[oklahomamick]

I'll jump on the positive train.  Good job to the coaches and players for beating a good Drake team.  I remember being in the HL and really wanting to play Drake in non conference (I think we were both 2 and 3 in liberal arts midwest rankings at the time).  Regardless, we won and we are now .500.  Let's get some positive momentum. 

[VALPO LI]

To me this is starting to sound like a strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

[VUGrad1314]

I can see why you think that but I made a commitment and I'm going to stick to it. What will test that is our next loss or losing streak but as long as Matt remains the coach I am going to try to be as supportive as I can. As others have told me in the past regardless of what my feelings are he's still the coach so it's best to try to get in line behind him until that designation changes. Hopefully it never will change and it will become easier to get behind him because he's finally the successful coach we hoped he would be. But my word is something I take very seriously and when I commit I commit. Time and my consistent follow-through will show that to be true.

[bbtds]

[wh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=827wzkkKW-M&feature=share

[VUBBFan]

I've stated my opinion on Matt but I'll also say this: I want to be wrong. I'm not some Skip Bayless or Colin Cowpie wannabe who wants to be right more than anything. Unlike some boards everyone here wants this program to succeed. The ideal situation for me would be buying all of you fine people beers in St Louis when we're a top 2 seed in 2021 or 2022 with Matt at the helm.

I'll make it easy on you. I'd be happy with just a Diet Pepsi.

[wh]

So, we get out scored by 6 in the 1st 4 minutes of the 2nd half. Matt benches our centers (who were playing badly) and inserts 6-5 John Kiser at the 5 and stays with a short lineup the rest of the way. Drake can't figure out how to counter, so we out score them by 11 over the final 16 minutes to win by 5. That's called out coaching, folks.

[oklahomamick]

Now some set plays! No, don't want to take away from coach and that move.  Good decision that probably won us the game. 

I checked out the drake forum.  There was a poster that commented how bad our coach is. 

Regardless that was a good move by Lottich and it paid dividends.