Valpo at UNI game thread, Wed., Jan. 15, 2020, 7:00p CT

[Just Sayin]

As much as I want to be really optimistic about next year, we have to remember that we already know what we are getting, cause we are watching it. Our contributing players will be exactly who they are now minus John Kiser. We won't have Fazekas next year, so all those issues we say would be solved if Fazekas was on the court, will still apply next year. We are gonna have to expect a lot of consistent production out of our sophomores to make up for that loss.

That's assuming we get no contribution from our recruits or grad transfers.  As pointed out by others, there were 1000 transfers last year. There are 351 D1 teams, so on average there were almost 3 transfers per team.  We are expecting 2 or the 3 new freshman to be very good shooters and one to be an all around good player.  The growth fro year 1 to 2 often is substantial.  I expect significant growth from guys like Ben and Donovan, as examples.

Correction: 353 D-1 teams

[talksalot]

On the radio last night, Brandon referred to the game as a "Game of Runs"...

first half:
From 18:50 to 14:36  Uni outscored Valpo 11-2   (score was 4-15)

From 13:20 to 5:03 Valpo outscored UNI 22-4 (from 6-17 to 28-21)

Stayed fairly even, Valpo led by 6 at the half

Second half:
from 19:36 to 15:30 UNI outscored Valpo 20-3 (from 42-36 to 45-56)
from 15:30 to 7:11  Valpo outscored UNI 22-10 (to pull within 1 at 66-67)
from 7:11 to end, UNI outscored Valpo 21-12... for the 88-78 win.


and I see we only had assists on 11 of 32 baskets  (UNI was 13 assists on 30 baskets).  In the Drake win we had assists on 14 of 19 baskets.

oh well... water under the bridge... This Sycamore game on Saturday night could go a long way to keeping us from playing on Thursday...

BRA  4-1  13-5
UNI  4-1  15-2
LOY  3-1  11-6 (host SIU tonight)
IND  3-2  10-6
DRA  2-2  12-5  (host ILL ST tonight)
VAL  2-3  9-9
SOU  2-2  8-9 (at Loyola Tonight)
MIS  2-3  8-10
ILL  1-3  6-10  (at Drake Tonight)
EVA  0-5  9-9

I don't see either home team losing tonight.

[talksalot]

so the team flew in last night...

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FRG328/history/20200116/0430Z/KALO/KVPZ

Not quite the same as the twin-jet the Drake team had... Here's the "Freight Runners Express" team (our usual charter company and plane)

https://flightaware.com/photos/view/8669557-8548610046ddee16de71e1103237c4507ebdd108/airline/FRG/sort/votes/page/1

https://www.aircraftcompare.com/aircraft/embraer-emb-120-brasilia/#lg=1&slide=2

Better than a 6-hour bus ride in the middle of the night ... having to get up for classes !   

[bbtds]

As much as I want to be really optimistic about next year, we have to remember that we already know what we are getting, cause we are watching it. Our contributing players will be exactly who they are now minus John Kiser. We won't have Fazekas next year, so all those issues we say would be solved if Fazekas was on the court, will still apply next year. We are gonna have to expect a lot of consistent production out of our sophomores to make up for that loss.

The freshman from Sheboygan could have much the same quality as Freeman. Could, again, is the operative word here. Much potential.

[bbtds]

I'm already predicting that we beat UNI at home.  Let's start the uck FUNI chants?

It would go well with my TRUCK FUMP shirt!

[NativeCheesehead]

What you got against trucks?

[Just Sayin]

I'm already predicting that we beat UNI at home.  Let's start the uck FUNI chants?

It would go well with my TRUCK FUMP shirt!

Trump doesn't go that way. Find another man to satisfy your sexual jollies.

[NativeCheesehead]

....and we're off the rails.

[Just Sayin]

....and we're off the rails.

I know. Why did that guy make a political post? He doesn't seem able to control himself. 
I thought politics belongs in off topic.

[NativeCheesehead]

He baited, you responded. Like my former neighbors who yelled over the fence at each other, I didn't take sides, I blamed both. 

[Just Sayin]

I always respond to political idiocy. Not baited. More than happy to respond. But he started the political stuff, not me.  I have more control than that. I know the rules and so does he.  He's done this multiple times.  His problem.

[wh]

Trip to Valpo looms as it gets tougher for the Sycamores
By Todd Aaron Golden Tribune-Star  4 hrs ago

https://www.tribstar.com/sports/local_college_sports/isu_sports/trip-to-valpo-looms-as-it-gets-tougher-for-the/article_b9620cb6-2f60-5990-93db-f8b772219190.html

[bbtds]

What you got against trucks?

Fump, obviously.

[Just Sayin]

What you got against trucks?

Fump, obviously.

Doubling down on idiocy.

[VUGrad1314]

I know the UNI game is well in the past, but over on the MVC board, we are still discussing Green Vs JFL vis a vis Conference Player of the Year. Here is my post advocating for JFL over Green that I thought I might share here as well. You can tell me if I missed anything:

Javon Freeman-Liberty vs. A.J. Green: A Comparison

JFL: 21.2PPG 5.6RPG 3.3 APG 2.5 SPG 0.2 BPG 2.3TO 44.4 FG% 74.4 FT% 32.3 3PT%

Green: 19.7 PPG 3.1 RPG 3.0 APG 0.8 SPG 0.0BPG 2.8TO 42.6 FG% 93.3 FT5 38.3 3PT%

Let's compare Supporting Casts:

UNI has 4 players Berhow Phyfe Haldeman and Brown that have averaged at least 8.8 PPG and all four of them are JRs or SRs (Berhow 13.9 Phyfe 9.8 Haldeman 9.1 Brown 8.8).

Valpo's second leading scorer (Ryan Fazekas) has played one full game all season Outside of that, only Mileek McMillan (8.9PPG) beats the mark of the top 4 Panthers. Nick Robinson (8.5 PPG) is in his first year with the program after sitting out (yes I know that's the case for Berhow too who came from Pepperdine if I'm not mistaken) and Donovan Clay (8.5 PPG) is a freshman. As our beat writer recently pointed out, McMillan is the only player still on the team who logged significant minutes two years ago in Valpo's first trip to Cedar Falls. My point? Using wins and losses as the main criterion ignores a lot of important factors like injuries and team experience that are important things to weigh when evaluating a player's performance and value to his team and to the conference relative to his peers. Give Valpo a healthy Fazekas and tell me how their record would look. Hint: A lot better. I would even venture to say that Valpo with a healthy Ryan Fazekas to bring secondary scoring beats Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Disagree all you want but Valpo controlled significant stretches of that game and the game only got out of hand in desperation time when Valpo needed a three to stay close. Do you know who's probably the best player on Valpo's roster at providing three point shooting? Ryan Fazekas. I get it, though, it's no use to cry over spilled milk and teams have to play the cards that they're dealt. Injuries happen. But in my mind that makes what Javon Freeman-Liberty is doing more impressive and makes him more deserving of the honor, not less. But I'm a biased Valpo fan.

Conclusions:

Not only does Freeman-Liberty best Green in EVERY SIGNIFICANT STATISTICAL CATEGORY except FTs and 3 pointers, he's also leading a less experienced and less statistically successful supporting cast. He's also doing it shorthanded because Valpo's Berhow (Fazekas) is on the shelf. We don't have a Haldeman to set up the offense and settle things down when things get tough, we don't have a Phyfe to reliably dump the ball down into the post and get buckets from when we need to stop runs. Freeman-Liberty has to be our Green, our Haldeman, our Berhow, and our Phyfe all by himself a lot of the time, while Green has these pieces he can play off of and feed off of until he needs to take over. Javon needs to take over from the jump or the whole thing just doesn't go for us while Green can pick his spots much more freely.    Green is a terrific player having a fantastic year and is an extremely deserving candidate; but with all due respect to A.J. Green, Wins and losses aside, I don't know how anybody can look at this head to head comparison and tell me Green is more deserving of the Larry Bird award right now than Freeman-Liberty. In my mind, it's not really all that close. if winning really is the only criterion, then give Green the award; but if we're actually looking for the best PLAYER in the conference, I think we need to give it to JFL. Remember wins and losses are a team stat and in control of the team not any one individual player. The PLAYER OF THE YEAR is about that one individual player and should not be decided solely on how good his supporting cast is. If the best player is not on the best team so be it the award should still go to him not a comparable player on a better team. We have such a case this year as things stand right now. The award should rightfully go to Freeman-Liberty not to Green.

[VUGrad1314]

Admittedly, when I looked only at MVC games, I had to walk back my claims a little bit. I think when evaluating Conference POY it's fair to look only at conference statistics because not everybody plays the same non conference schedule and the conference games are the only even up apples to apples data we have. Here's how the two compare in MVC play so far.

MVC Play:

Green" 25.8 PPG 52.7 FG%48.1 3PT% 100% FT2.8 RPG 2.3 APG 0.7SPG 3.0TO\G

Freeman-Liberty: 19.8 PPG 41.2% FG% 26.8 3PT% 85.7 FT% 5.2 RPG  2.3SPG 2.5 TO\G

I still contend that JFL is the more IMPACTFUL player and the most IMPACTFUL player in the conference. But if these numbers hold, Green is the clear choice for POY.

[M]

I'll bet the award will go to the best player on the best team assuming most of the stats are relatively equal. This year that'll be Green. Now if JFL keeps putting up numbers like last nights and avoids any more of those 6-21 shooting performances he could have a chance.