Indiana State vs. Valpo 2/26 6 pm cst

IndyEIT777 · February 26, 2021, 01:49:57 PM

Final weekend of the regular season, which Valpo team show's up tonight? A weekend sweep probably gets us the 5 seed and a rematch with Indiana State in the quarters. A good chance a split gets us a bye with Bradley hosting Drake this weekend and SIU is at Loyola. UNI is the one to watch out for as they are at Illinois State this weekend and could sweep them.

Hope Valpo comes out with urgency tonight and takes at least some of the pressure off tomorrow's game. All about defending their guards, they have 3 averaging over 10 ppg lead by Key who almost definitely will make all-conference first team. Here's hoping we can prevent them driving into the lane easily or get wide open threes like SIU had against us last weekend.

vuny98 · February 26, 2021, 02:09:32 PM

Quote from: IndyEIT777 on February 26, 2021, 01:49:57 PMFinal weekend of the regular season, which Valpo team show's up tonight? A weekend sweep probably gets us the 5 seed and a rematch with Indiana State in the quarters. A good chance a split gets us a bye with Bradley hosting Drake this weekend and SIU is at Loyola. UNI is the one to watch out for as they are at Illinois State this weekend and could sweep them. Hope Valpo comes out with urgency tonight and takes at least some of the pressure off tomorrow's game. All about defending their guards, they have 3 averaging over 10 ppg lead by Key who almost definitely will make all-conference first team. Here's hoping we can prevent them driving into the lane easily or get wide open threes like SIU had against us last weekend.

UNI has a better NET ranking than us as well (203 v 231). So with us splitting the regular season with them, the tie breaker would go to them most likely (unless this weekend changes that). A sweep would be great, but hopefully a split would do it too.

valpo95 · February 26, 2021, 03:27:01 PM

Earlier this year, I contributed to the debate on this board if Valpo is competitive in the MVC.

Win or lose against Indiana State, let me point out a few facts. Heading into this last weekend, Valpo is tied for 5th place in conference. In the last week or so, VU also nearly took #21 Loyola to overtime (at Loyola, where almost no one wins), and was pretty competitive against Southern Illinois in the prior road split. This team also has a win against #25 Drake.

No matter where they end up, be it 5th place or 9th place depending on these last two games and the rest of the conference, the team has proven they can play with every team in the MVC. This team is also very young, so the future looks bright. Rooting for wins this weekend!

vok22 · February 26, 2021, 05:16:59 PM

Quote from: vuny98 on February 26, 2021, 02:09:32 PM
Quote from: IndyEIT777 on February 26, 2021, 01:49:57 PMFinal weekend of the regular season, which Valpo team show's up tonight? A weekend sweep probably gets us the 5 seed and a rematch with Indiana State in the quarters. A good chance a split gets us a bye with Bradley hosting Drake this weekend and SIU is at Loyola. UNI is the one to watch out for as they are at Illinois State this weekend and could sweep them. Hope Valpo comes out with urgency tonight and takes at least some of the pressure off tomorrow's game. All about defending their guards, they have 3 averaging over 10 ppg lead by Key who almost definitely will make all-conference first team. Here's hoping we can prevent them driving into the lane easily or get wide open threes like SIU had against us last weekend.
UNI has a better NET ranking than us as well (203 v 231). So with us splitting the regular season with them, the tie breaker would go to them most likely (unless this weekend changes that). A sweep would be great, but hopefully a split would do it too.

I believe they made a change this year. The second tiebreaker (after head to head) is now record against highest ranked conference opponent. We hold the second tiebreaker against every team in league except for Loyola for our 1-1 record against first seeded drake.

IndyEIT777 · February 26, 2021, 05:30:05 PM

https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/1365443083186425859?s=20

Key is out both games this weekend. Absolutely no excuse to at the very least split and be competitive in both games!

nkvu · February 26, 2021, 06:25:37 PM

Stinking it up early. No defense. Stupid turnovers. Can't get a good shot and can't hit anything. They better get it together or this will be a blowout.

bbtds · February 26, 2021, 06:38:00 PM

Quote from: nkvu on February 26, 2021, 06:25:37 PM
Stinking it up early. No defense. Stupid turnovers. Can't get a good shot and can't hit anything. They better get it together or this will be a blowout.

BLOWOUT!!!!!!

nkvu · February 26, 2021, 06:54:31 PM

Well, we got to double figures and we're only down 22 at the half. I'd like to say the second half couldn't get any worse, but with the way we're playing I wouldn't bet on it. They are just better at every aspect of the game. They can do anything they want & we can't do anything right. Painfull.

valpotx · February 26, 2021, 06:59:56 PM

Absolute worst half of shooting that I have ever witnessed from a Valpo team. They should be embarrassed, and if they don't come out with a fire in their bellies in the second half, they need another manhood check...

wh · February 26, 2021, 07:05:55 PM

We need some different first and second options. Ben and Donovan are nice players but they both have a tendency to disappear or go cold for long stretches. Force them outside and neither one is a reliable 3-point shooter. When Donovan's cold many of his misses are bricks. Way short or way long, even way left or way right. We need a playmaking guard that is a consistent scoring threat. And, I hate to admit that I was wrong, but the motion offense needs to be scrapped. Either we don't have the athleticism or the basketball I.Q. or both to leverage it to our advantage.

nkvu · February 26, 2021, 07:14:36 PM

Sackey couldn't hit an elephant with a shotgun from 5 feet.

oklahomamick · February 26, 2021, 07:15:18 PM

When Sackey is on the floor, Indiana St. can double Kerke down low and not have to worry about Sackey. Its' 5v4. They also sag off of him. They did their homework on him.

valpotx · February 26, 2021, 07:15:27 PM

I just don't get how our players throw up so many air balls from 3. It is not hard to at least hit something...

valpotx · February 26, 2021, 07:16:48 PM

So many bad passes, air balls, and missed layups from our team this year.

mj · February 26, 2021, 07:19:49 PM

Wow. This team is something sometimes.

Valpo2010 · February 26, 2021, 07:20:01 PM

Quote from: oklahomamick on February 26, 2021, 07:15:18 PMWhen Sackey is on the floor, Indiana St. can double Kerke down low and not have to worry about Sackey. Its' 5v4. They also sag off of him. They did their homework on him.

To be honest, they're sagging off of all of our shooters...and the way we're shooting, who can blame them?

valpotx · February 26, 2021, 07:20:10 PM

Holy crap. ISUb is basically begging us to get back into the game with their poor shooting, and we are instead just telling them, 'you think your shooting is bad? I'll show you bad.'

valpotx · February 26, 2021, 07:23:34 PM

Seriously?? Back-to-back missed easy layups. You can't make this stuff up

valpotx · February 26, 2021, 07:36:24 PM

Get it down to 12, and Sheldon decides to take 2 really crappy shots.

bbtds · February 26, 2021, 07:38:04 PM

smaller blowout?

maybe not?

valpotx · February 26, 2021, 07:41:24 PM

Of course, an attempted showtime dunk, rather than just going with the safe path for an easy 2. Even Krikke making decisions beyond his ability today. WTF?

valpotx · February 26, 2021, 07:46:32 PM

What the hell was that pass from Morgan to Krikke with a dude right on him?

At least this team has put their mark on Valpo history. They get to claim the largest conference loss in 20+ years, first time under 50 points against ISUb since 1955, and if we don't win tomorrow, they will be the first Valpo team since 1991-1992, to have a losing record at home. Congrats!

nkvu · February 26, 2021, 07:50:46 PM

The second half was better but I didn't see anything that would make me think that tomorrow night will have a different outcome. Hope the team doesn't leave their game in the dorm like they did tonight. Would like to see them have a chance to avoid the Thursday game.

IndyEIT777 · February 26, 2021, 07:58:07 PM

It's embarrassing to watch our non-MVC level guys play against the competent teams in this league, they get smothered and it makes me sick. I'm glad this year's freshman class can compete in the MVC and my hope is next year's class does the same. As much as I want to see us avoid a Thursday game, I'd almost rather us play against a team I know we can beat before playing one of the top 4 teams which it looks like we're out of our depth with this year.

valpotx · February 26, 2021, 07:58:24 PM

Without Key, this should have been 2 wins for us. We blew a major opportunity tonight, but luckily, Evansville has been blowing games for weeks now, Bradley is the usual character issues that Wardle brings with him, and SIU is AT Loyola. We mainly need to worry about UNI at ISUr