11/18/11: Akron Game Thread

[sectionee]

fantastic win! loved the atmosphere, kudos to the students and community for showing up!  Akron has noone to be mad at but themselves for the foul shot disparity.  http://sectionee.blogspot.com/2011/11/game-wrap-up-i-love-college-basketball.html

[johnestuff]

The "rumor" in the crusader club room was he missed a curfew.  But missing three games for it seems harsh if true.

Definitely an NCAA issue.

[covufan]

The "rumor" in the crusader club room was he missed a curfew.  But missing three games for it seems harsh if true.

Definitely an NCAA issue.

What could it be if VU expects him back before the Ohio State game?

[sectionee]

Should've used my press pass tonight to get the scoop.  Anxiously awaiting to hear about Richie. 

[valpofan11]

Hey, I saw who I think was Griffyn Carpenter dressed for us. Is he really walking on for VU. If he is, he will play against IU-Kokomo when we kill them.

[sectionee]

That was him.  Lots of PT for those guys at the end of the bench tomorrow we hope.

[vu84v2]

Who would have thought you could beat a good team with eight scholarship players (including Vucic) and shooting 0-14 from three point range?  Great gutsy effort by Van Wijk, Kenney, and Broekhoff.  Broekhoff's great block and Kenney's incredible rebound were the key defensively in the last two minutes.

Let's hope this thing with Edwards is not a big deal...

[chairback]

The foul disparity in the game was in our favor big time.  HOWEVER, the Zips (what the heck is a zip? Do they have a giant zipper as the mascot?) played sloppy and careless most of the game.  Stupid fouls that were in fact fouls.  They played overly physical from the start and dug themselves into a hole with foul trouble.  I know "Zip" fans will say they got homered but they played like crap.

Kudos to Valpo playing basically 7 guys and out hustling them on almost every possesion. 

What's our record against the "Zips" the last couple of years?

[vuweathernerd]

our 3pt shooting clearly needs work. this is the fourth game of the season, and we've only shot over 30% once, against holy cross. and that was 6-16, which is still awful considering the opponent. and now we throw up a doughnut? overall, a good win. but there are definitely things that need work.

[RS]

Great win tonite. Akron fan website is livid. The ultimate "homer" game. Terrible loss to a terrible team that will destroy their RPI. Funny really. They WERE OVERLY aggressive and very physical. I'm sure looking at our roster they thought by pushing and banging the game would be over quickly. Kudo's to the WHOLE TEAM. Shooting was bad. But gutsy play and defense won it in the end. Edwards will be back for the Ohio State game. Again good gutsy game against a very good (and physical) team. IU Kokomo will be A good game to play more of the subs. ( Not really that many subs when you look at the players available). GO VALPO

[valpotx]

Grafs was the last true 5, Kone did not really play with his back to the basket that much, more of a jump shooter.

I also hope nothing too bad about Edwards, but if it is something where he would be back by the OSU game, it can't be too bad? 

Akron has no one to blame but themselves for the foul disparity.  I hate how people think fouls should be even throughout a game.  If a team plays cleanly, games like these are very possible.  They can't just call fouls that aren't there to make it even.

I saw this potential in Kevin through the games last year, if he could stay healthy.  He is like a 'bull in a china shop,' throws his body around and plays with all his energy.  Definitely a guy I respect when I watch him play, as he does not let the game take it to him, he takes himself to the game.

[mj]

Great win for the guys tonight. Hopefully our 3pt shooting shows up sometime soon. Things aren't going to be like this if we keep throwing up goose eggs all season long.

[valpopal]

When I saw during warmups that Edwards would not play, I thought there was no chance for my prediction of a Valpo victory tonight. However, the players on the court gave everything they had. We basically played with six guys (Vucic and Kurth did not add much), and when Buggs fouled out, we had to go the rest of the way with the five on the court. Those six players tonight showed a tremendous amount of character on the court. You know everyone in my section was praying against a tie and overtime during the last minute of play.

Lots of oddities in the game's stats. Yes, we had more free throws (though we didn't hit a high percentage); however, one thing I've noticed and liked this season is that Valpo is forcing more fouls from the opposition, and I hope that continues all year. This might be due to Bryce's more aggressive style. Also, we were down only one at halftime despite Ryan and Will combining for only 2 points. Will also played 32 minutes and didn't score a point. In fact, we were 0-14 from the 3-point line. Yet, as in the other games thus far, our 2-point percent has been extremely high, mostly due to Kevin, who has been incredible. Imagine if anyone had predicted that Kevin would have 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Akron's heralded 7-foot center would wind up with 0 points and 0 rebounds!

It must be said that this was the first real test of Bryce as a head coach, and he passed the test with flying colors.

[valpotx]

I still say that if we can get 5-8 minutes from Vucic every game, he is providing a valuable presence.  A rebound here and there, maybe a basket, GREAT!  Anything to give rest to people and provide a big tall tree in the way of shots.

Akron fans are bitter that they lost to a better program.  We beat them with 7-8 players, depending on how you want to look at, without some of our better ones.  For them to say that they are 20-30 points better than us without the foul disparity is a joke.  I believe the MAC, Horizon and Summit share officials, no?  You can call them Horizon officials, but when I was in school, refs performed for each of these leagues...

[valpopal]

Valpo-Akron game highlights:

Valpo Crusaders (MBB) vs. Akron Zips (11/18/2011)

[Crusader03]

Thanks for the highlights!

[wh]

The foul disparity in the game was in our favor big time.  HOWEVER, the Zips (what the heck is a zip? Do they have a giant zipper as the mascot?) played sloppy and careless most of the game.  Stupid fouls that were in fact fouls.  They played overly physical from the start and dug themselves into a hole with foul trouble.  I know "Zip" fans will say they got homered but they played like crap.
Kudos to Valpo playing basically 7 guys and out hustling them on almost every possesion. 

What's our record against the "Zips" the last couple of years?

---I thought for a while I was watching a replay of the Bears/Lions game from last weekend.  They were way too agressive and didn't have the discipline to reign it in. 
---They turned the ball over 16 times, and I swear they fouled whoever got control of the ball at least 10 of the 16 times.
---They were constantly out of position on defense and kept hacking whoever they got beat by.
---Their bigs acted like they've never seen a double team before.  Marshall was clearly frustrated and committed several obvious, dumb fouls.  The refs didn't make him a non-factor; he did that all by himself.  He looked god awful out there.  Kevin was clearly the best player on the court.  He made their 2 bigs look silly.
---They out fouled Mississippi State 22-12, in a win no less.  They have CSU - the fouling kings of the HL - coming up.  I can just see it now - 60 fouls over the 4 hours it will take to play the game, both coaches crying constantly throughout, and the loser claiming they got jobbed.
---Their fans want to claim that if not for the foul disparity, the game wouldn't have been close.  The truth is they were beaten by a team that was 0-14 from 3.  Had we been even 4-14 like we were in our last game, we would have won the game going away.
---Bottom line - the Zips have a lot of talent and will undoubtedly win a lot of games - but not the way they played tonight. 

[valpopal]

Word I heard is that Edwards is being held out for three games this weekend due to an eligibility technicality for games he played in New Zealand. Bryce believes that will satisfy all requirements and everything will be fine going forward.

[valpofan56]

I love Kevin Van Wijk! A lot of people gave me a hard time last year for hating on Cory Johnson so much.  I said it sooooo many times last year about how Cory needed to go up strong and draw the foul or make the lay up, instead he continually spun away from contact and threw up some ugly altered shot and never got a foul call even when he did get fouled because the refs aren't going to call a foul when you go up like that.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Kevin is the anti-Cory and I love everything about it!  Cory could have a good game when he was feeling it and those fade away hook shots were falling, but with Kevin's style of play it will be a lot harder for him to have one of those bad games for which Cory was notorious.

[FWalum]

This team seems to have a special attitude and "team" cohesiveness.  Kevin's play has been spectacular, better than I could have hoped for in my wildest dreams.  As I stated earlier he has the mindset of a 5, something we really have not had for a while. I hope and pray that his body holds up throughout the entire season because he is a better, more active and even much more athletic player now versus a year ago. We really need to get into a rhythm on the threes.  Hard to believe that a shooter the caliber of Ryan could be so inept this season. Something is wrong and many times the harder you try to fix it the worse it gets.  Maybe the Kokomo game will allow us to shoot without pressure.

Good job by Bryce managing the game the last couple of outings. I was concerned that we ran out of timeouts so early in the game but I later realized that he probably had to use those time outs as breathers for the team, keeping guys just a little bit fresher by taking the extra time earlier in the game.  This is crazy playing these games with only 2 or 3 subs, what heart these guys are showing. 

I did think that the foul discrepancy was a little much however, IMO Keith Dambrot should have gotten much more into the refs faces tonight, forced the issue and gotten a technical which would have almost certainly forced the refs to call more fouls, real or imaginary, on the Crusaders.  I am not saying I am a big fan of that tactic but would probably have tried it with that big of a discrepancy.

[Valpo2010]

Word I heard from some inside the program is Edwards is serving a 3 game suspension for some missing paperwork involving his transfer.  After the 3 game suspension the issue is resolved. 

Also, I'm continually impressed by Kevin's physical play.  Great to have a true big man. 

Hopefully we'll get Shelton and Carpenter some playing time against IU-Kokomo.  I also heard a rumor about another walk-on if Fernandez redshirts...someone to take some playing time from the big men in blowouts

[wh]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but Kevin and Ryan both had double-doubles and Matt was 1 rebound away from a double-double.  That would have been cool.  I can't ever recall a Valpo game where we had 3 players with D-D's.  Two is unusual in itself. 

[agibson]

Sounds like a fantastic game - sorry I missed it.  Looking forward to bringing the kids Sunday.

[johnestuff]

Word I heard from some inside the program is Edwards is serving a 3 game suspension for some missing paperwork involving his transfer.  After the 3 game suspension the issue is resolved. 

Also, I'm continually impressed by Kevin's physical play.  Great to have a true big man. 

Hopefully we'll get Shelton and Carpenter some playing time against IU-Kokomo.  I also heard a rumor about another walk-on if Fernandez redshirts...someone to take some playing time from the big men in blowouts

I belief this is correct!

[lowposter]

Didnt attend last night, stayed home and enjoyed a quiet evening.  The Times had the attendance at 3800.  Was that a legit 3800?  If so, not a bad crowd on a Friday evening. 

This appears to have been a great win.  Good opponent and a little adversity with a thin bench.  Yes, we certainly have a true center for the first time in several years.  That was obvious last year in his limited time on the court.  Ok, let me get this off my chest.  You can hate on Cory all you want.  He is gone.  He was not a center and played out of position for two years.  I didnt hear him gripe about it.  If you are going to point fingers at him, then the logical next question should be...."why was he playing center?" There were certain matchups that he handled well, others he didnt.

Simple...legitimate bigs are not easy to find.  We have to leave the country it seems to find them.  Then hopefully the NCAA will deem them eligible. 

Great win for Bryce and the players (no one should be complaining about PT), hopefully Vucic can develope into a 8-10 minute player.