11/20/11: Duquesne Game Thread

agibson · November 20, 2011, 08:36:37 PM

We were trying to guess who was taller, of the pair. I looked it up online during the game (I dig the wifi in the ARC - but was a little disappointed at the lack of opponents rosters in the program), and their guy, also, is listed at 7'1". And, indeed, they might have been about the same height-wise. But, very different builds!

wh · November 20, 2011, 08:37:52 PM

Good stuff from the Akron board:

For the conspiracy theorists, Valpo dismantled Duquesne tonight, 84-68. A blistering 9/20 on 3s, and 58% from the field overall was too much for the Dukes to get past.

On a side note, Valpo shot 25 free throws to Duquesne's 14. The Dukes were called for 6 more fouls, 19-13.

valpopal · November 20, 2011, 08:46:57 PM

Duquesne's Coach Everhart compliments the Valpo players in his postgame press conference:

Ron Everhart following the 84-68 loss at Valparaiso

valporun · November 20, 2011, 08:58:08 PM

vu72, I do like your optimism, now that we're 5-1, but I'm going to disagree with our getting a lot of Top 25 votes, or us being a Top 25 team, because 2 of our 5 wins came against teams that were NAIA quality. I mean if we were 5-1 against high mid-majors and Arizona, then I might lean more towards us getting votes for the Coaches Poll.

I missed the second half, but what I saw in the first half, including the points when we let the Dukes have the lead, I thought were very impressive. I really believe this team will rise above our projected 5th place finish in conference, but I want to see more of the four teams projected ahead of us first.

valpo84 · November 20, 2011, 09:18:27 PM

By the way, Iona dismantled Maryland today after their close loss to Purdue.

agibson · November 20, 2011, 09:31:16 PM

Quote from: valpopal on November 20, 2011, 08:46:57 PMDuquesne's Coach Everhart compliments the Valpo players in his postgame press conference:

Nice! He seemed very familiar with our team (player names, etc.), even if the scouting didn't do him much good. Is the rest of the interview up, as well?

FWalum · November 20, 2011, 09:57:24 PM

If you had told at the beginning of the weekend that we would beat both Akron and Duquesne without Edwards and only 8 scholarship players available I would have told you to say your prayers because we could easily go 0-2 against those two teams, it was going to be a long shot. And yet here we sit on Sunday night having accomplish our goal with barely more than half of a full roster. My hat is off to this team and coaches for a tough job well done, if we continue to play this kind of heady, enthusiastic and aggressive ball, they will do this university and its alumni very proud.

Van Wijk is turning in just amazing performances! Broekhoff has taken it to a higher level. It appears this "team" has really come together.

valpospartan · November 20, 2011, 10:44:52 PM

Quote from: FWalum on November 20, 2011, 09:57:24 PM
If you had told at the beginning of the weekend that we would beat both Akron and Duquesne without Edwards and only 8 scholarship players available I would have told you to say your prayers because we could easily go 0-2 against those two teams, it was going to be a long shot. And yet here we sit on Sunday night having accomplish our goal with barely more than half of a full roster. My hat is off to this team and coaches for a tough job well done, if we continue to play this kind of heady, enthusiastic and aggressive ball, they will do this university and its alumni very proud.

Van Wijk is turning in just amazing performances! Broekhoff has taken it to a higher level. It appears this "team" has really come together.

I agree whle heartedly. They were two very good wins (sandwiched around a very needed yawner). The level of play was fantastic, which I feel will continue.

vu84v2 · November 20, 2011, 11:06:40 PM

While time will tell how good Akron and Duquesne really are, these are two great wins. The ball movement and offensive execution against Duquesne was great. Van Wijk and Broekhoff looked confident in everything they did and now Jay Harris is starting to show that too.

valpotx · November 20, 2011, 11:09:32 PM

Quote from: wh on November 20, 2011, 08:37:52 PM
Good stuff from the Akron board:

For the conspiracy theorists, Valpo dismantled Duquesne tonight, 84-68. A blistering 9/20 on 3s, and 58% from the field overall was too much for the Dukes to get past.

On a side note, Valpo shot 25 free throws to Duquesne's 14. The Dukes were called for 6 more fouls, 19-13.

In this game, any foul disparity was definitely due to us driving to the basket, and them chunking up shots 15+ ft from the basket after 5-10 seconds go by on the shot clock. They didn't seem to have any offensive flow whatsoever, and Bryce definitely has this team fit into their roles nicely. I like how we run part of our traditional offense, but seem to adapt to how the team is playing us more than in years past. It was ridiculous to see the lack of an adjustment by Duquesne to a simple lob over their defender, with no help coming...

I have to give a shout out to Vucic and all Vucic doubters. His 8 minutes today were very valuable, and he seems to be getting how to position his body better. For a 7'1" guy, he seems to have a good mid-range jumper too. Keep making improvements like these, and look at that, we can teach a guy how to play that not many other teams would have taken a chance on!

agibson · November 20, 2011, 11:33:05 PM

Quote from: valpotx on November 20, 2011, 11:09:32 PMFor a 7'1" guy, he seems to have a good mid-range jumper too.

Yeah, tonight there was one in particular: on the east side of the gym (second half, I guess), from somewhere towards the baseline, right hand side. Sort of made you think "Wow, this could work!".

vu84v2 · November 20, 2011, 11:57:07 PM

FYI...on the Duquesne board they are saying that the main reason that they lost is that they were the only D1 team to agree to play UDC instead of a much weaker opponent. I think their argument is pretty weak, since it really was Broekhoff's first half overall play and great post entry strategy in the second half that won it.

One of their posters commented that our play-by-play guy must be all nose...he is not of course, but funny to hear someone's observation when that have only heard them on the broadcast.

jdub1991 · November 21, 2011, 12:01:40 AM

Quote from: agibson on November 20, 2011, 09:31:16 PM
Quote from: valpopal on November 20, 2011, 08:46:57 PMDuquesne's Coach Everhart compliments the Valpo players in his postgame press conference:

Nice! He seemed very familiar with our team (player names, etc.), even if the scouting didn't do him much good. Is the rest of the interview up, as well?

It was weird to hear him call Harris by his first name, I looked it up, and Jay had a college visit to Duquesne in high school

lowposter · November 21, 2011, 04:19:02 PM

No one should be complaining about playing time.

Vucic (or someone) is going to play a critical role for this team this year. It was great to see him play 8 minutes with contributions.

Let's face it, as long as we can pound it down low with Kevin chewing up people one on one then defensive help will have to assist. That leaves our 3 point shooters with wide open looks. I will take our chances with the shooters on the roster. At some point in time our shooting will be fine (already moving in that direction). The key is to have both an inside and outside game. Eric will be a major part of this team. Few can match up to him.

lowposter

swiftmutiny · November 21, 2011, 05:12:25 PM

After this weekend Valpo is ranked in the Top 25 Mid-Major poll.

http://www.midmajortop25.com/

vu72 · November 21, 2011, 05:21:03 PM

How can Akron, after losing to us and Duquesne, be ranked higher than us? Very odd.

wh · November 21, 2011, 05:32:20 PM

The HL is the only conference with 4 teams in the Top 25.

vuweathernerd · November 21, 2011, 07:02:54 PM

excellent! here's to hoping we can keep improving on that!

bbtds · November 21, 2011, 08:55:53 PM

Quote from: vu72 on November 21, 2011, 05:21:03 PM
How can Akron, after losing to us and Duquesne, be ranked higher than us? Very odd.

If Valpo could play all 23 teams above them in the mid-majority poll I'm sure Valpo would beat close to 60% of them. Oh, wait. Valpo already beat Akron. That poll is simply ignoring the winners of the Coaches vs Cancer tournament. The voters must think the home floor advantage that Valpo has doesn't go very far on the road.

valporun · November 22, 2011, 01:16:17 AM

Most of the coaches who vote in the Mid-Major poll are just going on program reputation according to an assistant coach or the secretary to the head coach. These coaches polls are just a way to get hype for college sports. They don't do a whole lot, in my opinion, besides get us excited to play an ESPN/AP Top 25 team, regardless of how good our team is compared with the "ranked". I stopped caring about the polls when teams didn't really reflect being in the rankings or being ranked as high as they were.

historyman · November 22, 2011, 06:30:53 AM

It does seem kind of simple though. If one team loses to another team unless it's considered a real fluke and the team that won played way above their normal level or the losing team played well below their normal level that the team that won should be ranked higher than the team that lost. What does that say about the coaches and how they view Valpo?

valpofan56 · November 22, 2011, 06:37:22 AM

Quote from: historyman on November 22, 2011, 06:30:53 AM
It does seem kind of simple though. If one team loses to another team unless it's considered a real fluke and the team that won played way above their normal level or the losing team played well below their normal level that the team that won should be ranked higher than the team that lost. What does that say about the coaches and how they view Valpo?

You guys are reading way too much into a poll that most of the coaches that vote for it probably don't take more than 5 minutes to fill out their ballot.

historyman · November 22, 2011, 06:40:59 AM

Quote from: valpofan56 on November 22, 2011, 06:37:22 AM
Quote from: historyman on November 22, 2011, 06:30:53 AM
It does seem kind of simple though. If one team loses to another team unless it's considered a real fluke and the team that won played way above their normal level or the losing team played well below their normal level that the team that won should be ranked higher than the team that lost. What does that say about the coaches and how they view Valpo?

You guys are reading way too much into a poll that most of the coaches that vote for it probably don't take more than 5 minutes to fill out their ballot.

Well, if that is truly the case then mid-majority needs to find voters who care more about the way they vote. That seems rather simple too.

lowposter · November 22, 2011, 06:47:28 AM

Too early in the year to get hung up over polls.

It will all shake out starting in mid February.

lowposter

vuweathernerd · November 22, 2011, 09:08:48 AM

Quote from: bbtds on November 21, 2011, 08:55:53 PM
Quote from: vu72 on November 21, 2011, 05:21:03 PM
How can Akron, after losing to us and Duquesne, be ranked higher than us? Very odd.

If Valpo could play all 23 teams above them in the mid-majority poll I'm sure Valpo would beat close to 60% of them. Oh, wait. Valpo already beat Akron. That poll is simply ignoring the winners of the Coaches vs Cancer tournament. The voters must think the home floor advantage that Valpo has doesn't go very far on the road.

well, we did lose to arizona by only 9 on the road. granted, we had an off stretch and had to come back to make it that close, but still. they didn't show a whole lot of panic on the road against a ranked opponent.