Valpo at Bradley 1/7 2 pm CBS Sports Network

humbleopinion · January 07, 2023, 06:07:17 AM

It's hard to be optimistic about a road trip to play one of the top rated teams in the conference.

Changes made for the UNI game yielded positive results, but unless we can put the ball through the hoop, it could be a long afternoon in Peoria. It's good to have Darius available again, and maybe Max will show the prowess from 3 for which he was recruited.

oklahomamick · January 07, 2023, 06:38:10 AM

As much as I dislike Wardle, he has done a good job at Bradley. I disklike his style of play (foul foul foul, refs can't call every foul), his coaching deminer on the sidelines, even his hair cut.

He had some ups and downs (several transferred out and he was even investigated by the school) but overall he has achieved at Bradley, especially from where they were when he took over.

I read a post on here saying we are very limited in who we could attract as a coach. Why couldn't we get a successful coach from the Summit or HL with recruiting ties in the area. Seemed to work for Bradley.

VUSWIM08-12 · January 07, 2023, 12:42:58 PM

Another opportunity on national TV, but I'm not optimistic either. We're 16 point underdogs. +800 to win. Idk. We gotta win a league game eventually, but we'll have better chances against the Redbirds, Purple Aces, and Flames.

AlaskaCrusader19 · January 07, 2023, 02:16:38 PM

Quote from: VUSWIM08-12 on January 07, 2023, 12:42:58 PM
Another opportunity on national TV, but I'm not optimistic either. We're 16 point underdogs. +800 to win. Idk. We gotta win a league game eventually, but we'll have better chances against the Redbirds, Purple Aces, and Flames.

I'm not sure who from CBS decided to put this on actual TV, but it was probably a bad decision. Another non-competitive start out of Lottich's game plan.

Just Sayin · January 07, 2023, 02:16:57 PM

Valpo, the doormat of the MVC.
At least we are known for something.

tjjvalpo · January 07, 2023, 02:27:57 PM

Bradley has one 15 in a row at home. Remember when we use to win most if not all of our home games.
Bradley the best defensive team in the conference-I'm guessing that playing Valpo will pad those stats som more.

valporun · January 07, 2023, 02:43:20 PM

We're playing like trash, and that's the players' fault for not playing anything resembling NCAA basketball. I feel like I'm watching the gym class heroes of high school yore in the gold unis here. "Lowtich" isn't coaching, and the announcers are so boring. At least Todd still gives hope of a quality reason to listen to the game. We don't even attack the basketball like we used to. It's more that the Valpo Men's Basketball team quit on themselves when they saw that there was nothing exciting about their lack of basketball sense.

covufan · January 07, 2023, 02:43:44 PM

22 point deficit in first half. Any medics near Valpo bench to see if there is a pulse.

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mj · January 07, 2023, 02:53:59 PM

QuoteAt least Todd still gives hope of a quality reason to listen to the game.

This is literally the only reason why I'm following Valpo basketball at the moment.

Down 25 at the half. Woof.

AB · January 07, 2023, 02:56:05 PM

I saw this live in person at Oxford last month and again in the first half today. The consistent themes, lack of focus on defense/hustle, 50/50 balls and all the unforced turnovers. The lack of detail of where to be on defense is alarming. Obvious the players don't believe. Krikke is such a nice player and should get some first teams honors at the end of the season. Dan Opland productivity.

VUSWIM08-12 · January 07, 2023, 03:08:18 PM

Just a disgrace...this team plays like Lottich's passive personality. If Lottich is the Christian man that Valpo claims he is then he'd have enough introspection to know he should resign. I am losing all respect for our new Prez, AD, Lottich, Gore and all involved...

VUSWIM08-12 · January 07, 2023, 03:27:37 PM

Lottich cant even call timeouts correctly, we were doing well then he called a timeout n gave them time to regroup, hilarious...

tiny707 · January 07, 2023, 03:39:43 PM

Why no Palm?

oklahomamick · January 07, 2023, 04:40:43 PM

Gore no different than Lottich. Except Gore got to carry the Drew's bags for 10 years or so.

covufan · January 07, 2023, 04:57:53 PM

Gee, only a 22 point loss after being down 25 at half. What a second half team and head coach.

The Thursday game at Arch Madness can't get here soon enough.

I am now putting 3-4 March on my calendar.

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AlaskaCrusader19 · January 07, 2023, 07:34:03 PM

Quote from: oklahomamick on January 07, 2023, 04:40:43 PM
Gore no different than Lottich. Except Gore got to carry the Drew's bags for 10 years or so.

Completely agree here. Seems like a good dude, as does Lottich, but by no means should he be a part of the next staff.

Dr. T · January 07, 2023, 08:12:14 PM

I attempted to watch the first half. I made it until the last tv timeout of the half. More of the same ...

At that point, I decided to watch a Cocoamelon episode with my child - one that I've seen 100x at this point. The difference? Watching my child's elation far surpasses my numbness to Valpo basketball at this point ...

valpotx · January 08, 2023, 04:39:54 AM

I had this game on the TV, while I caught up on some work. I would only take a look over at the TV every few minutes, simply say 'damn, we suck,' and then get back to work.

VULB#62 · January 08, 2023, 07:51:38 AM

"I'm sure the players, like most of us, respect the person who Matt is. Good person, no doubt. But at the same time, they are smart enough to see what's happening and may not thoroughly believe in his system, his decisions, his coaching skills.

>> Would they like to first concentrate on lock-down defense for the first 8 minutes of every game instead of giving up double figures while opponents shut down what little of an inside game we have and force a bunch of hurried jumpers because we don't seem to want to play in the paint? Of course. But that doesn't seem to be part of "the process."

>> Would they want to learn how to collectively defend the 3pt. arc? Of course. But that doesn't seem to be part of "the process." "

I wrote the above quote before the Bradley game. Prophetic, I guess. During the first half of yesterday's game, I checked in to Bradley's LiveStat app. Watching the Bradley lead gradually become overwhelming, I bounced around in the app for a better understanding of what was happening and perhaps why. They had a Shots Made/Missed Map. The visual was astounding.

>> For Bradley, it clearly showed a heavy cluster of made shots inside of 8' from the basket. It also showed numerous, almost evenly spaced made 3 pt. shots all along the arc from the right corner around to the left corner.

>> For Valpo, there were, at the time, maybe 3 made shots close to the basket, many missed shots in the paint and inside the 3pt. arc, as well as maybe one made 3pt shot.

What that one glimpse told me, even though I am by far not a basketball guru, is that Valpo does not defend inside, has no 3pt defense, does not work the ball in deep on offense, and does not have a system that frees up shooters for clean looks or easy cuts to the basket. Now, I may be wrong on that last point cuz I was not watching the game and couldn't see if it was lots of missed open looks or Bradley pressure that contributed to that perception.

Bottom line for me, I cannot decide if we are a team of bad players or decent players playing badly. If it is the former, there is no fixing that. OTOH, if it is the latter, it is fixable. Sadly, however, no effort to change "the process" or "the system" has been implemented despite a visible trend. Everyone knows "The definition of insanity is repeating the same mistakes expecting a different result." We have proof of that happening. Paul Oren, in his Victory Bell coverage of this game, did something I've not seen him do before. He put in a table of the fastest to a 10 point deficit in all this season's games. There were 10 games where this occurred. TEN out of 17 games. BTW, Bradley was the 4th fastest.

AlaskaCrusader19 · January 10, 2023, 01:24:38 PM

Quote from: VULB#62 on January 08, 2023, 07:51:38 AM

Bottom line for me, I cannot decide if we are a team of bad players or decent players playing badly. If it is the former, there is no fixing that. OTOH, if it is the latter, it is fixable. Sadly, however, no effort to change "the process" or "the system" has been implemented despite a visible trend. Everyone knows "The definition of insanity is repeating the same mistakes expecting a different result." We have proof of that happening. Paul Oren, in his Victory Bell coverage of this game, did something I've not seen him do before. He put in a table of the fastest to a 10 point deficit in all this season's games. There were 10 games where this occurred. TEN out of 17 games. BTW, Bradley was the 4th fastest.

If this team were flush with real talent, I think you'd see a lot more flashes of it. Outside of Krikke and King (and sometimes Green and Edwards), the cupboard feels awfully bare. Being rated outside of the top 300 in KenPom is a complete embarrassment.

AB · January 10, 2023, 05:55:10 PM

I will acknowledge that we may not quite have the depth or talent the Peters and or Ryan B era, but when you watch VU play the other teams in the MVC of late are you really seeing that much of talent gap? It's getting the most out of what we have and right now several other teams are doing a better job of that than our current team. I think the team that lacks the most talent in the league is UIC, Ill State and Evansville. After that it's fairly close between all the teams. So yes maybe we are missing that bonafide alpha male and all we have are a bunch of good role players. Can we say every team in the valley right now has a star, the man.?