Valpo at Indiana State, 2/8 6 PM

AlaskaCrusader19 · February 08, 2023, 07:25:29 PM

No thread until mid-second half? Rough night.

oklahomamick · February 08, 2023, 07:59:47 PM

No, rough season.

Wait, rough 4 years

justducky · February 08, 2023, 08:02:21 PM

I thought we couldn't play them any worse than we did at the ARC but I was wrong again.

VULB#62 · February 08, 2023, 09:08:00 PM

From the stats, it appears Ben played one hellofa game. Love the kid.

AB · February 08, 2023, 09:18:04 PM

Krikke and our Offensive improvement for the Brown and Gold is noticeable but certainly the Trees are shooting with a lot of confidence against many teams at the moment. With that being said, pretty obvious our lack of cohesion on defense, stepping out further on the shooters, weak side help defense in the paint etc... and how much more connected States offense is. In two years he's done a good job of implementing his system and executing the X's and O's. Their sum/system is greater than the individual parts. Ours is the opposite.
For ISU's improvement this year, I thought they had terrible attendance tonight. Maybe I am missing something. Krikke needs to look for other opportunities at the end of the season

VULB#62 · February 08, 2023, 09:34:14 PM

Or if the right coach replaces Matt, Ben could be the centerpiece in a Valpo transformation.

Dr. T · February 08, 2023, 10:12:15 PM

I can hear ML's excuses now ... injuries ... guys are tired from the past (2) OT games ... life's hard in the valley ... that's an ISU team that's playing well right now ... but that's all it is ... excuses for justifying mediocracy (at best).

As for the attendance, it wasn't very good. But, you could also chalk that up to ISU not caring to come out on a Wednesday night to watch a subpar Valpo team. So, like many of us, they streamed the game on ESPN.

Just hard to watch at this point. As the commentators said during the broadcast, bigs aren't supposed to be playing the minutes Ben is playing night in & night out. Just not healthy. Not to mention the role he's expected to play. Sure, pros do it but consider the sort of restorative & rehab facilities they have available for players that Valpo couldn't dream of.

AlaskaCrusader19 · February 09, 2023, 07:32:31 AM

Quote from: Dr. T on February 08, 2023, 10:12:15 PM
I can hear ML's excuses now ... injuries ... guys are tired from the past (2) OT games ... life's hard in the valley ... that's an ISU team that's playing well right now ... but that's all it is ... excuses for justifying mediocracy (at best).

As for the attendance, it wasn't very good. But, you could also chalk that up to ISU not caring to come out on a Wednesday night to watch a subpar Valpo team. So, like many of us, they streamed the game on ESPN.

Just hard to watch at this point. As the commentators said during the broadcast, bigs aren't supposed to be playing the minutes Ben is playing night in & night out. Just not healthy. Not to mention the role he's expected to play. Sure, pros do it but consider the sort of restorative & rehab facilities they have available for players that Valpo couldn't dream of.

It's a shame Indiana State is so far ahead of where Valpo is right now. It does, however, give some reason for optimism that a coaching change can bring legitimate results...

vu72 · February 09, 2023, 08:16:15 AM

Quote from: AlaskaCrusader19 on February 09, 2023, 07:32:31 AMIt's a shame Indiana State is so far ahead of where Valpo is right now. It does, however, give some reason for optimism that a coaching change can bring legitimate results...

And they are doing it with a former D2 coach. We need a change and we don't need to require a coach to have D1 experience. Think of where we will be come the off season--three of our starters have to leave and I'll be a little shocked if Ben wants to go through another tough year. That then leaves us with Max, Connor and Darius with any real playing experience. We have a point, 2 guard and a center coming in from the freshman class. Obviously we'll need to hit the transfer portal hard again. What is up with Palm??

vuny98 · February 09, 2023, 08:44:02 AM

Quote from: vu72 on February 09, 2023, 08:16:15 AM
Quote from: AlaskaCrusader19 on February 09, 2023, 07:32:31 AMIt's a shame Indiana State is so far ahead of where Valpo is right now. It does, however, give some reason for optimism that a coaching change can bring legitimate results...
And they are doing it with a former D2 coach. We need a change and we don't need to require a coach to have D1 experience. Think of where we will be come the off season--three of our starters have to leave and I'll be a little shocked if Ben wants to go through another tough year. That then leaves us with Max, Connor and Darius with any real playing experience. We have a point, 2 guard and a center coming in from the freshman class. Obviously we'll need to hit the transfer portal hard again. What is up with Palm??

With a coaching change you can expect some of those freshmen commits to decommit as well. But I tend to agree, a D2 coach would be just fine by me if he has experience and proven success. We don't have the money to attract a big name or even an unproven Big D1 assistant (Jake). Valpo was successful in the past by finding the diamond in the rough recruits. Need to have that same attitude towards finding a coach.

SanityLost17 · February 09, 2023, 08:44:21 AM

I have just been watching Baylor all year.

They just got one of their better players back from injury. I can start a thread called "Bandwagon Baylor" if anybody needs to get through the rest of this season.

AB · February 09, 2023, 12:32:44 PM

Palm........Surprised nothing reported at all. Has the staff been questioned? He likely could have helped us win the game against Drake, energy, rebounds. If you watch the post game press conferences, Coach ML is smooth talker and is always measured in his words. It's clear he's advocating for his job next season, comments about the community, student involvement and what the university stands for, aligning his principals with the president. Yes the atmosphere was better Saturday and that was norm for many years. I think the fans weren't standing, because we've seen this movie play out many times last few years. The fans want to believe...However. Horizon league early on 2010, 11 12 seasons. 3,000 in attendance on those Sunday afternoons against Cleveland state etc, up against the Bears.

AlaskaCrusader19 · February 09, 2023, 12:44:42 PM

Quote from: vuny98 on February 09, 2023, 08:44:02 AM
Quote from: vu72 on February 09, 2023, 08:16:15 AM
Quote from: AlaskaCrusader19 on February 09, 2023, 07:32:31 AMIt's a shame Indiana State is so far ahead of where Valpo is right now. It does, however, give some reason for optimism that a coaching change can bring legitimate results...
And they are doing it with a former D2 coach. We need a change and we don't need to require a coach to have D1 experience. Think of where we will be come the off season--three of our starters have to leave and I'll be a little shocked if Ben wants to go through another tough year. That then leaves us with Max, Connor and Darius with any real playing experience. We have a point, 2 guard and a center coming in from the freshman class. Obviously we'll need to hit the transfer portal hard again. What is up with Palm??

With a coaching change you can expect some of those freshmen commits to decommit as well. But I tend to agree, a D2 coach would be just fine by me if he has experience and proven success. We don't have the money to attract a big name or even an unproven Big D1 assistant (Jake). Valpo was successful in the past by finding the diamond in the rough recruits. Need to have that same attitude towards finding a coach.

With all due respect to Valpo's signees, Matt Lottich hasn't recruited at such a high clip that I'm worried about losing his recruits. If they go elsewhere, so be it. Fill the scholarships with some portal stopgaps and get to building.

NativeCheesehead · February 09, 2023, 02:40:13 PM

This is all just chatter. We should be tanking for a high draft pick.

Just Sayin · February 09, 2023, 03:23:16 PM

Quote from: SanityLost17 on February 09, 2023, 08:44:21 AM
I have just been watching Baylor all year.

They just got one of their better players back from injury. I can start a thread called "Bandwagon Baylor" if anybody needs to get through the rest of this season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7mpLFww0c8

Dr. T · February 09, 2023, 03:45:57 PM

AB:

"Palm........Surprised nothing reported at all. Has the staff been questioned? He likely could have helped us win the game against Drake, energy, rebounds. If you watch the post game press conferences, Coach ML is smooth talker and is always measured in his words. It's clear he's advocating for his job next season, comments about the community, student involvement and what the university stands for, aligning his principals with the president. Yes the atmosphere was better Saturday and that was norm for many years. I think the fans weren't standing, because we've seen this movie play out many times last few years. The fans want to believe...However. Horizon league early on 2010, 11 12 seasons. 3,000 in attendance on those Sunday afternoons against Cleveland state etc, up against the Bears."
[/size]
That is such a solid take!!! I thought the same thing when watching & listening to his remarks. At this point, though, it's empty rhetoric. I don't blame him - I'd probably be advocating for my job, too. But, honestly, it sure seems like an ego problem. We're creatures of routine and often go into survival mode by defending ourselves. He may be a super reflective person. I don't know him personally. I know we've yet to see tangible evidence of a program being formed on an identity. What is this program? It was grit ... trust the process ... what process? Why should we trust at this point when nothing is signaling an upwards trajectory?

Pgmado · February 09, 2023, 03:58:53 PM

Palm's playing time dropped off as soon as Valpo shifted the offense to playing their big man (Krikke) toward the top of the key instead of in the low post. This is the system Valpo is playing now, for better or worse. Hedstrom gets minimal playing time because he can float out to the perimeter and is a threat to shoot 3-pointers against teams that don't guard out that far (Brodie/Drake). That's my take on it.

Dr. T · February 09, 2023, 10:56:11 PM

Per Paul's response (which makes logical sense based on what we've seen down the stretch), IMO this is yet another sign of the team not having an identity. Two guys with size who could be role players who no longer fit the system and are thus keeping the bench warm. I'll never understand why Joe didn't ever seem to get a fair shake in a Valpo uniform.

historyman · February 09, 2023, 11:34:02 PM

Quote from: Dr. T on February 09, 2023, 10:56:11 PMI'll never understand why Joe didn't ever seem to get a fair shake in a Valpo uniform.

There are times where Joe couldn't catch a pass if his life depended on it but he has hit some important threes which put him ahead of the other big men. He does give maximum effort which seems to limit his time on the court at times because he wears himself out in many games. Joe is probably one of the best teammates someone could have on the Div 1 level.

Dr. T · February 10, 2023, 10:30:30 AM

On a team searching for answers and lacking depth at key positions, I have a hard time believing a 7' 240lb former Wisconsin BIG10 player cannot get more minutes than he's getting. He's 10-16 on FG (62.5%), 3-8 on 3PTs (37.5%), 8-9 FTs (88.9%), and is averaging 5.5 min. per game.

VUGrad1314 · February 10, 2023, 11:20:51 AM

So we just got drubbed by 22 by a team we used to beat regularly when they tried to continue sticking it out with a mediocre coach. Not a good sign and even more evidence of the need for change. We're not even competitive against the decent\top teams in this league anymore. We could at least hang our hats on that in years past. We only beat the other bottom feeders now. It's a sad state of affairs but I'm at the point where I just can't even muster feelings of sadness or anger anymore. It just is what it is until something changes.