Valpo-Murray or Drake at Bradley Which game do we watch live?

covufan · February 26, 2023, 09:01:52 PM

Tough to win on road shooting 26% from 3point land and only 6 FTs to their 20

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Dr. T · February 26, 2023, 09:08:02 PM

Valpo's last (and sole) OT win this season was back on November 27 when they beat James Madison. Since then, they've lost 4 OT games. Can these losses honestly be chalked up to the refs, bad calls, etc.? Or, is it a sign of a more systemic problem within this organization that signals (yet another) red flag that this program is in dire straits?

JD24 · February 26, 2023, 11:27:08 PM

Quote from: AB on February 26, 2023, 05:18:53 PMThe most consistent MVC team in close games this year! Not a homer here, it was all ball on Krikke. Does the season end Thursday or Friday for the Brown and Gold?

Watch a basketball at any level and you'll hear constantly "stop ball!". Letting that guy go the length of the court until he was 5 feet from the basket is what killed Valpo not necessarily the foul. Krikke did bring his arms down which is usually going to get a call.

nkvu · February 26, 2023, 11:49:07 PM

Quote from: VULB#62 on February 26, 2023, 07:23:02 PM
I didn't watch it. I couldn't get to LiveStats. How did we manage to lose this one?

The usual suspects. Got off to a good start, built a lead, gave it up toward the end of the first half through a scoring drought. Finished down a few at half. 2nd half got down, hung in there got a lead toward the end, couldn't extend it. Had the usual turnover on an inbounds play that lead to a score. They tied it with about a dozen seconds left. We got an open look from three at the end but unfortunately it was Darius who had hit an extremely rare 3 earlier, but this time returned to form and hit nothing but floor. Got down immediately by 5 in ot, hung around, Krikke had a chance to cut lead to 1 but missed second free throw. Made up for it by later getting a follow up to tie the score with about 5 seconds left. Didn't guard on the inbounds giving them clean path up court getting a nice foul call with .5 seconds left. They hit first free throw, missed second, game ended.

Decided I hadn't suffered enough trying to pass a stone this week so actually watched the game. Feeling was similar. Pain and no success. Suppose I will watch our final game on Thursday. I clearly need to suffer some more. Imagine Krikke might feel the same about his Valpo career. A point guard that could shoot a bit, another big that could give him a blow once in a while without grinding the offense to a halt. A 2 or a 3 that was consistently above average from 3 or a coach who could recruit these kind of players or coach up the ones they have. I wish he could have played on one of those Valpo teams in his last couple of years.

may know · February 27, 2023, 12:12:27 AM

After reading a poorly-thought-out post on pg 1 about how "awful" the Valley is, here's some perspective:

The MVC has 5 top-120 NET teams.
This is the same as #9 and #10 NET.
This is more than #11-#14 NET, and actually 2-3 more than a couple of those leagues.

The whole reason the MVC is #15 is because of the bottom-4:
Illinois St (271)
Us (278)
UIC (285)
Evansville (349)

When comparing the top half of every league, the MVC's top half is actually #11. The whole reason the MVC as a whole is #15 is strictly because of us and 3 others. That takes absolutely nothing away from how good Bradley, Drake, and others have been.

The MVC had an incredible showdown of an 11k sellout on national television today. That showing, and the quality of the top half of the league relative to the top half of other mid-major leagues, speaks for itself.

Hopefully, more nuance will be a staple of future posts as opposed to lazy takes.

valpo tundra · February 27, 2023, 12:26:04 AM

wh often times has good posts but he has completely checked out from Valpo and the basketball team. Cheers to you providing the necessary balance.

usc4valpo · February 27, 2023, 05:38:45 AM

May know - the Valley has dropped some in the past 10 years. Losing Creighton, Wichita St. and Loyola has not helped. also, when ranking a conference, to be objective you have to include the bottom teams, which all suck, except for Evansville which is pathetic.

Never the less, in the next 7 days we will know about how Valpo stands and how committed they are in Division 1 basketball.

valporun · February 27, 2023, 07:56:40 AM

We were the better team this game. The clincher for Murray St. was an "all-ball" foul called on Ben in the closing seconds, when the game was tied at 76. Even Luke Gore couldn't understand the blatant foul discrepancy in this game. It's not like Murray was doing anything specific to earn these fouls, or we were doing more to commit them. Felt like Murray St. was this year's Evansville road game...we got screwed when it mattered most.

valpo64 · February 27, 2023, 08:28:54 AM

We went an entire season and never learned how to close out a game. Pretty sad. That is a coaching problem. Maybe one of these years we will recruit some backcourt personnel who can shoot. It is pathetic how poorly DeV and crew are unable to create offense and put the ball in the hole, let alone shoot the 3. One thing is certain, they fail to do it consistently. Good teams have good point guards that can create and shoot...we do not. I know that they do not turn it over alot but we get nothing while they play catch and weave the ball near center court. When you attach offensively you sometimes will have turnovers and I'll take that approach every time.

JD24 · February 27, 2023, 11:53:07 AM

Quote from: valporun on February 27, 2023, 07:56:40 AMWe were the better team this game. The clincher for Murray St. was an "all-ball" foul called on Ben in the closing seconds, when the game was tied at 76. Even Luke Gore couldn't understand the blatant foul discrepancy in this game. It's not like Murray was doing anything specific to earn these fouls, or we were doing more to commit them. Felt like Murray St. was this year's Evansville road game...we got screwed when it mattered most.

The clincher for Murray St. was Valpo letting the guy go the length of the court with him barely being moved off his dribble. It was horrific defense. Any screwing should be viewed internally.