Valpo vs. SMWC exhibition, 11/1/23, 7:00p Central

[wh]

A closer look at the monumental men's basketball transfer class

SMWC may have more D-1 playing experience than Valpo does.

https://smwcathletics.com/news/2023/9/27/mens-basketball-a-closer-look-at-the-monumental-mens-basketball-transfer-class.aspx

[humbleopinion]

Often in exhibition games we play teams that are disciplined and shoot well.  We tend to be taller and a bit more athletic.  It has not been unusual for the opposition to hang with us through the first half before running out of steam.

It will be interesting to see how the Beacons respond their first time playing together with a real opponent in front of fans.  I can't say "in front of a crowd" as publicity has been for next Monday's game.  It seemed that yesterday's tweet that there actually is a game tonight was sent out as an afterthought

[VULB#62]

As a lead-in to this game, PO has a TVB article on advice from Scott, Bryce and Matt to Roger on coaching his first game ever as a HBB coach. Good reading as always.

FWIW, While you're listening to the PxP on radio or just following GameTracker, Paul is experimenting with a TVB kind of chatroom. It's only open to subscribers.

[VULB#62]

A closer look at the monumental men's basketball transfer class

SMWC may have more D-1 playing experience than Valpo does.

https://smwcathletics.com/news/2023/9/27/mens-basketball-a-closer-look-at-the-monumental-mens-basketball-transfer-class.aspx

Looks like it is a carbon copy building effort to Roger's. Ten transfers in. Some familiar HS and college teams mentioned in the backgrounds of the new SMWC players.

Often in exhibition games we play teams that are disciplined and shoot well.  We tend to be taller and a bit more athletic.  It has not been unusual for the opposition to hang with us through the first half before running out of steam.

It will be interesting to see how the Beacons respond their first time playing together with a real opponent in front of fans.  I can't say "in front of a crowd" as publicity has been for next Monday's game.  It seemed that yesterday's tweet that there actually is a game tonight was sent out as an afterthought

It kinda looks like we will be playing a team of our twin brothers in terms of team composition. Hopefully SMWC players are the lesser talented twins. 

[NativeCheesehead]

The range of outcomes over the next 2-3 years is so wide I don't even know where to begin to express where I think we could end up.  But regardless of where the journey ends, it starts tonight!  Looking forward to seeing what The Rev is cooking up.  Go Valpo!

[AB]

Over under 85 pts by Valpo?

[VULB#62]

Over under 85 pts by Valpo?

Over by at least 10

[VULB#62]

Saw Paul's pic of the ARC on his Twitter site. The place looks VERY different - in a GOOD way!

[VUSWIM08-12]

Well we won but St. Mary's emptied their deeep bench(they played 19) with 3+ minutes to go when it was close. Stafford can create. Darius played well but still struggled offensively. Real tests of bottom D1 teams Green Bay and IUPUI coming up !

[tiny707]

Did Connor Barrett play at all?

[Chairback]

This a VERY young team, But talented.

They will need time to grow, and they will have freshman mistakes no doubt. 

This team is 1 million times better to watch than last year's team.  There seems to be a plan on offense and the coaches seem to be more involved.

I predict Cooper, if he stays all four years, will be player the year in the Missouri valley his senior season.  He has all the tools and I can see why Coach Powell had very high praises for him when we signed him. 
 

[JD24]

22 points off the bench. Much better.

I don't know how long they can go with a zero out of the point guard.

[wh]

Did Connor Barrett play at all?

He entered the game in the 2nd half. Shortly thereafter, his man backed him down all the way to the hoop. Connor kept giving ground, then fouled on the shot attempt. Almost immediately, Roger substituted him out and he was done for the evening (I think).

[wh]

This a VERY young team, But talented.

They will need time to grow, and they will have freshman mistakes no doubt. 

This team is 1 million times better to watch than last year's team.  There seems to be a plan on offense and the coaches seem to be more involved.

I predict Cooper, if he stays all four years, will be player the year in the Missouri valley his senior season.  He has all the tools and I can see why Coach Powell had very high praises for him when we signed him. 
 

Agree with everything you said.

[AB]

What is reasonable to expect from Jerome Palm on a nightly basis? How was the effort on both ends start to finish tonight? As we observed the last few years.... the inconsistent effort, game to game, half to half was the most consistent thing the team had going for it!

[wh]

22 points off the bench. Much better.

I don't know how long they can go with a zero out of the point guard.

For sure. They guarded Darius straight up tonight, but as we know all too well MVC teams will crowd the paint and dare him to shoot wide open perimeter jump shots.

[tiny707]

Wonder how AJ Moye was doing tonight with the news of Coach Knight?

[vufan75]

This a VERY young team, But talented.

They will need time to grow, and they will have freshman mistakes no doubt. 

This team is 1 million times better to watch than last year's team.  There seems to be a plan on offense and the coaches seem to be more involved.

I predict Cooper, if he stays all four years, will be player the year in the Missouri valley his senior season.  He has all the tools and I can see why Coach Powell had very high praises for him when we signed him. 
 

Agree with everything you said.

I as well. Cooper is skilled for a 6-9 guy. Long arms. Once he adds some strength he will be special. 

Isaiah Stafford is a shooter and scorer as well. Will be interesting to see if he can do that vs MVC level competition.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[David81]

It was enjoyable to combine the game on WVUR with Paul's interactive stream on The Victory Bell.

And -- purely impressionistic, over radio no less -- this team was fun to "watch."

[tjjvalpo]

When Darius was out Stafford moved to the point guard position. That is what really got him going. Before that they were guarding him pretty well and he wasn't getting many touches.

Darius had 8 assists with 0 turnovers. Also, in conference if they sag off of him, Powell wants him to shoot. This team seems to be doing a better job of boxing out for offensive rebounds, so we may get a lot of easy putbacks  off of Darius missed shots.

[vu72]

I was just pleased to see a Roger Powell news conference versus memories of Matt Lottich ones from last year. Seeing Cooper starting in his first game brought back memories of guys like Lubus and Alec.  Bigs things to come!

[historyman]

What is reasonable to expect from Jerome Palm on a nightly basis? How was the effort on both ends start to finish tonight? As we observed the last few years.... the inconsistent effort, game to game, half to half was the most consistent thing the team had going for it!

I attended the game. I have a feeling there is no way Coach Powell will put up with an inconsistent effort. I don't remember the effort not being there last night. They may have made some big mistakes, poor defense, being out of position for rebounds, etc. but I don't think you will see this team ever have a true lack of improvement or effort. There will be growing pains though.

[humbleopinion]

I'm glad that you all saw the light as I left the gym with nothing that increased my optimism for the season.

As a team we shot under 25% from 3, and without Stafford we were 2/14 -- under 15%.  This was a problem in the scrimmage a couple weeks ago.  If we are to be a run and gun team, the gunning has to find its mark. I don't know how much shooting develops once players are at this level, but it seems this will be a stumbling block,

We only outrebounded SMWC by 2.  You've got to get the boards if you're going to run.

SMWC, an NAIA team, played us evenly until the bottom of their bench was put on the floor for the final five minutes.

Stafford was impressive, but he didn't seem to be the dominating sort of player that can put the rest of the team on his back as we have seen Tucker DeVries, Roman Penn, or even Ben Krikke do.

I'll attend every game that I can get to, but I will be looking for signs of progress rather than Ws.

[NativeCheesehead]

And we have our first negative post of the Powell era after one exhibition game. Glad I took the under.

[historyman]

As a team we shot under 25% from 3, and without Stafford we were 2/14 -- under 15%.  This was a problem in the scrimmage a couple weeks ago.  If we are to be a run and gun team, the gunning has to find its mark. I don't know how much shooting develops once players are at this level, but it seems this will be a stumbling block,

We only outrebounded SMWC by 2.  You've got to get the boards if you're going to run.

As I said there will be growing pains and this St Mary-of-the-Woods team played with more experience and great effort trying to prove themselves in their world of Indiana basketball. The Pomeroys (a horse) played us very tough and was not the usual lower level team that a Div. I team plays in an exhibition game. Defense and rebounding must improve but I feel they will.