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

[valpopal]

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.

These comments reflect my realistic impressions as well. I am glad it wasn't only me.

Valpo pulled ahead for good only after the bottom of an NAIA bench was on the floor against the VU starters, who stayed in until about 1 minute left. I wonder if Valpo would even have won if St Mary's gave it their all and kept the starters in rather than playing them less than half the game (92 minutes out of 200) and putting 18 players on the court. Darius did well getting assists but 0 points by a starter in future games will continue to leave a hole in the offense. The rebounding was lacking against a much shorter team, as was 3-point shooting, which seemed no better than last year, and the fouling was silly at times, leading to a 33-14 disparity in free throws. I was hoping Barrett would be back to his former self, but he was a non-factor. I could see why Valpo is ranked in the 300s.

On the other hand, Stafford was as good as I had hoped from his past record. Schwieger pleasantly surprised me as a freshman in his first game. Except for his poor 3-pt. shooting, Edwards looked better than I expected, and the same is true of Witherspoon. Ojiboye will likely be a positive contributor as well, especially with an apparently short bench—a negative when considering the team is supposedly designed to run and gun. Finally, I also appreciated Coach Powell's ability to conduct and control the tone in the postgame press conference, where he optimistically promised the team would improve significantly in the next few weeks before conference play.

[vok22]

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.

These comments reflect my realistic impressions as well. I am glad it wasn't only me. Valpo pulled ahead for good only after the bottom of an NAIA bench was on the floor against the VU starters, who stayed in until about 1 minute left. Darius did well getting assists but 0 points by a starter in future games will continue to leave a hole in the offense. The rebounding was lacking against a much shorter team, as was 3-point shooting, which seemed no better than last year, and the fouling was silly at times, leading to a 33-14 disparity in free throws. I was hoping Barrett would be back to his former self, but he was a non-factor. I could see why Valpo is ranked in the 300s. On the other hand, Stafford was as good as I had hoped from his past record. Schwieger pleasantly surprised me as a freshman in his first game. Except for his poor 3-pt. shooting, Edwards looked better than I expected, and the same is true of Witherspoon. Ojiboye will likely be a positive contributor as well, especially with an apparently short bench. Finally, I also appreciated Coach Powell's ability to conduct and control the tone in the postgame press conference, where he optimistically promised the team would improve significantly in the next few weeks before conference play.

This is generally my reaction to the game as well. While I wasn't there, I wasn't disappointed OR inspired by the result. Part of the new coaching staff and renewed investment in basketball we seem to be seeing from the university is a new attitude for me as a fan: no excuses. That doesn't mean I am going into every game this season expecting a win, but I will not be making excuses for lack of effort, intensity, and losing to D2/NAIA teams by saying we are inexperienced/young/the other team had D1 transfers. If our coaching staff is elite as we are hoping it is, they could find a way to beat these teams with nothing. I expect this staff to be able to pull the best out of everybody, and improve in the areas that we see issues (like rebounding last night).


We lost at least 3 non D1 games with Lottich as the coach, so at this point I am happy we found a way to win. This team, as we expected, has a lot of growing to do. I can't wait to see how that growing proceeds over the next few weeks as we face stiffer competition.


I will also say its all but confirmed we played Milwaukee in a secret scrimmage and lost 100-90. Milwaukee is picked 2nd in the Horizon this year, and it seems like we scored well and competed. Defense and rebounding are 2 of the things I figured we would struggle with early in the season, so I hope to see that those are the two things were better at by the end of the year.


I echo the other's sentiments about Darius though. Having a starting point guard that simply can't score has caused a lot of problems the past few years, and will continue to. I hope one of the younger PGs steps up in that regard. 

[humbleopinion]

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

Please note that my post was not a negative comment about Coach Powell; rather, it is an indication of the challenges he faces trying to win in the Valley with what we have seen from this group of players

[crusader05]

I feel like we did what I expected us to do. Play hard and fast, make mistakes, and eventually win. I also don't imagine that all of the things we saw will be representative of a true game plan from the coaches. This felt a lot like a "let them play it out" game and I might expect a bit of a tighter leash/neater play in the future. That said, they were much more fun to watch and I'd expect many of these mistakes to improve over the season as well as for them to gel more and a real rotation/clear roles to be more obvious as we move toward conference.

[vu72]

I wasn't at the game nor heard it on the radio.  Some folks here selectively pick on certain stats but overlook others.  How about 17 assists and only 9 turnovers?  Or instead of pointing out that Darius can't score, how about 8 assists and zero turnovers?  I have no idea how these guys will perform over a whole season, but my guess is a lot of deer in the headlights moments for the freshman. 

We played short handed with Connor obviously limited and missing Mangang entirely.  I think that guy could be the rim protector we have been looking for, while see.

[JD24]

How about 17 assists and only 9 turnovers?  Or instead of pointing out that Darius can't score, how about 8 assists and zero turnovers?

The reason for pointing it out is that it was an issue last year compounded by the fact that the other point guard may have been worse in this regard and the issue was there last night. In MVC play, as pointed out by others, the defense will sag and be able to provide help in stopping the guys who actually can score. It isn't like a big man who can just rebound. The PG has the ball in his hands all of the time.

[wh]

I wasn't at the game nor heard it on the radio.  Some folks here selectively pick on certain stats but overlook others.  How about 17 assists and only 9 turnovers?  Or instead of pointing out that Darius can't score, how about 8 assists and zero turnovers?  I have no idea how these guys will perform over a whole season, but my guess is a lot of deer in the headlights moments for the freshman. 

We played short handed with Connor obviously limited and missing Mangang entirely.  I think that guy could be the rim protector we have been looking for, while see.

As you say, player performance has to be put in context. We're a VERY young VERY inexperienced team that has never played together before. I walked into the ARC having no idea what to expect. While they certainly have things that need to be cleaned up, I was surprised how well they played together, especially at the fast pace they played at. Let's just say that this was the first time in ages that I left a game feeling encouraged about the future of Valpo bb. For me, it was a much needed breath of fresh air.

[wh]

BTW the lighting was a night and day difference from the past (pun intended). They brought the house lights down for the playing of the national anthem and player introductions. While the band wasn't huge, there were probably 12-13 instruments, including drums. As I recall, there was no band at exhibition games the past several years. The student section might have been half full - also surprising for an E game.

[David81]

Between this exhibition and vok22's report on this Cone of Silence scrimmage vs. Milwaukee, at least the team appears to be able to score points. For me, one of the biggest questions has been whether some scorers would emerge from this group of players with so little D1 playing time, and now we're seeing some hopeful signs. (I'm very curious about who stood out in the scrimmage game.)

[VULB#62]

Not much has been said about SMWC's talent level.  Yeah, they are NAIA, but think about it. They brought in a bunch of xfers (more than us) and laid it on us for 35 minutes. And then with the game on the line cleared their bench. What coach would do that?  That guy also has a vision. They lost to us, but we should all follow them the rest of the season just for grins. They might surprise a lot of people.

[historyman]

Not much has been said about SMWC's talent level.  Yeah, they are NAIA, but think about it. They brought in a bunch of xfers (more than us) and laid it on us for 35 minutes. And then with the game on the line cleared their bench. What coach would do that?  That guy also has a vision. They lost to us, but we should all follow them the rest of the season just for grins. They might surprise a lot of people.

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

Judge for yourself but I believe I complimented St Mary-of-the-Amazon very nicely. Woodsn't you agree?

[VULB#62]

Yes we did! 😀

That makes two.

[covufan]

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

Please note that my post was not a negative comment about Coach Powell; rather, it is an indication of the challenges he faces trying to win in the Valley with what we have seen from this group of players

This is the way I read your original post


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[vok22]

Saint Mary of the Woods plays Indiana State on opening night (November 6), so we can see how they stack up against a proven MVC contender.