Game #5 - Western Illinois in the ARC - 11/21/23

VALPO LI · November 21, 2023, 07:02:59 PM

Quote from: AB on November 21, 2023, 02:34:43 PM
over under 1,200 in attendance tonight.? RIP in Jim Kerwin. Great rivalry for 5 years. Garrick Vicks, Janthony Joseph, Milsap, Orlando Patrick Three Mid Con Title Matches. Two were down to the wire. The triple overtime thriller and the lesser talked about one. The title match in the Quad Cities, they had us on the ropes until the final minute!

My

Attendance under 1,200.
Beacons light'em up 82-63

JD24 · November 21, 2023, 09:05:41 PM

Isaiah Stafford has moved into the lead as the most likely to be a coach killer on this roster. He takes some ridiculously bad shots. I don't care if he makes them sometimes, eventually it will be costly.

Nice to see Darius be aggressive with the shots. Makes it a much tougher chore for the opposition defense.

David81 · November 21, 2023, 09:12:14 PM

They can beat a so-so opponent even with Stafford having a big off-game. On talent alone, they probably should've won by 12-15. But even better for the long term is how other guys stepped up to score, especially Obijoye, who now is showing signs of being able to do it all.

I know it's waaaaay early in the season, but this coaching staff appears to have put together a damn respectable roster of mostly young players, right at the tail end of the recruiting season. I'm impressed.

VULB#62 · November 21, 2023, 09:19:03 PM

Isaiah appears to be streaky alright. 👎🏻

But others took up the slack 👍🏻

Good to see our two PGs scoring.👍🏻

Got out-rebounded by double figures. 👎🏻

Gave up too many backdoors. 👎🏻

Ola came up big 👍🏻

Pace is still fast 👍🏻

Kids exhibited grit for the full 40 👍🏻

Fun to watch despite being on the edge of my seat occasionally 👍🏻

AB · November 21, 2023, 09:23:08 PM

Don't forget Williamson was Lottich's recruit. Yes the team should have won by more, but it's young. Already improving from the IUPUI game. You can see that this staff is getting the team to play with more confidence and play for a full 40 minutes. Our back line defense was pretty terrible on the lobs, but we don't have a rim protector. Smart move going to the zone, forcing Western to shoot three's.
The Central Michigan transfer...Lets hope this is a trend. Darius....lets see more of this.

nkvu · November 21, 2023, 09:23:54 PM

Still can't get a handle on this team. Seems like a different guy/guys every night. Might not be a bad thing at this point. Weakness is bigs & rebounding. Schwieger is going to be a good one once he puts on 20 lbs. of muscle. Better inside game than Peters, better outside shot than Oppland/Krikke, though maybe not as good an outside game now as Peters or inside game now as Oppland/Krikke. If he stays 4 years and works hard he could maybe be better than all of them overall. Hope he stays. Team's biggest need now is a rim protector & rebounder. Props to Darius who played the best game I've seen him play so far.

tiny707 · November 21, 2023, 09:47:06 PM

Lual will be our rim protector.

justducky · November 22, 2023, 04:12:48 AM

Couldn't make it AGAIN!

Quote from: nkvu on November 21, 2023, 09:23:54 PMStill can't get a handle on this team.

Join the club! Nothing is surprising me because I have no idea what to expect but an 0-20 MVC record now looks off the table.

tiny707 · November 22, 2023, 07:05:20 AM

Love the post game press conferences this year. Much better than recent years. Fire me up. Who wouldn't want to play for Roger...

valpo64 · November 22, 2023, 09:50:51 AM

Who was the guy wearing DeAviero's jersey? Is this the same guy we have been watching for the past 2+ years??

Pgmado · November 22, 2023, 10:40:46 AM

Quote from: tiny707 on November 22, 2023, 07:05:20 AM
Love the post game press conferences this year. Much better than recent years. Fire me up. Who wouldn't want to play for Roger...

Great questions lead to great answers...

humbleopinion · November 22, 2023, 11:37:54 AM

Quote from: Pgmado on November 22, 2023, 10:40:46 AM
Quote from: tiny707 on November 22, 2023, 07:05:20 AM
Love the post game press conferences this year. Much better than recent years. Fire me up. Who wouldn't want to play for Roger...

Great questions lead to great answers...

And the great thing about not being able to hear the questions is that we enjoy reading The Victory Bell all the more!

VULB#62 · November 22, 2023, 11:39:31 AM

Quote from: humbleopinion on November 22, 2023, 11:37:54 AM
Quote from: Pgmado on November 22, 2023, 10:40:46 AM
Quote from: tiny707 on November 22, 2023, 07:05:20 AM
Love the post game press conferences this year. Much better than recent years. Fire me up. Who wouldn't want to play for Roger...

Great questions lead to great answers...

And the great thing about not being able to hear the questions is that we enjoy reading The Victory Bell all the more!

wh · November 22, 2023, 01:28:29 PM

Despite the small crowd, the atmosphere was really good. A lot of exciting plays, fast pace on both ends. The crowd was really into it, especially down the stretch. Unfortunately, I didn't get that same vibe when I decided to watch the closing moments on TV later last night. Todd's and

voices were loud almost to a fault relative to the crowd noise, which was muffled and bland and badly understated the excitement of the moment.

VULB#62 · November 22, 2023, 01:51:46 PM

Jamie Stangel.

tiny707 · November 22, 2023, 03:02:14 PM

I have been critical of scoring by Darius. 11 points....great job! Also like Jahari getting 22 minutes. Season high minutes for him.

VULB#62 · November 22, 2023, 06:41:16 PM

What we are witness to is an evolutionary process orchestrated by the Rev. I can't help think that he is intellectually in command and willing to do whatever it takes to 1) see how our players respond, yet, 2) focus on winning.

The locker room videos say so much. If I was one of the scholly kids, I'd have a hard time telling Roger I was opting for the portal.

Conversely, if I was Roger, in the back of my mind is the fact that a couple of these guys need to explore the portal and I have to level with them.

Prediction: we are gonna lose Roger in 3-5 years to a big-time program.

UNLESS.........

......Valpo recognizes that we can do a Gonzaga in NW Indiana. Padilla's vision of a new area is the linch pin. It has to be built inside of 5 years ( and, of course, Roger has to produce - and he will).

valpotx · November 22, 2023, 07:01:37 PM

Jamie (Gutowski) Stangel is a former VU basketball player, who was a dead-eye 3 point shooter during part of my last few years on campus. It's good to hear her perspective during our games this season, as well as seeing Lubos Barton on our bench again.

VULB#62 · November 22, 2023, 07:04:07 PM

Quote from: valpotx on November 22, 2023, 07:01:37 PM
Jamie (Gutowski) Stangel is a former VU basketball player, who was a dead-eye 3 point shooter during part of my last few years on campus. It's good to hear her perspective during our games this season, as well as seeing Lubos Barton on our bench again.

And she's getting great reviews about her commentary.

historyman · November 23, 2023, 02:20:21 AM

Quote from: humbleopinion on November 22, 2023, 11:37:54 AM
Quote from: Pgmado on November 22, 2023, 10:40:46 AM
Quote from: tiny707 on November 22, 2023, 07:05:20 AM
Love the post game press conferences this year. Much better than recent years. Fire me up. Who wouldn't want to play for Roger...

Great questions lead to great answers...

And the great thing about not being able to hear the questions is that we enjoy reading The Victory Bell all the more!

Could you repeat that? I'm sorry, I didn't understand exacly what you were asking.