Game #7 - Drake in the ARC - 11/29/23 7pm Rock the Arc

[talksalot]

Starting this after the Valpo Win over Southern, and while watching Drake trying to hold on at home against winless Texas Southern.  Bulldogs led 43-30 at the half, ... was trailing 69-68... and now has a 72-70 lead with 1:53 to play...  Drake was favored by 16.5, and won it 77-71

Starters:  Points/Rebounds
Brodie  18-6
DeVries  14-7
Wright   9-4
Overton  6-3
Enright  5-3

Ferguson off the bench with 9-3, Garland 8-3

As a team, shooting 59% from the field, only 1 for 11 from 3  TexSo was 10 of 31 from 3 point range.

Other Drake games this year:
Lipscomb:   85-70 win
(D3) W 87-67
Oakland - 85-77 - Cayman islands - win
Stephen F Austin - 92-68 Cayman Islands - LOSS
Akron - 79-59 - Cayman Islands - win

So, the nemesis comes in 6-1; we will be their first true road game.

Including Tonight's Game, here is what the starters have accomplished:

Tucker DeVries - 6'7", 210 pound Junior Forward Averaging 19.8, and just under 7 rebs, 30+ minutes/game

Kevin Overton - 6'5" 180 pound freshman Averaging 14.4, 30+ Minutes / game

Atin Wright - 6"1" 185 pound junior,  Averaging 15.2  30+ minutes / game

Darnell Brodie 6'10" 275-pound Graduate Student- Averaging 12.8 (did not play in their non-D1 game against Southwest Minnesota State)  23 Minutes/game

Conor Enright - 6'0" 180 pound Sophomore Averaging 6.2, shooting 58% from 3, 23 minutes/game


As a team, they are averaging just over 80 points per game and over 30 rebounds per game, and shooting 77% from the line.

going into tonight's game, no player on Drake has committed more than 10 fouls in their first 5 games

We need the crowd to get behind this team on Wednesday.   I haven't seen the full event list... but the game day experience will be worth the weeknight trip to Union Street.

We've played Drake 18 times, and we are 8-10 all time... including that crusher double overtime loss in the ARC last year 85-82.  Bulldogs have won 4 straight since our 74-57 win on February 7, 2021 during the weird covid back-to-back games in the ARC.   The last Valpo win over Drake with a crowd in the ARC was 1/11/2020 66-61.

That was NOT the first time we played Drake on back-to-back nights.  December 22, 1944, we beat them in Hilltop 62-42; and then on December 23, 1944, we beat them 66-41 in a game played in Michigan City!   

This is NOT the first time we played Drake in November.  November 28, 2014, we beat them 66-46 in the opening round of the Challenge in Music City (Nashville, TN)

They are averaging 2,779 at home.

They have NO Indiana Players on their roster
They have ONE Iowa Player on their roster (DeVries)


OK.  Can We Put a Stamp on this team and pull the upset?

[covufan]

Last year we played well against Drake, but would lay complete eggs against teams we had a chance to beat. I don't think we'll see a full 40 minutes from the team that played against IUPUI. This team is young and just getting to know each other on the court and in pressure situations.

I want to see improvement and some consistency. A full 40 minutes. Keep getting some of the good looks we've had the last two games. Good defense.

Drake outlasts us with FTs, as Schwieger and Palm in foul trouble.

Drake   74
Valpo    68


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[JD24]

Brodie's going to be a problem in this game. Any team with frontcourt players who are physical are going to give Valpo big problems.

[historyman]

I'm afraid it's not going to be that close.


Drake "Male Duck" Bulldogs  68


Valpo "are we starting to see a brighter brotherhood of the light" Beacons  54




Scoring against the team from Des Moines will not be easy. Our defense will have to get a whole lot better in order to have a chance against the "Male Bulldogs" (or is that just a high school in Louisville?)  The Male Bulldogs - ScoreStream

[tiny707]

Drake: 66
Valpo: 56

[AB]

Crowd will be a non factor Wednesday. Local community is not that interested at the moment until we start stringing together some wins against known opponents. Maybe 1,800 show up. Valpo will start hot, and keep it close the first 15 minutes. Drake will pull away from us late. 72-62. Not enough offense and interior defense.  Stafford has put together one stellar half and thats it. I hope I am wrong on all this. Not saying Connor Barrett will be the savior to the season, but no detailed report on his injury?. Was it that bad? Was he injured during the games he played or did he injury occur in a practice? This why he played so sparingly in the first two games?

[covufan]

Not saying Connor Barrett will be the savior to the season, but no detailed report on his injury?. Was it that bad? Was he injured during the games he played or did he injury occur in a practice? This why he played so sparingly in the first two games?

I'm sure that Barrett and Manyang are progressing nicely.

My guess is that we don't get updates because it is a privacy issue.

My concern is that we have not seen Scroggins yet. Injury? Coaches decision?  Red shirt year?  If red shirt, why him and not Sepp?  I realize we may not get complete answers, but any nuggets of information is welcome


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[nkvu]

Not saying Connor Barrett will be the savior to the season, but no detailed report on his injury?. Was it that bad? Was he injured during the games he played or did he injury occur in a practice? This why he played so sparingly in the first two games?

I'm sure that Barrett and Manyang are progressing nicely.

My guess is that we don't get updates because it is a privacy issue.

My concern is that we have not seen Scroggins yet. Injury? Coaches decision?  Red shirt year?  If red shirt, why him and not Sepp?  I realize we may not get complete answers, but any nuggets of information is welcome


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I'm just not seeing Barrett or Sepp contributing much.  Barrett is too slow to play the 3 and too small to play the 4. All he can do is hang out on the perimeter and spot up threes if someone can penetrate and kick. Same with what I've seen from Sepp in the limited time he's been on the floor. The eight man rotation we've seen is I'm afraid the only available players that Roger sees as being contributors this year. With that short a bench, the 8 contributors better be aware that they need to stay out of foul trouble if we're going to have a chance to win a few games in the conference.

[valpotx]

I am so tired of Brodie.  Those big bodied Centers have always given us trouble in the MVC.  Whether it is Brodie, Rienk Mast (now at Nebraska), Gaige Prim, Cameron Krutwig, etc.  But yay, no Roman Penn!  He is another that seemed to be on Drake's roster forever, and got the most ridiculous amount of fouls calls I've ever seen in watching Valpo basketball opponents. 

Valpo 71
Drake 74

[historyman]

Rienk Mast (now at Nebraska)

Speaking of Rienk Mast, there was a unfortunate incident that happened to him while he was in Lincoln at Nebraska.

https://www.on3.com/college/nebraska-cornhuskers/news/nebraska-cornhuskers-basketball-rienk-mast-nick-deluca-assault-arrest-ndsu-lb-all-american/


10/27/23

Mast was assaulted by Nicholas DeLuca, who was an FCS All-American at North Dakota State University. Nicholas, who also goes by Nick DeLuca, played at NDSU from 2013-17. He was nominated for the Butkus Award two times during his college career.

KETV reports that DeLuca got out of his car and knocked Rienk Mast off of his scooter.

DeLuca was taken into custody for aggravated assault, while Mast was taken to a local hospital, according to KETV.

Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg revealed earlier Friday that Mast was the victim of "a random act of violence" last week, according to the Omaha World-Herald.

"The authorities right now are gathering more information on the incident. That's really all I can say about it at this time, but he will not play on Sunday," Hoiberg said.



Mast is back after the incident and wearing a protective mask, Yes, Mast has a mask.









Huskers Run Past Oregon State, 84-63 - University of Nebraska - Official Athletics Website


Sioux Falls, S.D. -- Brice Williams had a game-high 25 points while Rienk Mast and Juwan Gary put together double-doubles in Nebraska's 84-63 win over Oregon State Saturday afternoon.


Rienk Mast finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Juwan Gary added 12 points and 10 boards off the bench, as NU had a pair of double-doubles for the first time since 2021. Nebraska out-rebounded OSU, 44-31, and had 22 second-chance points, including 18 in the first half when the Huskers built a 44-24 advantage.

[JD24]

Not saying Connor Barrett will be the savior to the season, but no detailed report on his injury?. Was it that bad? Was he injured during the games he played or did he injury occur in a practice? This why he played so sparingly in the first two games?

I'm sure that Barrett and Manyang are progressing nicely. My guess is that we don't get updates because it is a privacy issue. My concern is that we have not seen Scroggins yet. Injury? Coaches decision?  Red shirt year?  If red shirt, why him and not Sepp?  I realize we may not get complete answers, but any nuggets of information is welcome Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm just not seeing Barrett or Sepp contributing much.  Barrett is too slow to play the 3 and too small to play the 4. All he can do is hang out on the perimeter and spot up threes if someone can penetrate and kick. Same with what I've seen from Sepp in the limited time he's been on the floor. The eight man rotation we've seen is I'm afraid the only available players that Roger sees as being contributors this year. With that short a bench, the 8 contributors better be aware that they need to stay out of foul trouble if we're going to have a chance to win a few games in the conference.

I'm in agreement regarding Barrett. I've never seen anything much from him which would indicate he could be of any value whether under Lottich and in particular this group which requires different skills going beyond shooting a jumper from the corner.  Sepp when I saw him in a couple of games I had the same feeling. He'll probably be a short timer. I think Barrett was kept around as one less place to fill and as a bit of a reward for coming back.

Most colleges don't give injury reports in any sport.

[usc4valpo]

Drake 72, Valpo 57

[David81]

Drake 77
Valpo 67

[SPEEDYPITCHER37]

Throughout DeVries' time at Drake, they have only 1 loss (Missouri State in OT, 1/18/23) when he and Brodie combine for 30+. Stop them and Drake is beatable. But that's much easier said than done.

Drake 78
Valpo 64

[usc4valpo]

Brodie has really improved his game. I wish Valpo could a dude like that

[wh]

Brodie has really improved his game. I wish Valpo could a dude like that

Who knows, maybe we do have a dude like that. Time will tell. The experience and quality coaching they are receiving is something few beginning D-1 players ever experience.

[valpopal]

DU: 76
VU: 67

[VULB#62]

Exerpting from Talksalot's kick-off post.

Winless Texas Southern.

In Des Moines. 

Let them back in the game in the second half and actually lost the lead before putting them away 77-71. 

Brodie played.

I think this will be a close, exciting game. Gonna enjoy the up and back pace.

[VUSWIM08-12]

Line has Valpo at +12, I really think Drake covers, but maybe not ??

Drake 73
Valpo 65

[NativeCheesehead]

Valpo 67
Drake 66

Reckless. Optimism.

[vu84v2]

Besides the outcome of the game itself, I am very interested in the student and overall attendance. First really good home game and school is in session. I don't expect the ARC or student section to be packed, but attendance tonight could be a first checkpoint at progress on developing new/renewed interest.

Drake 74
Valpo 66

[vu72]

Brodie has really improved his game. I wish Valpo could a dude like that

Well, I think we have one. Jerome Palm has clearly improved his game and I expect him to have an impact tonight.  He is averaging 7 ppg and 6.5 boards in 20.6 minutes this season, versus 1.9 ppg and 4.0 boards in 13.5 minutes last year.  Lottich had guys in the wrong spots a lot last year.  I just think Jerome is being used more effectively this season.

[Chairback]

Other than an email, no marketing for this game. 

Why do we keep missing the boat here?  I wonder who is in charge of it?   Does someone own it at the university?

One of the previous post game interviews, you can tell Powell was frustrated with lack of attendance.   I hope the university is supporting him with the marketing.   

[Pgmado]

Other than an email, no marketing for this game. 

Why do we keep missing the boat here?  I wonder who is in charge of it?   Does someone own it at the university?

One of the previous post game interviews, you can tell Powell was frustrated with lack of attendance.   I hope the university is supporting him with the marketing.   

I think the issue here is all the different places where people can see marketing. Valpo is definitely hyping this game on social media. There have been numerous graphics made and they're all over Twitter and Instagram.

[tiny707]

The Bots are all over our Social Media too. What is up with that?