Game #14 - MVC #3 - Bradley at the ARC 1/3 7pm

[talksalot]

One of these two teams will win their first Valley game of the year.  They are 1-2 on the road, and have not won on the road since opening night at Birmingham.

They started off with a 6 game winning streak, including wins over UAB (OT), Utah State (OT), Tulane, UTEP and Vermont...then December came...

Braves lost at Murray State 79-72 and at home to Indiana State 85-77 in the early-December games.   They followed up those losses, with losses at Akron by 15, at home to Cleveland State by 7 and at LeBron James' High School Arena to Duquesne by 2.   Then righted the ship with an 11 point win at home over SIUE and on Thursday, they beat Truman State by 22. so they are 8-5 overall.

Diving into their last game,

#14, Malevy Leons, 6'9" Graduate Student from the Netherlands, 32 minutes, 15 point and 8 rebounds, 1 of 5 from 3 point range
#21, Duke Deen, 5'8" Senior, 34 minutes, 13 points 4 rebounds, 3 of 11 from 3 point range
#35, Darius Hannah, 6'9" Senior,  25 minutes, 11 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals, no 3 point shots
#5,  Christian Davis, 6'7" Junior,  32 minutes, 9 points, 6 rebounds, 1 of 6 from 3 point range
#10 Connor Hickman, 6'2" Junior, 16 minutes, 2 points, no rebounds, 0 for 2 from 3 point range

Davis is the only starter not averaging double-digit points... he's at 9.2ppg.
As a team, they were 8 of 30 from three point range and 9 of 18 from the free throw line.

Off the bench, #1 Almar Atlason, 6'8" freshman from Iceland,  was 3 of 5 from three point range, played 21 minutes

They collected 17 offensive rebounds and scored 20 second-chance points, and their bench scored 19 points.

Need to focus on Malevy... Was named to the 2022-23 MVC All-Defensive Team and was also named 2022-23 MVC Defensive Player of the year after becoming the first player in the history of the MVC to record 50+ block, 50+ steals in the same season • Leons was also the only player in the NCAA to have 50+ block, 50+ steals, and 200+ rebounds in 2022-23.

[covufan]

One of these two teams will win their first Valley game of the year. 

Need to focus on Malevy... Was named to the 2022-23 MVC All-Defensive Team and was also named 2022-23 MVC Defensive Player of the year after becoming the first player in the history of the MVC to record 50+ block, 50+ steals in the same season • Leons was also the only player in the NCAA to have 50+ block, 50+ steals, and 200+ rebounds in 2022-23.

New year. New clean slate.

I hope the coaches take this focus on Malevy, and make a video to show how each individual can play tough defense. We need to play defense better and make every shot contested.

We have played well in stretches, but not nearly 40 minutes. These home games should be winnable.

Palm looked good (to me) in first few games, defending, rebounding and getting ball on low post and doing something quick or finding open man. He needs to get back to that confidence level.

Beacons  75
Bradley    72


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[tiny707]

Bradley 75
Valpo 70

[valpopal]

Bradley U. 74
Valparaiso 66

[VALPO LI]

This is the only regular season game against the Braves.  I still get fired up every time I see Wardle wobble into the Arc .
I want to be optimistic here and say Valpo wins by 5, but realistically I can see the Beacons loosing by 15.  Interesting enough Valpo plays Bradley better in the ARC (5-3) as to in Peoria (0-7), but the Beacons have lost the last 5 in a row vs the Braves. 
New year, new beginning can Valpo pull this one off? It kind of depends on how Stafford looks.  Will he play big minutes, and if so can he produce or will his injury hinder his production?  Excited to see how it all plays out.

[AB]

Wrong thread but....Over under 4 more wins this year?. Limited roster and especially a big defensive presence in the paint. Bradley by 10 78-68. Bradley....much older team, we lack consistent scoring and interior defense.Palm should eat up fouls and rebounds in the paint, but he appears out of the rotation.

[usc4valpo]

I say 4 wins. The team will improve over the season

[valpotx]

Valpo 72
Bradley 76

We win 2 games in the MVC season.

[covufan]

Over/Under for remaining wins should be 3.5. I'll take the over. Barrett and Palm need to embrace their limited minutes each half and go nuts defensively, gain some confidence, and hit their 2-3 shots per game.


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[VUSWIM08-12]

What is his injury ?? Is he for sure playing ? Are his minutes limited??

Bradley 72
VU 59

[SPEEDYPITCHER37]

If no/limited Stafford:
Bradley 74
Valpo 62

With Stafford playing 20+ minutes:
Bradley 77
Valpo 70

I'll take 4 wins in Valley play, but I'll be so bold as to say we win in round 1 of Arch Madness. Hard to see Roger and co. not peaking around that time.

Another question for y'all:
Without a doubt, a mature Roger Powell Valpo offense will be high-speed, easily top 50 in the country in tempo. But right now that's not the case. KenPom has us 253rd in adjusted tempo, and we're averaging 65 possessions per game in the last 4 games, as opposed to 75 in the first 4. So what seems to be the reason for this? Are we just uncomfortable pushing the pace suddenly? Do we get conservative when things aren't going our way? Does Stafford's absence play a role?

[NativeCheesehead]

For some reason I'm weirdly optimistic about this one.

Valpo 68
Wardle 61

[tjjvalpo]

Paul Oren on the call with Todd tonight!

[NativeCheesehead]

Remember that weirdly optimistic feeling?  Yeah it's gone. 

[AB]

Hickman 38 Valpo 21

[NativeCheesehead]

So this means we get the 1st pick in the draft right?

[justducky]

Not going to win many when only one member of the team is playing well. Our freshmen contributors are all pretty much MIA. That happens. Second half? 

[VUSWIM08-12]

Darius playing very well! From a career high of 11 to 19 currently! Hopefully he'll  keep his confidence when Stafford returns, apparently he wanted to play but trainers said one more rest game ! Down 19 though 🤬

[vu84v2]

I think that one area where this team still needs to develop (quite a bit) is connectedness on both the offensive and defensive ends. There are very few possessions (on either end) in which it is not 5 guys playing individually.

[truth219]

Ugly...not much positive outside of deaveiro. Both ends of the court were trash tonight. Cooper looked like he was as in space. Senseless turnovers


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[valpopal]

Nice play by Darius, who led the team in points, rebounds, and assists. Everyone else could have stayed on the bench with Stafford. The team gave up 40 rebounds and committed 20 turnovers! We are in 2024 and about halfway through the season schedule; however, I'm not seeing the progress we'd been promised.

[VALPO LI]

Ugly...not much positive outside of deaveiro. Both ends of the court were trash tonight. Cooper looked like he was as in space. Senseless turnovers


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....isn't that the truth 219.

[NativeCheesehead]

Going to give this 23-24 team one of the worst insults I can give to a sports team.

They're boring.

Uninteresting. Unremarkable. Unwatchable.

But in Rev we trust. (Once he has a full, real recruiting class of his players)

[JD24]

Going to give this 23-24 team one of the worst insults I can give to a sports team. They're boring. Uninteresting. Unremarkable. Unwatchable. But in Rev we trust. (Once he has a full, real recruiting class of his players)

Kind of like the opposite of love is not hate...it is apathy.

[justducky]

16 of our 20 TOs by freshmen with 7 committed by Jahari and 5 by Cooper. Their rookie weaknesses and tendencies seem to have all been well scouted.