Game #17, MVC #6, At Illinois state 3pm sunday

[covufan]

Great road win in MVC. Need to continue playing like this.

Time to start a new streak.


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[justducky]

105 freshman minutes, 33 from the sophomores, 63 from juniors and Palm made a very brief (1 minute) appearance to represent the senior class. Wait until next year! 

[VULB#62]

105 freshman minutes, 33 from the sophomores, 63 from juniors and Palm made a very brief (1 minute) appearance to represent the senior class. Wait until next year! 

And waiting in the wings are Scroggins and Lual. 😜

[Chairback]

Young team and a road win.  They could have lost it the last five minutes but finished the game out.   A big confidence boost.  This also shows they haven't given up this year.

Kudos to the coaching staff for continually teaching these guys.   You can see it each and every play, no matter the score.  You can see that there's teaching off the court also.  That builds culture.  We have a good staff and are in good hands.     

[valpopal]

Not too often that 59 points will win a game, but fortunately that was good enough today, and it earned a long awaited celebration!
[tweet]1746677642961580113[/tweet]

[may know]

Suffocating defense. Congrats RPJ and the team.

[wh]

https://goredbirds.com/sports/mens-basketball

Scroll down for postgame video. ISU coach comments more than once how Valpo played with more energy and passion.

[JD24]

Schweiger should lead the team in shots!!!!. He had the advantage in the post all game and had very few touches in the paint. Either he needs to work harder in the post to get open or the offense needs to design ways to get him more looks. Stafford shots to waaaay to much!. We have a team of inexperience/youth and a late coaching hire.

Agreed on both counts - Cooper shoot more Stafford shoot less.

Stafford drives me nuts.

[valpotx]

If we had enough depth to keep Stafford at around 8-10 shots per game, he would be pretty solid.  Unfortunately, he's being tasked with taking the lion's share of shots, as we don't have a lot of others that can create off the dribble.  I don't fault Stafford for it, as he has likely been afforded this freedom, but think that if we end up with more shooters next season, his shooting % will increase with more quality shots that he doesn't have to bail out his teammates as often.

Good win, and hope for a winning streak of 2!

[humbleopinion]

As excited I am with the win, I can't give our defense as much credit as some posters have.  It wasn't great defense that limited the Redbirds to 55% from the free throw line.  Their 1-18 shooting from 3 included plenty of open looks.

I won't deny that we played with energy (in spite of a couple of three minute droughts); still, any fair assessment has to recognize that Ill St had a bad night.

[usc4valpo]

I am happy these guys got this win after a lot of struggling and learning and grit. Instead of an outlier, I hope and predict this win progresses into bigger and better things.

[justducky]

I won't deny that we played with energy (in spite of a couple of three minute droughts); still, any fair assessment has to recognize that Ill St had a bad night.

True. Coach Ryon Pedon played everybody (13) with multiple minutes. This hints at a level of overconfidence which may have spilled over on to their practice routines and game planning. When everybody plays bad look for the simple answers.

Schweiger should lead the team in shots!!!!. He had the advantage in the post all game and had very few touches in the paint. Either he needs to work harder in the post to get open or the offense needs to design ways to get him more looks. Stafford shots to waaaay to much!. We have a team of inexperience/youth and a late coaching hire.

Agreed on both counts - Cooper shoot more Stafford shoot less.

Stafford drives me nuts.

Schweiger appears to be listening to his coaches thus reducing his marginal 3 point attempts to get better inside looks. As his inside game and the team surrounding him improves then his outside shooting opportunities should grow with him. By necessity (we have no inside game) Cooper is doing some of this as a freshman while Peters did much of it his junior season. There is much for him to learn both inside and out but this small adjustment could slightly improve our team and his offensive rebounding.

Stafford will shoot far less as this team matures and expands. Next season there might be games when we complain about him not taking shots. 

[AB]

These comments on the Redbird message board should offer some insight. Take them as you will......

Valpo struggles to guard inside the arc and is one of the few offenses having less success than us. Given their lack of experience and this group playing at home that recognizes this as a big spot in the season I think we win by 20+. Won't learn much because Valpo is so bad but will be nice to get some confidence back. Playing against bad teams can be a fix - optimistic we shoot it better today and have one of our better performances.

I have been watching Redbird basketball for 60+ years. This is the worst half ever. Listless, no energy and the worst shooting ever.
Normal Community would score more than 20 points in a half against Valpo.

Valpo smells blood in the water . . . and our response is to open more veins

If Roger Powell Jr wanted the Illinois State Head Coach position when they gave it to Pedon, he just gave ISU 40 minutes of the Bird on their own floor!!!We may be the worst shooting team I've ever seen.

What is with Valpo? I know we aren't any good, but Jeez, no matter how bad they are we find a way. We were the only team in the league that loses to them today

[valpotx]

It sucks to lose 10 of 11 against any team

[justducky]

It sucks to lose 10 of 11 against any team

Many of our MVC streaks are edging close to this but from the losing side. 

[historyman]

Several Bretscher's had Valpo swim records from the 70s, Connie's sons or nephews I believe. I also worked for her grandson or great nephew (he swam at Ohio State)  as a coach at a a small college in Vermont from 2014-2017, he mentioned their Valpo legacy several times!

...

Connie was married to Arnie Felton for about 40 years.  He was the valpo university dentist back in the day.

Rev Paul bretscher was married to Juanita for about 40 years.

Pail was the pastor at Immanuel Lutheran church and taught some theology courses.   

It was their kids who set the pool records.  Another son is a radio host in Columbus Ohio,  and is the PA guy for the buckeyes using a stage name.

Paul and Juanita had 10 kids.  They all went to valpo. 

Connie was a teacher at Immanuel fir years, and gave piano lessons...including to my two kids, 30 years ago.

Paul and Connie married about 20 years ago.

I'm not sure where you got Pastor Bretscher's first wife's name and the mother of his kids but it was Marguerite.


https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nwitimes/name/paul-bretscher-obituary?id=17839103


Rev. Bretscher was preceded in death by his first wife Marguerite; his parents; and four siblings: Thea Wessler, Ruth Ressmeyer, Esther Gruell, and Carl. His brother Manuel survives. Rev. Bretscher is also survived by Connie, his wife of 15 years, and children: Prisca (Ray) Martens, Bethel (John) Crockett, Paul (Mary), Mike (Lois) Felten, Sarah (Dan) Stoehr, Monica (Scott) Schafer, Rachel (Jim) McMillan, Joel (Della), Seth (Janelle), Nathan (Debbie), Matthew (Michelle); 26 grandchildren, and 16 great grandchildren.

[wh]

FRESHMEN. Sheesh 🙄  Cooper diasappears for a couple of games then gets a 16/13 double double.

This is gonna be a fun crazy ride.

Quinton Garrison commented on the radio postgame show that they have been working with Cooper on rebounding. Something about rebounding over a defender with inside position without fouling him.