Valpo vs. Loyola (1/19) Game Thread

[valpopal]

Valpo is favored by 3.5 points. Let's hope there is no letdown this week when the team should easily sweep the two Chicago teams.

Valpo 68
Loyola 60

[vuweathernerd]

only 3 1/2 points? if there was ever a time to pick valpo to cover the spread, it'd be now. i'll take valpo by 15, 78-63.

[valporun]

only 3 1/2 points? if there was ever a time to pick valpo to cover the spread, it'd be now. i'll take valpo by 15, 78-63.

Loyola might have a new coach, nor be as close in the conference race as we are, but I wouldn't get carried away. The Ramblers still have Averkamp and Gibler that could do some damage to keep them close.

[vuweathernerd]

only 3 1/2 points? if there was ever a time to pick valpo to cover the spread, it'd be now. i'll take valpo by 15, 78-63.

Loyola might have a new coach, nor be as close in the conference race as we are, but I wouldn't get carried away. The Ramblers still have Averkamp and Gibler that could do some damage to keep them close.

i won't refute this, but there's no real reason not to win solidly. we've been playing much better the last few games, and we're starting to see third and fourth scorers step up. the beauty of it being different people every game is that it's that much harder to key in on any single individual. couple that with the improvements we've seen from edwards and in ball movement as a whole, and we're clearly the better team.

[sectionee]

http://sectionee.blogspot.com/2012/01/road-warriors-lets-hope-so.html

I'll say we win this one by 9.  I just hope we don't play down to the level of the competition. 

[78crusader]

Yeah, we should beat these two teams this week.  Of course, earlier today I figured that IU would easily handle Nebraska.  Paul

[VUfan]

VU 78 Loyola 69

[cornonthe]

Valpo 87
Loyola 70

[historyman]

It's halftime and Valpo is up 38-22 so I'll say Valpo wins 79-55.

[KL31NY]

I logged on to see any comments of the VU BKB DH, and I found this on the chat:

Valporun:  yeah, I'm definitely emailing WAKE and Mark LaBarbera about this, because if WAKE has FCC-regulated streaming issues that affect our ability to listen to the webstream, then we should give the power of the stream back to WVUR.

I haven't listened to really any of Todd and Keaton/Aaron this year since I've attended a lot of the games for either the men's or women's teams while they're on. So would valporun or anyone else fill me in on what issues we are having?

[IndyValpo]

Could have been a trap game...way to put them away!

[valporun]

I logged on to see any comments of the VU BKB DH, and I found this on the chat:

Valporun:  yeah, I'm definitely emailing WAKE and Mark LaBarbera about this, because if WAKE has FCC-regulated streaming issues that affect our ability to listen to the webstream, then we should give the power of the stream back to WVUR.

I haven't listened to really any of Todd and Keaton/Aaron this year since I've attended a lot of the games for either the men's or women's teams while they're on. So would valporun or anyone else fill me in on what issues we are having?

The stream cuts out for minutes at a time during road games. We always have to keep refreshing the page, and hoping that we don't lose the connection to the stream. None of us have problems with home games, since the radio feed is streamed to the HLN broadcast. Stl, vuweathernerd, mj, and myself were all trying to listen to Todd and Keaton tonight, but the WAKE stream continually cut out, leaving us to listen to the boring, almost unintelligible tv team for Loyola.

[vu72]

I tried to tune in just after the game to hear the post game, and couldn't connect. Could be my computer, who knows...

Anyway, back to the post game.  A terrific effort and looked sooooo easy.  We now can see a little of why some were so excited about Ben Boggs.  Great effort by Ben.  Also showed tonight how deep we are with Matt and Will essentially taking the night off while Ben and Jay step it up.

If this confidence we showed tonight is for real and something we can maintain--including the much better defensive effort, we will be very hard to beat the rest of the way.  Quite a shooting show!!   

[valporun]

It's nice to finally have a couple other shooters finally stepping up, even if it isn't the same shooter each game, at least we aren't relying so much on Ryan and Kevin for the bulk of our points. I like now that Ryan can shoot at will while being the rebounding machine, and collecting double-doubles like crazy. Kevin played decently for the time he saw tonight. I was really impressed with Jay Harris and his 18-point explosion. I hope he can keep this up, and also become a better ball control ball-handler at point guard next season.

[StlVUFan]

I logged on to see any comments of the VU BKB DH, and I found this on the chat:

Valporun:  yeah, I'm definitely emailing WAKE and Mark LaBarbera about this, because if WAKE has FCC-regulated streaming issues that affect our ability to listen to the webstream, then we should give the power of the stream back to WVUR.

I haven't listened to really any of Todd and Keaton/Aaron this year since I've attended a lot of the games for either the men's or women's teams while they're on. So would valporun or anyone else fill me in on what issues we are having?

The stream cuts out for minutes at a time during road games. We always have to keep refreshing the page, and hoping that we don't lose the connection to the stream. None of us have problems with home games, since the radio feed is streamed to the HLN broadcast. Stl, vuweathernerd, mj, and myself were all trying to listen to Todd and Keaton tonight, but the WAKE stream continually cut out, leaving us to listen to the boring, almost unintelligible tv team for Loyola.

Yeah, the Loyola TV play-by-play guys were absolutely embarrassing.  It's one thing to have booyah guys crash the Horizon League party and spend half the action time spinning tales that have nothing to do with the action.  What I was unprepared for was that same behavior from Loyola's own TV guys!!!!  They were clueless about what was going on in front of them for minutes on end, too busy regaling us with their trivial knowledge.

Hence my frustration that WAKE kept dropping on me.

[valpo84]

Boggs' shooting form looked more natural tonight and the shots started falling. When 2-3 guys can drop the 3, it opens up the offense for drives and for Kevin to beast down low. The one stretch where 3 different players buried 3s on successive possessions shows the versatility of this offense. Was not terribly pleased with some of the first half post defense but it tightened and the double teams caused fits. Harris is showing a nice array of shots too and impressed that Buggs and Jay each had 5 dimes.  Plus getting up big minimized minutes of KVW and others so all will be fresh for UIC on Saturday, although UIC always causes issues. Get the Chicago sweep!

[valpotx]

Great game by our guys, never really close.  As a viewer, it was hard to really get antsy about this game as it progressed.  Loyola just looked so overmatched.

[vu72]

I just had a thought about Loyola's new arena.  Apparently the old adage "build it and they will come", no longer applies.  I think, "put a decent product on the court and they will come" makes more sense.

From what I could see the place looked great, although the color scheme seemed a little off, but, the crowd was--pathetic.  Valpo is in town and it looked like the women's game crowd showed up.  If there were 1000 at the game I'd be shocked (although the box score says 2555).  Given the size of the place (less seating than the ARC) I'm sure if it is full it will be exciting, but last night was pretty sad. Love to hear impressions from those of you at the game!

[KL31NY]

I was there for both games and took the place in. Having been to nearly every men's and women's HL arena/gym over the past few years, I think Gentile Arena is one of the best-looking facilities in the league, and for my money the best among women's teams for the architecture/setup alone. Mainly, I like how it has a professional, arena-type feel to it while being small and homey. Some other arenas in the league, like Wolstein (CSU) and Resch (UWGB men) as examples, are so big that they can be cold and dull by comparison.

That said, there's a lot Loyola can do to make a true basketball environment out of the place. Even w/ the new digs, LUC is among the lowest teams in the league (both genders) in fan attendance. Plus, I want to say that a couple years ago the league honored the "Rambler Rowdies" Student Section with the "Best in the League" title, but they seemed lazy at best yesterday. Not too many students, outside of the pep band anyway, seemed into the game.

Side note: Post #100 for yours truly. What a crowning achievement 

[vu84v2]

Build it and they will come is never a good strategy.  Build a program that is high quality, winning and fun...and they will come.  Then if so many want to come that you can't hold them - then you expand or build a new facility.

[StlVUFan]

"Build it and they will come" should have been left in Field of Dreams, never to be dragged out and inserted into our sports lexicon.  I've been sick of it for years.  The pinnacle of my discontent was when one of the very first female ESPN field reporters placed it into the mouth of long dead Charles Comiskey when describing the new Comiskey Park, now known as US Cellular Field.  Threw up in my mouth when I heard it.

It only works in a sci-fi baseball movie.  It doesn't work in real life.

[Pgmado]

That game was as impressive as it gets for Valpo. Not much more to say.

[valporun]

I believe the Gentile Center remodel was supposed to help change a part of the culture of LUC athletics, but you don't exactly want to open a new look with a new coach that isn't playing to win as actively in the first year isn't helping them at all. It looks like a great facility, but you don't open a new place with new coaches trying to recruit a new tradition and culture into the basketball program, while also trying to connect with your alums, donors, current student body, and also get wins on the board to get butts in the seats like that. Not a great investment in the future for LUC, but it shows why they are an academic school.

[wh]

For those who may not have heard, Coach Gore commented in the post game interview that one of the take aways from the WSU loss was that they had to learn to play with more energy and intensity.  My paraphrase  of his comments - give it everything you have while you're in there, don't worry about pacing yourself, it's ok to be winded, etc., learn to trust your teammates that they will do the job when they come in to replace you, and trust the coaching staff that you will come back in after you're taken out.  The players must have taken this message to heart because in the last 3 games they overwhelmed YSU and Loyola with non-stop energy and intensity and matched what I consider the highest energy team in the league - CSU - blow for blow.  We have 8 guys playing significant minutes and everyone is contributing.  Hopefully, this new approach will help us push through games where we're not shooting well and dominate in games where we are.       

[StlVUFan]

For those who may not have heard, Coach Gore commented in the post game interview that one of the take aways from the WSU loss was that they had to learn to play with more energy and intensity.  My paraphrase  of his comments - give it everything you have while you're in there, don't worry about pacing yourself, it's ok to be winded, etc., learn to trust your teammates that they will do the job when they come in to replace you, and trust the coaching staff that you will come back in after you're taken out.  The players must have taken this message to heart because in the last 3 games they overwhelmed YSU and Loyola with non-stop energy and intensity and matched what I consider the highest energy team in the league - CSU - blow for blow.  We have 8 guys playing significant minutes and everyone is contributing.  Hopefully, this new approach will help us push through games where we're not shooting well and dominate in games where we are.       

Get to the point where KVW can trust that Vucic will fill in adequately for him, and you've got 9 guys in your rotation, and that seems even better.