The atmosphere at the arc was like watching paint dry. No life in the building. I honestly feel bad for the cheerleaders as people just stare at them and don’t move . Also, the DJ needs to go. Completely out of touch with music you should play In a basketball arena. Buzz kill music
if he stays, All Wright Is clearly the point guard of the future And our best recruit. He should be taking significant minutes from Darius already.
not having a big is impacting Cooper significantly.
shaw struggles against more athletic players. Anybody guarding him with speed Or anyone guarding him with size he can’t handle. His shot is also completely flat.
Rez, you must have never seen Homer Drew walk onto the court to take technical file on purpose. But the refs were actually fine tonight in my opinion
Devon Ellis has been the best player on the floor for Valpo through three games. He's the anti Kobe King who always looked disinterested in touching another player or even being on the court sometimes. Ellis is involved...to say the least.
I don't know what Schwieger's issue is but he's been nothing compared to what he was last year. A goosegg for 8 just kills the team. Missed at least one bunny as well.
There is a reason that most modern coaches will not take intentional technical fouls. You loose a lot of privileges in the process beyond just the 2 shots and possession. Im not saying you cannot argue for your guys, but leave the techs and ejections to baseball.
Its also a generational divide. While older guys may think the tech is a message of support for an athlete. That unwritten rule is mostly dead. The only sport keeping it alive being baseball. Younger fans don't see that the same. It doesn't make you look like an advocate. It makes you look like a joker throwing a tantrum. Look no further than when Chris Collins was tossed and T'd against Purdue last year. Sentiment online wasn't "Wow What an advocate sticking up for his guys." I can tell you than much for certain.
Kudos to Brandon for making the positive changes suggested for the setting in the post-game press conference. Both the appearance and the sound were much improved. Hopefully, next game will be a win and the content of the coach’s conversation can be more positive as well. 😉
Watching this offense live in person was just painful. Ball is sticky very one on one and wow on top of it cant stick the occasional wide open three. Open three allowed before halftime with three fouls to give... Somehow still led at half then just got dusted in second half. Agree All wright needs some more of darius' minutes. Improved overall depth and talent is evident but right now it needs to gel and gel fast.
Observations
1) Crowd....was like a wake. Will be like this until they string together 3 or 4 wins in a row. Team is not that exciting right now.
2) Valpo is more talented individually, but the sum of the parts work better on CSU. They were pretty much a two trick pony with Arnette and Stefanski. Arnette a very heady player! Both guys have chemistry and for that matter, CSU had much more offensive identity even with their own carless turnovers.
3) Valpo is still searching for offensive/defensive team chemistry. We have a bunch of new parts and they don't all fit tother at the moment. To much one on one and our weak side defense cost us points and a wide open layup off an inbound pass in the first half! Ofcourse we had our share of unforced errors as well. In games were shots are not falling the little defensive things will matter. The inbounds play, defending their pick and roll and the buzzer beat at the end of the first half.
4) It would help it we hit more three's. Cooper ain'g going 0-8 every game. We had five open looks in the first half and 3-5 more in the second half. If we hit 3 or 4 more threes, the outcome of the game might be different, but as for now we all need to calm down and see how the first 6 or 7 games play out with chemistry on both sides of the ball We do have more talent and depth this year.
5) Schmidt...nothing tonight. Scroggins.....DNP?
6) The technical was a lot to do about nothing.
Some quick thoughts I had that didn't make it into the quick turnaround story I wrote and some things I wish I would've asked at presser.
1) I concur the crowd was dead. I also spent the morning in the same arena that was buzzing because 300 screaming fifth-graders were in attendance for the women's game. The play was so sluggish in the first half that there was never any consistency. The highlight was watching as one of Lubos Barton's children slithered into a chicken costume and started dancing in the crowd.
2) Valpo only missed five free throws, but some of them were front ends and that was tough. Definitely a game changer.
3) Speaking of game changers, I wish I would've asked about the final play of the first half. Valpo had three fouls to give and they somehow gave up a 3-pointer. Put Joe Vick, Nick Lombardi and Ramzi Salem in the game and have them eat fouls for the final seven seconds. I don't understand how this happened. Kicking myself I didn't ask about it in postgame.
4) Kudos to Cooper for being in presser and giving more than canned answers to his shooting woes. He also gave a solid answer as to the technical situation.
5) While they didn't ask any questions, Mara Thomas and Ashlyn Cohen were in the press conference covering the game. Both are aspiring reporters and today was a bit of a job shadow day. Both have incredibly bright futures in whatever way they pursue a media career. I'm sure you'll be hearing questions from them very soon.
6) Going back to the tech. I actually loved that All Wright came flying in at the very end. Sure, he got a tech, but that's a guy I want on my team any day. If he didn't already have the respect of his teammates, he earned it tonight.
7) Lotta season left. Whether that's a good thing or not remains to be seen.
Will have some more thoughts on this later as it's been a long few weeks (starting a new job and moving to CO on Sunday), but this was the last chance I had to go to a game at the ARC for maybe several years, and I just couldn't muster up the energy to go. Used to make my wife plan our winter trips to grandparents around Vu games. Now, I didn't go, and really only watched through one eye as I dozed on the couch.
Not trying to be funny or trite, but Paul, I seriously hope you are / have been compiling a ton of notes, thoughts, and interviews of the key players over the years. The book that can be written when this program goes from what it was Bryce's last game as coach in the NIT to out of Division I altogether by 2030 will be a really good read. It wasn't just one bad decision that got us here, it was a whole serious of them, and it's been nothing but chaos and losing since. Really feel for RP2, he likely ruined his career taking this job.
Certainly a frustrating loss. It’ll get better assuming that ~20% 3 point shooting is not our ceiling. But we need to see some results to prove that.
Schwieger is out of rhythm and I’m not sure why this hasn’t been addressed more. It was evident in the Liberty game and was again last night, he is hesitating at the top of his shot and ends up releasing more of a line drive (a line drive like Isaiah Shaw I might add) and it’s not working for him. What I am hearing is that the approach is that Schwieger knows himself and is given the bulk of the responsibility to work that out, but I hope a coach steps in to work with him on that.
Then also the team is not playing like a team. 8 assists in a game is just not good. There is so little movement on the court and they need to start acting like they trust each other. Ellis is doing great with his aggression, but there’s not much aggression coming from anywhere else (maybe Schmidt, but he played 12 minutes last night).
Lastly I concur with what Paul and others have said about the crowd, I was at both games and the women’s game with 675 in attendance was way more fun than the men’s game. Helps that they were dominating but still it’s an embarrassment that we have the type of environment we do at the men’s games right now. This is also something that will get better but what is this? Opposing player steps to the line for a free throw and it’s dead quiet. Just an example of what’s going wrong there.
3 games in and we’ve all got stuff to work on. Next 3 are gonna be crucial for setting the tone for the season - need 3 wins in a row going into two very big games against DePaul and Drake.
Fortunately the team has over a week to sort it out and fine a scheme that works. From what I see, there isn't a lack of offensive scheme. The offensive scheme is just failing and failing spectacularly. Shaw for an open 3 that turns into bricks. Cooper for an open 3 that turns into bricks. Getting the ball down low only to get doubled and help side comes in to swat the ball. When the scheme starts falling, the whole court process seems to break down. Composure is going to have to be a key not in the weeks to come. Lots of assists were lost in bricks. There is an emphasis on passing and moving the ball, but when you cant convert the open looks generated into points. You don't get your assists either. The team seemed in their own head by the second half.
The defense was quite good in the first half, but lack of capitalization on turnovers and takeaways is brutal. Rebounds have also been a high not for these first 3, but once again. Need to capitalize on free chances.
The 3 ball is a huge concern. Hot and cold 3 point shooting will be the death of this team. As for why some bench players weren't put in at the end of the first to eat fouls. I have to agree with Paul here. You have a deep bench with some guys that are going to be built to take a few fouls. In my opinion. McNair, Schmidt, and Wright are producing on the 3 ball. Schmidt or McNair should be in to shoot the ball until Shaw can work it out. End of story.
Scroggins needs to be the center. Keeping Cooper as a center when his playstyle is a foreword is not going to be good for him. Just because you are a tall guy, doesnt mean you are built like a center should be, and Cooper is not built to be a center, which is fine. Scroggins can throw his weight around better, as displayed in the Concordia game. Call it overpowering an NAIA school, but he simply looks better at the C slot. Honestly I would rather have Louth as a center considering his rebounding abilities.
Crowd is a double edge sword. One one hand the student section seems content to get up and move around as opposed to being seat fillers, but yet again, they are completely silent throughout the game. However, if the rest of the crowd is also content to just sit and be seat fillers, what incentive does that give to the students to do anything. The ARC is built to be loud even if the crowd size is lackluster. Frankly, I honestly hope Powell gets more interactive with the students in pregame to generate some sort of hype. Or the band gets to come in more often as they were absent for this home game. At some point, you just need to bite the bullet and start giving out Mezzanine ticket packages to local orgs. Get a larger crowd in there any maybe someone can start breathing life in.
As for comments about VU eventually falling out of D1. I don't find that likely.
I don't want to react too strongly, but this team does not look tremendously improved. The early turnovers were a complete disaster, and it never allowed VU to get into a rhythm. The lack of shooting is alarming. I will give it more time, but I'm getting pretty worried about the future of our program.
Do we know why Scroggins didn't play? Louth seemed to help on Arnett versus having Cooper guarding him at all times, and throwing another big in there couldn't have hurt...
