In all seriousness, wow were we lucky to get out of there. Missouri State is not looking good this year and we scored two points in the last 5:30 of game time.
Worse. In those last 5-7 minutes our defense allowed MOST to shoot 12 for 12 and 14 for 15 in field goals at one point. It’s, in some ways, kinda understandable to go a bit cold during a game. It is not understandable to watch your team allow the other team to score at will without a miss. And in that period Roger held onto all three of his timeouts until inside the last minute. Gotta question that.
Good win on the road, against a team that shot 58% and seemed to make every clutch 3 until the last minute. I'm a huge fan of Sepp's defensive rebound tipping ability, but Kaspar, go up with 2 hands on that last one, or at least tip it diagonally, versus right to the middle of the arc! I thought that was going in, with how things were working out for Missouri State on open 3's. I also agree that Scroggins and/or Louth should have gotten a few minutes each to defend against the shorter/wide big that was bruising our guys all night. On to the next one!
So I'm looking for these subtle good signs.
Like following up the buzzer beater win vs. Western Michigan with a coast-to-coast blowout against Calumet College.
And now, following a leave-it-all-on-the-floor road loss to Drake with a road win against Missouri State.
Yeah, by a point, but a win.
We escape with a W! Our inability to guard their post guy and not extending the lead to 15-20 points nearly cost us. We still don't have a closer in the crunch time when the game is on the line. A lot of nice contributors on offense tonight and we are starting to gel, but the interior defense woof woof
I think this game, possibly more than any other, showed the complete lack of faith Powell has in either Scroggins or Coulibaly.
I'm not a great believer in either moral victories or bad wins in most cases and, in particular, conference play. Much as a close frustrating loss to Bradley doesn't show that this team is moving up, this win doesn't show the team in any negative fashion.
Agreeing with JD24... with their wide guy drawing fouls at will I figured Louth and or Scroggins would come in handy just to bang- guy was a poor ft shooter. Literally it seems there is no situation for scroggins or Louth to get in...
Louth and Scroggins just seems to have been caught in a hard place. Like I have said before, louth was acquired as a rebound specialist, and sepp just excells in that position. Sure, Scroggins could fit in as a big, but who would you take off the floor for him? It's more of a who comes out situation more than anything.
This is the first time Valpo has been below 200 in NET rankings in the past 5 seasons. Baby steps…
FINAL NET
2021 223
2022 207
2023 289
2024 302
2025 WK NET
5 272
6 261
7 224
8 216
9 194
I kept trying to guess how tall Osei-Bonsu is during the game, and was thinking 6'6" or 6'7". The dude is just 6'4" and wrecking house against much taller guys, and a leading rebounder in the nation. That's impressive to get 7.9 rpg at his height, and it's all because of his wide/strong body.
Rez I was speaking to the idea Cooper was in foul trouble and Bonsu was having his way in paint-maybe this was a time for Scroggins or Louth to get some minutes... with Sepp ill etc. I guess those two are literally coming in only in complete blowouts...
It is looking like Carson Schwieger might pick up many of the minutes we had assumed would go to Coulibaly and Scroggins. There are unanswered pluses and minuses if true but he should be viewing it as his best path to playing time.Rez I was speaking to the idea Cooper was in foul trouble and Bonsu was having his way in paint-maybe this was a time for Scroggins or Louth to get some minutes... with Sepp ill etc. I guess those two are literally coming in only in complete blowouts...
The fact half of this board is upset with a ROAD win against a .500 MVC team that we have lost to 9 straight games against and were 5 point underdogs to tells me all I need to know: the bar has been raised. I have confidence we are on the right path again. We are going to be playing meaningful basketball through the end of the season for the first time in years.
I have been a pessimist most of the season, but we have clearly been playing better the last few weeks. The offense still has lumps and the defense gets beat inside, but the offense actually gets open shots now and some of them even fall! Given our lack of a rim defender, our defense has played pretty well. We are in year 1.5 of a complete rebuild and I see path to a .500 conference record. If we can finish 9-11 in conference, I’m going to be very happy with how this season went.
All Wright looks like he can be a star in the MVC, Cooper is playing improved, Kaspar Sepp is the John Kiser of this team, justus McNair is still raw but has moments and has played improved. All freshmen or sophomores. We still have a 3-4 star recruit coming in next year that had an offer from Arizona State. Stafford back next season.
the key will be keeping All and Cooper.
This is the first time Valpo has been below 200 in NET rankings in the past 5 seasons. Baby steps…
FINAL NET
2021 223
2022 207
2023 289
2024 302
2025 WK NET
5 272
6 261
7 224
8 216
9 194
Baby steps, indeed. A dramatic return to post-season relevance would be great, but it may be that this program rebuild is gradual and deliberate for now. I'll take that over despair.
Good signs:
- Cooper Schwieger continuing to demonstrate that he's reversed early signs of a sophomore slump, returning to a trajectory that could result in him helping to lead VU back to the NCAA tournament before he's done here.
- De La Cruz Monegro playing 34 minutes and taking only 7 shots (making 4).
- A strong 16 minutes from Ellis.
And to be honest, I'm relieved. After the all-out effort against Drake, they pulled off an away victory against a conference team that had an overall winning record.
Kaspar Sepp is the John Kiser of this team
When Kaspar committed to Valpo, I stated the videos I'd seen of him suggested he had the potential to be a Kevin Van Wijk type player: high field goal percentage, good free throw shooter, persistent rebounder, good passer, gritty personality. I am still hoping that is the case. Kevin was only one inch taller but also had a tremendous supporting cast on his team.
Louth and Scroggins just seems to have been caught in a hard place. Like I have said before, louth was acquired as a rebound specialist, and sepp just excells in that position. Sure, Scroggins could fit in as a big, but who would you take off the floor for him? It's more of a who comes out situation more than anything.
Sepp was having some trouble defensively yesterday with a matchup problem. Ideal situation for a player such as Scroggins or Coulilaby to get some time. They didn't. Add in the fact that neither has smelled playing time other than in garbage time indicates that there is no intention of playing these two guys absent a complete disaster. So, either Powell is a poor talent evaluator or these two guys aren't all that good.
