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Game Thread Valpo @ Belmont Tuesday 1/14 6:30pm CST

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(@valpotx)
Posts: 270
Junior Varsity
 

I was thinking that even if we won this game, I would say that this was the absolute worst basketball game that I have ever watched, in regards to extremely poor play by both teams.  It looked like an up-and-down AAU game where everyone was just chucking away from 3.  Add on to it with the lack of defensive rebounding, missing about 5-6 bunnies around the basket, throwing passes before looking to see if our guy is open/available, an absolute bone-headed technical by McNair in a crucial situation, and Darius fouling with 5 seconds left on the shot clock, after already playing solid defense on that possession (why not foul much earlier, if you were going to take a dumb foul??).  I mean seriously, that was horrendous basketball to watch.  Some of you are going to come here and say that you didn't mind it as that is the way that the NBA and college basketball are moving with pace and 3s, but that is almost unwatchable.  If Belmont made their wide open 3s, this wouldn't have even been close, but they couldn't hit anything from deep in the second half.  I would have been pleased with a win, but I still would have mentioned that this was absolute sh!t to watch, though we had the positives of McNair and Shaw showing what they can do on offense.  

 
Posted : 01/14/2025 11:14 PM
(@david81)
Posts: 136
Freshman
 

Last week I was going to say that the test of this team's development will come after they've lost a couple of games in a row, but I didn't want to sound like a party pooper.

Well, here we are, and I don't say that negatively. I think this juncture starts another important indicator of how far this program has developed.

 
Posted : 01/15/2025 10:33 AM
 jd24
(@jd24)
Posts: 279
Junior Varsity
 

Turned it over too much and still not forcing the issue on offense. Getting a goosegg from Monegro and near gooseggs from Darius and Sepp (although in limited minutes) don't help. I also disagree with Powell on the fouls situation and "feeding it to Cooper" as quoted in Paul's article. That may be for the next game but Cooper, in my view, is still not aggressive enough on offense. He took 10 shots. He's the best player...supposedly....on the team and lesser players are putting up more shots. For Valpo to win beyond games in which the team shoots very well, he's got to become more of a force on offense instead of a guy who the offense works through.

 
Posted : 01/15/2025 10:46 AM
 Rez
(@rezynezy)
Posts: 1008
Varsity
 

Posted by: @jd24

Turned it over too much and still not forcing the issue on offense. Getting a goosegg from Monegro and near gooseggs from Darius and Sepp (although in limited minutes) don't help. I also disagree with Powell on the fouls situation and "feeding it to Cooper" as quoted in Paul's article. That may be for the next game but Cooper, in my view, is still not aggressive enough on offense. He took 10 shots. He's the best player...supposedly....on the team and lesser players are putting up more shots. For Valpo to win beyond games in which the team shoots very well, he's got to become more of a force on offense instead of a guy who the offense works through.

 

I actually have the opposite opinion on Cooper down low. He gets the ball and tries to be aggressive, but either doesn't have the call go his way, or brings the ball down low and defenses crash to stop him. I have seen doubles, and even triples on him to stop him from getting to the tin. He draws a considerable amount of contact, but seems to get the opposite of the "big man" effect and the zebras swallow the whistle. Saw a lot of it last night. Team is probably going to have to play soccer from here on out and sell contact to extremes. Other teams are doing exactly that and getting calls.

 

 
Posted : 01/15/2025 1:04 PM
(@valpotx)
Posts: 270
Junior Varsity
 

I am of the opinion that Cooper is working very hard down low, and you can see him frantically moving around in the paint while he gets clobbered around on occasion.  The problem is that we don't appear able to get him a pass that leads him to the basket on a consistent basis.  I think Sepp is an awesome player for our team, but his distribution to Coop down low over the last 2 games, has not been up to the quality that we have come to expect from Sepp.

 
Posted : 01/15/2025 8:49 PM
 Rez
(@rezynezy)
Posts: 1008
Varsity
 

On an unrelated note. Check the score of the Bradley ISU game. I know moral wins arent really wins, but its something

 
Posted : 01/15/2025 8:55 PM
(@burnee77)
Posts: 92
Freshman
 

No kidding on the Bradley ISU game. The UIC Murray game was crazy. Double OT.

It seems like Valpo is good enough to hang with most teams, but not terrible enough to get blown out. Saturday will be interesting against UIC

 
Posted : 01/16/2025 9:57 AM
 Rez
(@rezynezy)
Posts: 1008
Varsity
 

Really a lot of our problems stem from not having a 5 man, and the forcing of coop down low and teams playing crash zones to stop him from getting the ball. UIC will be interesting

 
Posted : 01/16/2025 10:56 AM
 jd24
(@jd24)
Posts: 279
Junior Varsity
 

Posted by: @valpotx

I am of the opinion that Cooper is working very hard down low, and you can see him frantically moving around in the paint while he gets clobbered around on occasion.  The problem is that we don't appear able to get him a pass that leads him to the basket on a consistent basis.  I think Sepp is an awesome player for our team, but his distribution to Coop down low over the last 2 games, has not been up to the quality that we have come to expect from Sepp.

This is part of what I meant. Cooper is not a power player and probably never will be. So an aggressive defender of equal size and strength...particularly more than one of them...is going to win most of the time. I guess he's being aggressive for him but its kind of futile because of the position he's in which is the point I agree with. There should be more easy buckets for him and Sepp is a player who doesn't need to be defended much away from the basket allowing defenses to sag. Throw in Darius and Valpo's really got a problem as soon as the ball is inbounded.

 

 
Posted : 01/16/2025 12:05 PM
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