Out rebounded 40 to 27! We obviously have no inside offense or, especially, defense.
To a point, yes, but as mentioned above....and by Coach Powell after the game...there were too many balls on the ground, eye level or right at the rim which Valpo didn't secure or even fight for in some cases. Just bad basketball. This wasn't a "Bigs" issue in itself. It was more of a "want to" issue to me.
....and yes not being able to have Tyler Schmidt understand what he wanted him to do...or the rest of the guys on the court understand what the call was...is just mind boggling.
The comment on Sepp not providing much as an offensive threat I agree with. He has some plusses but the opponent backing off him...and thus getting right in the team's best players space....may hurt more than he helps. Again...what happened with Ellis is a question I'd have.
Concur on Ellis. He appeared to be a nice piece. He didn't really do anything to help or hurt the team majorly last night. One point blank missed layup and a in and out 3 pointer. Maybe one rebound? He tried posting up last night. He wasn't open or our guys didn't feed him the ball when they had opportunity to do so. Even more frustrating SIU was prolly the least talented conference team to play in the arc this year. Is it me or does Tyler Schmidt seem tired? He's going against a lot of physical guards night after night. For as crafty as he is for his size, he struggles to finish through contact
I'm a huge Sepp supporter. He had 4 assists and 0 turnovers yesterday, and is a stabilizing force when he has the ball, as he is unlikely to make a bone-headed pass. He has a pretty good floater game, though scary at times, and his 3 point shooting is not bad. Yes, he is just 5/17 from deep, but if you look at his misses, most of those rim out or roll around on the rim, before going out. He is not airballing, bricking, or way off on those missed 3s. He is definitely better as a PF versus a C, due to the limitations of being 6'7" versus 6'10"+, but other teams have been able to make that work over the years. I panic a bit when I see Wright or Jeff wildly driving the lane, but I don't panic when Sepp has the ball in his hands at the top.
Not suggesting Sepp is relegated to the Scroggins zone deep on the bench...suggesting that somehow we carve a few minutes from him and a few from the guard mob to get Ellis out there for 15-18 minutes. Wish we could find some more for Mcnair too. He gets buckets... he makes mistakes like the others also but he has the super hot zone he can get to that others dont. When he is set for a 3 I am surprised when it doesnt go in. With
Schmidt cold for a month his minutes could be carved a little too...All this is just chatter when we get outrebounded by double digits. The problem has been identified- at least one functional big short and teams have countered our small ball. We can keep it reasonable maybe pick off a game or two but its gonna be a struggle. Nothing but respect for the effort of these guys but thats how I see it.
I watched most of the MVC games tonight. Without a true big, we are not going to match up well against teams in the conference. My optimism about this team is all but gone. I think we are headed for a 11th place finish in conference play. Walker from Ill State is going to dominate against our guys on Saturday.
Is it me or does Tyler Schmidt seem tired? He's going against a lot of physical guards night after night. For as crafty as he is for his size, he struggles to finish through contact
He's not finishing as well as he was earlier in the year which could simply be tiredness or tired of the banging. That can certainly affect his outside game as well. Problem for the offense is someone has to take shots. I think, particularly recently, Wright shoots too much or maybe it's just taking what I think are poor shots. Getting Schwieger the ball where he can do something with it is an overall problem. Sepp isn't going to give us much offensively that isn't generated from an offensive rebound. Doesn't leave a whole lot of other choices.
Ever since we have been in the MVC, it has been demonstrated to be a conference where the best teams have a true big that is a banger down low. Look at Primm, Brodie, Krutwig, Mast, Avila, etc.
Given the need, how bad must Scroggins be to never play?
I think our small ball lineup might claw out 4 more wins if it can execute near perfection. So I've gone from thinking maybe 11 Valley wins back down to a cap of 7 but probably less. I was expecting the team and the team bigs to improve right up to and including St Louis but now I'm expecting only marginal improvements from our chosen core group. I kind of wish that Roger had played our bigs large minutes early and converted to the small ball mid February. It might not have changed our victory total much but it might have provided more excitement for our stretch run.I watched most of the MVC games tonight. Without a true big, we are not going to match up well against teams in the conference. My optimism about this team is all but gone. I think we are headed for a 11th place finish in conference play. Walker from Ill State is going to dominate against our guys on Saturday.
Just checked the numbers for Jerome Palm and he has played 178 minutes for Hawaii which sits in the middle pack of Big West teams with a net of 177. I'm just wondering if he would be playing those 9 minutes per game for us? I'm also wondering if Palm is any better than Coulibaly.
With the now six game slide I'm worried about being able to retain the good young nucleus we have. How many of the 9 that are getting significant minutes will return?
The school and this team need a miracle during Arch Madness.
Other coaches in the MVC have figured out how to play us. And we aren’t able to adjust the gameplan. That’s a coaching failure.
We raised the floor from last years team but didn’t really raise our ceiling. We took players from bad teams and expected them to become great. The coaches had a year to recruit the portal and flopped. Although they found gold in Schmidt.
Ellis was the 3rd best player on a very bad Maryland Eastern Shore team last year.
Jefferson was an ok-ish starter on a 12-20 Western Michigan team.
Shaw didn’t see much action on a very good Grand Canyon team but I think he probably has the most upside.
Coulibaly wasn’t very good on a bad Holy Cross team.
The good news is that our freshman look great. Coach Powell has shown an ability to recruit prep players who can play (Schweiger, Wright, McNair, Sepp). His only misstep has been Scroggins.
Unfortunately, college basketball has changed so unless he can keep his freshmen around for 3 or 4 years, we’re not going to be very good.
I have come to the point of accepting that Valpo as a basketball program is presenting as exactly who they are. I am a dedicated season ticket holder and have no intentions of giving that up. But we are a bottom team. At best, we can maybe be a 4th or 5th best team with a very strong roster in any one given year. To me it all boils down to two issues.
1. We do not belong in the Valley. Valpo simply does not have the resources to compete in this league and definitely not consistently. The $$ just isn't there. I get that going backwards is not an option. But we are playing in a league above our means. There are no savior millionaire donors, there is no meaningful NIL money, there is no path to better facilities at a school with plummeting enrollment and dwindling reserves. I had much more fun dominating the Mid-Con, than I ever ever have getting drubbed in the very prestigious Missouri Valley.
2. I cringe when I hear reference to the multi-year rebuild that some think we are in. This is a myth. With NIL and open transfers, we are recruiting anew every year. Even recruiting our own players. It would be irresponsible for All Wright to NOT transfer after this season. Nothing against Valpo, but he should maximize his opportunity as any athlete should. This is not a rebuild. This is it. This is who Powell is and this is his team. Drake is not rebuilding. Indiana St. was not rebuilding last year. Every year you start from scratch. That's the new reality of the current college basketball climate.
These are not complaints or criticisms. These are just realities as I see them. And I have no good solutions. (Though I personally would accept an invitation to the Horizon in a heartbeat, I understand why others would turn up their nose at it. I also know that invitation isn't coming.)
No matter what I will keep supporting the team and keep buying my bank of season tix. Even though I really don't see a path beyond 8 wins in any given conference year. We are who we are.
Very good points MJ. I might push back a touch on failure. yes teams have figured us out on film. He has a system implemented that worked at Gonzaga and obviously had much better players there. Powell is a couple of players away. Wright and Justice are good freshman pieces to build on. I guess we will see how good the freshman signee is coming next year, the development of all our returning players and if Stafford returns. A lot of if's in the ever changing college basketball off season. For now, they are going to have to figure out how to steal some wins going down the stretch however he can even if its not the type of system he runs. Finishing over 500 would be a good selling point to recruits.
