Whelp its senior night for Darius. From all accounts he seems like the nicest guy and an ultimate team player. Don't know if he will consider playing in a B league in Germany or something like that, but he could carve out a career in Europe, make a little income.
We would all love to see a win tonight, but that will be a stretch. Bradley overall has been pretty resilient all year and usually finds ways to fight/scrape stay in games. Their St. Louis seeding is pretty much wrapped up. I have a feeling they will give good effort, but will prolly think they can sleep walk through the game tonight. If they sleep walk enough and we shoot unconscious then their is a chance, but Our same weaknesses will still persist on defense. Can't have cold offensive stretches for half the game or it's a 15 point plus loss. Scoring will have to shared from Monegro, Shaw, Cooper, Darius, McNair. Got to believe Bradley will be focused on stopping Wright. Powell could use this as a signature win and momentum heading into the off season. I think the momentum caries over from Carbondale.
I'm insane enough to go with an upset tonight. 81-77 Valpo
Interesting that, pending tie breakers, its possible Valpo plays UIC twice in a row and with a win Valpo would play Bradley again next.
Last time wright had 3 points obviously he is different now. Sepp had a double double. Curious to see who comes through. Agree with Burnee77 maybe a little complacency slips in for Bradley.
In that game Sepp had 15 rebounds and 11 points in 45 minutes. That was his best game of the season and everything that bounced off the rim or the glass he grabbed or tipped to a teammate. Our team out rebounded them 47-40 and 16 of them were on offense.Last time wright had 3 points obviously he is different now. Sepp had a double double. Curious to see who comes through. Agree with Burnee77 maybe a little complacency slips in for Bradley.
Will we see Carson tonight? Monegro played well in Peoria except for the missed free throw that cost us the game. I hope both he and Wright show up tonight ready to win.
if can shoot better in the second half and reduce Bradley’s offense rebounds, we can win this game!
I get so tired of lazy dribbling, passing, and rebounding. Those hustle plays favored Bradley today. Our guys think that they are faster than they are and can dribble through 2-3 guys, and also lob a wimpy pass to our teammate that is 20 feet away, thinking that the defender will just let it happen. We had another instance late of trying to dunk the ball on the fast break (Shaw), when you only need to lay it up strong. QUIT TRYING THE CONTESTED DUNKS! Most of the time, the defender just pressures you and doesn't foul. I don't know if it is youth or just our team, but we did it a ton last season and have plenty of examples this season.
The speech Powell just gave is giving me chills. I love him.
Now Roger was just in tears for #6.
The best player on the court, Duke Dean. Bradley has nice chemistry on offense and our lack of post presence was obvious yet again. Carved up all night. Great game from Cooper, Wright was solid and Shaw showed us more. We don't have a completely hopeless situation moving forward, with some pieces returning that you got to believe will get better. Look forward to seeing what our roster will look like in early May. Thank you Darius and Schmidt
So, Valparaiso finishes in 11th place, last among the teams that will be returning next year. When I agreed with the preseason poll that had placed VU in 10th place, I was criticized by some for being too negative, and others considered the low ranking an "insult." Nevertheless, as I said when the final new player to the roster was announced, "Valpo's offseason additions were underwhelming." Unfortunately, we have seen this was true, especially in the middle, since Bradley out-rebounded Valpo 39-27 and scored more points in the paint at 38-22.
Have we made much progress? I'm not convinced. Objectively, the team moved from 12th place to 11th place, but underperformed even the low expectation of a preseason 10th place pick. I give Coach Powell credit for finding a second freshman of the year type player in Wright, but he did not come through with the promise to recruit big, tough guys for the inside game. Particularly in the MVC, the big guy under the basket is necessary. Maybe next time....
We have a very real opportunity to get to 14-17 Sunday and finished last season 7-25, all this with a freshman PG and our two highest usage players being a freshman and a sophomore.
Absolutely we improved , Massey has us at 217 using strictly RPI as opposed to last years 325. We improved by a lot
We have a very real opportunity to get to 14-17 Sunday and finished last season 7-25, all this with a freshman PG and our two highest usage players being a freshman and a sophomore. Went from 3 to 6 wins in conference.
Absolutely we improved , Massey has us at 217 using strictly RPI as opposed to last years 325. We improved by a lot
The idea that this team is not improved from last year should not be taken seriously.
This team is pretty much exactly what I expected record wise coming into the season, though I hoped we might be surprised. If we can keep the core together we will be in better shape going into the season than we have been since probably 2017.
also keep in mind that only 4 valley teams have above .500 conference records. Very top heavy league this year.
I get so tired of lazy dribbling, passing, and rebounding. Those hustle plays favored Bradley today. Our guys think that they are faster than they are and can dribble through 2-3 guys, and also lob a wimpy pass to our teammate that is 20 feet away, thinking that the defender will just let it happen. We had another instance late of trying to dunk the ball on the fast break (Shaw), when you only need to lay it up strong. QUIT TRYING THE CONTESTED DUNKS! Most of the time, the defender just pressures you and doesn't foul. I don't know if it is youth or just our team, but we did it a ton last season and have plenty of examples this season.
I was going to post something very similar. Multiple players dribbling 1 on 3. It's not going to work at any level and, in those situations, somebody has to be more open than the player driving. Too many loose balls go to the opponent. Tonight in particular. Rebounding is more than size and bulk. It's quickness and a lot of "want to". The "want to" was missing tonight from a few guys. I think it was McNair and one other player who just let a miss by Bradley which had apparently been tipped by Valpo bounce right past them out of bounds back to Bradley. A case of assuming.
FT trouble killed any chance of a win.
RP talk and prayer post game was great. To say we havent improved alot this year is absurd. This bradley team beats last years team by 30. Valpo played poorly in stretches agree 100%. Just make free throws and this game is tight. Bradley is sooo much better athletically in person. Basically duke deen hit 4 threes in a few minutes and won the game. Cooper got mauled still gets no respect. We have a hole or Two - to say progress isnt happening and hope is unfounded seems skewed to me.
