I'm not sure their is a perfect matchup for us in the Valley this year, but ISU might be the closest. Anything is possible I suppose tonight, but we need help from the zebras and for ISU to uncharacteristically miss close shots. Bradley has suddenly stumbled, UIC is wildly unpredictable and pretty much every team has been up and down except Drake. We are due to end the 7 game streak.
I hope we see continued strides by Shaw's shot and Carson Schwieger. Was Carson's performance Saturday a one off? If nothing else he provides some size and can use up fouls. Schmidt has cooled of late and Justice's playing time has decreased. Hoping we finish at or above 500 this year for recruiting and program moral.
I just now finally watched the ISUr game primarily to see what Carson and Shaw contributed. Shaw looked better and as little as Carson Schwieger has played I was surprised that he didn't make many mental mistakes. Yes he was outmuscled by Walker but I loved his effort and the mistakes he made were mostly moments of slight indecision which Cooper did on a regular basis last season.
Does Carson have a future in MVC play? I'm starting to think maybe yes but meanwhile Cooper still has a lot of work to do as well.
A win tonight and maybe we can still get things turned around and a head of steam finishing out the season could be be critically important for the 2025-26 roster and results.
ISUb 77
Valpo 65
Talk to me when the roster is set by June 1st. Painful. First time all year they've thrown in the flag. Loooooong February
Well…I think it’s time to revisit some things.
The losing streak is now 8. Last year we had losing streaks of 9 and 11. This is a failure of the coaches. There needs to be some massive shakeup on the coaching staff on the offseason because what they have now isn’t working. Roger needs an assistant coach who has coached a winning team, even if it’s D2 or D3.
We don’t play as a team. First it was Stafford, now it’s Wright who takes a huge percentage of shots in the game. That’s not a successful plan for the MVC.
Undisciplined offense and a very weak perimeter defense. I didn't see an official white flag of surrender but at some point nobody on the team seemed to care. By far this was our worst Valley performance of the year and it wasn't because we were outmatched.Well…I think it’s time to revisit some things.
The losing streak is now 8. Last year we had losing streaks of 9 and 11. This is a failure of the coaches. There needs to be some massive shakeup on the coaching staff on the offseason because what they have now isn’t working. Roger needs an assistant coach who has coached a winning team, even if it’s D2 or D3.
We don’t play as a team. First it was Stafford, now it’s Wright who takes a huge percentage of shots in the game. That’s not a successful plan for the MVC.
Wright took 23 shots. Congrats to him on scoring 32, but he still shot below 40%. Outside of him and Cooper no one scored above 5. It was a problem of Wright forcing too much and everyone else doing absolutely nothing. And if they need an example of how to share the ball, show them what Indiana State was doing to get 22 assists on 28 field goals. Incredible ball movement, not so for us, and also poor perimeter defense from us tonight.
I have absolutely no idea how this is the same team that was 10-6 four weeks ago. I could probably take a close look at stats before and after the halfway point of the season, and I probably will at some point, but I have completely lost motivation for this season. I just hope the team can find some energy and motivation again, today was a total give up in the second half.
Yes it's year two of the rebuild but you still need some progress and right now I'm not seeing it. As I type this Missouri State is making a serious run at knocking off UNI, which makes it very possible we could finish dead last again. Even if we hold onto the 11 seed (which seems like a best case scenario at this point), that is not enough improvement to give me much long term hope. I really hope the rest of the month doesn't turn into just playing out the season, and that we can find what we had a month ago, but this is just awful.
Valpo is now only one spot away from last place. Tonight, VU lost their 8th straight game by nearly 20 points to a team that was completely restocked with players this year, plus with a new head coach. Yet, that team has a .500 record and is three games ahead of Valpo in the conference standings. At the end of last season Coach Powell stated he would put together a strong roster, including big and tough players, for this year. This team seems adrift and something is seriously amiss.
Well dang. I really have lost my faith in this program. Glad I chose not to watch. I'm getting Lottich flash backs.
Was the game plan set to ensure that All Wright got to shoot at least 42.5% of the team’s total shots? If so, goal achieved. That’s almost one shot every other possession.
BTW Coop had a double double. 12 RBs. One of his best RB games. Good for him.
Oh, where was everyone else?
It appears “fast paced” is now the new “undisciplined.”
Is it reasonable to observe that as the skid continues, instead of circling the wagons, tightening up both O and D, trying to slow down the game to allow a closer contest, Valpo is getting even looser and less organized?
And why, after a solid first half did Coop have only TWO fg attempts in the whole second half?
And why, after a solid first half did Coop have only TWO fg attempts in the whole second half?
This has been a general theme of mine for weeks. In general when the best player on the team is taking 10 shots and another is firing up shots from all areas of the gym to the tune of 23....and scoring most of his points from the free throw line which means there were more than 23....there's a problem.
I'm also wondering what else is going on. Ellis' disappearance after a fast start to the season and now Schmidt's fade are concerning.
I'll catch some flak for this, but I'm not going to judge Powell until after this next transfer window and how we perform next season. The difference with the Drake and ISUb rebuilds is that each has experienced conference success over the last few seasons, and is more appealing. Valpo hasn't done sh!t since our last season in the HL, so a lot of the potential recruits won't care about our historical success, when we've had 7-8 crap seasons in a row. If Powell can keep the core guys around another season and continue recruiting solid kids, he can turn this around. If we lose any of our key guys, then I will only judge our HC on how the next season turns out.
PoweLLLLLLLL and Valpo need to get their act together. Embarrassing.
