Cooper shot 6-8 first half couldnt get the ball second half. A problem when primary ball handler also has a score first mindset. Ball has a tendency to get sticky on this team as it is... but if you take 23 shots ya better be getting 40 points as a guard. I thought Carson played solid but then we went 4 guards pretty early and it has never really stopped the bleeding. Bummed out. I too am really Interested to see what core stays and what new faces join the program.
I don't see Wright's 32 point as encouraging at all. It has become more of a pick-up game mentality as in "give me the ball and get out of the way". "The team" left the building last night.
I see some people speaking about a "rebuild" to a stronger position next year, a term that was stated repeatedly last season as a reason for optimism. However, last year Valpo was last and this year they stand at 11th place, and the team appears to be weakening. Is that progress? Will we be satisfied with an improvement to 10th place next year? As we know, the concept of a rebuild is far less likely in the current state of college basketball where each team, including as displayed by just about every Missouri Valley program this year, gets overhauled through transfers and NIL offers during the off-season.
Nevertheless, if we believe and hope some kind of a rebuild is underway, the reality we face is that even if Valpo improves, most likely other teams in the conference will as well. After all, last year Valpo finished 12th, and today, among Missouri Vally teams coming back next year, sadly VU holds last place. Missouri State, the only team keeping Valpo from last place thus far, will be gone from the conference in a few months. For greater success, it seems some radical re-thinking and lucky recruiting of a player on the level of a Peters or a Broekhoff will need to occur, hopefully Pettigrew or someone else.
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.
Not time to burn at the stake for sure but I'd have liked to have seen some forward movement which was there for a while this season but has pretty much evaporated. There's likely been some elevation in the ability of the players on the roster but nowhere near the degree needed. Plus there's been the incoherence on offense coupled with the inability to rebound and secure the ball which have existed both seasons for Powell. There's a few other issues which go beyond "it's only his second year" which seem to exist as well.
My question is, absent exoduses into the portal by some, how does the roster get improved for next season without the same issues continuing.
Who's team is it? According to the article it's All Wright's team. When Alec Peters was a freshman was it his team or Lavonte Dority's team? Wright has been given the keys to the Cadillac, but he's not getting others involved, shoots to much. He's a scoring guard, not a pass first player. Getting the ball to Coop in the first half was working and they went away from that in the second. Team plays better when they play inside out, involving Coop. To much one on one from everyone and not trusting the sharing/process. Schmidt's decline is noticeable and Manegro. Justice has disappeared. I'm tryna compare this team to Peter's first team, but that was prolly a more talented roster, you could see they had pieces in place, and just needed experience/time. As heart breaking of a loss it was to St. Louis that year and Columbia in the post season, in was an invaluable experience. Took a leap the next season. I don't see this team doing that right now. Just looks like a team that's lost its confidence. When ISU threw it's first punch in the first half, we got a way from sharing the rock and became a one on one team. I digress.
With some appropriate late game timing I was wanting Powell to sub in 5 new bench players while herding our regular floor players to the end of the bench with disgust. That would have given us and the team one positive memorable moment for the game and our downhill season.
This team seems adrift and something is seriously amiss.
Just listened to Paul's "emergency podcast," and I was pleased to hear his open and honest analysis that complements and clarifies my comment above.
PO's "emergency podcast" despair was a bit more calm and reasoned than mine and ours and I needed to hear it from his unique perspective. Thanks!
Paul noted the end of 1st half ISUb drive and shot that seemed to dramatically change the momentum of the game. Just from my memory I'm thinking that Carson Schwieger had the best chance to slow or stop that ball advancement but didn't. Maybe I could give him a pass on this one but I won't. If he wants more playing time he has to make plays. We had a guard in that general area of the floor also (don't remember who) and he was also derelict.
This team seems adrift and something is seriously amiss.
Just listened to Paul's "emergency podcast," and I was pleased to hear his open and honest analysis that complements and clarifies my comment above.
It was excellent and was a measured response to the situation. I somewhat disagree with the All Wright take. The points are there however I've always felt that in basketball somebody has to score. There's always someone on the roster who'll shoot the ball and if enough shots are put up, there's going to be some scoring totals put up. In almost all cases, the shooter should not be the distributor. Playing Darius and All together can be tough because of some defensive mismatches.
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.
Watched Roger stand there and watch the game. No animation, no nothing. I only watched for about 20 minutes but he seems to have given up.
Powell has worked the sidelines in each of our games this season, so I think him not being as involved, says more to his team than if he did the same thing he always does. Silence can go a long way when your usual style is very vocal.
I wish Valpo athletics would quit reporting results where they consistently buff a turd. Of course they cannot report in a predominantly negative manner, but usually when you read the headline you have to dig in to find out the real result. Be truthful to your fan base!
