Ya ya I know , @rezynezy I need instant results lol! We’re better than last year at this time for sure , but RJP giving freshman minutes and long term growth potential instead of instant results. They’ll grow though !
Shaw thinks he’s Alec peters , why does he get to take those contested shots, WACK IMO
Ok ok. This might look bad and some might want to bring out the pitch forks sooner rather than later, but lets take a dive here. Liberty is sniffing the top 100 teams in the country. Valpo is sniffing the top 200. Were we going to win this game, I guess that is up for you to decide, but the decision to play a good team at this point is going to pay dividends, especially for the freshman. So on for the analysis of a young fan who has been around the sport since he was a child.
1) Hometown kid is good. He really wants to play here. Schmidt's grit and fight is something I haven't seen from this team in a long time. He is going to work wonders in Valley Play.
2) A tale of 3s. Liberty is a good 3 point shooting team. Its a part of their program. Liberty was able to drain a lot of 3s early on, and this probably tugged on the brainstem in the wrong way. I sense a lot of work with the shooting machine this week.
3)The Defense is improved. Despite the final score, I would argue that this defense is better. Their peak is surely higher than last years as they were able to shut down Liberty for a good part of the first half and mitigate the damage. Last year, this game would likely have been Belmont or ISU a large deficit to close the half and the offense having to claw their way back. Instead, the defense only let the deficit fall to 10. There needs to be an emphasis on composure This Liberty team clearly got into the heads of the men, which caused defensive breakdowns across the board, and the opening of the lanes
4) The Line is online. Free points are free points. And Valpo was able to execute from the line. Take that as you will.
5) Frantic vs Fast basketball. Powell's gameplan is fast paced, but as I said earlier, there is a find line between fast paced, and frantic play. All these 3s caused the team to lean towards frantic play rather than fast paced. Playing frantic leads to breakdowns in defense(which were evident) in addition to a shift of offensive mentality to "I need to score. I need to score. I need to score" rather than looking to move the ball for open shots. Composure is key.
6)No ins for Scroggins. Scroggins is absent. Whether it be from injury or other factors, is unknown. Scroggins' situation needs to be addressed as he is a big kid who could have lessened the strain on Coop who was doubled by bigs the entire game.
This was going to be a tough battle. Take the loss, and use it to fine tune. Sometimes you just need a beatdown to get yourself into the right mindset to work. Wright and Schmidt look to have the makings of a good valley player. As does McNair, hopefully the younger guys can learn from this.
Rez you love valpo too much and don’t see it how it is. You are rationalizing.
@nocru Where did I rationalize anything. I pointed out difficulties. The team played bad, plain and simple. Use the loss to work out the bad. Liberty is a strong team. Valpo is not. That doesn't mean you should bring out the pitchforks game 1. Schmidt looked good, the rest of the team faltered. Am I going to sit here ho humming and calling for Powells resignation 1 no. What I am going to do is look into the loss and find some of the key notes as to what led to the loss.
None of our returning players shined.
We still need a center.
Shaw doesn't appear to be a great defender.
Still no certainty where our 3 point shooting will come from.
Looks like a long way to go before reaching any flow on either offense or defense.
BUT---It appears that some of our newcomers have talent and Schmidt can score. Im hopeful and things can come together.
Since Liberty was picked in preseason as a middle pack team in a conference 5 notches below the MVC, I hoped this would be a good match to watch for Valpo improvements over last year. So far, I don't see any. Liberty dominated 30-6 from the 3-point line, and they out-scored VU in the paint 42-30. I will try to find a positive by noting Schmidt is a pleasant surprise.
I think we have more talent this year?
Last years team started the season losing by 10 to IUPUI. Losing by 20 to a top 100 RPI team might be more respectable?
I have to think we’ll shoot better than 13% from 3 this year. And most teams won’t shoot over 40% against us…
New poster here following the board a couple years...lifetime basketball junkie... attending several games last year and the scrimmage this year...Schmidt starts or gets starter minutes from here on. where is scroggins?, and if three pointers arent falling there will be alot of valley scores like tonights. Liberty is real solid no shame considering valpo freshman guards played alot. Cooper wont have many nights like this... Stayin positive obviously talent level is 2 notches higher than last year. Surprised Holy Cross transfer didnt get more minutes...
In the modern era of basketball, you need the 3 ball. Its an integral part of the game. You could be a strong defensive team like Valpo was in the first half, but if you are up against a team that can make their shots, and you simply cannot get anything to fall, you will loose. As I said. This is still game 2, and the first against a D1 opponent. Liberty is a good 3 point shooting team. They had a plan, and it worked. They loaded up on big men and it was effective. I am most shocked to not see Scroggins in the game, especially once their plan to double up on big men against Schwieger became apparent. Something is amiss there. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but the defense was effective in the first half. Valpo forced Liberty into contested shooting, but Liberty was able to get their shots to fall. The glaring issue is the 3 ball. There needs to be some work to improve the 3 point percentage.
One of the things I will commend Valpo for is scheduling a tougher opponent for game 1. Powell doesn't want to patty cake this roster.
Hoping to stack some wins before Drake...solidify some lineup combinations. Early impression is Darius is likely to share time with the freshman... once Wright and Mcnair settle down (hopefully asap)- their size and athleticism seem useful. Monegro has upside. I believe Shaw will prove to be solid but lay off the contested threes for a minute. again surprised Sepp got the minutes and scroggins got almost none. gonna be interesting. FYI Indiana state seems to have reloaded somewhat...
OOPS Indiana state not so much
For those that did not see the boxscore from the exhibition, Valpo was 4-20 from 3 point land in that game. So we're at 6 out of 35 so far. I'm a show me type of fan. "It can't possibly be this bad" is not an indicator it is going to get better. This may be a team which, once again, can't shoot from distance.
Liberty is a mid conference program in a conference lower than the conference Valpo is in. To slough off a pasting by trying to overstate how good the opponent is rings hollow. Beaten thoroughly inside and outside.
As to talent brought in? Ellis looks much like I thought he would. A solid role player. Schmidt has to start. He seems like the only player with the ability to score on his own. Schweiger getting beaten up inside is concerning. He cannot be the last bastion of defense and rebounding. I echo the "I thought Scroggins was the answer inside". He got 4 mins in the exhibition and 3 mins at the end of the game tonight. That's not a good sign. Everybody else? It's a race to see who's going to take the "annoys the #$%^ out of me" roll this season. I think Shaw has it by a nose at this point.
Last years biggest problems were interior defense and rebounding and shooting. Tonight's problems were interior defense and shooting.
Until it changes, no matter how much flag waving anyone wants to do, nothings changed.
I thought tonight pretty disappointing. Right now I'm in the hope stage. That's a bad stage to be in.
I wouldn't claim Liberty is a bad team simply because of their conference. They are still a team just outside the top 100 teams in the country. Liberty is a better 3 point shooting team. They displayed as such today. The team needs to get the 3 ball problem figured out. Other than that, defense was able to compete while spirits were still high.
