Valpo Vs. Loyola Marymount Dec 14, 1:05pm CENTRAL TIME Game Thread

[chef]

I remember when the Valpo High press box burned down (circa 1990), and the next week we broadcasted from the stands with temps in the 20's and 25 mph winds. It was a whole lotta fun and I'm really hoping for a similar experience in the future.

[oklahomamick]

Why are the zebras a west coast conference officiating crew?

[gamelord]

These refs are horrible. I hope they all get pink slips for xmas. Totally ridiculous.

[atkins]

This is the weakest LMU team in awhile, but we're playing horribly.  To a stronger team, we'd be down by 20 at least.  Lucky we're even in this game.  Interior defence continues to be poor this year, despite the talent.  We are just too slow on the outside, can't adjust quickly, and can't stop penetration or baseline passes.  Carter will help because of his quickness and good hands, but he can't do it alone.

[oklahomamick]

Better 2nd half by the Crusaders. 

[gamelord]

Congrats to Alec for an outstanding offensive performance. Also glad to see Vashil playing quality minutes. I can't wait to see how the Carter era turns out. Should be very exciting.

[valpotx]

Is Carter really this good?  I am trying to temper my excitement until I see him play.  If he is really our best shooter, even above Peters, I like our conference chances.

Great recovery in the second half, and very good minutes by Vashil.  Solved our defensive rebounding issues by getting his hands in there.

[classof2014]

2nd 30 point game for Alec, Need I say more? He basically said I don't wanna lose and brought the team back.

Overall the first half we looked awful. Defense was bad, offense was bad, it was just bad. 2nd half everybody played much, much better... Well except the refs. There were many phantom foul calls on us and not on them. Neither Moussa nor Bobby should've been in foul trouble.

Hard to imagine that Rowdy only scored 30 once, and it wasn't until his senior year against a very poor Bethune-Cookman team. I'm guessing Alec wins the FoW honors once again.

[vuchicago]

Few thoughts:
The refs were horrendous.
We were lucky they couldn't hit free throws.
It's Carter time.

[mvandersee]

Performances like that get you Player of the Week, not just Freshman in my opinion.

[valpotx]

It would be a joke if he doesn't win POTW this week, and gets FOTW.  Unless someone else in conference goes off on their opponent

[classof2014]

It would be a joke if he doesn't win POTW this week, and gets FOTW.  Unless someone else in conference goes off on their opponent

Last time he deserved PotW honors Alec Brown had a triple double against a DII program. He definitely deserves the award. I know it might be a bit early but I would say that the Newcomer of the year is Alec's to lose. I thought he would be good but not this good.

[Chairback]

So what is going on with Lexus?  Obviously he didn't appear to be hurt....

Also, was Moussa hurt at the end?  I saw Bryce giving him an earful and never got back on the court.

[Kyle321n]

So what is going on with Lexus?  Obviously he didn't appear to be hurt.... Also, was Moussa hurt at the end?  I saw Bryce giving him an earful and never got back on the court.

According to the postgame Bryce wasn't sure if Lexus was even going to be able to play.

[valpotx]

So what is going on with Lexus?  Obviously he didn't appear to be hurt....

Also, was Moussa hurt at the end?  I saw Bryce giving him an earful and never got back on the court.

Moussa lost out because Vashil was playing well down the stretch.  Once Moussa received his 4th foul and showed he wasn't able to keep his hands straight up, and then when Bobby fouled out, Vashil was the horse he was going to ride.

[vu72]

It would be a joke if he doesn't win POTW this week, and gets FOTW.  Unless someone else in conference goes off on their opponent

After watching Oakland lose by a few against Michigan State, my guess is Duke Mondy gets the nod.  24 points and several steals.  That kid is the real deal.

[vu72]

It would be a joke if he doesn't win POTW this week, and gets FOTW.  Unless someone else in conference goes off on their opponent

After watching Oakland lose by a few against Michigan State, my guess is Duke Mondy gets the nod.  24 points, 6 boards and 7 steals. He leads the country in steals.  That kid is the real deal.

[vusupporter]

Mondy also had an 8-point, 4-rebound game earlier this week against IU.

[talksalot]

SO... Couple of answers... YES, those were WCC officials (They attended Bloomsburg State, Cal-State Riverside and Oklahoma University).  This was part of the Bracketbuster... and we have one more next year @ eastern kentucky.   Here's a walk down memory lane on the 'buster.  Game '1' means scheduled by whomever... and '2' means the return engagement.

School   Year   W / L   score    Game 1 or 2    Home/Away   
Butler   2004-05   Loss   72-69    1    away   0 - 1
Niagara   2005-06   Win   88-82    1    home   1 - 1
Western Mich   2006-07   Loss (ot)   89-80    1    away   2 - 3
Niagara   2006-07   Win   70-58    2    away   2 - 1
Butler   2006-07   Loss   60-47    2    home   2 - 2
Miami (OH)   2007-08   Win (2ot)   99-94    1    home   3 - 3
Western Mich   2007-08   Win   77-65    2    home   4 - 3
Akron   2008-09   Win   74-66    1    home   5 - 3
Miami (OH)   2008-09   Loss   62-50    2    away   5 - 4
Bowling Green   2009-10   Loss   87-70    1    away   5 - 5
Akron   2009-10   Loss   77-57    2    away   5 - 6
Missouri State   2010-11   Win   80-67    1    home   6 - 6
Loyola - Marymount   2011-12   Loss   61-53    1    away   7 - 7
Bowling Green   2011-12   Win   82-79    2    home   7 - 6
Missouri State   2012-13   Win   62-54    2    away   8 - 6
Eastern Kentucky   2013-13   Win   82-60    1    home   9 - 6
Loyola - Marymount   2013-14   Win   80-73    2    home   10-6
Eastern Kentucky   2014-15            Away   

Only THEY beat us on both ends of the 'buster and we swept Missouri State and Akron.  Not too Shabby.

[gamelord]

Was it a bracketbuster rule that all 3 officials had to be from the WCC?

[VU75]

I got a good laugh when the ref pulled the ball out of play.  My high school coach used to used to overinflate or underinflate the ball depending on the opponent.

[vusupporter]

Was it a bracketbuster rule that all 3 officials had to be from the WCC?

IIRC, it was a general rule of thumb that the BracketBuster officials (both original games and the return trips) were officials from the visiting team's conference.  Often, there'd be some crossover because you were playing a team within geographic proximity, but obviously that wouldn't be the case here.

Look back to the box score at LMU two years ago: you'll recognize all 3 names if you ever check out our officials - http://www.valpoathletics.com/media/basketball-men/2011-12/boxscores_stats//mb29-lmu.htm

[HC]

Valpo played fairly well defensively after stinking up the joint on that end the first 10 minutes when they gave up I think it was 29 points. I loved Vashil's sweeping hook shot he hit in the second half, oh and his one handed slam was pretty spectacular too.

[vu72]

I have been concerned about the lack of size next year, with the loss of Moussa and Bobby but feel better envisioning Vashil a year from now plus then addition of E. Victor, who I thing will be a much bigger and better version of Jordan.  We'll be fine...

[valpopal]

This was an odd game to figure out. The first half I kept commenting that it seemed as if Valpo was playing its first exhibition of the season. The players were so out of sync that it appeared they hadn't played together before, and the combinations Bryce put on the court seemed like experimentation, plus everyone got playing time. However, the second half looked like Valpo was playing seriously, and Bryce didn't make many changes.

Consequently, all the highlights were in the second half, including those seen in my photos below. The first shows Bobby's circus shot that somehow went in while he was kneeling on the court. It reminded me of a similar shot made by Van Wijk last year. (Speaking of Bobby: he was hustling all the time and resembled Lexus a bit by the amount of time he was throwing himself with abandon across the court.) The second photo displays Vashil finishing his impressive slam dunk. In the third photo Alec is hitting one of his four 3-pointers. (Alec was a warrior throughout the game, playing until exhaustion a couple of times. In fact, if you saw Alec taking his free throws after he got hammered by a hard foul in the first half, he seemed dazed and his eyes were glazed, yet he played through it.) Finally, a picture of the students celebrating with the team after the victory.