Valpo vs MoSt Quarterfinals of MVC Tourney 3/4 @ 6pm

[truth219]

I'd be willing to bet if Trevor would have went down in the first exhibition loss, our end of the season record would have been with in 2 losses +/-. Not an impact player at all.

[JD24]

I'd be willing to bet if Trevor would have went down in the first exhibition loss, our end of the season record would have been with in 2 losses +/-. Not an impact player at all.

The roster has no impact players that we saw play this season. Anderson is a role player who was the best point guard on a roster without any other options to speak of.

The rest of the roster - Kithier who was a grunt guy which teams need I guess. Edwards wants to be an impact player but isn't...at least in the direction Valpo needs as he probably played them out of as many games as be played them into. King I"m not sure he wants to be an impact player. Krikke who can score but I'm not sure his defensive abilities don't take every point he scores away from him. Taylor was effect but he's now gone. The bench including Ruedinger was pedestrian at best.

Everyone's worried about transfers. The question is why. There's likely just as good a chance that the transfers in will improve the situation as the chance that the tranfsers in are worse than this crew.

[nkvu]

So what's the best case for next year?  Krikke, Kithier, and King come back. Edwards comes back. Maximus comes in and contributes as a freshman big.  Ruedinger gets a scholarship, but is he the answer at point?  I see his ceiling as Trever Anderson when he's a senior.  Does that get us to upper tier MVC with Belmont & Murray State coming in?  I don't see it. None of our freshman showed the kind of ability that gets us there. I know, we had a couple of guys redshirt, but who knows what their ability level is compared to the MVC talent level at the top tier of the conference. We have some nice role player type players and no doubt they are great kids, but we don't have one let alone two of the type of player talent we need to compete for MVC championships.  Without that level player we are settling for mid conference level finishes at best.  Maybe we just got lucky with Bryce and Barton and Grafs and Rowdy and Peters. Maybe it was just a fluke and our recruiting is just returning to the norm for a little private school with below average facilities and above average entrance requirements. But if we don't figure out how to hit a couple of home runs in our recruiting and KEEP THEM FROM TRANSFERRING we will be reduced to being just another school that fills in the lower level of a good mid major conference.  That will not keep me interested. 

Speaking of transfers, I caught a couple minutes of the DePaul win over Marquette the other day. In the few minutes I watched, JFL had three turnovers and missed three shots including two airballs where he went one on five while his teammates stood around with their thumbs up their asses.  But I'm sure he will have a great career in the NBA, something I care zero about.

[vu72]

So either we have good talent or Matt is a great coach.  It can't be both.  We took Loyola to overtime at their place and beat Northern Iowa.  Sure the season sucked but the whole injury/high number of transfers in and out clearly made jelling as a team very hard.

As for next year with Tom, Kobe and Ben back and presuming that they are and stay healthy, we have the core of a competitive team. Preston and Darius clearly showed that being a freshman playing big minutes in the Valley is pretty hard.  As for the rest of the team, Max is a big who can really stretch the floor as he is more of a perimeter player than a banger.  Remember the hype around Slim.  The kid is 6'8" and can shoot and rebound and Cam is another big guard at 6'5".  The mystery about Connor continues and Trey is a really good shooter who can't get a shot off. 

I would thing the staff will be out scouring the transfer portal for a grad transfer who can rebound.  I think we have one open slot pending transfers.  Hope springs eternal.   

[usc4valpo]

72 - you bring good stuff to the table. However, this program is certainly not meeting expectations and won't for at least a year. This team needs an enema and Valpo is not ready to perform this.

[vok22]

So either we have good talent or Matt is a great coach.  It can't be both. 

Wrong. Even if he was a good Xs and Os coach, occasionally able to over accomplish with bad talent, he's still the one recruiting bad talent. College coaching has that extra element where you have to be good on the whiteboard AND recruiting to be a good coach in the long term.

My opinion without being able to see into the program is that he is a bad Xs and Os coach with bad team management skills, who is somehow able to convince some good talent to come play for him. We don't have as much length and athleticism as MSU, but I also think they might be the most athletic team in the MVC. I don't think we lack talent, I think our talent is just too stacked at one position. Kobe and Sheldon are very athletic, our problem is we don't have athletic and agile bigs. Get abused on defense inside and on the boards. Just looked at Loyola. They have some athleticism, for sure. But let's not pretend they are Duke. Their starting point guard Norris single handedly beat us at 6'0 180. There are more athletic people on high school bowling teams.

[humbleopinion]

I think we have one open slot pending transfers.  Hope springs eternal.   

Unless there is a transfer, there are no open slots.  Preston gets the remaining scholarship.

[vu84v2]

Speaking of transfers, I caught a couple minutes of the DePaul win over Marquette the other day. In the few minutes I watched, JFL had three turnovers and missed three shots including two airballs where he went one on five while his teammates stood around with their thumbs up their asses.  But I'm sure he will have a great career in the NBA, something I care zero about.

Not sure that this is really related to the topic listed, but your comment about JFL in the DePaul - Marquette game is flawed by a small sample. JFL was strong for much of the game and was being guarded by last year's Big Ten defensive player of the year.

[nkvu]

Speaking of transfers, I caught a couple minutes of the DePaul win over Marquette the other day. In the few minutes I watched, JFL had three turnovers and missed three shots including two airballs where he went one on five while his teammates stood around with their thumbs up their asses.  But I'm sure he will have a great career in the NBA, something I care zero about.

Not sure that this is really related to the topic listed, but your comment about JFL in the DePaul - Marquette game is flawed by a small sample. JFL was strong for much of the game and was being guarded by last year's Big Ten defensive player of the year.

You're right. It was a small sample, and DePaul did win easily.  Given the high percentage of his teams shots that he takes I'm sure he hit plenty of them. It just struck me in the moment, that's all.

[usc4valpo]

For DePaul, what a difference a new AD and coach makes!

[valpotx]

Umm, or it could be that JFL is back for the team, leading to wins again.  He was out for 1 month during the conference season.

[JD24]

Umm, or it could be that JFL is back for the team, leading to wins again.  He was out for 1 month during the conference season.

Yeah. They're a bit better this year but the main difference in their conference record is nearly directly aligned with JFLs availability this season over the end of last season.