The Crimson Wave and their roster of 19 comes to town for a midday Saturday showing. This is a NAIA team from the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC). They feature a relatively older group of players with 14 of 19 being junior or seniors. They are 4-5 on the year and have played the University of Evansville who handed them a 42 point loss. They do come in riding a 4 game win streak. J. Calen Slawinski 6-7 (G) is averaging 16 ppg, Kyrin Dock 6-3 (G) is averaging 11 ppg, and Cooper Aitken 6-8 (F) is averaging 7.1. These are the three players who have started all 9 games, everyone else on the roster has rotated in or out of the lineup. Out of the 19 players it appears only 8 have played, it seems like the others play on one of two JV teams. Anything other than a commanding win here will be disappointing as Valpo defeated them by 50 last year. I will miss this game in the ARC unfortunately due to a family event but should be the only one of the season. Tickets start at $10.00 for this game if anyone is interested in going for the cheap.
This needs to be the game Joe Vick gets a basket!
Same intensity and shooting as Marquette is required here regardless of the level of competition. Defensive dominance inside the 3pt. arc is to be expected. Anything less, to me, indicates our players have not gotten the message.
Most, if not all, of our players signed on with Valpo because they either were overlooked in their initial recruiting or transfered in to prove they deserve to be at the level they aspire to. Yet, so far aside from throwing up a lot of undisciplined shots individually, it doesn’t seem like they are playing with a chip on their shoulder. This is the key, IMO, to driving the game-to-game motivation and intensity through the roof.
In today's age of transfer and rebuilding an entire roster each season, developing the "chip on the shoulder" mentality within a team seems very difficult/unlikely. They are possible at the individual level, but it is a team game.
One thing I have noticed is that the broadcasts keep getting more and more professional like with each passing cast. We even have our own version of Cletus the FOX Football bot now with ESPN bumpers!
Just watching LiveStats but looking for patterns. At the half we are up 53-30. Have really curtailed 3 point shots. Points in the paint are high. Lotsa dunks. Shot %age is over 50%. So we are using our size down low. We’ve forced a ton of TOs.
If there are down sides, CCSJ has been allowed to shoot around 50% from the field and our RB margin is nothing to write home about. Once again, our FT %age is less than our opponent.
A different observation. Roger appears to be spreading out the minutes far and wide rather than starting with the a starting 5 hammer job from the tipoff to the 10 minute mark.
In today's age of transfer and rebuilding an entire roster each season, developing the "chip on the shoulder" mentality within a team seems very difficult/unlikely. They are possible at the individual level, but it is a team game.
A team “chip” as an outgrowth of multiple players’ chips can be developed and nurtured by the staff if played right 🙄.
Actually for Valpo that shouldn’t be too hard as we, from the beginning, have been the target of MVC derision (much of it deserved - see failure to fulfill promises of major upgrades to the ARC, and BB budget increases commensurate with other members, and our inability to pull ourselves out of the RPI/NET basement).
Don’t get me wrong. In hiring Roger, VU has made a major about-face. We are headed in the right direction. And I have a good feeling for our new Prez. His vibe alone will inspire student, faculty, community positivity. Like OP, who I absolutely revered, he has the Lutheran foundation, energy, vision, and personality to get people excited about not only Valpo but by extension Valpo athletics.
JOE VICK
What’s with Chaney? His shooting, scoring and minutes have dropped off big time. This kind of game shuddah had him at a double double. Is he okay?
To be fair, in the minutes he played, his all-around stats (RBs, As, etc.) were impressive for a freshman.
JT, OTOH, is coming on powerfully in terms of scoring.
What’s with Cheney? His shooting, scoring and minutes have dropped off big time. This kind of game shuddah had him at a double double. Is he okay?
JT, OTOH, is coming on powerfully.
He is likely still getting limited minutes from his ankle injury against USI. This is also a game where you can afford to spread out minutes as you knew you were going to win big time
@rezynezy I’m pretty sure I saw him icing his ankle with about 10mins to go too, seems to still not be fully healed
so happy for Joe Vick to get his first collegiate points!!
@rezynezy Rez, check my edit above. Rahim still did well all-round in his lessened minutes. This kid is good. Period.
Regarding spreading the minutes, I’d like to have coffee with Roger and propose that at the DI level Valpo is at he should be a little more ruthless (in a Christian sort of way 😉). I understand that he wanted to get all of his players experience and CCSJ was ideal for that. BUT…. I just have a different coaching philosophy (in another life I coached at the college and HS levels for 13 years and did OK so I have some real experience and not just opinions): play the core rotation (+/-7) together for those 10 minutes and dominate, then spread the minutes. Make the statement. Bolster the guys who will be depended upon to go against the best in the MVC. Push them to be intense for those 10 minutes. Coach em up and be demanding. Then, back off a bit and get the other guys the minutes and enjoy the day. No team or coach should ever be even just a little relaxed about those first 10 minutes. Every opponent is Marquette.
But i’m retired, spent 30 years in the business world after those 13 years of coaching and teaching. What the hell do I know? 😂
As someone who is a member of a coaching family myself. I'll take a page out of my father's book. What good does a game where you know you are likely to win by 50+ points do if you only go at it with the core rotation and get up by ridiculous margins early and then send in the cavalry. IMOP you just open the door for silly mistakes and careless play later on. I believe we saw some of that in the closing minutes before the walk ons got their turn. Cal college wasnt a very deep team, and was even using timeouts to get their guys breaks because they couldnt sub them out. Giving the bench some work against a real team is loads more beneficial in the early going IMOP. We saw a team that was willing to run their offense even to their own detriment (Not taking 3s when there was an opportunity to do so and instead draining the shot clock and ultimately having to force up a shot before the buzzer). I believe you dont get that grounded mindset of you come out guns blazing. The bench players would likely come in with a little less of an offensive mindset and more of a cocky scorers mindset
I agree you should be ruthless, but be ruthless against your own level
Rez, we are almost on the same page. But I sense that you’re ok with if you know the opponent is inferior you approach the beginning of the game differently from going up against a tough DI opponent. And that's where we disagree. IMO, that sends a conflicting message to the players —i.e., these guys are ham and eggers so you don’t need to be as focused like when we are up against UNI or Drake so our early substitution pattern will reflect our “confidence.”
Messages. Messages.
For those first 10 minutes, you want your 7 or 8 best players executing as if we were playing the best the MVC has to offer. After that, if our best has established dominance, the foot goes off the pedal and player development under game conditions begins. But going into a game and almost immediately indicating we are using this game for player development sends the wrong motivational message to our players. Did Kentucky liberally substitute 2 minutes into our game? I don’t believe so — pedal to the metal well into the first half.
But the main thing is we won. And at the end, we wore an opponent down to produce a blowout.
On to UNCW and the Northwestern. Go Valpo.
If I can retort here...
I don't think Roger came into the game thinking he was going to do a full hockey line substitution two minutes into the game. It was clear from jump that the starters didn't bring the energy necessary to compete at the start of the game. I was sitting within earshot of the opposing bench, and those coaches were commenting on it. "There starters have no energy, he's about to sub every single one of them out."
That's exactly what happened. The five reserves came to the table and that snapped the starters back into reality. Chaney took a good shot, Shon scored inside. By the time there was a break in action and the reserves came in, the energy was restored.
It was also clear that Roger wanted to see some more of Kyonte Thomas early in the game. The same with Sader Servilus. Both of those guys are one injury away from being pressed into service and it was vital for them to get extended game action.
Just my two cents.
