One of these two teams will win their first Valley game of the year. They are 1-2 on the road, and have not won on the road since opening night at Birmingham.
They started off with a 6 game winning streak, including wins over UAB (OT), Utah State (OT), Tulane, UTEP and Vermont...then December came...
Braves lost at Murray State 79-72 and at home to Indiana State 85-77 in the early-December games. They followed up those losses, with losses at Akron by 15, at home to Cleveland State by 7 and at LeBron James' High School Arena to Duquesne by 2. Then righted the ship with an 11 point win at home over SIUE and on Thursday, they beat Truman State by 22. so they are 8-5 overall.
Diving into their last game,
#14, Malevy Leons, 6'9" Graduate Student from the Netherlands, 32 minutes, 15 point and 8 rebounds, 1 of 5 from 3 point range
#21, Duke Deen, 5'8" Senior, 34 minutes, 13 points 4 rebounds, 3 of 11 from 3 point range
#35, Darius Hannah, 6'9" Senior, 25 minutes, 11 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals, no 3 point shots
#5, Christian Davis, 6'7" Junior, 32 minutes, 9 points, 6 rebounds, 1 of 6 from 3 point range
#10 Connor Hickman, 6'2" Junior, 16 minutes, 2 points, no rebounds, 0 for 2 from 3 point range
Davis is the only starter not averaging double-digit points... he's at 9.2ppg.
As a team, they were 8 of 30 from three point range and 9 of 18 from the free throw line.
Off the bench, #1 Almar Atlason, 6'8" freshman from Iceland, was 3 of 5 from three point range, played 21 minutes
They collected 17 offensive rebounds and scored 20 second-chance points, and their bench scored 19 points.
Need to focus on Malevy... Was named to the 2022-23 MVC All-Defensive Team and was also named 2022-23 MVC Defensive Player of the year after becoming the first player in the history of the MVC to record 50+ block, 50+ steals in the same season • Leons was also the only player in the NCAA to have 50+ block, 50+ steals, and 200+ rebounds in 2022-23.
Quote from: talksalot on December 30, 2023, 07:41:30 AM
One of these two teams will win their first Valley game of the year.
Need to focus on Malevy... Was named to the 2022-23 MVC All-Defensive Team and was also named 2022-23 MVC Defensive Player of the year after becoming the first player in the history of the MVC to record 50+ block, 50+ steals in the same season • Leons was also the only player in the NCAA to have 50+ block, 50+ steals, and 200+ rebounds in 2022-23.
New year. New clean slate.
I hope the coaches take this focus on Malevy, and make a video to show how each individual can play tough defense. We need to play defense better and make every shot contested.
We have played well in stretches, but not nearly 40 minutes. These home games should be winnable.
Palm looked good (to me) in first few games, defending, rebounding and getting ball on low post and doing something quick or finding open man. He needs to get back to that confidence level.
Beacons 75
Bradley 72
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Bradley 75
Valpo 70
Bradley U. 74
Valparaiso 66
This is the only regular season game against the Braves. I still get fired up every time I see Wardle wobble into the Arc >:(.
I want to be optimistic here and say Valpo wins by 5, but realistically I can see the Beacons loosing by 15. Interesting enough Valpo plays Bradley better in the ARC (5-3) as to in Peoria (0-7), but the Beacons have lost the last 5 in a row vs the Braves.
New year, new beginning can Valpo pull this one off? It kind of depends on how Stafford looks. Will he play big minutes, and if so can he produce or will his injury hinder his production? Excited to see how it all plays out.
Wrong thread but....Over under 4 more wins this year?. Limited roster and especially a big defensive presence in the paint. Bradley by 10 78-68. Bradley....much older team, we lack consistent scoring and interior defense.Palm should eat up fouls and rebounds in the paint, but he appears out of the rotation.
I say 4 wins. The team will improve over the season
Valpo 72
Bradley 76
We win 2 games in the MVC season.
Over/Under for remaining wins should be 3.5. I'll take the over. Barrett and Palm need to embrace their limited minutes each half and go nuts defensively, gain some confidence, and hit their 2-3 shots per game.
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What is his injury ?? Is he for sure playing ? Are his minutes limited??
Bradley 72
VU 59
If no/limited Stafford:
Bradley 74
Valpo 62
With Stafford playing 20+ minutes:
Bradley 77
Valpo 70
I'll take 4 wins in Valley play, but I'll be so bold as to say we win in round 1 of Arch Madness. Hard to see Roger and co. not peaking around that time.
Another question for y'all:
Without a doubt, a mature Roger Powell Valpo offense will be high-speed, easily top 50 in the country in tempo. But right now that's not the case. KenPom has us 253rd in adjusted tempo, and we're averaging 65 possessions per game in the last 4 games, as opposed to 75 in the first 4. So what seems to be the reason for this? Are we just uncomfortable pushing the pace suddenly? Do we get conservative when things aren't going our way? Does Stafford's absence play a role?
For some reason I'm weirdly optimistic about this one.
Valpo 68
Wardle 61
Paul Oren on the call with Todd tonight!
Remember that weirdly optimistic feeling? Yeah it's gone.
Hickman 38 Valpo 21
So this means we get the 1st pick in the draft right?
Not going to win many when only one member of the team is playing well. Our freshmen contributors are all pretty much MIA. That happens. Second half? ???
Darius playing very well! From a career high of 11 to 19 currently! Hopefully he'll keep his confidence when Stafford returns, apparently he wanted to play but trainers said one more rest game ! Down 19 though 🤬
I think that one area where this team still needs to develop (quite a bit) is connectedness on both the offensive and defensive ends. There are very few possessions (on either end) in which it is not 5 guys playing individually.
Ugly...not much positive outside of deaveiro. Both ends of the court were trash tonight. Cooper looked like he was as in space. Senseless turnovers
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Nice play by Darius, who led the team in points, rebounds, and assists. Everyone else could have stayed on the bench with Stafford. The team gave up 40 rebounds and committed 20 turnovers! We are in 2024 and about halfway through the season schedule; however, I'm not seeing the progress we'd been promised.
Quote from: truth219 on January 03, 2024, 08:57:35 PM
Ugly...not much positive outside of deaveiro. Both ends of the court were trash tonight. Cooper looked like he was as in space. Senseless turnovers
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....isn't that the truth 219.
Going to give this 23-24 team one of the worst insults I can give to a sports team.
They're boring.
Uninteresting. Unremarkable. Unwatchable.
But in Rev we trust. (Once he has a full, real recruiting class of his players)
Quote from: NativeCheesehead on January 03, 2024, 09:20:43 PMGoing to give this 23-24 team one of the worst insults I can give to a sports team. They're boring. Uninteresting. Unremarkable. Unwatchable. But in Rev we trust. (Once he has a full, real recruiting class of his players)
Kind of like the opposite of love is not hate...it is apathy.
16 of our 20 TOs by freshmen with 7 committed by Jahari and 5 by Cooper. Their rookie weaknesses and tendencies seem to have all been well scouted. ::)
2 things:
1). I will not give up on these freshman sophomores. They are going through growing pains and against much more experienced and older players. It's a fact.
2). Wardle is such a dip :censored:. He's an ass to his players and you can see it. He will slip up some day and be gone.
The graphic says it all, one of the least experienced and youngest teams in division 1. When our shots aren't falling, it effected the defense, wide open shots and not recognizing the shooters. Bad matchup and our youth. Bradley will finish in the middle of the pack. Indiana State in a run a way!
Darius was outstanding and a walk on from the football team took Connor's minutes!. This team reminds me of Erik Bugs as a Freshman. Learning on the job. Hard to see the light, but next year will be much improved if we keep our core guys. Edwards is the only enigma on this team. Seems like he should be producing more/scoring wise. No Stafford tonight.
We are incredibly young and overwhelmed inside. The Tale of the Tape tells us all we need to know...
RBs: B-40, V-27
ORBs: B-14, V-5
2CHANCE: B-19, V-5
P IN THE P: B-36, V-18
We will develop both in experience and physically as the season continues and into next season, but we also have a big player gap under the basket both Drake and Bradley (didn't see Belmont) leveraged throughout the game. Cooper, at 185, can't match up with most bigger centers, but he is being asked to play there because we have no one else. Jerome shows flashes, but often loses concentration. Sepp and Ajiboye both have skills and a little bulk, but are both undersized and lost rebounds to taller guys with longer arms going up over their backs. The antidote for the current situation is, ummm.....consistent lights-out shooting. Oops.
Our youngsters growing up combined with Roger's scouring the portal will, hopefully, produce the ingredients for much greater success next year. In the meantime, fans need to be positive and patient.
PS: Darius, awesome game. :thumbsup:
I'm starting to question my decision to pay over $200 for season tickets.
They are almost unwatchable. I know we are supposed to be patient and give them a chance, so I'll hang in there for home games.
If they win another game this season, it will be an upset.
Quote from: VULB#62 on January 03, 2024, 11:22:14 PM
We are incredibly young and overwhelmed inside. The Tale of the Tape tells us all we need to know...
RBs: B-40, V-27
ORBs: B-14, V-5
2CHANCE: B-19, V-5
P IN THE P: B-36, V-18
We will develop both in experience and physically as the season continues and into next season, but we also have a big player gap under the basket both Drake and Bradley (didn't see Belmont) leveraged throughout the game. Cooper, at 185, can't match up with most bigger centers, but he is being asked to play there because we have no one else. Jerome shows flashes, but often loses concentration. Sepp and Ajiboye both have skills and a little bulk, but are both undersized and lost rebounds to taller guys with longer arms going up over their backs. The antidote for the current situation is, ummm.....consistent lights-out shooting. Oops.
Our youngsters growing up combined with Roger's scouring the portal will, hopefully, produce the ingredients for much greater success next year. In the meantime, fans need to be positive and patient.
PS: Darius, awesome game. :thumbsup:
I would add one more thought. I really like Roger's fast pace approach to offense. And even in defeat games are much more exciting to watch than in the past. However, I have felt increasingly frustrated over watching easy, uncontested layups and back doors being given up. I can't recall a charge being taken. I've seen few times when an opponent big was prevented from backing in close for a basket. You know, stuff like that. Granted, I am no defensive expert, and don't have the knowledge to suggest a fix, but I'd feel less frustrated if we could make it harder to score against us on
every possession instead of scoring and then immediately giving up a quick return bucket.
I trust in Powell after this season, but have to keep reminding myself that he was hired at a time when only so many players were left on the market. I expect at least .500 record next season, or I will be worried. This year just reminds me of our 9-22 team from 2008-2009. Very appreciative of those that are playing for this season, but we need to return to the Valpo player quality that we have come to expect in ~25 of the last 30 seasons.
Spot on analysis with the late hire and the 08 09 team. I think that Valpo team was hurt further with Brandon McPherson shutting down after 6 or 7 games
Quote from: AB on January 04, 2024, 10:46:07 PM
Spot on analysis with the late hire and the 08 09 team. I think that Valpo team was hurt further with Brandon McPherson shutting down after 6 or 7 games
That and Haanpaa's decision to go pro internationally after his SO season, as well as Bouchie transferring after a solid FR season. We were solid the year prior with the CBI win over Washington, and were setup pretty well heading into the season before Sami and Bouchie withdrew.
I occasionally lurk on MVCFANS a bit, and saw some stuff that disturbed me. After the Bradley game, a couple of veteran posters were discussing when/if Valpo would get their first MVC win.
Paraphrased comment's:
* They have home losses to IUPUI and Chicago State [my interpretation of this is = :o] and 0-5 on the road.
* Don't play very hard. Not like they were under-talented dudes grinding it out.
* Announcers played the inexperienced card a lot.
* Bradley, with its lousy offense, could have scored 100.
* DeAverio only notable player and would be a good MVC backup PG. [Did note the absence of VU top scorer]
* Noticeably worse than Evansville last year.
* The amount of half-ass shots was astounding.
The thing is that these guys are pretty knowledgeable fans, and I didn't detect any mean agenda or Bradley bias - just matter-of-fact off-the-cuff observations. Then the discussion moved on to Indiana State.
Guess we have a built in excuse for this year with "freshmen/sophomores". Ever hear of the Fab Five? Ever hear of one and done? McFan comments were spot on. Soft..
I'll say that the Bradley game was our worst "effort" game by far and not indicative of how we played this season.
Glad to see that people around the league have recognized the improvement that Darius has made!
Say what you will about Wardle, but his Braves just beat Missouri State by 26!
Wardle can coach
Quote from: Bumbo on January 06, 2024, 05:21:34 PM
Wardle can coach
Yes he can. He was one of the best coaches in the Horizon and remains annually as one of the best in the MVC. We can like him or not but his coaching ability is not a matter of question.