On to UC Riverside...
The MVC season is in sight, with the Horizon in the rear view mirror. We need to continue our rebounding and spreading the ball around with assists, finding the hot hand. Our FTs need to become better, as those close games in the MVC will come down to FTs. Need to work on defensive positioning and limit our fouls - can't be negative in fouls during MVC play.
Valpo 79
UCR 65
so what do we know about UCR Highlanders...and their 22,921 student enrollment.
Start off with a Link to their "gym"...
http://gohighlanders.com/sports/2009/1/24/MBB_0124090629.aspx?path=mbball
The SRC Arena opened as part of the Student Recreation Center in January 1994, providing a state-of-the-art facility for students to build their physical fitness as well as a home for the Highlanders men's and women's basketball and women's volleyball teams.
The Arena has also hosted events such as Midnight Madness, the Chancellor's Convocation for New Students, graduations, and concerts.
In the summer of 2003, a new public address system and sound enhancing tiles were installed, and during the 2010-11 academic year, the Highlanders added a video board and courtside panel tables to improve the entertainment experience for fans, and expand the sponsorship opportunities for our corporate partners. In the summer of 2016, the floor was completely refurbished for the first time since the SRC's opening, and the walls were painted to match UC Riverside's updated color scheme.
The entire 80,000-square-foot building was planned by students and funded through student fees. It is home to an extensive intramural program open to all students and it includes four racquetball/wallyball courts and one squash court, a 6,000-square foot weight training facility and a 3,000 square foot area dedicated to cardio-fitness machines. It also has full locker rooms and three multipurpose rooms.
They are 2-7 D1, 1-2 at home.
RPI is 283, with an SOS of 244
They average 62 ppg with their opponents scoring 71.4...
Home Attendance:
Portland State 2,169;
Western New Mexico 363
Pacific 372
Air Force 899
They opened the season with a win at CAL-Berkeley...(which is now a drain on their RPI)...
and last weekend beat #325 Air Force 67-48 at home.
...and have losses to:
#205 Loyola-Mmt 76-64
# 72 Portland State 94-82 - at home
# 27 Michigan 87-42
#250 Pacific 57-55 - at home
#230 Grand Canyon 68-56
#291 Pepperdine 70-59
#196 Montana 77-61
Recap on their game with Air Force:
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Dikymbe Martin knocked down all four of his 3-pointers and scored a career-high 22 points and Menno Dijkstra added career highs of 12 points and 12 rebounds as UC Riverside snapped a four-game skid with a 67-48 victory over Air Force on Friday night.
Chance Murray finished with 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Highlanders (3-6), who shot 53 percent (25 of 47) from the floor. Ryan Swan scored a career-high 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting for the Falcons (5-5), while Trevor Lyons hit three 3-pointers and scored 14.
Air Force never found the range on offense. The Falcons made just 17 of 56 (30 percent) from the floor, including 5 of 27 (18.5 percent) from long range, and nine of 17 free throws (53 percent).
Martin hit a 3-pointer 19 seconds into the game and the Highlanders jumped out to a 9-0 lead. Air Force took its only lead of the game, 20-18, on a 3-pointer by Ryan Manning with 8: 30 left in the first half. Swan's layup pulled Air Force even at 26, but the Falcons went scoreless over the final 5:33 of the half and trailed 34-26 at intermission.
3, 14, 15 and 21 have started all 10 of their games. averaging 10.0; 8.6; 11.6; and 10.1 respectively.
1, 32 and 22 have shared the other starting role
0 Alec Hickman G 6-4 180 Fr. Riverside, CA JSerra Catholic HS
1 DJ Sylvester G 6-3 185 RS So. Victorville, CA Morse HS
3 Chance Murray G 6-3 195 RS Sr. Los Angeles. CA Price HS Arizona State
4 Marcus Berkley G 6-4 175 RS Fr. Garden Grove, CA Middlebrooks Academy
5 Jayvon Brown G 6-1 170 RS Jr. Los Angeles, CA King Drew HS El Camino-Compton
10 Ajani Kennedy F 6-8 200 Fr. Moreno Valley, CA Rancho Verde HS
12 Idy Diallo C 6-11 245 RS Jr. Dakar, Senegal Cathedral HS Boston College
13 Eric Rwahwire F 6-5 210 RS So. Toronto, Canada Saddleback Valley Christian
14 Brandon Rosser F 6-7 215 RS Sr. Temecula, CA Temecula Valley HS Central Arizona College
15 Dikymbe Martin G 6-1 170 So. Riverside, CA JW North HS
21 Alex Larsson F 6-10 260 Sr. Södertälje, Sweden Södertälje Knights Club Team
22 Dominick Pickett G 6-3 210 RS Fr. Moreno Valley, CA Rancho Verde HS
24 Koh Flippin G 6-2 165 Jr. Torrance, CA North Torrance HS
25 James Jackson F 6-8 235 Sr. Spring Valley, CA Monte Vista HS Northwest Kansas Technical College/Cuyamaca College
31 Ryker Pierce G 6-5 205 RS Jr. Rexburg, ID Madison HS Cowley College/Big Bend CC
32 Menno Dijkstra C 7-0 230 Jr. Standdaarbuiten, Netherlands Canarias Basketball Academy Oakley College
Coaching Staff
Dennis Cutts Head Men's Basketball Coach
|---TOTAL---| |---3-PTS---| |----REBOUNDS----|
## Player GP-GS Min--Avg FG-FGA Pct 3FG-FGA Pct FT-FTA Pct Off Def Tot Avg PF FO A TO Blk Stl Pts Avg
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15 Martin, Dikymbe.... 10-10 326 32.6 43-114 .377 10-22 .455 20-26 .769 4 35 39 3.9 21 0 31 31 0 16 116 11.6
21 Larsson, Alex...... 10-10 258 25.8 42-77 .545 0-0 .000 17-30 .567 25 40 65 6.5 32 2 6 26 5 5 101 10.1
3 Murray, Chance..... 10-10 321 32.1 34-106 .321 4-38 .105 28-45 .622 3 58 61 6.1 19 0 30 24 1 16 100 10.0
14 Rosser, Brandon.... 10-10 212 21.2 28-45 .622 9-17 .529 21-28 .750 7 32 39 3.9 36 3 9 15 10 3 86 8.6
01 Sylvester, DJ...... 9-2 151 16.8 18-54 .333 4-21 .190 12-18 .667 4 18 22 2.4 12 0 7 12 1 2 52 5.8
32 Dijkstra, Menno.... 10-4 168 16.8 23-56 .411 6-23 .261 4-4 1.000 8 29 37 3.7 18 1 8 6 6 2 56 5.6
10 Kennedy, Ajani..... 9-0 75 8.3 10-17 .588 2-5 .400 4-5 .800 5 4 9 1.0 5 0 2 8 2 1 26 2.9
05 Brown, Jayvon...... 7-0 57 8.1 6-18 .333 1-7 .143 4-6 .667 1 5 6 0.9 1 0 3 7 0 1 17 2.4
31 Pierce, Ryker...... 8-0 59 7.4 4-14 .286 3-10 .300 7-8 .875 3 1 4 0.5 9 0 2 2 0 2 18 2.3
24 Flippin, Koh....... 8-0 64 8.0 5-19 .263 2-11 .182 4-7 .571 5 3 8 1.0 14 0 5 1 0 7 16 2.0
25 Jackson, James..... 9-0 91 10.1 6-13 .462 2-5 .400 3-8 .375 2 16 18 2.0 10 0 6 5 1 1 17 1.9
12 Diallo, Idy........ 7-0 82 11.7 5-8 .625 0-0 .000 2-2 1.000 6 17 23 3.3 22 2 4 13 9 1 12 1.7
22 Pickett, Dominick.. 8-4 100 12.5 4-14 .286 1-5 .200 2-2 1.000 2 6 8 1.0 6 0 6 10 0 2 11 1.4
00 Hickman, Alec...... 3-0 19 6.3 2-7 .286 0-4 .000 0-0 .000 0 2 2 0.7 3 0 1 0 0 1 4 1.3
13 Rwahwire, Eric..... 4-0 15 3.8 1-6 .167 1-3 .333 0-0 .000 2 0 2 0.5 2 0 0 2 0 0 3 0.8
04 Berkley, Marcus.... 1-0 2 2.0 0-1 .000 0-1 .000 0-0 .000 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.0
TEAM............... 20 12 32 3.2 0 0 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total.............. 10 2000 231-569 .406 45-172 .262 128-189 .677 97 278 375 37.5 210 8 120 163 35 60 635 63.5
Opponents.......... 10 2000 239-604 .396 65-230 .283 157-236 .665 134 271 405 40.5 188 - 135 136 42 74 700 70.0
Kinda circuitous route for the head coach... "Coast to Coast"...
Dennis Cutts was named head coach of the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team in April of 2014 after serving as the team's interim head coach for the 2013-14 season. He accepted the position as interim head coach on July 10, 2013, when Jim Wooldridge stepped down to become the interim athletics director for the Highlanders.
During the 2013-14 campaign, the Highlanders nearly doubled their win total from the previous year earning the eight seed in the Big West Conference Tournament. UC Riverside averaged 70.9 points per game that season in conference play—the highest average since the Highlanders joined the Big West, and 11.1 points more per game than the team averaged the year prior. UC Riverside also saw its home attendance increase by 20 percent in 2013-14.
In the 2014-15 campaign, the Highlanders won the second most games in the Division I history of the program, and the second most conference games as well. Coach Cutts was named one of ten finalists for the 2015 Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year award. They earned the sixth seed in the Big West Conference Tournament.
UC Riverside had a first team All-Conference player in Taylor Johns as well as Newcomer of the Year and second team All-Conference player in Jaylen Bland. Johns and Bland were the highest scoring duo in UC Riverside's Division I history. After the season, Coach Cutts earned an extension through the 2019-20 season.
In 2015-16, UC Riverside continued to build upon its success by yet again posting the second most wins in the program's Division I, while recording the most road wins and non-conference wins during that time. The Highlanders also earned the sixth seed in the Big West Conference Tournament for the second year in a row.
UCR broke several school Division I-era records during the year including highest scoring average, most assists, most three pointers made and most rebounds. A number of those marks are the highest in the program in more than a quarter century including the most assists and most three pointers since the 1988-89 campaign. UC Riverside's rebound figure was the highest since the 1994-95 season.
The Highlanders also won at Hawaii for the first time in their Big West history. Jaylen Bland finished third in the entire country in made three pointers (118) and earned Second Team All-Conference honors, while Secean Johnson earned Honorable Mention All-Conference accolades.
Cutts returns all nine scholarship players from the 2015-16 season, one of the only schools in the entire country to retain all of their players.
The 2016-17 season saw the debut of freshman Dikymbe Martin, who became the first freshman on the squad to earn All-Conference accolades since Rickey Porter earned Second Team honors in 2005-06.
Cutts originally joined the men's basketball staff as an assistant coach in May of 2007, rejoining Wooldridge, with whom he worked at Kansas State as the team's director of basketball operations. Cutts brings over 20 years of coaching experience to the Highlanders bench.
As the director of basketball operations with the Wildcats, Cutts assisted in coordinating recruiting activities for the program, running the Jim Wooldridge Basketball Camp, organizing K-State coaching clinics and overseeing the Wildcat Faculty/Staff Club. In addition, he coordinated all team travel and oversaw special projects for the basketball office.
Cutts was an associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for Phil Johnson at San Jose State from 2002 to 2005. He assisted in the development and recruitment of several all-conference players, including Marquin Chandler, a Second-Team All-Western Athletic Conference (WAC) forward. In addition to his on-the-floor coaching duties, Cutts was in charge of the team's scheduling of opponents and facilities as well as academic monitoring.
Cutts was a four-year letter winner at State University of New York at Albany, helping his team to four consecutive winning seasons, including three 20-win campaigns. As a senior, Cutts was team captain and most valuable player of a Great Dane squad that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Tournament. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology with a minor in business administration in 1990.
Following graduation, the Massapequa, NY native began his coaching career in Killarney, Ireland in 1990 as a player-coach for the St. Paul's Basketball Club senior men's "A" team. He also coached the men's "B" team, the senior women's "A" team and boys' teams ranging in ages up to 19-years-old. In addition, he was an instructor at the Institute for International Sport in Killarney.
He returned to the United States in 1991 and spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Pima Community College (1991-94) in Tucson, AZ and two as an assistant coach at Northland Pioneer College (1994-96) in Holbrook, AZ.
Cutts reached the Division I level in 1996 when he joined the staff at Stephen F. Austin, spending three years as the program's recruiting coordinator and overseeing the development of the Lumberjacks' offense. He then moved on to Northern Arizona and worked under Mike Adras, where he was assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 1999 through 2002. In 2000 he helped the Lumberjacks to a 20-11 mark, the Big Sky Tournament Championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. He coordinated the team's offensive schemes and worked in the development of the perimeter players. Cutts also had duties in scouting opponents and academic supervision.
Those attendance numbers look like something you'd see at a YMCA Men's league championship game.
78-61 winner for Valpo
QuoteThose attendance numbers look like something you'd see at a YMCA Men's league championship game.
Um, or the ARC back in the 80's/early 90s. Season ticket holders back then would routinely hand unused seats to the ticket takers back then in hopes of getting a four-digit number in the box score because it was perceived to be less embarrassing (like most schools back then, VU counted total in the house for the boxscore attendance, not paid/tickets distributed).
I guess what I'm saying is UCR has been Division I since 2002, and we weren't exactly tearing it up at the gate in 1992, either (15 years into our D-I tenure).
Valpo also doesn't have a 23,000 student population (now or back then)...I know they are probably done for the semester and not on campus, but still.
Nice win at U. of California by UC-Riverside. Maybe they caught Cal on a night when half of their roster was out protesting against a conservative speaker. :o
Quote from: crusadermoe on December 19, 2017, 11:34:03 AM
Nice win at U. of California by UC-Riverside. Maybe they caught Cal on a night when half of their roster was out protesting against a conservative speaker. :o
I'm pretty sure that's every night at Cal.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Some big news on Tevonn. They are hoping Tevonn will be back in time for the Indiana State game. I'm not sure he'll be 100% and fully have his cardio up but it would still be nice to have Tevonn back. He's such an important part of this team.
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/942986794722787328
They may not have won many games but they sure are big! As big as our guys. Should be some fun action in the paint!
Quote from: covufan on December 19, 2017, 10:16:48 AM
On to UC Riverside...
Looks like there should be streaming video, Big West-style.
(And looks like Cal is surprisingly bad this year. Like a lot worse than Indiana, bottom of the Valley kind of bad. Their kenpom's better than only Drake's in the Valley. OK, it's only a little worse than Indiana State's. And, still, I'm sure it was a big win for Riverside. I'd still count any road win at a major conference school as a big win for Valpo.)
Valpo 71
UC-Riverside 61
QuoteValpo also doesn't have a 23,000 student population (now or back then)
A 2013 article indicated that about 75% of their student body are commuters, and commuter students rarely attend sporting events. Basketball teams with no record of Division I success don't draw at any university, no matter how big.
Yes, the UCR students are done...
I just looked at their academic calendar...
If the course meets at this day and time: Then the final exam will be held:
MWF 7:10 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. Thursday, December 14, 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
MWF 8:10 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Friday, December 15, 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
and even if they were not... they have 22,000 students; and housing for....
Be a real local on campus. Residence Halls connect you to the pulse of campus life – not to mention a community of more than 3,000 UCR students.
UCR = Knucklehead Central:
UC Riverside invokes #Mizzou during a march for free tuition
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-million-student-march-uc-riverside-mizzou-20151112-htmlstory.html
Riverside community responds with protests to Trump victory
https://highlandernews.org/26109/riverside-community-responds-protests-trump-victory/
Dozens of students protest 'racial injustice' at UC Riverside
http://abc7.com/news/dozens-of-students-protest-racial-injustice-at-uc-riverside/1091781/
UC Regents Able to Meet at UC Riverside Despite Protests
https://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/2177
The spread Valpo -7.5
Odd enough, Riverside can been traditionally a Republican community.
But every time I think of that ozone paradise, I think of the greatest bar band of all time, the Beat Farmers.
Wasn't that a big complaint about the HL? Too many commuter schools with students who did not support that athletic programs.
I have no idea how good their streaming is, but the game tonight is on the Big West streaming network.
http://bigwest.sidearmstreaming.com/watch/?Live=541
This throws a monkey wrench into this game. I hope the guys don't get to down on the news. Hopefully the team can rise to the occasion and respond to adversity.
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/943648821153816576
Gut check time. Whatever doesn't kill ya makes you stronger.
These broadcast are making my long for the days of the Horizon League Network pre ESPN3.
The crowd is more sparse than the a week night turnout at the ARC student section.
More protesters outside than fans inside?
What is the point of having a stream if the camera man keeps falling asleep on the job? ??? California Mid-Majors need to get their act together with these stream qualities
Valpo is coming out flat to start this game...
19-5 UCR in the lead. 11:54 left in the 1st half.
(https://media1.tenor.com/images/a8f287525bb1affc1ee12b707f69e6b3/tenor.gif)
seriously camera man...and seriously Valpo...come on!
Down 20-5. Yep, that's flat. Worse yet, they've riled up the crowd.
Some how I am watching a game of UC Riverside versus a pickup team from the Valpo Y. WTHeck...
Even if Burton is not on the floor, where is the TEAM? Run, shoot miss. Run, shoot, Miss. Repeat. No cohesion. No attack. Not even enough time to get the bigs in a position to rebound our many missed shots. :censored:
We have no point guard to direct the O. Hate to say this, but Lexus would have slowed us down, got us into a rhythm and then executed.
Yikes the drive right over Linssen is a new low.
This is, so far, the worst half of basketball by a Valpo team in many, many years. At some point Lottich needs to actually install an offense.
I appreciate that Markus is frustrated, but he needs to calm it down. I like his intensity but it feels like playing with fire.
Strange to watch with no sound, Todd is too far ahead and I can't listen to the other. Based on the fan reactions, there might be more Valpo fans there than UCR fans.
Dig Deep Ma Boys.
It's clear that this is lottich first year as head coach. Peters coached the team last year
Seriously, I might have a better shot at chucking one in from here in NJ.
In all honesty, does our offense run a single screen?
This ******* embarrassing. HAVE SOME PRIDE >:(
Good Night. I'm not staying up for this.
I love Valpo Basketball, but I seriously may need to take a break.
Fright night. Who is #32?
This team is f'ing pathetic. I am sorry, but this is the most embarrassing half of basketball I have ever seen in 18 years of watching Valpo basketball. Everyone looks clueless right now. This would be the most embarrassing loss I have witnessed. Chicago State at least had Deji Akindele when we lost to them.
This could make the Northwestern game look close. Obviously the team's spirit is totally missing. Is it the Burton factor or something more? Clearly a BIG challenge for our young coach.
Wait, we're 1 of 16 from 3 in the first half?? Wow.
This is eerily reminiscent of our performance against Milwaukee in the HL Tourney last season. It's going to be a hell of a long trip home if they don't turn a complete 180 in the second half.
Yeah, I can't sleep knowing how poorly the team is doing. I'll be here for the duration of the torture.
So let's see: Valpo 1 for 16 from the 3. 6 of 10 from the line. 9 turnovers and 2 assists. Other than these minor facts we are kicking their asses!!
The rest of the MVC will be laughing at us if we don't turn this around quickly. We are 13 games in and our issues aren't getting any better. I honestly thought Lottich was better than this but I can't help but feel the seeds of doubt beginning to creep in. I really hope this is all just growing pains and Valpo will be great in 2019 and 2020 but instead of coming together the team appears to be coming apart at the seams and some of the prize recruits from this class look like duds. I'm willing to give them time but their performance since they got a little taste of regional\national hype has been disheartening. I can honestly say I've never seen anything like this.
Watching Wofford - UNC. Much more interesting.
I can't find words to explain how I'm feeling about that 1st half right now. :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored:
An accurate depiction of Valpo in that first half...
(https://i.giphy.com/media/26tP41fh76vmLO3iU/giphy.webp)
No clue why we tried the 1-3-1 again. It worked exactly 0 times against previous opponents, and in the 1 try today, they get a wide open 3. Quit trying that defense!
Quote from: swiftmutiny on December 20, 2017, 09:56:24 PMThis is eerily reminiscent of our performance against Milwaukee in the HL Tourney last season. It's going to be a hell of a long trip home if they don't turn a complete 180 in the second half.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Except at least that game was close...
Quote from: jsher3141 on December 20, 2017, 10:00:56 PMQuote from: swiftmutiny on December 20, 2017, 09:56:24 PMThis is eerily reminiscent of our performance against Milwaukee in the HL Tourney last season. It's going to be a hell of a long trip home if they don't turn a complete 180 in the second half.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Except at least that game was close...
Only because that Milwaukee team was WORSE than this Riverside team if you can believe that. Oh and that Valpo team was better than this outfit.
I think our program is in some serious trouble right now....
If you are a reserve and you know that your top 2 scorers are out, wouldn't you be excited to get your chance to score? Our team has no energy, and can't make an open shot to save their lives. Bradford needs to learn to shoot from the 3 pt line, and not 10 feet behind it. This is just sad to watch.
Also, the passes without looking to see if someone will steal it? Come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know why I'm still watching.
STOP PASSING THE BALL AND TAKE IT TO THE BASKET!
At what point do they call it a TKO?
Has anyone on this team ever actually played basketball before? It doesn't seem like they have.
For the first time since I can remember, it is not worth my time to watch a Valpo basketball game. I'll feel better tomorrow, I'll be rooting and cheering are next week, but I'm done with this team embarrassing my alma mater tonight. Goodnight fellas.
Quote from: jloose128 on December 20, 2017, 10:18:46 PM
I don't know why I'm still watching.
It's like the guy who was hitting himself in the head with a hammer. They asked him why he was doing it. He replied "because it feels so good when I stop."
No disciplne. Who kidnapped the team that beat Santa Clara and substituted these guys? One guy with the ball and 4 others standing around. No movement. Arghhhhhhhh!
Would this camera operator stop picking their nose and focus on their job? I'm trying to watch my team chuck up air balls and make stupid turnovers here.
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 20, 2017, 10:27:04 PMNo disciplne. Who kidnapped the team that beat Santa Clara and substituted these guys? One guy with the ball and 4 others standing around. No movement. Arghhhhhhhh!
Who kidnapped the 8-0 team that took care of business and found ways to win even in tough spots? Where's the discipline? The leadership? League play starts with our NEXT GAME and I have serious doubts about our readiness.
How much does your RPI go down when you lose to a really bad UCR team?
Quote from: valpotx on December 20, 2017, 10:36:26 PMHow much does your RPI go down when you lose to a really bad UCR team?
To levels we haven't seen since the mid-con days.
You mean when those Valpo Mid-Con teams would have beaten us today by 30?
Quote from: VUGrad1314 on December 20, 2017, 10:38:25 PMHow much does your RPI go down when you lose to a really bad UCR team?
before the game was over... the VU RPI was 105, with an SOS of 261...
after the game was over... the Vu RPI is 142... with an SOS of 286
This is a bad team without Tevonn and Burton.
Micah Bradford is 0-10 from 3. 0-10. 0-10.
A completely undisciplined player.
(https://i.giphy.com/media/zt9dS1aulhwTC/giphy.webp)
So the double post offense scores 6 pts and Smits can make it 7. Nice they finally decide to go inside with 3 mins left.
I honestly do not know what to make of this performance, but I cannot stop warching. I am extremely concerned with the in-game decisions of our coaching staff and players.
I could understand issues like these against Purdue but the combined Northwestern and UCRV games leave me dumbfounded.
I can't believe that I watched this whole thing. Every single player on our team needs to look at themselves in the mirror tonight, and know that they lost to a terrible UC-Riverside team, and badly. Those 30+ point losses to Purdue and Northwestern are long gone as being poor efforts, as we were blown out by the mighty Highlanders of the Big West. They have embarrassed all that have played before them tonight...
The last few minutes they've shown signs of a pulse. Too little, too late. The final score is not indicative of how abysmal this game was.
My guess is Kiser is also sick. He is a tough kid yet only played 15 minutes. I'm wondering whether or not there is an illness bug going through the team in addition to the shock of Joe being done for the season. As for Bradford? Nice D3 player.
The lack of anything resembling fight or fire in this team until things are way out of hand is very concerning.
Four of thirty-two from behind the 3-point line. 12.5%. TWELVE PERCENT.
Quote from: nkvu on December 20, 2017, 10:25:37 PMIt's like the guy who was hitting himself in the head with a hammer. They asked him why he was doing it. He replied "because it feels so good when I stop."
Fortunately the Apple couldn't make the video watchable and the other computer with Microsoft couldn't keep WVUR on either. So I threw in the towel and gave up early just like the team.
I suspect my computer speed problems are all directly related to the net neutrality thing despite Comcast stating otherwise. I mean all of this started almost simultaneously with that decision last week. BUT because I gave up on watching or listening I was at least spared the torture of full game participation. :thumbsup:
At least it was demonstrated that playing two bigs at once does not cause the world to stop turning.
After losses like this you sometimes see coaches make players run laps, but I think it may be appropriate to also have the coaching staff run some laps for their own performance. I know these were tough circumstances but the team was AWFUL. The effort picked up in the 2nd half but the offense looks terrible. The talent might not be there right now and we're young but there is zero offensive originality from this team and some of that has to fall on the coaches.
I know I may be overreacting right now given the circumstances but regardless there should be enough talent to put together a better performance tonight. This was beyond bad.
When Walker got sick, I said the team was mediocre. With the absence of Walker and Burton, the team aspires to achieve mediocre. (By the way, what is with the absence of Hazen, who played only 3 minutes?) In all the years I have been watching, this was the worst performance I've ever seen by a Valpo squad, especially considering the level of the opposing team. If I were to give a grade to Valpo for this game, the whole team would have been suspended.
Quote from: VU2014 on December 20, 2017, 11:07:39 PM
After losses like this you sometimes see coaches make players run laps, but I think it may be appropriate to also have the coaching staff run some laps for their own performance. I know these were tough circumstances but the team AWFUL. The effort picked up in the 2nd half but the offense looks terrible. The talent might not be there right now and we're young but there is zero offensive originality from this team and some of that has to fall on the coaches.
I know I may be overreacting right now given the circumstances but regardless there should be enough talent to put together a better performance tonight. This was beyond bad.
Not sure how I feel on this - UCR played a lot of zone and gave Valpo some very open looks from 3. Valpo was also shooting early transition, something I think is good considering the half court offense is so bad. This is something they did a bunch vs Santa Clara, and it worked pretty well Monday.
Joe Burton would have made a huge difference in this game. I assuming the with the amount of zone they were playing tonight he would have hit 3-4 3s and with the amount of open looks we were getting.
Having watched this cluster f##k to the bitter end I will say it may have given coach a chance to experiment with a few different combinations. For example, I like playing Linssen at the four. If nothing else he plays hard and gets in the way of guards penetrating I think he should start. True, he might foul out in the first half but at least he will give max effort every minute and will bang with the other fours. Kiser is a great kid and plays hard but he cannot contend with a normal 6'8 or bigger four. Even if he gets an offensive rebound he is simply not big enough to go back up with it and finish, and he can't defend in the paint.
We also have to start recruiting some shooters. Sure we want to be athletic but if the athletes can't put the ball in the hole defending us becomes easy. Just play a zone and pack it in. And our athletes really haven't looked all that athletic recently. No one seems to be able to dribble penetrate a zone, yet other teams seem to have no problem doing that to us. All we do is pass the ball around the perimeter and then jack up a three that no one available seems to be able to hit.
I doubt we have the personnel to be very successful in the MVC this year. I don't think any of our wins will scare anyone, and our losses have really exposed our weaknesses. If Walker comes back it will help, but there has to be someone else who can knock down a 3 or we can look forward to bottom tier conference finishes for the foreseeable future.
No amount of running tonight is going to take away my anger in tonight's performance lol. I can't remember a time that I have ever been this frustrated in the lack of effort by a Valpo team. Fine, we couldn't hit open shots, that can happen. But making no effort whatsoever to drive, throwing lazy passes at the top of the key that the defense can easily anticipate and intercept over and over, and just not seeming to give a rat's a$$? Nothing pisses me off more than lack of effort. My 3 1/2 year old son even knows never to give up, and to always practice the fundamentals. If we would have gone down hustling after loose balls and rebounds, I can live with that, but this? I know that I said it already, but Matt needs to give up on that bull crap 1-3-1. Opponents have to be something like 10/11 on scoring when we go to that defense.
Charlie Weiss could coach better.
I didn't watch but reading these comments was plenty for me. We could be headed for the bottom of the MVC if nothing changes soon.
Evelyn and Bradford combined for a 1-20 behind the arc :-X :crazy:
Is there some kid playing intramurals who was a big 3 point shooter in HS that can walk on and give us some Andrew Ferry minutes? I've said it for 2 years; we do not have shooters. Alec last year was it, with some contributions here and there from others. Micah is not a shooter. He is not even a Jay Harris. We could use a David Skara (maybe not David but someone who shot like he did). This team looked like it had a gut punch from the Burton news and didn't recover til it was way too late. Players were trying like Max and Smits. Golder looked like he lost his puppy. Tx, it's not that they were lollygagging, but more lost. We should be able to attack that zone but nobody was making the entry pass into the post or to the FT line to initiate action along the baseline or the mid-range in the lane shot. Agree that when you take out top scorers, someone has to step up or we look like UWM tourney loss or now the Debacle Down by the Riverside. This was never going to be an easy season. 8-0 lulled us into some false confidence. We will see how this team either comes together or implodes on December 28. Time to pull the dusty VHS copy of Hoosiers off the shelf and remind them if they don't want to come to practice and play the Valpo Way starting with the next practice and next game, then they don't need to come back.
Quote from: M on December 21, 2017, 08:05:04 AM
Evelyn and Bradford combined for a 1-20 behind the arc :-X :crazy:
Well, Bradford had been shooting 37%. Not too bad. Joe Burton numbers.
Joseph was 2-6 last night. First two of the year. Now 2-16.
Quote from: M on December 21, 2017, 08:05:04 AM
Evelyn and Bradford combined for a 1-20 behind the arc :-X :crazy:
Add in Golder's 0-4 and you have 1-24 from 3. The way this game played out, that stat alone made winning this game completely impossible, irrespective of anything else they did, good or bad. You can commit 18 TO's and still have a chance to win. You can play disinterested and still have a chance to win. You can look like you've never seen a zone before and still have a chance to win. You can have all those issues in combination and still have a chance to win. But, 3 of our main players making 1 of 24 completely uncontested 3's (40% of our total shot attempts), guarantees a loss, irrespective of any other factor.
Truthfully, I've never witnessed anything like it before. Did they not have a pregame shoot-around? Did Matt and Luke feel disrespected by the time slot they gave us or the amount of time they gave us, so they cancelled the shoot-around? Why didn't they at least return to the court early from the halftime break and get some extra shooting in? Nothing they talked about in the the locker room was as important as even 1 of those guys finding his shot.
Can someone explain what's up with Parker Hazen? Overmatched?
Quote from: mj on December 21, 2017, 09:31:09 AM
Can someone explain what's up with Parker Hazen? Overmatched?
I was just thinking the same thing. In a game like last night, why in the world would he be essentially the very end of the bench (played 3 minutes) after being a starter for the first several games. He has now scored 20 points in 13 games after starting 10 of them. Have to wonder about how he is being coached as his confidence has got to be very low at this point.
A few other thoughts: Kiser seems only good for about 15 minutes a game--played 15 last night and is averaging 16.8. We will need more from him. Is he not in shape? Not sure I have ever seen a guy foul out in 8 minutes as Linnsen did. Finally, we committed 31 fouls to their 17. Home cookin or our being a step slow feeling sorry for ourselves after the Burton news?
This could be a very long season. Hopefully having Tevonn back will bring out the best in our team.
Quote from: wh on December 21, 2017, 09:30:17 AMDid Matt and Luke feel disrespected by the time slot they gave us or the amount of time they gave us, so they cancelled the shoot-around?
That's funny.
My concern is whether we are bringing Tevonn back too soon to try to stem the tide and then because he is not fully recovered he has a relapse after a game or two and we lose him for the remainder of the season.
Quote from: mj on December 21, 2017, 09:31:09 AM
Can someone explain what's up with Parker Hazen? Overmatched?
I think I know what happened to Parker...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ZKxrzNl7k&t=68s
Looking at the stats of this game, the fouls and 3-pt shots (amount and shooting %) stand out. If we hit a few more 3's, we are in this game. We need to work on the fouls, as we can't compete in the MVC getting this many fouls.
I look at T-Rank for rankings and analysis.
http://barttorvik.com/team.php?team=Valparaiso
They give a game score for each game. ESPN's BPI used to do the same thing, but no longer.
Our game score for last night was 7, out of 100. UC-Riverside scored an 88. I'm sure that one of the more frustrating parts of coaching is how to get these young men to play to an above average level every night. Impossible to do, but how do they avoid the games like last night?
By comparison, our game scores for Purdue, Ball State and Northwestern were 17, 62 and 3, respectively. Our opponents were 99, 54 and 100. The game scores can adjust slightly after future games.
Many of the fouls were over the last 4:00, so that is a bit misleading. It was an even game as far as fouls committed, until we were using that strategy.
Quote from: valpotx on December 21, 2017, 06:44:17 PM
Many of the fouls were over the last 4:00, so that is a bit misleading. It was an even game as far as fouls committed, until we were using that strategy.
It felt like UCR was getting the hometown whistle in that 1st half... Those refs were pretty bad. I'm not saying that made the difference in that pitiful performance but it felt like the refs were more friendly to UCR. The over the back call on Golder during the 1st half was an absolute joke. I also have to say that UCR's broadcasters were clowns. I just listened to Todd and Aaron during the 2nd half for most of the second half.
Let's not be too rough on their production value. They had 450 fans there, which is around their average...
Quote from: valpotx on December 22, 2017, 01:19:56 AM
Let's not be too rough on their production value. They had 450 fans there, which is around their average...
It seems pretty clear they didn't expect many video clients.
Maybe the video operator was also watching his kids or something, but even if it was a volunteer, pointing the camera at the correct half of the court seems a pretty low bar. They missed an entire (successful!) VU possession at one point.
But, the price was right.
https://twitter.com/PostTribSports/status/943985955052118016
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-mens-basketball-valparaiso-california-riverside-st-1222-20171221-story.html
I guess the win over Valpo wasn't enough for Riverside's coach to keep his job.
http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2018/01/01/uc-riverside-parts-way-with-cutts/ (http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2018/01/01/uc-riverside-parts-way-with-cutts/)
Quote from: EddieCabot on January 01, 2018, 05:27:40 PM
I guess the win over Valpo wasn't enough for Riverside's coach to keep his job.
http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2018/01/01/uc-riverside-parts-way-with-cutts/ (http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2018/01/01/uc-riverside-parts-way-with-cutts/)
I think it was the frustrating inconsistency that finally did in Cutts. Big wins
AND big losses but an overall losing record after many seasons.
Very interesting. Does UC-Riverside how much history in basketball, where they can expect better results? They average around 500 fans/game...