Nobody else feels the hot hand and I am ice cold in recent attempts so no way will I kick this thing off.
Just call this a place where we can not talk about our upcoming visit to 60 RPI MSU. While we are not on that topic, lets also not discuss the recent drubbing they recently handed us at the ARC.
I'm not feeling too confident about Wednesday's game. I just think we aren't a great matchup with Missouri State this season. I thought Valpo did a pretty good job of slowing down Alize Johnson on the Offensive end on New Years Eve but he still had a big impact on that game. I don't think he's only going to get 11pts in the 2nd matchup.
Some interesting stats since December 1 (11 game sample size):
-Valpo hasn't won a game with a FG% below 49.1%
-Valpo hasn't won a game when we've shot below 50.0% from behind the 3 point line
It's pretty simple. Pretty much since losing Joe we've needed to have other guys make shots to win games. I don't think anyone should ever expect this roster to hit over 50% from 3 consistently. We are a streaky shooting team.
It's pretty obvious but when this team shoots poorly we don't win and we've had more poor shooting nights then strong shooting nights. The offense has looked better lately but I think it's clearly this team lacks offensive weapons right now. Not to say these guys won't develop into consistent offensive threats in the future but it's been a consistent theme of this season.
You always have a shooters chance if you shoot 70% like Villanova did to beat Georgetown.
But here's the daunting issue. Alize Johnson put up a 20-20 at home against Northern Iowa. Who guards him? Others pointed out this match up problem in the preseason or early in the season. Can Golden play defense well enough to take some minutes and fouls? He's the only one with the height and quickness to bother Johnson.
I wish this game was at the end of February. Young teams tend to gradually get better, and better and better; while mature teams tend to peak mid season then level out. I wouldn't be shocked if we can beat them in St. Louis but a win Wednesday night is probably asking for too much.
Quote from: crusadermoe on January 15, 2018, 08:34:55 PMBut here's the daunting issue. Alize Johnson put up a 20-20 at home against Northern Iowa. Who guards him? Others pointed out this match up problem in the preseason or early in the season. Can Golden play defense well enough to take some minutes and fouls? He's the only one with the height and quickness to bother Johnson.
Golder will need a lot of help. McMillan will get his chance but that limits our offensive potential. I wouldn't be surprised to see some more 2-3 and 1-3-1 zone play plus some minutes with the 2 bigs. Will any of it work?
When does Kiser return? We need him if we have any chance for a 9-9 or better season.
I thought McMillan did a nice job defensively when matched with Johnson in the first meeting considering this is a freshman vs a senior.
In the first round Mileek did a real nice job on Johnson defensively (at least limiting his scoring). Can he lock down an NBA talent twice in a row??
I thought we kept Johnson relatively in check when they played us earlier at home.
Quote from: crusadermoe on January 15, 2018, 08:34:55 PMAlize Johnson put up a 20-20 at home against Northern Iowa.
Absurd. And apparently he's done this twice this season. The other was in a loss vs. North Dakota State.
Two last season too, both in MVC play.
His wikipedia entry claims it was a lack of D1 offers that led him to two years of JUCO.
I see him #29 (end of the first round) in one NBA mock draft.
Quote from: valpo64 on January 16, 2018, 12:29:40 PM
I thought we kept Johnson relatively in check when they played us earlier at home.
11 points, off his 15.5 average.
He did get 12 rebounds, above his 11.6 average.
In MVC play he's actually doing even better than overall: 18.7/14.2.
Quote from: FWalum on January 16, 2018, 09:30:11 AM
I thought McMillan did a nice job defensively when matched with Johnson in the first meeting considering this is a freshman vs a senior.
It could be argued that the outcome was not in doubt for most of that game. We didn't see Alize's best effort because he's a good teammate who didn't have to create for them to win.
Our PF will get smoked by Alize in a closer game, I surmise.
MO State 69
Valpo 60
82 to 63 Bears. Sorry.
Quote from: crusadermoe on January 16, 2018, 08:37:13 PM
82 to 63 Bears. Sorry.
I'll 2nd that, 19-point loss on the road against a team with two great PF (Alize and Scurry)
We are playing better and our 4 guard offense (should we decide to use it) might keep us within respectable range. The downside to a lineup that small is keeping MSU from scoring. We just do not match up very well offensively or defensively with the experienced bodies they can place on the floor. Just as I said before this is an opponent where a Fazekas or a Burton could make a major difference.
I think our best options are:
#1 McMillan, On paper this looks like a no brainer and even if this doesn't work now he and Hazen need to be on the floor to learn and practice their power forward trades.
#2 Any two bigs. I am placing Linssen in the same category as Derrik and Jay because his play to date is much more that of a center and not a forward. This option almost demands a zone defense.
#3 Our 4 guard lineup---- This option might give us the most points at the expense of giving up an equal or greater amount on defense. It would probably get us in early foul trouble too.
So I'd say we start with option 1, experiment with some option 2, and if we are still in the game late maybe we see some option 3. We DO have a small chance to win but a close loss will not greatly disappoint me.
Seeing the post in another thread about the % of minutes played by upperclassmen has put this team's inconsistent play into a little better perspective. I think we see a better, smarter effort this time around.
MSU 72
Valpo 68
It's been a long time since we've considered a close road conference loss a moral victory. But that's where we are.
I think this team will be challenged to remember the previous MSU game two and a half weeks ago. We've proven we can play well at home, now do it on the road, against one of the best MVC teams.
Valpo 79
MSU 74
(I may be using my away brown and gold glassses)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If I had to guess we're going to be leaving Springfield with an L, but keep in mind Paul Lusk MSU teams have a knack for laying unexplainable eggs from time to time.
My prediction:
Missouri State - 78
Valpo - 67
https://youtu.be/C70hTIM19aE
I'm seeing betting lines with Valpo +7.5 tonight.
A preview of the game from the Springfield, MO newspaper. They pretty much say it like is:
https://twitter.com/Standard_Sports/status/953720040435699712
Preview: Valparaiso comes to JQH Arena for rematch with Bears
Alec McChesney, Editor in chief
Jan 17, 2018
..........
"Walker is the best player on the squad, but since Burton's departure, he's been the only player who poses a threat to take over a game. As other teams know this, they key in on him and make other players beat them. Walker scored just six points in the Crusader's five-point loss to Northern Iowa over the weekend.
If Walker doesn't score and score often, Valparaiso can't keep up on the scoreboard. In the victory against Drake, Walker paced the Crusaders with 26 points.
Walker is joined by sophomore guard Bakari Evelyn, sophomore guard Markus Golder and senior guard Max Joseph.
This makes things very clear for the Bears: They must attack the paint and the inside all game long. The Crusaders top four scorers and players all play the guard position."
.........
http://www.the-standard.org/sports/preview-valparaiso-comes-to-jqh-arena-for-rematch-with-bears/article_fa1398f4-fbc0-11e7-9271-47c9d4359243.html
Quote from: VU2014 on January 17, 2018, 02:21:08 PM"Walker is the best player on the squad, but since Burton's departure, he's been the only player who poses a threat to take over a game. As other teams know this, they key in on him and make other players beat them. Walker scored just six points in the Crusader's five-point loss to Northern Iowa over the weekend.
If Walker doesn't score and score often, Valparaiso can't keep up on the scoreboard.
What about Bakari? It seems like he's taken over a game or two, scoring wise.
But, obviously we'll all feel a lot better about our chances if Tevonn gets 20. And he's the closest thing we've got to a _consistent_ scoring threat.
I think Bakari may eventually get there but I'm not sure he is on Tevonn's level yet in terms of impact. Bakari played out of his mind against UNCW so he's shown he can do it. He's looked pretty good since Indiana State. I think having Micah split the ball handling the last handful of games has taken some of the pressure off of Bakari.
Valpo wins tonight. :o
Quote from: VU2014 on January 17, 2018, 03:23:26 PM
I think Bakari may eventually get there but I'm not sure he is on Tevonn's level yet in terms of impact. Bakari played out of his mind against UNCW so he's shown he can do it. He's looked pretty good since Indiana State. I think have Micah split the ball handling the last handful of games has taken some of the pressure off of Bakari.
Clearly having Bakari at the 2 is working as Micah has been fantastic distributing the ball. I imagine we will go small again tonight but who knows...Shoot 50% from the 3 and we'll have a chance! Kiser back?
https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/953781464566509569
Not bad... A few more turnovers than I'd like to see but much more aggressive in the early going.
It's easy to underestimate your opponent after you beat them badly on their home court.
Do you suppose that MSU thinks that their white court is wonderful?
Update on Kiser: Not playing tonight but did participate in shootaround. That's terrific news. Will be great to hopefully get him back soon.
Centers need to learn that it's okay to dunk the ball every once in awhile but on the whole they've done well.
Golder and Evelyn have been fantastic.
It seems as if Golder can keep us in this game when our three point shooting and Tevonn is off that might be enough for a great finish to win it.
+6 on the glass +5 on the board. Good stuff!
Impressive. When did we last have a 5+ point lead at the half in a road game?
Quote from: VUGrad1314 on January 17, 2018, 07:41:55 PM
Centers need to learn that it's okay to dunk the ball every once in awhile
Sorolla's vertical could be measured in fractions of an inch.
Golder reminds me of a more athletic Howard Little.
Good comparison. Is the streaming really choppy? Or is it just me?
Some terrible officiating the past two Missouri State possessions have cost Valpo four points. A missed travel and a phantom foul on Bradford.
Tevonn can't shoot.
Less Sorolla more Smits please.
How did they miss that travel!!!!!
This is a game we've controlled and deserve to win I just hope the awful stretches we go through when Smits sits don't doom us.
Even with them possibly about to put this game out of reach, I'm very encouraged by the defensive and rebounding effort up to this point. This is a young team making strides.
Apparently we couldn't contain Alize Johnson for four quarters. Oh well.
Too much Alize Johnson.
We had one of those....but better. Alec Peters
We could use him about now. My goodness. Also what happened to Tevonn tonight ? Oh there's one!
Quote from: oklahomamick on January 17, 2018, 08:31:45 PMHow did they miss that travel!!!!!
Really felt like the game turned on that .
Should we go zone full time? Serious question.
Did they say 6-11 free throw shooting?
No, but maybe consider using it a bit more often.
Sheesh, even when we have position we can't get a rebound.
Can they at least wait until we actually foul before calling them?
Everybody on the roster needs to shoot 250 free throws before they go home and 250 more when they get back to Valpo. It's unacceptable the way they shoot from the stripe and it cost us tonight.
Johnson is really, really, good!
We competed for 35 minutes. Unfortunately the 5 minutes we didn't made a huge difference.
Better than last time when we competed for zero minutes.
Can't count the number of misses we had from inside three feet, but then Walker couldn't hit the ocean standing on a pier tonight either.
Missed free throws, again.
Well life out of the cellar was nice while it lasted... This sucks... It feels like this team deserves better but at the same time there's plenty to suggest that they really don't...
Nice to be in the game, despite a horrible shooting night.
We defended well and they defended better. Neither team found many easy open looks.
Oh well Hopefully a return home will bring us to 4-5. I know they've got another TV game which should make us all worried but you'd think with as many as we've had this year we'd be due for a good performance in one of them... Right?
Valpo isn't going to win many games with Tevonn Walker going 4-15 from the field. The shots weren't falling for Valpo tonight. As a team we had a 35.5 FG%. If we could just get a few more shots to foul and if we could have slowed Alize Johnson on the boards in the 2nd half I think we'd win this game.
A pretty good effort but a bad shooting night. The ball movement was pretty good and the defense was good for the most part. Alize Johnson won that game for them.
All in all I saw a good effort on the road. I do agree that we need to play a lot of zone.
Why? We have two types of player.
Inside players with very slow rebounding and positioning instincts. The zone hides them better.
Wings and guards who are physically strong (except Bradford). So they can defend a larger space pretty solidly.
Also, give us more of McMillan.
Their announcers are still morons. They mentioned that this game represents the first or second time that Valpo fans have seen Alize Johnson. We just played last season, so it would be 3! That newspaper writer is also a moron, as we didn't have Burton for the last contest against MO State, either, so we didn't get worse with the loss of Burton since the last time we played.
That was a complete horse crap missed call on the 3 pointer by #20. How in the world do they miss that call? It changed the game quite a bit after that point. Not a bad showing, but we need to take less dumb shots, and learn to shoot FTs.
https://twitter.com/PostTribSports/status/953844492951588865
https://twitter.com/Jim_Connell_417/status/953840238991937536
Video Breakdown from a MSU perspective: https://www.facebook.com/TheStandardMSU/videos/10155951229629098/
https://twitter.com/TheStandard_MSU/status/953838479468883968
https://twitter.com/TheStandard_MSU/status/953823628658991104
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/953865219129868288
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/johnson-dominates-valparaiso-to-complete-sweep/article_3ac7ad00-625b-5d9a-b495-f19d14d275ee.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest
A great putback dunk last night from Golder.
https://twitter.com/ValpoBasketball/status/954032977872408581
I was a little surprised they didn't T him up there. Heck of an athletic play! He damn near got another one in the second half.
Quote from: M on January 18, 2018, 11:34:24 AM
I was a little surprised they didn't T him up there. Heck of an athletic play! He damn near got another one in the second half.
Yeah they definitely could have T''ed him up on the rim for hanging on it a second to long. It definitely depends on the refs that are working on that game. I think it was a good no call. If it was a blowout then maybe you call that but not when the game is close, imo.
Let's say it one more time...FREE THROWS-PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. It doesn't matter how long they do it now, they need MORE!! And as for our bigs, when they are "in the game" and active at both ends of the floor, we are as pretty good team. It just seems like as they go, we go. OK, let's get a couple at home.
Quote from: crusadermoe on January 17, 2018, 08:26:04 PM
Good comparison. Is the streaming really choppy? Or is it just me?
Mine was a little problematic during the game. I attributed that to the computer, but maybe there was a more general problem.
I wouldn't have said "really choppy" exactly. Mostly it was fine, but with a handful of incidents. So, mostly it was smooth, but it did go as far as to actually pause a couple of times. And maybe twice it lost a few seconds of game as it ran out of buffer, and then caught up later in the action.