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Re: Game #11 - Northwestern @ Allstate Arena Thursday, Dec. 14, 7pm BTN

Started by talksalot, December 09, 2017, 11:30:06 PM

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EddieCabot


Without Walker, a young team become even younger.  Don't see them beating a senior-laden NW team on the road.  NW by 3.

Valpo89

I'm driving some friends and going to this game. One of them is a former Northwestern player from the 70s.
My trip to and from the game will probably be more interesting than the game, I'm afraid.
Not feeling good about this one either. Double-digit loss.
I hope I don't regret going and missing my son's 7th grade game tomorrow night.

EddieCabot


Valpo89



vu84v2

It was my error and I apologize. To Derrik and all others on this board, please accept my humble apology for my mistake.

covufan


NativeCheesehead

Judging by the tickets on Stubhub, our section is anywhere we want it to be.

talksalot

Just checking the latest ...

RPI... Valpo is 82    Northwestern is 147
SOS...Valpo 239  Northwestern is 147  (Not a typo, NU has the same RPI and SOS)

Warren Nolan's computer... predicts Northwestern 68 Valpo 65
VegasInsider.com ..... predicts a Northwestern 75 Valpo 66
CBSSports and ESPN are just saying the line is 9.5 for the cats




VULB#62

I am going to pessimistically predict that attendance will be anemic and Valpo fans will not be a significant factor despite having thousands of alums in the Chicago area. Face it. We do not travel well at all. Aside from many of us on this board, there is no real passion for Valpo athletics.  This is stated in the face of the Valpo video that talks about passion.

It starts with 'hoping' that we fill the student section ( a couple of hundred out of about 3,000)  and goes down hill from there. Until the WHOLE university gets behind athletics, this is the way it will always be. There are DIII teams with more student spirit. And student spirit carries over into the years after graduation. It is about setting expectations of our students —- "we expect you to support our student athletes" because they are part of the Valpo family. It was ingrained in us as students back in the day, but I do not see that today. To tell the truth ( in vino veritas) the passion I am talking about was drained out of the university during the Harre and Schnabel era. I genuinely miss seeing OP at football and basketball games. Does MH go to many games?

IrishDawg

Welsh-Ryan is far from the shark tank that Mackey can be, but Allstate is a ghost town in terms of a home court "advantage".  DePaul played there for years and would be consistently outdrawn in terms of fan support, and from what I've heard, Northwestern isn't doing much better. 

Valpo is going to need to take care of the ball and be able to crash the glass on offense in order to win IMO.  Northwestern is pretty good at generating turnovers defensively, and they're also very good at not allowing opposing teams to get second chances.  One area where Valpo should be able to exploit Northwestern is getting to the free throw line.  Northwestern is 280th in the country in defensive free throw rate, while Valpo is 68th in offensive free throw rate.

Defensively Valpo needs to keep defending the 3 well (It's of some analytic experts opinions that 3 pt defense doesn't really matter, but Valpo has been excellent at that so far this year), and needs to avoid fouling Northwestern.  That will be a challenge, as I would expect calls to lean Northwestern's way tonight.

elephtheria47

Experience of playing at Purdue and at ball state will be displayed by us tonight. As has been mentioned, all state arena will be an empty cave. Think we cover the spread. A few bounces our way and we can spring the upset. Let's do it!

VU2014

https://twitter.com/PostTribSports/status/941130038006730753

Window of opportunity: Joe Burton ready to step up for Valparaiso
Michael Osipoff
Post-Tribune
Nov 13, 2017


Joe Burton's resume and bearing could give rise to a misconception about Valparaiso's 6-foot-6 junior swingman.

"With being as highly recruited as Joe was, there's the stereotype as a gunner, but it couldn't be further from the truth with him," VU coach Matt Lottich said. "He's a very willing teammate, he's a very willing passer. He takes what the defense gives him. Usually when you're focused on the right things, you'll have success."

But now could be a time for a more aggressive approach from Burton, a Top 100 four-star recruit out of high school in his first season with the Crusaders after transferring from Oklahoma State. With senior guard Tevonn Walker sidelined with mononucleosis, Burton is a logical candidate to assume more of the scoring responsibility.

He welcomes the challenge.

............. http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-mens-basketball-valparaiso-joe-burton-st-1214-20171213-story.html

vusupporter

Quote from: VULB#62 on December 13, 2017, 10:09:01 PM
...Face it. We do not travel well at all....

I think fans at UIC and at Milwaukee would 100% disagree with this assertion. There were some games over the last few years it felt like a Valpo home court at those two places.

VU2014

Quote from: vusupporter on December 14, 2017, 10:55:44 AM
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 13, 2017, 10:09:01 PM
...Face it. We do not travel well at all....

I think fans at UIC and at Milwaukee would 100% disagree with this assertion. There were some games over the last few years it felt like a Valpo home court at those two places.

I second what vusupporter said. We actually travel very well to areas where we have large alumni bases. I remember seeing a sizable crowd at UWM last season and at points during the game you heard the Valpo chants drowning out UWM fans at their own home game. I was at the UIC game last season and there were a lot of Valpo fans in the crowd.

I'm not sure what the crowd was like at the SIUE game this season. I also think STL alums would probably be more excited to see Valpo play a SLU as opposed to a bottom feeding SIUE on a Wednesday night. It really depends on the town the team is playing in from what I've notice.

VULB#62

Quote from: vusupporter on December 14, 2017, 10:55:44 AM
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 13, 2017, 10:09:01 PM
...Face it. We do not travel well at all....

I think fans at UIC and at Milwaukee would 100% disagree with this assertion. There were some games over the last few years it felt like a Valpo home court at those two places.

Might have been decent turnouts at those two places. A while back.  I attended the last 4 UWM games in MKE and despite an alumni event preceding at least the last 3, there was no "Valpo home court" atmosphere that I experienced.  You could tell there were maybe a 150-200 Valpo fans, but it wasn't like we took over the place.  I was at the Resch in GB a couple of times as well and not many Valpo fans showed up there.  Never been to a UIC game and, prior to McClain taking over, I heard that UIC was having problems filling the Pavilion and that Valpo did a good job attending those games, but also I think I recall some posters lamenting the not-so-overwhemling Valpo showing lately.  But I'll give you that one.  However, my comment referred to the whole away schedule.  I don't agree that exceptions prove otherwise.  I'll also state flat out that commuter school HL teams (not including Butler) travel even worse than we did  - we were good "in comparison," but still not like we will see in the MVC.  Maybe my observation on travelling stems from the possibility that over the past 10 years we succumbed to the  HL-induced malaise.

VU2014

Quote from: VULB#62 on December 14, 2017, 11:38:55 AM
my comment referred to the whole away schedule.  I don't agree that exceptions prove otherwise.  I'll also state flat out that commuter school HL teams (not including Butler) travel even worse than we did  - we were good "in comparison," but still not like we will see in the MVC.  Maybe my observation on travelling stems from the possibility that over the past 10 years we succumbed to the  HL-induced malaise.

I've heard some people mention that our fan-base doesn't travel as well as we use to. That could very well be the case. I remember talking to an alum who graduated in the 1980s mentioned attendance at home games use to be higher back in the 90's and early to 2000s. He thought the down turn the program saw during the mid-2000s is when the attendance started to drop and never quite came back fully.

Postseason success is the ultimate driver of attendance and getting people excited in the community.

govalpogo

There were 8 of us (3 groups) in the same train car headed from NJ to NYC for the NIT semi final game.  We thought that was pretty good ;D!  Would love a chance to see Valpo play around here.  (Seton Hall, Monmouth, St. John's, etc) 

vu72

Five of my friends who live in the Chicago area (three alums) are going tonight.  Hopefully there will be a very good Valpo crowd.
Season Results: CBI/CIT: 2008, 2011, 2014  NIT: 2003,2012, 2016(Championship Game) 2017   NCAA: 1962,1966,1967,1969,1973,1996,1997,1998 (Sweet Sixteen),1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2013 and 2015



VUGrad1314

Andy Katz seems to really love him some Valpo Great to have such prominent national pundits in our corner. Let's make him proud tonight! Go Valpo!