38 days until tip-off. They were 18-10 last year. We have never officially played them (all previous games were exhibitions)
http://www.hillsdalechargers.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/roster
They have a 7-1 320 Freshman; along with 4 guys who are 6-8 and one 6-9.
They have two returning starters (Badowski 8.1 ppg; and Stedman Lowry 13.9 ppg) both are 6-3 juniors.
so... let the fun begin! Name your starting Valpo Lineup!
Quote from: talksalot on September 28, 2016, 04:54:31 PM
38 days until tip-off. They were 18-10 last year. We have never officially played them (all previous games were exhibitions)
http://www.hillsdalechargers.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/roster
They have a 7-1 320 Freshman; along with 4 guys who are 6-8 and one 6-9.
They have two returning starters (Badowski 8.1 ppg; and Stedman Lowry 13.9 ppg) both are 6-3 juniors.
so... let the fun begin! Name your starting Valpo Lineup!
Just a guess. Peters :o Adekoya, Walker, Hammink and...Joseph.
Hammink, Walker, Peters, Adekoya, Smiths
Maybe Bradford in and Hammink off the bench to keep AP at the 3?
Oh and a 20 point Valpo win.
Quote from: M on September 28, 2016, 07:31:55 PM
Hammink, Walker, Peters, Adekoya, Smiths
Maybe Bradford in and Hammink off the bench to keep AP at the 3?
Oh and a 20 point Valpo win.
Wait! That's a starting 6 with the Smith brothers.
Quote from: VULB#62 on September 28, 2016, 07:53:21 PM
Quote from: M on September 28, 2016, 07:31:55 PM
Hammink, Walker, Peters, Adekoya, Smiths
Maybe Bradford in and Hammink off the bench to keep AP at the 3?
Oh and a 20 point Valpo win.
Wait! That's a starting 6 with the Smith brothers.
I was busily checked the roster for Smiths. I suspect he meant Smits, but perhaps we have a new walk-on! I doubt you will see Smits and Adekoya on the floor at the same time. My reason for picking Joseph as the starting point is to give Bradford time to work into the lineup as he gets used to the speed of the D1 game. Looking back at video of early games last year, Max was the first guard off the bench. As the season went on and Shane became the backup, Max ended up sitting most of the time. Another year of experience and, with his Big Ten body, I suspect Max may be ready to step it up.
Quote from: vu72 on September 28, 2016, 08:43:06 PMMy reason for picking Joseph as the starting point is to give Bradford time to work into the lineup as he gets used to the speed of the D1 game.
This is a strange statement. Bradford was one of the fastest players in Illinois HS basketball last season. Micah may need to get acclimated to Div. 1 basketball but I don't think it will be the speed of the game that he will need to adjust to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJKZ4aMV4h4
Quote from: bbtds on September 29, 2016, 06:01:35 AM
Quote from: vu72 on September 28, 2016, 08:43:06 PMMy reason for picking Joseph as the starting point is to give Bradford time to work into the lineup as he gets used to the speed of the D1 game.
This is a strange statement. Bradford was one of the fastest players in Illinois HS basketball last season. Micah may need to get acclimated to Div. 1 basketball but I don't think it will be the speed of the game that he will need to adjust to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJKZ4aMV4h4
Really? Mr. Splitting Hairs. I don't remember saying that Micah would need to gain speed. I said he would need to adjust to the SPEED OF THE GAME!! Micah's speed is fantastic but, the folks he will be facing will be much bigger, stronger and FASTER then those he faced in high school. Better?
Starters:
Bradford
Walker
Peters
Jubril
Smits
After 1st round of substitutions:
Joseph
Walker
Hammink
Peters
Sorrolla
After 2nd round of substitutions:
Bradford
Lexus
Hammink
Jubril
Smits
Key Points:
Peters spends equal time at the 3 and 4 this year.
Jubril primarily back at the 4
Lexus loses the point guard battle but gets some time this year at the 2 guard because of his 3 point shooting ability.
Hammink bringing energy off the bench and playing primarily at the 2/3 guard, but still gets "starter minutes"
Great interview with Coach Gore, also shows some practice and short interview with Alec:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgr93qi6QP8
Said this before, but I think it'll be:
Bradford, Hammink, Walker, Peters, Adekoya
Smits will start on the bench and Lexus will actually get playing time this year; I'm confident Lottich will have a point guard as a backup point guard this year.
I think that Valpo will experiment with Peters at the 3, but how much it is used will depend on a number of things. First, how fast has Smits developed and can he be effective and keep himself out of foul trouble. In general, I am more concerned about depth at the 4 and 5 - can Valpo get 60 quality minutes from Smits, Adekoya and Sorrolla. Second, do opponents play three true guards and Peters has trouble chasing them. I would not be surprised to see very few minutes where Peters, Adekoya and either Smits or Sorrolla are on the floor at the same time.
Hammink needs to average 28-30 minutes per game. He is the most likely alternative scorer to Peters and Valpo needs three scoring options on the floor at any given time to beat top opponents.
Biggest concern is still point guard. No idea who will step up, but this will make or break this team. If assist-to-turnover ratio for Williams, Bradford and Joseph combined is above 2, this will be a good season...but none has proven that they can do it.
Quote from: a3uge on September 29, 2016, 10:23:17 AMI'm confident Lottich will have a point guard as a backup point guard this year.
If I didn't know what you were saying I wouldn't know what you were saying. Just saying.
Quote from: vu84v2 on September 29, 2016, 12:58:21 PMBiggest concern is still point guard. No idea who will step up, but this will make or break this team. If assist-to-turnover ratio for Williams, Bradford and Joseph combined is above 2, this will be a good season...but none has proven that they can do it.
If Carter had been able to return my confidence and optimism would be enormous. Without Carter, predicting anything will be just a guess. I still say we could be anywhere between a 60 or 130 RPI team with point guard play determining much of the outcome.
Walker to me is key for the season.
I'm hearing Sorrolla can really really play.
Quote from: Chairback on September 29, 2016, 08:20:32 PM
I'm hearing Sorrolla can really really play.
Look at this!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BK4x-9tB8Ym/
Complaining about someone splitting hairs when he calls me out for autocorrect calling him Smiths instead of Smits 🤔
Just remember WH, Tim Duncan was a swimmer before becoming Tim Duncan, the basketball player.
Swimming is about the best cardio work out you can do so good work Sorrolla..I can run up and down the court at high speed with ease over the games I play in...I play OUT OF CONTROL and with no finesse but that's beside the point ...Why are we counting out Williams so much, I think Lexus and Max will be closer to splitting the time in the first few games... Hillsdale, SUU, TIU, and Coppin should, in theory, give Lottich a chance to see who will step up!
I am not counting out Williams. It is just that neither Williams, Joseph or Bradford played meaningful minutes for Valpo last year. College basketball is a guard driven game. If you don't have a point guard that can run the offense and occasionally go one-on-one when the offense breaks down, you are at a serious disadvantage. I hope that Lexus steps up and is that guy and lets Bradford play some PG and some 2.
bsmith21, I agree that a team can be successful in the HL without a true point guard (case in point, VU did fairly well in 2015-16 with EVic running the point, and he is not a true PG). However, I disagree with your expectations. It is not good enough that VU does well in the Horizon League. There are 14 other games on the schedule, and if we want this team to be thought of highly come early March, then it must be successful against Oregon, UK, ISU, RI, etc. For that, VU needs a REALLY GOOD PG.
This is one year that I would start the most talented player at every position from the get-go - regardless of experience. IMO that translates to Micah-1, Tevonn-2, Shane-3, Alec-4, Derrik-5. This could be a Top-25 season - throw caution to the wind and go for it!
Quote from: wh on October 04, 2016, 04:37:07 PM
This is one year that I would start the most talented player at every position from the get-go - regardless of experience. IMO that translates to Micah-1, Tevonn-2, Shane-3, Alec-4, Derrik-5. This could be a Top-25 season - throw caution to the wind and go for it!
Top 25 with a new coach, with no previous head coaching experience and only 3 years asst coaching. Really?
Quote from: motowntitan on October 04, 2016, 08:22:42 PMQuote from: wh on October 04, 2016, 04:37:07 PMThis is one year that I would start the most talented player at every position from the get-go - regardless of experience. IMO that translates to Micah-1, Tevonn-2, Shane-3, Alec-4, Derrik-5. This could be a Top-25 season - throw caution to the wind and go for it!
Top 25 with a new coach, with no previous head coaching experience and only 3 years asst coaching. Really?
maybe if keith carter and skara was back and and bryce.
Quote from: motowntitan on October 04, 2016, 08:22:42 PM
Quote from: wh on October 04, 2016, 04:37:07 PM
This is one year that I would start the most talented player at every position from the get-go - regardless of experience. IMO that translates to Micah-1, Tevonn-2, Shane-3, Alec-4, Derrik-5. This could be a Top-25 season - throw caution to the wind and go for it!
Top 25 with a new coach, with no previous head coaching experience and only 3 years asst coaching. Really?
I don't think this is a top 25 team, but eh... In game coaching is overrated in the college game. Player development and recruiting is where coaching is really important.
Quote from: bsmith21 on October 05, 2016, 11:13:28 AM
While I agree that recruiting and development are very important in game coaching can cover up a lot.Brad Stevens probably carried Butler to probably both of their final 4s despite having inferior talent and size. Mind you from what I saw Steven's might have been one if not the best in game coaches in basketball. Was definitely not a great recruiter
Really? Two guys are starting in the NBA plus Matt Howard, probably the best college player to not make it to the NBA.
This string is veering a bit off the topic, but Stevens is demonstrating at least one praiseworthy trait, that has been brought up here, as the Celtics HBBC -- he is winning at the highest level with less than prime talent. He can motivate and adjust in-game. Tough combination to beat. Not taking anything away from BD, but my gut tells me Matt has Stevens-like qualities.
Quote from: VULB#62 on October 05, 2016, 06:18:09 PM
This string is veering a bit off the topic, but Stevens is demonstrating at least one praiseworthy trait, that has been brought up here, as the Celtics HBBC -- he is winning at the highest level with less than prime talent. He can motivate and adjust in-game. Tough combination to beat. Not taking anything away from BD, but my gut tells me Matt has Stevens-like qualities.
A bit???? The name Hillsdale hasn't been in a post for some time.
Quote from: bsmith21 on October 06, 2016, 01:39:37 AM
Fair enough what's the hillsdale scouting report? I'm gonna be honest other than not recieving federal funding I don't know much about there basketball team.
The Chargers are Div II. Last year Hillsdale was 18-10. They finished 13-9 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (includes Findlay, Grand Valley State, Wayne State, Saginaw Valley, Ferris State, etc.) which was good enough for 4th place in their division (GLIAC has two divisions).
Their best player, Kyle Cooper, graduated. He was named the GLIAC player of the year last season. http://www.hillsdalechargers.com/sports/mbkb/2015-16/releases/20160229f7fda2, Cooper had six games of 30 points or more.
Jason Pretzer, a 7'0" center, who averaged 9.9 points a game last season also graduated.
So the Chargers certainly had a lot to replace.
Stedman Lowry was probably their next best player. This season he is a 6'3" junior shooting guard who averaged 13.9 points per game last season. He shot 39% from three.
Senior Nick Archer is their center at 6'8" who averaged 5.5 ppg last season. He is a senior.
Ryan Badowski is a junior transfer from Longwood University who can play immediately due to moving down to Div II. He made the Big South Conference all freshman team. He played 34 games for Longwood last season. He scored 22 against Radford.
Steve Giannakopoulos and his twin brother Chris Giannakopoulos from Athens, Greece both red shirted last season. at 6'5" Steve is a guard with a lot of promise and his brother Chris (also 6'5") at forward seem full of promise also. As with many foreign players they need more game time.
Rhett Smith, a red shirt senior emerged in 2014-15 as the 6th man. He red shirted last season due to injury.
I guess this is the Gameday thread.
7:30 tip. Time change early AM tomorroe, I guess that gets us -extra- sleep?
Looks like no video, WVUR/streaming audio.
listening on WVUR, holy friggin foulss :o
Is this streaming some how?
The Walker seems to really be trying to catch fire in the second half.
FYI, no video cameras but one in the ARC.
Bradford really skyed to commit that 3 point foul.
Sorolla is a fine shot blocker.
Bradford's speed and hops is impressive. Getting him to play under control will be the key.
I've seen it all now. Not only is Alec mopping the floor with the opposition, he was actually mopping the floor with a towel.
A normal First Game sloppy, more work needed! Good to get a game played.
Thought there were some opening night jitters (Bradford, Smits). Looks like Lottich wants to pound the post, although that could've been due to our guys being much bigger. On defense we were really trapping high on the ball. Were any records set for fouls or time elapsed in the first half? That was rediculous.
Quote from: M on November 05, 2016, 10:51:06 PM
Thought there were some opening night jitters (Bradford, Smits). Looks like Lottich wants to pound the post, although that could've been due to our guys being much bigger. On defense we were really trapping high on the ball. Were any records set for fouls or time elapsed in the first half? That was rediculous.
Ridiculous for sure. Told my wife each team had 10+ team fouls before 10 minutes had been played. There was no flow to the game that half at all. Constant whistles were annoying. I get the refs want to make there points of emphasis which seem to fade away as seasons go on. But geez.
32 first half fouls 👎👎👎
Quote from: bsmith21 on November 06, 2016, 07:59:35 AM
Does anybody know how many people were at the game?
My guess would be 2700, possibly as high as 3000. Definitely the biggest crowd for an exhibition game that anyone in my family can recall in recent years. The student section was packed, which was a pleasant surprise. Lower level bleachers were mostly full. Upper level maybe 40% (very good for an exhibition game). Chairbacks maybe 40% filled, but probably a lot of paid no-shows.
Quote from: bsmith21 on November 06, 2016, 07:59:35 AMDoes anybody know how many people were at the game?
Box says 2571. The mezzanine had a decent crowd - definitely better than some regular season games last year. The student section was comfortably full. There were plenty of empty seats in the chairbacks, but also plenty of people sitting in chairs.
In light of everyone, it seems, being worried about the PG position, how did Lexus do? Saw some comments about Bradford below, but Lexus was the starter and played decent minutes. Speaking about guard minutes, Max played a lot. Besides bulking up how did he play?
Lexus looked good, had a big smile after he hit his first basket in forever. Max still has zero offensive game, I would think he will be used only as a defensive stopper in an offense for defense end of game substitution role (or foul trouble). Micah looked a bit overwhelmed, but I'm going with first game butterflies and suspect him to be better every game.
I was impressed with Sorolla's play inside, minus one crazy shot, he looked good.
Quote from: wh on November 06, 2016, 08:55:49 AMDefinitely the biggest crowd for an exhibition game that anyone in my family can recall in recent years.
Yes but will they show up for the likes of Southern Utah and Coppin St? ???
Quote from: M on November 06, 2016, 09:32:15 AMLexus looked good, had a big smile after he hit his first basket in forever.
If he can start the season with a 2 to 1 or better A/T ratio plus hit 35% from 3 then we are right where we would like to be. We should have an excellent picture of his game and recovery by our return from Oregon.
So Derrik launched a couple 3 balls? After we had signed him I joked that if he committed to doing some remedial work on his perimeter game I might soon be able to forget that he was 8 or 9 foot tall! But-But-But I was just joking! :o What does his perimeter shooting form look like?
From watching the game here are my thoughts:
-Point guard depth is going to kill us this year. To the point where it will cause us to lose games. Lexus is not as fast as he used to be. It is the truth. Bradford lacks strength and will be easily pushed around by guards with any size. I'm ok with having Shane bring the ball up as I think that is out best option at this point.
-At times we looked completely lost on both offense and defense. Almost unorganized or unsure of what to do.
-To me Smits looks good. He has great hands and his outside shot is actually good. However, he's 7-2. He needs to stay down low and open things up for Alec. He got beat on defense many times. I would start Smits over Jabril to add height to start the game.
-I think Sorrola is going to be a crowd favorite eventually. He's fun to watch.
-I miss Skara.
-The refs where just horrible. Every touch was a foul. It came to a point in the first half I was seriously ready to leave because it was so bad. Between the refs and the annual shot clock not working in the ARC made the first half one of the worst games to watch as a fan.
-I noticed the assistant coaches are not quick to get to the players during timeouts. in the past they were up on the players talking to them before they sat. Maybe hard to tell from one game but they don't seem vocal.
Quote from: Chairback on November 06, 2016, 01:30:17 PM
From watching the game here are my thoughts:
-Point guard depth is going to kill us this year. To the point where it will cause us to lose games. Lexus is not as fast as he used to be. It is the truth. Bradford lacks strength and will be easily pushed around by guards with any size. I'm ok with having Shane bring the ball up as I think that is out best option at this point.
-At times we looked completely lost on both offense and defense. Almost unorganized or unsure of what to do.
-To me Smits looks good. He has great hands and his outside shot is actually good. However, he's 7-2. He needs to stay down low and open things up for Alec. He got beat on defense many times. I would start Smits over Jabril to add height to start the game.
-I think Sorrola is going to be a crowd favorite eventually. He's fun to watch.
-I miss Skara.
-The refs where just horrible. Every touch was a foul. It came to a point in the first half I was seriously ready to leave because it was so bad. Between the refs and the annual shot clock not working in the ARC made the first half one of the worst games to watch as a fan.
-I noticed the assistant coaches are not quick to get to the players during timeouts. in the past they were up on the players talking to them before they sat. Maybe hard to tell from one game but they don't seem vocal.
An awful lot of conclusions based on one exhibition game.
From those who were at the game, do any of you think Nick Davidson is going to be a contributor, or was he coming in early on to spell any foul trouble from our guards? Also, besides Sorolla, who else is a "first off the bench" guy, based on what goes on early?
Nick seems like a great young man and true team player. But IMO if he plays other than late game minutes that will be surprising.
Quote from: VULB#62 on September 28, 2016, 07:53:21 PM
Quote from: M on September 28, 2016, 07:31:55 PM
Hammink, Walker, Peters, Adekoya, Smiths
Maybe Bradford in and Hammink off the bench to keep AP at the 3?
Oh and a 20 point Valpo win.
Wait! That's a starting 6 with the Smith brothers.
Our Smith Brothers were two guys you wouldn't just cough up a line about.
Quote from: valporun on November 07, 2016, 02:09:05 PM
From those who were at the game, do any of you think Nick Davidson is going to be a contributor, or was he coming in early on to spell any foul trouble from our guards? Also, besides Sorolla, who else is a "first off the bench" guy, based on what goes on early?
I think Coach Lottich has a heart for end of the bench guys and an exhibition plus foul trouble gave him a good opportunity to play the end of the bench players. I think you will definitely see those guys in blow out games.
I wasn't at the game but I do get first hand reports.