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Something is missing here. We can't keep blaming the lack of talent for these dreadful losses. I get it that we have a new coach and program. We should still expect incremental improvement over the course of a season. There has been zero. Losing to a team like EU puts things into perspective. How is it that EU, as bad as they've been, has shown improvement, and yet we have not? The argument that the coach is dealing with "Dorow's players" is thin at best. We heard the same thing about Dorow dealing with Freeman's players, so wait until she gets her players. How'd that work out for us?

Tracy Dorow didn't use Bob Brooks for strength and conditioning. Bob has worked with women's volleyball for the past 15 years and they've had very few injuries. He is a highly trained professional that Valpo is very lucky to have on their staff. To speculate that the ladies have had numerous injuries because of his training procedures is out of line.

To be clear, I was not singling out Bob, or any other trainer or strength coach. You are correct, a lot of injuries women face are reoccurring injuries from high school and earlier. There are still those that are not. I'm glad to hear they have brought someone on board to work on their strength and conditioning training. My point was, if this conditioning work doesn't include realignment exercises, it needs to. I have seen, first hand, the benefits of these exercises, which has always been far fewer injuries. That's a fact.

not enough time and effort is going into conditioning with very specific drills designed exclusively for women. They need to bring someone on board that gets this. If not, the injuries will continue.

And how do you know this?  Because kids are getting injured?  Or are you a coach in the program who disagrees with how things are done?

I've coached ladies basketball for many years, and have hung up my whistle some time ago. I know and am familiar with many players that have played in this program and many others. I also know several personal trainers who work specifically with women athletes. Unlike male athletes, women athletes are very prone to injuries because of the way their hips align with their knees. There is a very specific training regiment that helps keep the hips and knees aligned to help avoid back and lower body injuries. This isn't something that the Valpo staff work on, along with many other schools. Strength training is just one part of it. The realignment work is key to keeping the body healthy and help avoid injuries. I follow many teams and don't believe I know of any that suffer the season ending injuries this program seems to. If I were part of this staff, I would certainly be exploring some changes in how they prepare.

Valiant effort by the ladies, coming back from down 17 in the third, to almost take the lead with 4 seconds left in the game.  We had a contested layup, got the offensive rebound right at the hoop without any contest on the follow-up shot, and she forced it too hard.  Too bad, as that would have been a good win.

You have to wonder how good this team can be next year with only losing a very talented Meredith and Allison but getting all that talent back from injury plus the players we know of coming in.

I have found over the years that, with the ladies program, available talent doesn't equate to a winning season. Too many times we have been beaten by less talented teams. And as I mentioned previously, not enough time and effort is going into conditioning with very specific drills designed exclusively for women. They need to bring someone on board that gets this. If not, the injuries will continue.

Also, not that it would have made a difference in this game, but 62% from the stripe should not be acceptable. We need to be between 78% and 83%.

A team shooting 80% seems prolific

Looked it up for men, only two teams in D1 achieved 80%

Incarnate Word 80.5%
NDSU 80.1%

I'm assuming women's teams shoot higher FT% than men's teams?  I wouidn't at all be surprised, but not 83%.

78% as a team is very good for women. 83% is a stretch. 62% is not acceptable.

Also, not that it would have made a difference in this game, but 62% from the stripe should not be acceptable. We need to be between 78% and 83%.

The lack of "effort" in the 3 period would suggest that, whatever they are doing in the locker room at half time isn't working. Their last coach struggled with the same issue, and outcome. Maybe it's time to find out what's going on at the half! Just saying>>>

Dealt with these issues for years during my coaching career. It is absolutely a difference in skeletal make up. Women's hips line up and center differently then mens, over the lower body and put very different stress and pressure over the knees and lower back, which seem to be the bulk of the injuries for this team. There are very different exercise and stretching techniques targeted just for women, that greatly reduce these injuries. I'm certain this program doesn't utilize these. One very specific drill is where the athlete lays flat on the floor up against a wall, extending both legs vertically up the wall. It's important that the back remains flat to the floor. hold this position for 20 minutes. It's harder than it seems. This realigns the knees and hips. More than any other drill, this did the most to reduce injuries. Sounds simple, but many trainers don't know it.   

Just goes to show you that, verbal commitments aren't worth the paper they are written on!! 
I believe they'll set their sights higher now that they got some exposure winning state. Katie did a great job with them. Another reason why we should have entertained bringing Katie in for an interview. My guess is, had she been considered, the twins would have followed.

I believe she will be a good fit for the program. She has D1 experience, and was key in the recruiting process for several successful programs. I wish her well.

Michigan over Loyola
Villanova  over Kansas

Michigan over Villanova

Just my opinion - The biggest problem we've had the last 6 years is the lack of ability to develop young players. This level of play requires a coach that can take these players and their talents, and help to develop them into the best they can be to compete at the D1 level. This staff has seemed to operate on the "plug and play" philosophy, bringing in players and expecting them to continue on with the roles they played in high school. This may work for a D2 program, but you can't have success in D1 with that mentality. It always seems that the teams these past several years have gotten worse fundamentally, and we don't see the progress we should see. I've always felt we have to bring in someone that knows how to work with the bigs, inside. I thought maybe Rees would be that guy. Our inside game has been awful. Our footwork and block out skills have been non-existent for a long time.
If this school is serious about winning, they need to bring someone in that understands how to coach at this level.

Let's not forget either that Freeman won those 10 games with anywhere from 5 to 7 healthy players. He never had more then that. I remember a couple of games with only 5 players. They had to recruit people just to have bodies for 5 on 5 practices.

Thanks to these 2 young ladies for their contributions for 4 years. It can't be easy competing in this program. I wish them all the best. I am curious if anyone here feels this season represents progress, or, like me, were they expecting more after the move to the MVC. Progress, for me, would have included 2 or more unexpected "W"s this season. Looking back, I don't believe that happened. I wish these ladies well come tournament time. 

62, that is a stretch. How about giving  Sheryl Swoopes a second chance and remove the snowflakes?

Katie has a second potential championship next year even if they get moved up a class. But no she is not a candidate although she'd be ahead of Swoopes whose chance would be zero.
Austin Parkinson at IUPUI could be a possibility.

I believe Katie would be a good investment for this team. I caught a game of hers by chance this past season. She's very collected on the sidelines, manages the clock well, and clearly has her players respect and support. She would also have a great shot at getting the 2 twins that are tearing up the court to follow her here.
Regardless, something must change, period.

The twins have already verballed with Saint Louis.

We've seen, as they say, evidence that verbal commitments aren't worth the paper they're written on! 

62, that is a stretch. How about giving  Sheryl Swoopes a second chance and remove the snowflakes?

Katie has a second potential championship next year even if they get moved up a class. But no she is not a candidate although she'd be ahead of Swoopes whose chance would be zero.
Austin Parkinson at IUPUI could be a possibility.

I believe Katie would be a good investment for this team. I caught a game of hers by chance this past season. She's very collected on the sidelines, manages the clock well, and clearly has her players respect and support. She would also have a great shot at getting the 2 twins that are tearing up the court to follow her here.
Regardless, something must change, period.

This team has under-achieved with the talent on hand for many years. A one year extension or a 5 year contract won't change that. New blood, with a new philosophy is needed now.

We scored 101 earlier in the week against Evansville and yesterday we had to score 25 in the 4th quarter to reach 54.  Now that is consistency! First loss at home...

Second home loss. Lost to Bradley also 88 - 69.

Our women's team is better than our men's team for the first time in a long, long time

The MVC women's game isn't as strong as the men. It looks like a good fit, plus we have a good balance of women that are matched up very well. The women used to rely on Dani Franklin's scoring. Now we have a strong balance of Hamlet, Blood, Morrison, Hales, and others on the roster that can score. They don't have to rely on Dani to do it all. It has definitely shown more in MVC play that Dani has been a great foundation to build around, instead of letting all of the work be on Dani's shoulder, others have taken on the scoring brunt, or leadership.

It still comes down to Ws and Ls. Until we can win some games we aren't expected to, I don't see it as progress. We aren't even winning all the games we should. With the schedule so far, I would expect a 13 - 7 record, and would be disappointed if I was this coaching staff. We'll see how we fair on this road trip.

They should be 75% in the win column with the schedule they have. They have underachieved based on the talent, since coach Dorow  came on board.
On another note, previous assistant Katie Collignon is having a great season coaching Marquette Catholic. They're #2 in 1A right now. Congrats!

Keith deserves more credit than he gets on this board.  We were very competitive throughout his tenure, outside of those last 3-4 years.  Those 2 NCAA teams we had would destroy any of the teams we have put out on the floor in the last 6 seasons.  There is a large difference in athletic ability, IMO.  Our players used to be quick and could get inside.  Whenever I watch a game now, we seem so slow, and get stopped on every dribble drive.  I yearn for the days when someone like a Betsy Rietema or Jeannette Gray would come to Valpo.  They could get in the lane and open shots for other shooters at the 3 pt line, where someone like Suzie Hammel or Kathryn Knoester would knock them down on a regular basis.  Something needs to change, as we are capable of so much more...

Also, worth noting is that we were tied 35-35, so Purdue went on a 60-14 run to end the game.

Freeman's last few years at Valpo were plagued with injuries. I recall several games when he only had 5 available players. I believe most of that season he had 7 available, and he still managed 10 or 11 wins. Then there was the monkey wrench thrown in when Ladd decided to up and leave.
It's been several years since this team had a legitimate point guard, and when they did, there was little help from the coaching staff. I've believed for some time that we have a D2 staff with a D1 program. I agree, something should change.

Poor preperation. Liberty knew as Dani goes, so does Valpo. This game magnified our coaching woes. I could go on, but I will leave it at that.

They could be 7ft. It won't matter if the coaches can't figure out how to work with and develop the bigs. I don't see a coach on staff that can do that.

IMHO, the weakest link is philosophy. It hasn't worked, and it hasn't changed. You would think with the different influx of coaches and ideas over the past several years, something would get tweeked, or changed to some degree. It hasn't happened. We need a coach that knows how to work with, and develop the bigs. Our position, and footwork inside is terrible. Our offense is too vanilla and predictable. I don't see that changing this season.

This young lady has talent. Hate saying it, but like many before her, I think she will under-achieve with this coaching staff. Let's hope if a change comes after this season, she still has interest.