12/23 Game Thread: @ IUPUI

[vuweathernerd]

is there no audio? i just tried to get the wake stream up through the valpo site, and got nothing.

[swiftmutiny]

Here is the audio from IUPUI: http://www.iheart.com/#/live/905/?autoplay=true

[Crusader03]

http://www.iheart.com/#/live/905/?autoplay=true

[vuweathernerd]

boy, they've come storming back in the second half to make this a game. making up for the oakland collapse, i guess? that'd be a good thing.

[vuweathernerd]

are they guarding ryan tightly? 2 pts in 19 minutes? or is there something else going on?

[swiftmutiny]

are they guarding ryan tightly? 2 pts in 19 minutes? or is there something else going on?

I got the audio up late into the game, but I heard that he was jogging on the sidelines trying to stretch his legs out. He's still playing so hopefully he's okay.

[Valpo925]

Ryan aggravated that same hip injury. Trainer took a look at it but I'm assuming hes ok as he is back in the game

[Crusader03]

  Buggs fouled out!  This is an INSANE turn of events!!!

[swiftmutiny]

Kevin, Matt and Will also have 4 fouls. IUPUI has gone 29/34 (85%) on FTs.

[Crusader03]

Kevin, Matt and Will also have 4 fouls. IUPUI has gone 29/34 (85%) on FTs.

Even the IUPUI announcers have commented on how bad the officiating has been for VU.  That said, officiating is not the reason Buggs fouled out.  He just doesn't know how to play defense without using his hands...so talented, yet so undisciplined.

[wh]

Kevin, Matt and Will also have 4 fouls. IUPUI has gone 29/34 (85%) on FTs.

Even the IUPUI announcers have commented on how bad the officiating has been for VU.  That said, officiating is not the reason Buggs fouled out.  He just doesn't know how to play defense without using his hands...so talented, yet so undisciplined.

They commented about a bad no-call on a drive by Matt Kinney, but after watching the game I can confidently say we committed nearly every one of the 33 fouls that were called against us.  Just a terrible job of playing defense.  I wish there was a stat for getting beat off the dribble.  We may have set a modern collegiate record.

[valpopal]

Some quick points:

Rowdy gets only 1 field goal and takes only 5 shots: he has to be hurting?

Kevin gets only 2 rebounds, and I think both might have been on his own miss?

Buggs fouls out, but so do 3 others, and another 3 have 4 fouls each? We lost by 21 points at the free throw line (IUPUI had almost 50 free throws), and it would have been worse if we didn't shoot a great 20-24 from the charity stripe!

Early in the season we were winning by out-rebounding and shooting more free throws, plus with Buggs not fouling out and playing whole games for defense.

Also, 0-8 at the 3-point line in first half didn't help, but the 3-point shooting was good in the second half at 8-11.

If you told me we were going to score 88 points (or 62 in the second half), I would have thought we couldn't lose. Yet, somehow we did. 

[VUfan]

Good thing we do not play in the summit league, it's to tough! 

[sectionee]

http://sectionee.blogspot.com/2011/12/iupui-wrap-up.html

Ryan came out with his wrist wrapped to start the game then banged up his hip.  Sader03, Buggs fouling out had everything to do with the refs.  Obviously he wasn't the only one having foul trouble.  Two of his fouls were very iffy at best. 

My biggest concern is Ryan's health and that for the second game in the last three we haven't had an answer for the opposing team's best player.  Young was a lefty who went left nearly every time without much resistance. 

Oh well...let's get better and be ready for when the real fun begins next week!

[IndyValpo]

Kevin, Matt and Will also have 4 fouls. IUPUI has gone 29/34 (85%) on FTs.

Even the IUPUI announcers have commented on how bad the officiating has been for VU.  That said, officiating is not the reason Buggs fouled out.  He just doesn't know how to play defense without using his hands...so talented, yet so undisciplined.

They commented about a bad no-call on a drive by Matt Kinney, but after watching the game I can confidently say we committed nearly every one of the 33 fouls that were called against us.  Just a terrible job of playing defense.  I wish there was a stat for getting beat off the dribble.  We may have set a modern collegiate record.

You watched the game on-line and could tell that nearly all of the calls were correct.  Wow, impressive.  Seriously, we never adjusted to touch/bump fouls that were being called 35 feet from the basket.  I think the bigger issue was lack of calls on our end. That is why Bryce went after a technical.  One official in particular was definitely not our friend.  The officials, however, did not beat us. Lazy sloppy play in the first half was the killer.  We will always struggle against a team of quick slashers and that is what IUPUI did to us....repeatedly.  Perhaps we should have tried more zone defense in this case.

Good to see TD and STL....it had been awhile.

[sectionee]

Did anyone else at the game catch the conversation between Tommy Kurth and Coach at the end of the game.  It looked like Bryce was going to send Kurth in to foul, but then sent in Shelton instead. 

[wh]

Kevin, Matt and Will also have 4 fouls. IUPUI has gone 29/34 (85%) on FTs.

Even the IUPUI announcers have commented on how bad the officiating has been for VU.  That said, officiating is not the reason Buggs fouled out.  He just doesn't know how to play defense without using his hands...so talented, yet so undisciplined.

They commented about a bad no-call on a drive by Matt Kinney, but after watching the game I can confidently say we committed nearly every one of the 33 fouls that were called against us.  Just a terrible job of playing defense.  I wish there was a stat for getting beat off the dribble.  We may have set a modern collegiate record.

You watched the game on-line and could tell that nearly all of the calls were correct.  Wow, impressive.  Seriously, we never adjusted to touch/bump fouls that were being called 35 feet from the basket.  I think the bigger issue was lack of calls on our end. That is why Bryce went after a technical.  One official in particular was definitely not our friend.  The officials, however, did not beat us. Lazy sloppy play in the first half was the killer.  We will always struggle against a team of quick slashers and that is what IUPUI did to us....repeatedly.  Perhaps we should have tried more zone defense in this case.

Good to see TD and STL....it had been awhile.

Thank you for confirming my point.

[StlVUFan]

Not that it will do any good, but I think it is unfortunate that criticism of the refs is reflexively met with "the refs didn't cost us the game."  I'm not sure I blame anybody for that a whole lot, it probably comes from past experience.  Nevertheless, it tends to end the conversation while glossing over the fact that both teams deserve competence from the refs, regardless of the outcome or partisan feelings.

It should of course be child's play to discern that it is impossible to pinpoint one culprit for any outcome.  There's no proof that had all the fouls the Jaguars committed been actually called, Valpo would have won.  Intuitively, everyone knows this, including those of us who feel compelled to talk about bad officiating.

While I'm at it, I'm kinda tired of hearing "all we expect is for them to call it the same way for both sides."  Speaking only for myself, if I was a player or a coach, I would expect them to call it *accurately* as well as consistently (I'm also tired of hearing this phrase in baseball with respect to the strike zone).

Saying that the one referee did a piss-poor job and frankly embarrassed himself does not excuse Valpo's performance.  But it also doesn't excuse the referee's performance, either.

This was not aimed at anyone in particular in this thread, it's just something that has always bothered me and seemed appropos.

I would project that even if the officiating was competent and Valpo was at 100%, Alex Young would still have been -- hands down -- the best player on the court today, and 2nd best probably wore a Jaguar uniform as well, though I'm not sure which one it would be.

I don't think we got the ball in to Kevin nearly enough.  Every time we did, he made something happen.

I'll echo Indy's assessment by saying that they owned the paint on both ends for the most part.  9 blocks to 1 for us, and anytime they wanted to, they could drive the lane and either score an easy basket or get fouled (or both).  I would actually say that even if the game was officiated competently, they still would have shot more FTs than we did because they were a lot more aggressive than we were.

I do think there's no reason to write off the season.  Given almost a week before the next game, we might get healthier and regain our form by the time the Panthers come to visit, and those are the games that really matter.

I wouldn't hold my breath on our two uncleared transfers, though.  There's no moving the Glacier, I'm afraid. 

[StlVUFan]

By the way, in the misery loves company category, Oakland just laid an egg at the O'Rena, losing by 15 to a depleted WMU squad.  Also Lorenzo Romar's Huskies got skunked at home by Note Wolters and the SDSU JackRabbits a couple of days ago.

We aren't the only fans scratching our heads today

I would agree that Butler is on the way up and we are on the way down right now.  Same with Detroit, perhaps.  Cleveland State still seems like the frontrunner.

Frankly, I look forward to Thursday, because I really don't know what is going to happen and won't until it happens.  And that's what's fun about sports.

[Crusader03]

http://sectionee.blogspot.com/2011/12/iupui-wrap-up.html

Ryan came out with his wrist wrapped to start the game then banged up his hip.  Sader03, Buggs fouling out had everything to do with the refs.  Obviously he wasn't the only one having foul trouble.  Two of his fouls were very iffy at best. 

My biggest concern is Ryan's health and that for the second game in the last three we haven't had an answer for the opposing team's best player.  Young was a lefty who went left nearly every time without much resistance. 

Oh well...let's get better and be ready for when the real fun begins next week!

Sectionee, I will take your word for it since you were there.  However, Buggs has put himself in a "boy that cried wolf" position here...he is so aggressive and in foul trouble so often that it is hard to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[bbtds]

It will be a very interesting game Saturday, January 7th, when IUPUI goes up to Rochester Hills, MI and takes on the Kampe led Grizzlies of OU. I have a feeling the Jaguars will give Oakland all they can handle and more when they travel to Michigan. The O'Rena will not be nearly as quiet as BLF was on Friday against Valpo after IUPUI got out to a commanding lead.

03, did you figure out what BLF meant? It seems that kind of thing is right up your alley.

[Crusader03]

It will be a very interesting game Saturday, January 7th, when IUPUI goes up to Rochester Hills, MI and takes on the Kampe led Grizzlies of OU. I have a feeling the Jaguars will give Oakland all they can handle and more when they travel to Michigan. The O'Rena will not be nearly as quiet as BLF was on Friday against Valpo after IUPUI got out to a commanding lead.

03, did you figure out what BLF meant? It seems that kind of thing is right up your alley.

I know a jab when I see one...I REFUSE to sink to this level, TYVMBBTDS.