Gee, it wasn't that long ago... NOW, we have another chance to improve the seeding for Thursday in the Enterprise Center....
Saturday's valley schedule:
Evansville 2-5 @ Drake
Missouri State 2-5 Hosts Illinois State
Illinois State 2-5 at Missouri State
UIC 1-5
Valpo 1-6
(Belmont at Bradley and SIU at Northern Iowa)
With a win, we become tied with UIC, the loser of MoSt /IllSt and presumably Evansville.
Not to pour salt in the open wound, but to recap the debacle in Chicago...
The Beacons didn't score for over seven minutes during which time UIC inched ahead with an 8-0 run. Stafford's bucket at 8:20 proved to be the team's final made field goal of the evening before the final 10 shots were off the mark.
Valpo stayed in it late by holding UIC to just one made field goal in its final eight attempts including a Flames scoring drought of over two minutes to close the game.
We missed 40 shots on the game: 25 2-pointers and 15 3-pointers... and we missed 5 free throws.
Since they beat us... the Flames have:
Lost at UNI - 67-59
Lost at home to Bradley - 77-59
Lost at home to Murray State - 73-58
From the Valpo crackerjack athletics marketing guru...
Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The Valparaiso University men's basketball team will return home on Saturday to welcome UIC for a 3 p.m. tip at the Athletics-Recreation Center. The world-famous Pacers Power Pack will bring their high-energy halftime dunk show to the ARC. Before the game, all children 12 and under are invited to join a pregame basketball clinic hosted by the Valpo team and staff from 1-2 p.m. The clinic is free with a game ticket and all attendees receive a Valpo drawstring bag. In addition, free mini-basketballs will be given away to the first 500 fans and postgame autographs will be available.
The epitome of a youthful team:
The team's 78-75 loss at Evansville on Jan. 17 marked the fourth time this season that the Beacons have dropped a game decided by four points or fewer. Dating back to last season, the Beacons have dropped nine straight games decided by four points or fewer with their most recent win by four points or fewer coming on Nov. 27, 2022 vs. James Madison.
We got this. Do you like Red Kool-Aid?
Valpo is near the bottom of Div-I in scoring efficiency at #335 (85.6 pts. per 100 possessions). I think they can win this game and I am hopeful; however, until they prove the offense has improved, I am reluctant to pick them for a win: UIC 71, VU 67
Valpo 72
UIC 68
Connor gets some minutes in this one.
Another winnable game. Can we have a good offensive game at the same time as a decent defensive game? We need to show the MVC we are improving.
Valpo 68
UIC 64
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Valpo 71
UIC 65
Snow ending by 9:00 AM with a balmy 15 degree game time temp. Lets go find a win!
Valpo 75, UIC 71. These guys are growing and improving, which is a beautiful thing.
Coach hopefully has the hook ready for Stafford as the potential for the opposite of the last game is likely pretty high.
If so, I think Valpo gets a win 70-65.
If not, potential is there to be shot out of the game before there's a chance to recover.
UiC 74
Valpo 63
Just not feeling it. UIC looking to rebound from 3 poor quality games. They have the confidence to beat the Beacons.
It's a Saturday afternoon game, 15 degrees out and the Packers don't play till tonight. Hope the crowd isn't blah, the band is lively, because I'm saying the Beacons surprise us all and win by 12 8-)
Plus a fun halftime dunk show :thumbsup:
Valpo 76
UIC 71
Revenge time for a team that is visibly improving.
76-66 Valpo. Flames are going nowhere. Cooper goes for another double double, 18 and 11
Valpo wins this one, 67-64
Whatever we are doing to prepare for beginning of games needs to be looked into - we can't give up a 10 point lead early in the first this often
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And Stafford continues to yo-yo
Nice dead tv space during that timeout
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Stafford should not have the green light that he does , Roger is better than this IMO. Play team basketball , Roger has not been the tactician that id thought he'd be...
Why the heck is Cooper passing up wide open 3's to get it to Stafford, when he sees that Stafford is 1/11 today? There is a certain point where you just need to realize that he doesn't have it today, and someone else needs to take that open shot. He was wide open and passed it up...
Quote from: valpotx on January 20, 2024, 03:31:01 PM
Why the heck is Cooper passing up wide open 3's to get it to Stafford, when he sees that Stafford is 1/11 today? There is a certain point where you just need to realize that he doesn't have it today, and someone else needs to take that open shot. He was wide open and passed it up...
Yeah, right now feed Weatherspoon!
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Yeah but that's not team basketball , we'll continue to lose if our ball movement is stagnant! Sherman and others will makes those but not at a clip that wins games!!!
We need to hammer the ball inside for most of the rest of this game, as they are already at 6 fouls. It is a huge failing in this game, if we don't take advantage at this point. Let's see how this turns out.
Yeah was just about to say why are we not driving to the hoop every possession with all the fouls uic have picked up
GET STAFFORD OUT OF THE GAME, Roger just ride or die , REALLY REALLY BAD !!!
The biggest difference in most of our losses this season, is that our opponents hit their wide open 3s, while we miss ours. This is a big area that our most successful teams have thrived, in always making sure to hit those wide open looks, which we had a bunch in the first half (Stafford).
Double bonus for the last 10:40...go inside!
Bench Stafford and put in Jahari.
Terrible defensive series by Edwards on that Rivera basket. He was jumping at every fake...
Credit to Stafford over the last 5 minutes, as he played like dog sh!t for the first 3/4 of the game, and has righted himself
Also have to credit Edwards, as I don't think that he is a good 3 point shooter, but he made it when it mattered, especially after getting posterized
Ohhhhh my , finally!!
Let's see if Todd jinxed Darius, in talking about his FT shooting
No announcer jinx! I know that it is not a real thing, but it does seem to coincide quite often in games. Good win, even though UIC isn't a good team. We showed resilience, which is all I can ask for from a young team.
To put things in perspective, things could be worse, and we could be Detroit. Holy crap, I didn't realize that they were this bad nowadays at 0-20 (0-9), and just lost to Youngstown by 40!
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401587704
While we all acknowledge UIC, Illinois State are not very good teams (Redbirds won at MSU today!), Would a Lottich team found a way to win this kinda game last year? This team is more determined. We still have lapses on defense, leaving shooters wide open, not contesting, backdoored a few times, but we are lacking a lot of size down low and at the guard position, giving way to UIC's advantage inside on the switches. As much as I would like to see Schweiger get more shot attempts/be more aggressive, he does a great job of staying patient and letting the game come to him. The last three game have giving the team a lot of confidence in them selves and a believe in the coaching staff/system.! Stafford can shoot you in games and out of games, but today was a team effort. I asked after the SIU game if this team had seen it's ceiling, well maybe it hasn't. Today was an example of getting the most out of your roster. IMO a great season for this squad would be to avoid the play in game. I could see us going 3-3 in our next 6 games. We are no longer in last place, lol.
Avoiding the play-in game is not likely. Remember, we are now a 12 team conference, so there is a full slate of games on Thursday. Only the top 4 teams get a bye.
Quote from: valpotx on January 20, 2024, 05:04:50 PM
To put things in perspective, things could be worse, and we could be Detroit. Holy crap, I didn't realize that they were this bad nowadays at 0-20 (0-9), and just lost to Youngstown by 40!
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401587704 (https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401587704)
Bad time in the Motor City for Mike Davis. It's a long way from when he coached IU in the National championship game.
That was a fun game to watch. I hope the word gets out that this is an entertaining team and we start to see more fans at the ARC.
Great win! Way to stay in game, then push ahead in final minutes.
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It might not matter to other folks, but with the remaining home games, I do now see a path to keeping our streak of .500 and above record at home. It is something like 30 seasons in a row, and not a small thing to boast about. We are 5-6 at home now, and have some winnable/50-50 games for the rest of the season. I would be ecstatic to keep this alive in a down year, just as we did in the 2008-2009 season.
Ola was active and aggressive. He was the difference in the game.
Free throws and rebounds also.
Love how the coaches keep this team engaged.
They didn't give up and just fold like the last few years teams. It's only going to get better and I enjoy watching this team.
The difference was the 15 fouls called on UIC in the 2nd half & Valpo shot 19 for 21 free throws in the 2nd half after only getting 3 free throws in the 1st half.
Big first half minutes for our freshmen (sometimes all 4) but we trailed. Down the stretch we played our veteran group which is 1 frosh, 2 sophomores, and 2 juniors. :o Very few turnovers by the Flames but we won the rebound game with our super short lineup.
Agreed on the foul calling. What a weird two halves with the same ref crew. Hardly any contact was called in the first half, while all contact was called in the second half on both teams
Well folks, what we saw was the maturing of a basketball team. I couldn't watch it live but just finished watching it on tape plus the presser. What I saw was a team that could have easily folded as the much more experienced team kept hitting 3 after 3 but NOOOOO, to my surprise they kept fighting and fighting and... WE WON!!!!!!! A fantastic never say die effort! We are on the right track! GO BEACONS!!
Tjjvalpo - mentioning anything about the tournament play in game is comedy. These guys are growing, and leave it at that.
Quote from: covufan on January 20, 2024, 03:14:35 PMWhatever we are doing to prepare for beginning of games needs to be looked into
Letting Stafford onto the court?
One thing that has to happen in the next nine months: Cooper has to gain 20# - 25#. I watched him drive to the hoop and saw him being easily leveraged away from the basket by the guy who was guarding him. He missed the shot. That will come eventually with maturity, but it can be accelerated with a strength program.
Different observation. UIC leads the MVC in blocks, I believe. Why? From our game, our guy penetrates, a defender goes for the block, misses, but another defender is right behind and swats the ball away. These guys have a mindset that maybe we should consider. Of course being taller would help.
FWIW, there was a time in the game when we went super small, but, dang, we pulled it off and didn't get crushed.
We are now in the second half of the season. It looks like there's another red shirt - Manyang.
Some signs of 2nd half of the season improvement.
The guards are terribly inconsistent shooters from game-to-game; it seems they're either hot or they're not. They're all shooting under 40% on the season. Is Stafford sufficiently feared that keeping him out there while he's denting rims (or missing them completely) is a good coaching decision? Can the coaching staff find a way to go with the hotter hands???
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-wQDrkhw8o8&si=GXvrESn_P15s_Ntu
Last season our veteran team finished 5-15 in Valley regular season play. Now at 2-6 we have paths to equal that with almost nothing in senior contributions.
Quote from: Chairback on January 20, 2024, 06:07:37 PMOla was active and aggressive. He was the difference in the game.
I still do not have a good take on how much improvement Edwards and Ajiboye can bring to the remainder of this and more importantly all of the future 24-25 and 25-26 seasons. They will both get better but how much better? Will their upside potentials significantly affect how Roger Powell recruits during the offseason? I would love to hear what all of you think about this.
There is no doubt that the atmosphere and energy of the team, led by Coach Powell and exhibited here in the locker room, has changed dramatically. This level of celebrating might be infrequent now, and it will take time plus a steady diet of winning to fully transfer that atmosphere to the stands or elevate attendance above last night's 1400; however, if anyone can do it, Powell is the guy.
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This was Ajiboye's first time here at Valpo getting major minutes in a key stretch of a key ball game. He did fumble a couple of post entry passes and missed some layups and he is a bit under sized but it is tough to judge right now based on an initial 8 minute stretch whether or not he's a keeper long term. Culture wise he seems to be a great fit. Edwards is athletic and as long as he guards and rebounds and establishes consistency in those two areas also should be a keeper as a role guy. Areas of recruiting focus on my view are at least two more athletic wings who can create more consistently than we are currently getting from Stafford, a knock down three point shooter off the bench who teams need to cheat to the open the paint up and a young backup PG of the future that can help drop Darius' minutes into 30 plus or minus vs 34+ he has been playing in MVC games. And one more solid 5 who is like 6'10" and protect the rim would be a nice to have
The Sunday NWI Times had a brief AP article five sentences long topped by a file photo of Schwieger and a headline of "Valparaiso Defeats UIC" six pages deep into its sports section. This may seem minimal, but usually there isn't even a story, and it is a start to resumption of recognition by local media. Winning can do that.
It's a process that takes time, but I do believe Coach Powell has started the right process (regarding getting to the right culture and talent).
Good win!
Agree Bumbo. I think Lucas, Lual and Justus McNair will fill some of those roles next year.
They will have to play flawless to win at Carbondale, but hopefully they can keep the game close no worse than a 10 point loss. MO State comes to town Saturday and Stick a fork in Dana Ford with the AD's vote of no confidence last week. Would love to see attendance crack 2,000 against Donovan Clay. Again as many have pointed out, continued winning will solve the lack of attendance. No reason to think they can't split their next four games.
Yeah, 10 point loss to SIU away would be respectable at this point.
I said at the beginning of the season, that Ola needed to put on some muscle, similar to Jubril's transformation over his Valpo career. You can tell, based on the presser, that Ola has been hitting the gym and is well on the way to doing so!
Amazing that in a game in which Darius and Isaiah were a combined 7-26 shooting, we scored 84 points and won the game going away. Hats off to our bigs Cooper and Ola, who shot a combined 9-16 from the field, a perfect 15-15 from the line, and had a combined 16 rebounds.
If anyone has any doubts that Roger Powell is the right guy, then watch the post-game that wh posted.
Sooooo many impressive things about what he said and how he talked about his players.
He uses these post-games to message to us and to his players. The remarks about practicing free throw shooting? Awesome. He's using that moment not only to tell the fans that these kids have been encouraged to work on their FT games, but also to remind the three young men at the table with him about how that extra work is paying off.
His remarks about admitting his mistakes? That's for us and for them as well. It's about learning from mistakes and moving on.
Brilliant, exceptional coaching character.