Valpo @ Cleveland State, Sat 1/25, 2 PM ET tip

[justducky]

Will it be man or will it be zone? As good as the man has looked in recent games I have to wonder if CSU can cut it apart. On the other hand there were a few YSU posessions where our zone coverage was pretty good.

For the most part I would call this years team as quick or maybe quicker than last years version. So why has the zone given up so many easy looks? Is there enough complexity to the ameoba to explain the falloff in results (because of all the freshmen and newcomers)? Has something new been introduced? I thought I spotted some irregularity in some of the coverages against YSU?

[SanityLost17]

Man vs. Zone...  Hopefully one of them will work.  CSU will hit their open looks from 3, where as YSU missed a lot of the open ones we gave them.  If we can contest their 3 point shots, I think we will win.  If we allow open looks, we lose.  Pretty simple.   

[wh]

Up 10-5 at the first media break.  How long has it been since we started off this well?

[a3uge]

This article confirms what most of us suspected that officials have backed off calling all the illegal defensive contact.  I have especially noticed the difference on the perimeter. In the WSU game their defenders pushed and body blocked our players while fighting their way through perimeter picks.  It's all about disrupting offensive flow and wearing the opponent down physically. Add to that the intentional tripping by their guards when they were beaten off the dribble (only 2 of which were called) and it becomes the source of a lot of frustration with officiating.

While games were borderline unwatchable at the beginning of the year, I feel that most teams adapted and the games were no longer decided on toss up 50/50 charging or blocking calls. They've completely abandoned this aspect and you'll see much more flops on defense... funny how defenders are able to draw charge calls from mintor contact after tripping, shoving, grabbing etc.

[wh]

4 min 16 sec. since with no FG's.  2nd media TO.  Down 15-11.

[wh]

Why is LVD on the bench for an extended period after a hot start?  Is he hurt?

[oklahomamick]

Hand checks?  They are allowed?  100% of the time our guards are dribbling with a CSU holding them. 

[wh]

LVD on the bench for extended minutes killed all momentum.  CSU on a 20-3 run, most of which occurred with LaVonte out.  How can you explain that?  Now we'll have to play catch-up for who knows how long.

[Smj]

No offense. ... No defense. ..   Not a great combination .    feel apart when we did our first substitution

[Smj]

We are getting hammered inside

[wh]

We're getting hammered inside, but it still frustrates me about LVD being on the bench for so long.  I hope whatever lesson he was being taught was worth the price we paid for it.

[a3uge]

11:36 without a field goal... that's... um...

[oklahomamick]

Maybe I'm frustrated that we aren't playing well, but I'm tired of playing these commuter schools in front 100 fans. 

[classof2014]

Dority has a red hot start and sits on the bench for about 8 minutes in the first half? As soon as he came out we were lost. Unless he got hurt, he should have remained in there and it is probably a different game. Also 5 points were nullified because of fouls. Lucky to only be down 11. Not an impossible comeback.

[a3uge]

On that Lexus and Coleman fast break... how did they not call anything? They intentionally tried fouling Coleman to stop the fast break, and then Lexus got contacted mid air.

The physical play just doesn't favor us. Our bigs are easily moved and our guards are too small. I would say Capo should play a bit more, but he seems completely incapable of guarding the perimeter.

[atkins]

Horrible match-up zone defense.  We're really slow to the ball, compared to CSU, can't shoot consistently, and have almost no offense in the post.  Our rebounding is also really poor despite our height advantage.  These are lingering problems that continue to show up game after game. 

This debacle can't be blamed on the freshmen.  Freshmen are expected to be inconsistent, but the upperclassmen are just not consistently solid.  They just don't seem to be able to step it up to another level when needed. 

[wh]

LaVonte must be hurt.  It's the only thing that makes any sense.

[Smj]

It is bryce's job to work the refs.    He has not seemed to be disappointed with a call yet.

[wh]

Horrible match-up zone defense.  We're really slow to the ball, compared to CSU, can't shoot consistently, and have almost no offense in the post.  Our rebounding is also really poor despite our height advantage.  These are lingering problems that continue to show up game after game. 

This debacle can't be blamed on the freshmen.  Freshmen are expected to be inconsistent, but the upperclassmen are just not consistently solid.  They just don't seem to be able to step it up to another level when needed. 

100% accurate observations. 

[oklahomamick]

I think a lot of our misses are due to hands in the face and strong defense by CSU. 

[Smj]

Actually ..   We have them right where we want them.   We are down 11 at the half - seems like we like being down at half.

[oklahomamick]

This 2nd half = a lot of turnovers

[a3uge]

Capo, Yeo, Chadwick, Coleman, Carter... oh god.

[oklahomamick]

The way things are going, we will be lucky to make it to 50 points.

[wh]

This game is over.  Bryce's loss.