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Didn't notice this earlier but in their 111 total minutes of freshman play the 4 had 0 TOs.  Is that correct? Palm had more than that in 1 minute.

Without Stafford in the Missouri St game our 4 freshmen starters played 111 minutes of the 200 and scored 40 of the 70 points. In a loss all that means little except as a gauge for their forced rapid developments. I'd call it a crash course in D-1 hard knocks basketball. When Roger was looking for a spark he was benching starting freshmen to bring in seniors. Didn't work as the seniors went scoreless.  We needed more from our sophomores as it wasn't a great night for Ajiboye or Edwards.

I think the brother was signed before Cooper.  And I thought I heard Coach say we were the only offer Cooper had.  ?? 

Just visited Raider Nation and all I could find is that he was a late walk on and is redshirting. I'm not sure Carson got any offers. Should we try to steal him before they wake up? 

=== so the beauty contest in ppg + rpg     and then appending minutes per game:

Schwieger - Valpo  11.6   5.8   =  17.4    28.7 minutes per game for 20 games, started all of them
Overton - Drake  12.3  3.3  = 15.6   29.9 minutes per game for 20 games, started all of them
Bailey - Evansville  10.0   2.9  =  12.9   19.1 minutes per game, for 19 games with ONE start
Hughes - Evansville   7.8   4.5  = 12.3   20.7 minutes per game, for 20 games with 6 starts
Williamson - Valpo  8.6   1.7  = 10.3   18.6 minutes per game for 18 games with 3 starts
Sepp - Valpo   4.7   4.5   = 9.2    21.3 minutes per game for 16 games with 9 starts
Garland - Drake   5.4   3.0   =  8.4    20.2 minutes per game for 20 games with 2 starts
Kinziger - Ill State  6.1   2.0   =  8.1  19.9 minutes per game for 20 games, NO starts

The Overton vs Schweiger numbers are very close when you delve into all the categories but in conference only play Cooper seems to have the early clear edge. Talksalot has numbers for the full season to date and Ill dress these out a bit with each almost identical in % at the line and from the field. Cooper shoots far fewer 3's but hits 37% vs 33.4%. Points scored 245 vs 232 edge to Overton. 115 vs 66 RB going to Schweiger. 20 blocks vs 5 because Overton is a guard but he has a 24 to 10 assist to TO number vs 21 to 37 for Cooper.  Lots more basketball needs to be played to sort this all out and with no worry about our at-large chances we have plenty of time to devote to other basketball questions. 

This topic has already been started on the Valley fan board and not surprisingly Cooper is the leading FOY candidate. Sepp and Williamson also mentioned as long shots in the all freshman team composition. None of us have weighed in yet but I eventually will and having this topic here should help us keep our 4 freshman comments in one place.

Lastly, can we focus on the improvement of the team the remainder of the season. Lets enjoy this, because we have the right coaching staff in place and are getting the most out of our roster limitations/experience. Can we worry about roster shakeups in the offseason, because we don't know what the hell will happen?!. As far as we can all see, the team seems pretty bought in to the coaching staff/culture at the moment.  Just maybe, just maybe...they all want to come back next year. Show up Saturday to Mo State! Full Stop

If the team has bought into Roger Powell as much as we have then I wouldn't be predicting defections. 

Its fun to watch these kids even when they lose. Their improvement from early December has been enormous.

I'll start by saying that we will likely not be favored in any so we could have 7 solid basketball outings and still maybe not reach my 2-5 projection.  For maintaining team momentum it will be important to remain respectably close for these probable road losses.

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.

Ola 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.

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.  Very few turnovers by the Flames but we won the rebound game with our super short lineup.

Snow ending by 9:00 AM with a balmy 15 degree game time temp. Lets go find a win!

The development of Darius into one of the leagues best point guards is nothing short of amazing.  Last year no one bothered to guard him and now he is scoring from the 3 as well as in the lane,  shooting 33% from the 3, over 80% from the line while having better than a 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio and currently on pace to have the third most assists in a season in Valpo history!

Went to the archives for TO comparisons. I thought that Deion Lavender might have a better assist to turn over ratio but he was less than 2 to 1 and was a very weak shooter from anywhere on the floor. The ratio for Lexus also trails. Trevor Anderson had great numbers but played so little from the injuries that they can't be compared. Reidinger also had a good ratio but with limited minutes and poor shooting. You have to go back to Keith Carter for great point guard number. 161 assists vs 59 turn overs his senior season!  . BUT! He was surrounded by excellent veteran shooters and playmakers instead of a center less band of rookies who largely can't shoot.

I like Edwards overall, but he needs to be held to one 3 point shot each game.  If he makes it, he can try another, to see if he has a hot hand.  However, he is very much like Donovan Clay, where he is athletic as heck, and can shoot well from inside the 3 point line, and should live in more of the mid-range. 

I pretty much agree. He can defend and rebound and blocks some shots but is a marginal shooter that turns the ball over while making few assists. I want him to stay but his role on the 24-25 team should be very different resulting in less minutes.

Anyone else being tortured by the same ESPN ad over and over?

Annoying but worse yet was that I lost ESPN with about 7 minutes left.

Valpo went with experience tonight. Only 86 freshman minutes played in comparison with the 105 at ISU red. 45 minutes played by the sophmores, 69 by the 2 juniors and none of the 3 seniors took the floor.

Yeah, MVC players doing well at IA, IL, Purdue and NE. Like MVC is their farm system with extra Covid year.

As the Covid years phase out mid major coaches who can recruit, develop and hold onto good players should rise to the top. Roger Powell should have a bright future. 

I am just glad you folks haven't booted this old UE grad off your forum.

If we get boot stomped tonight all of us might DEMAND your removal! 

Thinking back I believe I did see a game during those Sloan, Humes years but it was at Saint Joe. Dad thought the Pumas could keep it close and I think it was close for the first 6 or 7 minutes.

It sucks to lose 10 of 11 against any team

Many of our MVC streaks are edging close to this but from the losing side. 

I won't deny that we played with energy (in spite of a couple of three minute droughts); still, any fair assessment has to recognize that Ill St had a bad night.

True. Coach Ryon Pedon played everybody (13) with multiple minutes. This hints at a level of overconfidence which may have spilled over on to their practice routines and game planning. When everybody plays bad look for the simple answers.

Schweiger should lead the team in shots!!!!. He had the advantage in the post all game and had very few touches in the paint. Either he needs to work harder in the post to get open or the offense needs to design ways to get him more looks. Stafford shots to waaaay to much!. We have a team of inexperience/youth and a late coaching hire.

Agreed on both counts - Cooper shoot more Stafford shoot less.

Stafford drives me nuts.

Schweiger appears to be listening to his coaches thus reducing his marginal 3 point attempts to get better inside looks. As his inside game and the team surrounding him improves then his outside shooting opportunities should grow with him. By necessity (we have no inside game) Cooper is doing some of this as a freshman while Peters did much of it his junior season. There is much for him to learn both inside and out but this small adjustment could slightly improve our team and his offensive rebounding.

Stafford will shoot far less as this team matures and expands. Next season there might be games when we complain about him not taking shots. 

105 freshman minutes, 33 from the sophomores, 63 from juniors and Palm made a very brief (1 minute) appearance to represent the senior class. Wait until next year! 

Guessing that our freshmen played around 110 minutes? 

Wardle can coach

Yes he can. He was one of the best coaches in the Horizon and remains annually as one of the best in the MVC. We can like him or not but his coaching ability is not a matter of question.

Roger now knows what it takes to win in the Valley and we are a few players short.  Whether or not the current guys will mature into those needed players is a question he and his staff need to answer. 

Add an inside big who can score and another versatile forward with good 3 point confidence and suddenly we are much improved. Can Manyang and Scroggins fill these needs?

My question is what's happened to Schwieger? I don't know if he's sick, has an injury or has gotten on Powell's bad side but he isn't remotely the same guy we saw at the start of the season.

Cooper has a freshman game with many of the typical freshman limitations. He has also been singled out because we have so few good scoring options. He will get better as the team gets better.

I look forward to seeing how well Powell recruits and works the transfer protocol.

I had hoped that Roger could have landed one highly sought big impact player last spring but it didn't happen. 2024-25 is a new year and a new season!

Sepp never dazzles us but his play is remarkably consistent. In his 228 minutes of freshman play he has only 9 turn overs which reminds me of Kiser in his walk on season.

Much better effort but we were outplayed when it counted.

Didn't see it was already started, it won't let me delete...

Leave it! Last year no one would start a game thread and now we are back to competing for it!  If I thought it would help I would start a 3rd UIC game thread because I'm feeling very optimistic. 

16 of our 20 TOs by freshmen with 7 committed by Jahari and 5 by Cooper. Their rookie weaknesses and tendencies seem to have all been well scouted. 

Not going to win many when only one member of the team is playing well. Our freshmen contributors are all pretty much MIA. That happens. Second half?