Oakland @ Valpo - Sunday 2/8/15, 2PM CT

[agibson]

Watching at home, I thought the ARC crowd sounded really tepid and quiet for such a close game.  Anyone else?

Decent looking crowd, and they sounded OK on video - but I think some of that was just heavy mixing of cheerleaders.

I'm not sure where the students were!

[agibson]

I like one thing about Green Bay in our next game .  They travel to Youngstown for a Wednesday game then on to Valparaiso.  Worst trip in the Horizon.  Can't hurt.

Do NCAA rules mandate going home for Thursday classes?  Seems crazy, but is the rule 48 hours?  Might even depend on game times?

[Valpofan00]

what was todays attendance?

[valpo4life]

A couple people have mentioned how Oakland was able to shut down Alec today. Which I agree happened, but only to a point. There were not nearly the amount of sets called to get him a look compared to a "normal" game. Bryce used him as a screener to start our dribble weave action because they weren't going to help off of him. And when he wasn't setting a screen, he was on the block sealing his man to allow for a more direct path for a layup. Vashil could be seen doing the same thing on the other block. It was just a phenomenal use of Alec knowing it was going to be tough for him to get any clean looks. And he also may have set the best screen I have ever seen in a half court setting on Daniels. That was a big time collision.

[historyman]

what was todays attendance?

It's always listed next to the score line on the boxscore--4,267

http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/boxscore/2014-15/4628/oakland-02-08-2015/

[wh]

As previously mentioned, an interesting moment in the post-game press conference came at the end when Nickerson seemed perplexed by Oren's question about his health. When Paul asked, Nickerson responded that he was not 100% yet. However, that brought back images of E. Victor hobbling on crutches last year, which I contrasted with the athletic individual we now see running the court, slashing into the lane, drawing contact, and jumping over opponents, as well as being placed into the point guard position and defending some of the conference's quickest players. Then in today's game, Nickerson leads the team with 16 points, but also adds 3 assists and a steal while committing only 1 turnover. Look at my photo below of Nickerson leaping high in traffic to score and recall that image of him struggling on crutches this time last year, realizing the hard work he must have put into his rehabilitation. I hope Lexus recovers as fully as E. Victor appears to be doing and we get to see both on the court together next season.
 

Speaking of EVN, Luke Gore mentioned in the post game that he is "every bit of 6-8" and then referred to him as their "6-9 point guard."  When EVN took 6-1 Daniels to the rim and scored over him, it reminded me of scoring over my son in the driveway - when he was about 9. 

[FWalum]

I also noticed that Chadwick was in uniform today.  Wonder if we will see him get any minutes yet this year.

[valpotx]

Good call on Chadwick, as I saw that as well, wondering if that means he will get a few minutes here and there to spell Vashil and/or Peters.  He had a few good games before he hurt himself, and could be a good change of pace at the C for 3-5 minutes each game.

[bbtds]

Great not missing a chunk of the game because of the steam freezing.

Is that called fog?

[StlVUFan]

Is this an Oakland fan?

He's a Cubs fan.  Enough said.

[bbtds]

So keith.. what are his chances of playing Friday?

Gore said in the post game radio interview that they hope to play KC against GB.  He said he's been itching to get back, but simply hasn't been ready until now.  My guess is that they'll play him in spots behind EVN and see how he does.

Unlike EVN with percentages, I'm pretty sure that Gore put a 50% chance of Keith coming back on Friday. Or did I dream that up? I flip over to WVUR as soon as the game is over but it does take time to boot up.

[chef]

He did not mention a 50% chance, but if I was a gambling man, I might make a wager that Keith will play on Friday.

[bbtds]

I'm just embarrassed I thought this team was good. Swept by Oakland it looks like.

You're a relative of rink's? correct?

I wouldn't even go so far as to humiliate rink by associating him with kerrywoodwins20.

markpriorloses20, maybe.

[justducky]

He did not mention a 50% chance, but if I was a gambling man, I might make a wager that Keith will play on Friday.

Well if that is what you think then I would say there is a 100% chance that he dresses and warms up. Playing time? My bet would be just a cameo appearance. Maybe we send him in the last possession before halftime to stack the floor with 3 point shooters then run a play for somebody else?

Unless much of what has been said has been a smoke screen it seems unlikely he would be asked to play any significant minutes.

[valpotx]

I think that it is funny that the Oakland forum can't get around why I don't like Petros, even mentioning my dislike for him .  They even go on to mention all of his charity deeds.  I haven't ever said anything about his character, it is solely his play against Valpo that I reference.  This was his first good game against Valpo in 6 tries.  Yes, he had plenty of rebounds in previous matchups, but that wasn't because of anything fantastic he did, rather more because of being at the right place on weak side rebounds with the long 3 point misses from his teammates.  His shooting percentage against us in the 5 previous games was 32%, and below 50% from the FT line.  Anyone can look at the footage and see that he didn't know what he was doing against our bigs in those matchups.  He did much better today than in those games.  I am glad to hear that he is a good person overall, but I still don't think that he is good on the court against Valpo.  Against other teams, he obviously has success, but not against Valpo until Sunday. 

[classof2014]

Chances are the students didn't come out for this one was the day and time of the game. 2 on a Sunday afternoon isn't a great time for students as Sunday is a big study day, usually. If the game was 7 on Saturday night there would've been a big turnout among students. Also watching the game I noticed the ARC was full but seemed rather quiet. I'm guessing this had something to do with the matinee as well. It always seems like the crowds are quieter for an early game than a late game.

[IndyValpo]

Can anyone explain why Kampe puts no one on the free throw line when his team is shooting. Twice late, with bad shooters at the line he conceded rebounds to us. Does not make sense to me.  The announcers kept saying that he has always done that which is nice but does not make it a good strategy.

Did anyone else notice that you could barely read Oakland on the front of their jerseys?

[classof2014]

I can understand doing that more when Felder is at the line but Petros is terrible at FTs, he's below 50% on the season. The announcers said that Kampe does it for the defense but late in the game when you need to score you need to put guys at the line to possibly get a rebound or force a turnover to get the ball back. Bryce had a great gameplan that worked get to the rim and they got to the rim whenever they wanted. I also though defensively Valpo played well, if it wasn't for Hayes hitting some unexpected 3s the game would've been a much easier win. Oakland hit their outside shots which kept the game tight. Oakland is a very good team, this is a very nice win.

We executed better at the end, we made our shots while Oakland took bad shots. We won the game in the final 4 minutes. This was a fantastic college basketball game, it was nice to be able to watch it on TV, with commentators who talked about Valpo and Oakland or the HL as a whole, not what's going on in the B1G or something. The Northeast Indiana thing bugged me but this was rather nice to watch and listen to somebody who was fully invested in the game not what's going on elsewhere in the NCAA.

[a3uge]

Yeah I never understood why on ESPN they'll talk about Duke and Kentucky at the half when the majority of the viewers are fans from the Horizon. Fans of Kentucky, Duke, etc don't watch mid majors, which is great because it's all that more hilarious when they get upset by Mercer and Lehigh.

[vu72]

Saw this on the Oakland board, posted by a fan who made the trip to the ARC.  I thought it was very complimentary,

Enjoyed my second visit to the ARC on Sunday. It's a terrific mid-major basketball atmosphere — all that's good about hoops in Indiana.

Knowledgable Valpo fans came early, wearing their brown and gold, and they filled the lower bowl. The adults and students stood for the opening tip and didn't sit until the Crusaders scored. The crowd appeared to skew a little bit older than Oakland's fan base. I saw a lot of people who appeared to be my contemporaries — in their 60s. I guess that shouldn't be surprising considering the school's basketball tradition.

Legendary coach Homer Drew sat in the stands, opposite the Crusaders bench.

I wore my Oakland gear prominently, and everybody was friendly and welcoming. The food was good and inexpensive. I paid $3.50 for an surprisingly enjoyable pulled-chicken sandwich. There was adequate free parking close to the field house.

Just wish our guys had made more plays in crunch time. Valpo did. And the fans responded loudly.

Read more: http://goldengrizzlyhoops.proboards.com/thread/1538/game-thread-ou-valparaiso?page=3#ixzz3RGEXaGQ4

[FWalum]

Here is that postgame interview with Kampe. http://youtu.be/KCPdFFnXTQ4

[a3uge]

Also, Valpo played very well offensively, and really HAD to play well offensively. Oakland hit their fair share of crazy shots - they had three 3's from a guy that was 0-3 in his career and a crazy banked shot to start the 2nd half. Oakland also had a few deep contested 3s and didn't turn the ball over that much (only 8 times). Nickerson had a great game offensively. By far his best game in a Valpo uniform. He had a couple sloppy passes but only 1 TO.

[agibson]

He did not mention a 50% chance, but if I was a gambling man, I might make a wager that Keith will play on Friday.

Well if that is what you think then I would say there is a 100% chance that he dresses and warms up. Playing time? My bet would be just a cameo appearance. Maybe we send him in the last possession before halftime to stack the floor with 3 point shooters then run a play for somebody else?

Unless much of what has been said has been a smoke screen it seems unlikely he would be asked to play any significant minutes.

This all sounds about right.  Hopefully a chance for some extended minutes when we're up ten or so at Milwaukee, maybe staying in the game as the lead slips, for some pressure.  Ramping back up toward the end of the conference season, and we'll see how he reintegrates for @CSU and the tourney.

[classof2014]

I would agree that KC will be back for GB. The boot has been off and coaches are mentioning there's a he's probable for the game. If he is back it'll be interesting to see how much he plays, how much rust is there or does he come out guns blazing, and has a career night. My guess is he and EVN will split time in the first half to see how KC handles it.

I'm hoping he has little issues transitioning back into playing and the team readjusts back to him running the point.

[Valpo89]

He did not mention a 50% chance, but if I was a gambling man, I might make a wager that Keith will play on Friday.

IF???
Keith is playing Friday.