Time to bounce back.
the Cats are 5-4, ...with Chicago State looming on Monday Night...
the last Mid Major at the Rosemont Allstate Arena was Sacred Heart... only 5,216 in attendance.
Nolan Predictor
Valparaiso (6-2) Score 69 -1.0 Odds 54% Betting Money to win 3%
Northwestern (5-4) Score 68 +1.0 Odds 46% Betting money to win 97%
Allstate Arena needs to be destroyed. That place is a generic dump.
4 Vic Law F 6-7 200 R-Jr. South Holland, Ill. / St. Rita
5 Dererk Pardon C 6-8 235 Jr. Cleveland, Ohio / Villa Angela-St. Joseph
10 Charlie Hall F 6-5 210 Jr. Los Angeles, Calif. / Crossroads School
11 Anthony Gaines G 6-4 205 Fy. Kingston, N.Y. / New Hampton School (N.H.)
12 Isiah Brown G 6-2 190 So. Seattle, Wash. / Lakeside
14 Rapolas Ivanauskas F 6-9 230 R-Fy. Barrington, Ill. / Brewster Academy (N.H.)
20 Scottie Lindsey G/F 6-5 210 Sr. Hillside, Ill. / Fenwick
21 A.J. Turner F 6-7 188 Jr. Mt. Clemens, Mich. / New Hampton School (N.H.)
23 Jordan Ash G 6-3 200 Jr. Bolingbrook, Ill. / St. Joseph
25 Barret Benson C 6-10 240 So. Willowbrook, Ill. / Hinsdale South
30 Bryant McIntosh G 6-3 200 Sr. Greensburg, Ind. / Greensburg
33 Tino Malnati G 6-3 190 R-Fy. Northfield, Ill. / New Trier
35 Aaron Falzon F 6-8 225 R-So. Newton, Mass. / Northfield Mount Hermon
44 Gavin Skelly F 6-8 235 Sr. Westlake, Ohio / Westlake
Coaching Staff
Chris Collins Head Men's Basketball Coach
## Player gp-gs min avg fg-fga fg% 3fg-fga 3fg% ft-fta ft% off def tot avg pf dq a to blk stl pts avg
20 Scottie Lindsey 9-8 276 30.7 49-116 . 4 2 2 22-63 . 3 4 9 26-32 . 8 1 3 6 30 36 4.0 23 0 14 11 4 6 146 16.2
30 Bryant McIntosh 9-9 329 36.6 47-115 . 4 0 9 14-38 . 3 6 8 21-22 . 9 5 5 7 27 34 3.8 16 0 51 26 2 5 129 14.3
4 Vic Law 9-9 303 33.7 44-93 . 4 7 3 16-42 . 3 8 1 15-20 . 7 5 0 15 39 54 6.0 26 1 17 13 8 9 119 13.2
5 Dererk Pardon 9-9 263 29.2 41-66 . 6 2 1 0-1 . 0 0 0 22-35 . 6 2 9 22 33 55 6.1 33 1 10 17 13 5 104 11.6
44 Gavin Skelly 9-7 211 23.4 20-37 . 5 4 1 7-14 . 5 0 0 12-15 . 8 0 0 7 22 29 3.2 22 1 9 12 7 8 59 6.6
35 Aaron Falzon 6-2 101 16.8 9-31 . 2 9 0 6-25 . 2 4 0 8-9 . 8 8 9 1 7 8 1.3 10 1 6 9 0 2 32 5.3
12 Isiah Brown 9-0 65 7.2 7-20 . 3 5 0 2-8 . 2 5 0 9-10 . 9 0 0 0 5 5 0.6 8 0 4 6 0 3 25 2.8
11 Anthony Gaines 9-0 100 11.1 3-16 . 1 8 8 1-4 . 2 5 0 9-10 . 9 0 0 3 8 11 1.2 10 0 6 7 0 2 16 1.8
25 Barret Benson 9-0 89 9.9 4-10 . 4 0 0 0-1 . 0 0 0 5-12 . 4 1 7 3 14 17 1.9 19 0 3 6 7 0 13 1.4
23 Jordan Ash 9-1 75 8.3 1-8 . 1 2 5 1-6 . 1 6 7 0-0 . 0 0 0 0 6 6 0.7 3 0 4 1 0 4 3 0.3
10 Charlie Hall 1-0 1 1.0 0-0 . 0 0 0 0-0 . 0 0 0 0-0 . 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
33 Tino Malnati 1-0 1 1.0 0-0 . 0 0 0 0-0 . 0 0 0 0-0 . 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
14 Rapolas Ivanauskas 3-0 11 3.7 0-2 . 0 0 0 0-0 . 0 0 0 0-0 . 0 0 0 0 3 3 1.0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
Team 14 15 29 1
Total.......... 9 1825 225-514 . 4 3 8 69-202 . 3 4 2 127-165 . 7 7 0 78 209 287 31.9 175 4 124 109 41 44 646 71.8
Opponents...... 9 1826 221-475 . 4 6 5 58-165 . 3 5 2 136-190 . 7 1 6 67 226 293 32.6 165 - 126 125 22 56 636 70.7
Date Opponent Score Att.
11/10/17 LOYOLA (MD.) W 79-75 6013
11/13/17 SAINT PETER'S W 75-66 5101
11/15/17 CREIGHTON L 88-92 6384
11/18/17 vs La Salle W 82-74 0
11/19/17 vs Texas Tech L 49-85 0
11/24/17 SACRED HEART W 81-50 5216
11/28/17 at Georgia Tech L 51-52 5562
* 12/01/17 ILLINOIS Wot 72-68 10017
* 12/03/17 at Purdue L 69-74 14360
How is N'western trying to get students?
The 2017-18 Northwestern Men's Basketball Season is here!
While Welsh-Ryan Arena undergoes a complete, state-of-the-art renovation, set to be completed in the Fall of 2018, the Northwestern Men's Basketball team will play home games at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL, this season. The Northwestern Wildside student section is a critical part of our home-court advantage, and we are excited to offer FREE student shuttles to and from the Arena for every home game.
Student shuttles will depart from Blomquist Recreation Center on Foster Street. To accurately project attendance and departure times, students will be asked to RSVP for games. You will be able to RSVP up to 10-14 days in advance of the games you plan to attend and shuttles will depart campus for Allstate Arena beginning 90 minutes prior to game time.
Once you RSVP, you will receive an email 36-48 hours prior to the game with details confirming location and departure time of the shuttles.
If you plan on driving yourself, you will be emailed a complimentary parking voucher you must print and present when you arrive at Allstate Arena for free parking. The voucher will be sent 36-48 hours prior to the game.
Students must show their WILDCards this season to receive complimentary admission into the game. The student entrance is located on the East Side of the Arena and students once again have the best seats in house in sections 114 & 115, just steps from the court!
We look forward to seeing you – and HEARING you - at Allstate Arena this season.
Thank you and Go 'Cats!
I think Matt will find the right combinations to come out with a win.
Valpo 74
NWestern 72
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I hate to see this but
Northwestern 67 Valpo 55
I think we come out with another tough loss.
Valpo 81
Northwestern 83 OT
Valpo - 51
NW - 74
When we win the MVC tourney from the 3 seed in March, we'll look back at this week (8 days) as a tough slide that brought the team together and made them realize how hard it really is to win at this level. But I don't think we're done being humbled yet.
If you're interested in a pair of free tickets to the Northwestern game: follow the ValparaiZone twitter account and retweet the tweet for a chance to win.
https://twitter.com/ValparaiZone/status/939927063640801281
RealTime RPI says the Cats win this by 9... and then we go on a 7-game winning streak.
Smits
(1) TO every 7.5 minutes
7.5 ppg
4.4 rbg
(1) blk ever 2.5 games
Sorolla
(1) TO every 26.5 min
5.5 ppg
4.3 rpg
nearly (1) blk a game
IMO that's why Sorolla needs more minutes. Derek scores more but lord knows how many ppg his TO produce for our conpetitors.
I agree he has matured and done better this year. But Jay is my guy!!!
Quote from: FieldGoodie05 on December 10, 2017, 05:46:12 PM
Smits
(1) TO every 7.5 minutes
7.5 ppg
4.4 rbg
(1) blk ever 2.5 games
Sorolla
(1) TO every 26.5 min
5.5 ppg
4.3 rpg
nearly (1) blk a game
IMO that's why Sorolla needs more minutes. Derek scores more but lord knows how many ppg his TO produce for our conpetitors.
I agree he has matured and done better this year. But Jay is my guy!!!
It has occurred to me that coach might be giving Derek more minutes because Jay simply isn't being aggressive enough offensively. So I recognize there is more at play than just stats. But Jay is a better all around player for us.
I think Cheesehead has it right.
It's finals week after a tough Ball State loss. But I do think these guys showed resilience in coming back from 9 down against Ball State. I think they stay close through the half against the Cats but lose by 10-12 The turrnovers and lack of rhythm probably will continue until we adjust to life without TeVonn.
I think we will be a solid mid-pack or better MVC team if Burton begins to shoot more. Why he didn't get the ball from Evelyn for the last shot vs. Ball State I will never know. He has 25-30 foot range and good height to release it.
Btw, didn't someone ask the other day if both Jay and Derek can dunk? They must have heard you, as both dunked :).
Without Tevonn, we lose:
Northwestern 73
Valpo 66
And yes, Charlie Hall of NW is the son of Brad Hall and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (both NW grads). Thoughts and prayers to Julia and her family during her battle with breast cancer.
Valpo wins by 10 because they have learned that the basketball is precious and they don't turn it over more then 14 times this game.
Northwestern is absolutely obliterating Chicago State right now.
https://twitter.com/GUnit_81/status/940381778358943745
https://twitter.com/WatchStadium/status/940385051027673089
Holy freaking cow. ( note no exclamation point).
it wound up 96-31 in a game that was not as close as the final score would indicate... More interesting is that Drake is only down 3 to the Gophers with 7 to play...
Darn. The MVC needed that one. As for Chicago State. I genuinely feel bad for their players coaches students and fans. The poundings they've had to endure aren't funny. It's honestly quite sad for them at this point.
Minnesota survives at home by 1. That will help in the Sagarins!
Quote from: valpotx on December 10, 2017, 09:03:02 PM
Btw, didn't someone ask the other day if both Jay and Derek can dunk? They must have heard you, as both dunked :).
And Derek dunked with an emphatic and loud roar. That was nice to see (and hear).
Quote from: vu84v2 on December 12, 2017, 08:02:28 AM
And Derek dunked with an emphatic and loud roar. That was nice to see (and hear).
Derrik
Quote from: bbtds on December 12, 2017, 10:57:18 AM
Quote from: vu84v2 on December 12, 2017, 08:02:28 AM
And Derek dunked with an emphatic and loud roar. That was nice to see (and hear).
Derrik
Go proof read my ______
Quote from: FieldGoodie05 on December 12, 2017, 11:35:02 AMGo proof read my mistakes.
Players occasionally read this board. If I read my name on a message board I would at least want it spelled correctly. It's the least we can do.
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/940702324951011328
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/940702547328819205
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/940702831337791488
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/940703333832151040
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/940703028432261120
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/940703637864624128
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/940703992216281088
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/940704359964344320
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/940704654735892480
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/940704853734588416
https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/940703591437873156
Without Walker, a young team become even younger. Don't see them beating a senior-laden NW team on the road. NW by 3.
I'm driving some friends and going to this game. One of them is a former Northwestern player from the 70s.
My trip to and from the game will probably be more interesting than the game, I'm afraid.
Not feeling good about this one either. Double-digit loss.
I hope I don't regret going and missing my son's 7th grade game tomorrow night.
Quote from: Valpo89 on December 13, 2017, 10:43:17 AM
One of them is a former Northwestern player from the 70s.
You know Billy McKinney?!?!
Quote from: EddieCabot on December 13, 2017, 11:42:39 AM
Quote from: Valpo89 on December 13, 2017, 10:43:17 AM
One of them is a former Northwestern player from the 70s.
You know Billy McKinney?!?!
Now quite. A little more "Valpo local" than that.
Joe Otis...
It was my error and I apologize. To Derrik and all others on this board, please accept my humble apology for my mistake.
What section at the Allstate Arena is the Valpo section?
Judging by the tickets on Stubhub, our section is anywhere we want it to be.
Just checking the latest ...
RPI... Valpo is 82 Northwestern is 147
SOS...Valpo 239 Northwestern is 147 (Not a typo, NU has the same RPI and SOS)
Warren Nolan's computer... predicts Northwestern 68 Valpo 65
VegasInsider.com ..... predicts a Northwestern 75 Valpo 66
CBSSports and ESPN are just saying the line is 9.5 for the cats
I have no clue. Any predictions?
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/941109807507009536
I am going to pessimistically predict that attendance will be anemic and Valpo fans will not be a significant factor despite having thousands of alums in the Chicago area. Face it. We do not travel well at all. Aside from many of us on this board, there is no real passion for Valpo athletics. This is stated in the face of the Valpo video that talks about passion.
It starts with 'hoping' that we fill the student section ( a couple of hundred out of about 3,000) and goes down hill from there. Until the WHOLE university gets behind athletics, this is the way it will always be. There are DIII teams with more student spirit. And student spirit carries over into the years after graduation. It is about setting expectations of our students —- "we expect you to support our student athletes" because they are part of the Valpo family. It was ingrained in us as students back in the day, but I do not see that today. To tell the truth ( in vino veritas) the passion I am talking about was drained out of the university during the Harre and Schnabel era. I genuinely miss seeing OP at football and basketball games. Does MH go to many games?
Welsh-Ryan is far from the shark tank that Mackey can be, but Allstate is a ghost town in terms of a home court "advantage". DePaul played there for years and would be consistently outdrawn in terms of fan support, and from what I've heard, Northwestern isn't doing much better.
Valpo is going to need to take care of the ball and be able to crash the glass on offense in order to win IMO. Northwestern is pretty good at generating turnovers defensively, and they're also very good at not allowing opposing teams to get second chances. One area where Valpo should be able to exploit Northwestern is getting to the free throw line. Northwestern is 280th in the country in defensive free throw rate, while Valpo is 68th in offensive free throw rate.
Defensively Valpo needs to keep defending the 3 well (It's of some analytic experts opinions that 3 pt defense doesn't really matter, but Valpo has been excellent at that so far this year), and needs to avoid fouling Northwestern. That will be a challenge, as I would expect calls to lean Northwestern's way tonight.
Experience of playing at Purdue and at ball state will be displayed by us tonight. As has been mentioned, all state arena will be an empty cave. Think we cover the spread. A few bounces our way and we can spring the upset. Let's do it!
https://twitter.com/PostTribSports/status/941130038006730753
Window of opportunity: Joe Burton ready to step up for Valparaiso
Michael Osipoff
Post-Tribune
Nov 13, 2017
Joe Burton's resume and bearing could give rise to a misconception about Valparaiso's 6-foot-6 junior swingman.
"With being as highly recruited as Joe was, there's the stereotype as a gunner, but it couldn't be further from the truth with him," VU coach Matt Lottich said. "He's a very willing teammate, he's a very willing passer. He takes what the defense gives him. Usually when you're focused on the right things, you'll have success."
But now could be a time for a more aggressive approach from Burton, a Top 100 four-star recruit out of high school in his first season with the Crusaders after transferring from Oklahoma State. With senior guard Tevonn Walker sidelined with mononucleosis, Burton is a logical candidate to assume more of the scoring responsibility.
He welcomes the challenge.
............. http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-mens-basketball-valparaiso-joe-burton-st-1214-20171213-story.html
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 13, 2017, 10:09:01 PM
...Face it. We do not travel well at all....
I think fans at UIC and at Milwaukee would 100% disagree with this assertion. There were some games over the last few years it felt like a Valpo home court at those two places.
Quote from: vusupporter on December 14, 2017, 10:55:44 AM
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 13, 2017, 10:09:01 PM
...Face it. We do not travel well at all....
I think fans at UIC and at Milwaukee would 100% disagree with this assertion. There were some games over the last few years it felt like a Valpo home court at those two places.
I second what vusupporter said. We actually travel very well to areas where we have large alumni bases. I remember seeing a sizable crowd at UWM last season and at points during the game you heard the Valpo chants drowning out UWM fans at their own home game. I was at the UIC game last season and there were a lot of Valpo fans in the crowd.
I'm not sure what the crowd was like at the SIUE game this season. I also think STL alums would probably be more excited to see Valpo play a SLU as opposed to a bottom feeding SIUE on a Wednesday night. It really depends on the town the team is playing in from what I've notice.
Quote from: vusupporter on December 14, 2017, 10:55:44 AM
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 13, 2017, 10:09:01 PM
...Face it. We do not travel well at all....
I think fans at UIC and at Milwaukee would 100% disagree with this assertion. There were some games over the last few years it felt like a Valpo home court at those two places.
Might have been decent turnouts at those two places. A while back. I attended the last 4 UWM games in MKE and despite an alumni event preceding at least the last 3, there was no "Valpo home court" atmosphere that I experienced. You could tell there were maybe a 150-200 Valpo fans, but it wasn't like we took over the place. I was at the Resch in GB a couple of times as well and not many Valpo fans showed up there. Never been to a UIC game and, prior to McClain taking over, I heard that UIC was having problems filling the Pavilion and that Valpo did a good job attending those games, but also I think I recall some posters lamenting the not-so-overwhemling Valpo showing lately. But I'll give you that one. However, my comment referred to the whole away schedule. I don't agree that exceptions prove otherwise. I'll also state flat out that commuter school HL teams (not including Butler) travel even worse than we did - we were good "in comparison," but still not like we will see in the MVC. Maybe my observation on travelling stems from the possibility that over the past 10 years we succumbed to the HL-induced malaise.
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 14, 2017, 11:38:55 AM
my comment referred to the whole away schedule. I don't agree that exceptions prove otherwise. I'll also state flat out that commuter school HL teams (not including Butler) travel even worse than we did - we were good "in comparison," but still not like we will see in the MVC. Maybe my observation on travelling stems from the possibility that over the past 10 years we succumbed to the HL-induced malaise.
I've heard some people mention that our fan-base doesn't travel as well as we use to. That could very well be the case. I remember talking to an alum who graduated in the 1980s mentioned attendance at home games use to be higher back in the 90's and early to 2000s. He thought the down turn the program saw during the mid-2000s is when the attendance started to drop and never quite came back fully.
Postseason success is the ultimate driver of attendance and getting people excited in the community.
There were 8 of us (3 groups) in the same train car headed from NJ to NYC for the NIT semi final game. We thought that was pretty good ;D! Would love a chance to see Valpo play around here. (Seton Hall, Monmouth, St. John's, etc)
Five of my friends who live in the Chicago area (three alums) are going tonight. Hopefully there will be a very good Valpo crowd.
True dedication. Flying in to watch Valpo vs Northwestern
https://twitter.com/stevenruggles/status/941253613825003520
https://twitter.com/TheAndyKatz/status/941318626451382272
Andy Katz seems to really love him some Valpo Great to have such prominent national pundits in our corner. Let's make him proud tonight! Go Valpo!
A preview article from a Northwestern perspective.
https://twitter.com/sbncollege/status/941385230614781954
Also disagree with 62 on travelling well. As someone who has travelled from coast to coast to see games, we always have a good turnout for a school our size. Cleveland State games have had tremendous turnouts (in some cases almost as many as CSU turned out in cavernous Wolstein). Even YSU brings folks from Pittsburgh. We sell out allotments for NCAA games and the NIT turnout is a reason tournaments like Valpo. Our games at UNC, Duke, NCState all had very respectable turnouts. If we have 500 at tonight's game, that is a statement. Prove me right Valpo fans.
With our best individual defensive player out, I expect to see much more zone defense from now on, which will be tested by Northwestern's outside shooting.
It's going to be an interesting contrast of styles. Valpo sort of loves transition offense but Northwestern is slower pace and they run a LOT of half-court sets through Bryant McIntosh. Northwestern has had some defensive clunkers this season. They had an extremely strong games against Chicago State the other day but it's Chicago State...
Big news. Parker Hazen has been replaced in the starting line up by John Kiser.
https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/941464790932877314
Someone wake NW up and tell them they're not that good. Uncanny start 19-10.
5-5 from 3 crazy.
27-10. 6-7 from 3. NW playing so far over their heads. What a shame.
Quote from: wh on December 14, 2017, 07:19:32 PM
27-10. 6-7 from 3. NW playing so far over their heads. What a shame.
I don't know why but we seem to R-e-a-l-l-y struggle when we play a P5 team. I just can't understand it. Other mids play close or win games. They(NU) are not that much better as evidenced by closed scrimmages preseason. I know this Valpo squad is young but we always seem to lack confidence that we can compete. Even in the years when we are a more veteran team we struggle. Talk me off the ledge please...[emoji21]
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
Northwestern has had just great spacing, probably because of the early success from three. They're just carving us up with the side to side skip pass.
Last year when we lost Alec Peters Valpo went from a very good team to an average team. To be honest, I fear this year's loss of Tevonn has turned Valpo from a good team to a mediocre team. I hope I am proven wrong.
For a while I was wondering when Chicago State started wearing Valpo uniforms. Then I realized we're just playing like we usually do when we play Big 10 teams.
Afraid I've been spoiled by how we've been able to compete the last two years. Would like to see them play again a couple of years from now.
But we need that Peters type player to make the difference.
This team is just embarrassing right now. I mean seriously, we are losing by 30 to Northwestern? How many bone-headed passes can a team make, how many times can you just run into a defender and expect something positive to miraculously happen, or take a 'fast break' when it is 1 on 3? This is pitiful...
Our 1 senior Max played 4 minutes and was scoreless. Last year's walk-on Kiser started and played 14 min. We have no reliable go-to scorer and the entire team is turnover prone. Yeah, I'd say we're pretty mediocre.
How many games am I going to have to turn off this year!?!?! >:( Are they even practicing basketball anymore? Embarrassing.
This is getting hard to watch....
Quote from: valpotx on December 14, 2017, 08:10:42 PM
This team is just embarrassing right now. I mean seriously, we are losing by 30 to Northwestern?
Embarrassing yes, but Northwestern is playing out of their minds tonight. They're making contested shots. They got off to that huge start and never looked back. The lack of offense is more embarrassing. A terrible offensive effort. Effort is a bad word, because this is inability to score in the half-court. Guys just can't find themselves open and when they do they aren't making shots. But to be totally honest Northwestern is playing GREAT defense right now. Still its a repeating theme. The offense looks atrocious and bland.
This just hurts... There's no way we're this bad... If we weren't in the MVC already I'm sure they'd be questioning our readiness after these showings. I fear that our MVC brethren will turn against us soon if we don't right the ship soon. We've gotta go out to California and win and hopefully we can carry some positive momentum into conference play. Go Valpo!
Play Linssen until he drops, from now on. So much more aggressive than J or Derrik. Heart of a warrior.
If I were one of the other MVC institutions right now, I would be laughing at us. We look absolutely pathetic today. We can't make a pass, we apparently forgot how to dribble, and we give them many open looks. A half decent D-1 team like Northwestern will knock down these open shots.
This is a really hard game to watch....
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
I didn't watch but just checked the score and that is embarrassing and very disappointing. I'm not sure what's going on but I'm worried about this team. It could be a very long year.
A very consistent showing.
Lost the first half by 17.
Lost the second half by 17.
Hopefully this is rock bottom for the season.
We have lost to teams by 20-30 on several occasions since I have been a Valpo fan, but never can I remember a game as ugly as this one. I can understand losing by 30 to ranked teams, or during an NCAA tournament game, but 34 to Northwestern? Come on, man...
Quote from: FWalum on December 14, 2017, 07:39:25 PM
Northwestern has had just great spacing, probably because of the early success from three. They're just carving us up with the side to side skip pass.
You're a coach ... can you explain why Valpo doubles the post EVERY time it's thrown in? Doubling an non scorer like Derek Pardon makes no sense when you're leaving shooters like McIntosh, Law, Lindsey and Skelly wide open. That strategy may work against Trinity Christian and North Park, but top-100 teams just carve it up.
The first half was explainable, like NW hit 6 of 7 threes but...the second half? Disaster. The bubble has been burst. We'll see where we are when the freshman are juniors. Bad, just bad... :(
Quote from: valpopal on December 14, 2017, 07:40:15 PM
Last year when we lost Alec Peters Valpo went from a very good team to an average team. To be honest, I fear this year's loss of Tevonn has turned Valpo from a good team to a mediocre team. I hope I am proven wrong.
The season went from hopeful, through the first 8 games before Tevonn's illness, to tenuous at best, as seen in the three games since then. Clearly, unless and until Tevonn returns totally healthy and at 100% full strength, Valpo merely is destined to be a mediocre team in the MVC.
Deep breath...it's just a college basketball game...deep breath...they started well for about the first 4 minutes and NW just absolutely went insane (7/8 3pters!) before Valpo lost all confidence.
I'm just baffled by how lost this team gets on offense. It looks like they can't do anything to get an open shot! Nor can they shoot themselves out of a rut BECAUSE THEY SEEM TO TURN THE @#$#@$@ BALL OVER ON EVERY OTHER POSSESSION. That's the worst thing to watch, they don't even give themselves a chance. It's almost like clockwork in the between the 16 and 8 minute mark of the first half. Turns out teams like Purdue and NW (I didn't see the Ball St. game nor did I go near it knowing the result) will continue to score even when you aren't, sending the game off the rails.
As a fan, I am beyond frustrated with this continued buggaboo that Valpo has had against power conference teams. It's spanned multiple teams, multiple coaches, and multiple eras. Of course Big 5 teams are going to be better, but Valpo just seems to constantly wet the bed and be embarrassed on the national stage. Year after year it's the same story. I guess it could be that Valpo is a big enough name that big schools aren't going to sleep on us, but just once I want to see a big name team have at least a sort of off night against us. And what makes it worse is that there's always an article out there about Valpo testing this big opponent or being an upset candidate like the one from Katz today. I hate it. IhateitIhateitIhateit!
Oh OH, and HOW MANY KEY PLAYERS HAS VALPO LOST TO ILLNESS OVER THE YEARS!?!?! Seriously, get these guys there own water bottles or something! Vitamin C, Zink, Airborne, or something! Jeezuz Christmas!
Okay...end rant. 8-3...pretty much chalk the whole way, no shocking results. More realistic competition to get the feet back under this undoubtedly reeling bunch.
I will watch the game again looking for the positives we can take away from it.
I'll get back with you if I can find any.
When I was a kid, my parents were adherents of the "spare the rod, spoil the child" approach to child rearing. Dad's weapon of choice was his belt; Mom was a skilled switcher. As strange as it may sound, when the whippings were over and I was alone in my room, a strange sense of euphoric relief would pour over me. I'm feeling pretty good right now.
Just got home from Rosemont. Highlight of the evening was a cop unexpectedly waving me through to an empty lane to beat the rest of the departing traffic out of the parking lot.
There were simply too many things that went wrong tonight to rehash, so I'll stick to a couple of my higher-level concerns (plus my one glimmer of optimism):
- Turnovers. Way too many of them, way too many of the sloppy, brain-lock variety. I trust coach that these are going away over the next, er, nine games. Because if not, hoo boy.
-Body language/fight. Northwestern is a good team that shot well tonight, but we made their lives WAY too easy with a lack of intensity when we got behind. We looked absolutely defeated once we fell behind double digits, and the body language made it clear they didn't intend to attempt any comeback this evening. That is not acceptable under any circumstances, and whatever mojo the coaching staff needs to perform to nip this very toxic habit in the bud, they should do it.
-Offensively, yes, we miss Tevonn. Yet we approached WAY too many possessions waiting to see what the defense would do rather than attacking and getting into our offensive set. That sort of passivity resulted in not only the turnovers but a lot of lousy shots. Again, credit Northwestern's defense, but we didn't really attempt to challenge them at all. (Oh, and we need to figure out how to execute an in-bounds play under the opponent's basket).
Now, in the spirit of the season, the one positive takeaway:
-Markus and Micah were *much* more aggressive in the second half, and both visibly were trying to get both themselves and the team into a groove. Both with some results to show. If those guys take it upon themselves to pick up the slack of Tevonn being out and be the emotional leaders on the floor, that bodes well for when we get into Valley play. (Separately: is Max hurt/ill? He did not look like himself tonight and was a complete non-factor out there.)
Lastly, credit to Valpo fans. There was a good number of them visible in the building (and audible in the early moments of the game when they had something to cheer about). Several NU fans around me complimented us on the amount of VU fans on hand, especially for a weeknight game in December.
Quote from: bigmosmithfan1 on December 14, 2017, 09:59:20 PM
-Body language/fight. Northwestern is a good team that shot well tonight, but we made their lives WAY too easy with a lack of intensity when we got behind. We looked absolutely defeated once we fell behind double digits, and the body language made it clear they didn't intend to attempt any comeback this evening. That is not acceptable under any circumstances, and whatever mojo the coaching staff needs to perform to nip this very toxic habit in the bud, they should do it.
Most posters here were fine/happy with Lexus leaving because they thought Valpo had more "talented" players on the roster. But he was "talented" at winning, leading and competing ... he's taken those qualities to Boise and it's paid dividends for them. I think his leadership would have been an asset for Valpo had he stayed. :twocents: :twocents:
Quote from: Valpo89 on December 13, 2017, 10:43:17 AM
I'm driving some friends and going to this game. One of them is a former Northwestern player from the 70s.
My trip to and from the game will probably be more interesting than the game, I'm afraid.
Not feeling good about this one either. Double-digit loss.
I hope I don't regret going and missing my son's 7th grade game tomorrow night.
Everything I predicted was true.
Conversation to and from All State Arena was better than the game.
I wish I had gone to my son's game. He scored 3 points and his team won.
Glad some teams from Valpo are winning. :)
Some enlightening comments.
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/941524155534585856
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/941524704317276166
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/941525450697986049
The biggest thing when we play these P5 schools is turnovers and many unforced. We had 21 to NU's 7. You ain't winning many basketball games with that kind of ratio. It hurt without Tevonn but we have players and they didn't perform.
Our front court, despite its size is SOFT. Sorolla tried to soft touch some shots rather than attaching the rim...as its too. I say give Linssen more minute and send a message to these two that if you are not going to use what you were given you are replaced. Hell, go with Golder if need be as he at least played aggressive and attacked when given the opportunity.
Plus, as has been mentioned, our perimeter D sucked tonight. This is a good outside shooting team and they exploited us. I love Lottich and company but we didn't come into this game as prepared defensively as I had hoped.
Based on the discussion Paul had with former players who had mono, it sounded like four games may be the number (obviously depends on how tight the schedule might be). Everyone is different and they indicated that medical blood work was done every other day. If the spleen is enlarged its a no go. With any luck we could get Tevonn back for the Indiana State game on the 28th. Let's hope so.
Concur that we all need to take a deep breath. This team is neither an 8-0 team or a get blown out by over 60 pts to B1G teams. It's somewhere in the middle and about where we all expected them to be after losing Alec and others and bringing in a whole bunch of new bodies.
1. Very disappointed in turnovers. We are predictable on offense and so we are making easy to steal passes. We are putting the ball on the floor too much down low. Drop step or kick back out, not dribble off your foot (hello Smits). Valpo had "climbed" back with about 4 mins left 1st half. Chance to cut the lead to 12 and had a mini-run going. Smits dribbles ball off foot and suddenly it's 17 pts and game over.
2. Our athleticism was not equal to NW's. Maybe it was the sluggishness of finals week, but although the first few minutes saw us playing aggressive D, throughout the evening we were outjumped and outquicked. Not since the Arizona game 1996 did I feel our talent was not anywhere near the other team's. (Well, maybe the Duke game at Cameron in 2004 or 05. Those games though taught us where we need to go and to build back to that (1996 was needed to have 1998).
3. Brick City. Said last year and said it in an earlier post this year. We are NOT A GOOD SHOOTING TEAM. NW had 4 guys knocking down 3s easily. We struggle on the shot, we're inconsistent and there is not a Broekhoff, Peters, Barker, Schmidt, Redmond, Drew, Gipson, Wood, etc. anywhere on this team. Matt has got to go find a couple knock down 3 artists.
4. Rebounding. We have got to get back to the basics of basketball life... Control the glass. What I like about Golder is he has "it." But, we are not boxing out well as a starter.
We predicted 10-4, 9-5 or so for the first two months. Ball State was a pick-em, especially without Walker. Win on the coast and right the confidence ship and then we'll be in conference play. But no one said this was going to be an easy year and we all knew it was a rebuilding year. Let the process play out, but there are key areas that now need to show improvement, like others said, the offense is starting out too high, it's not attaching the middle with motion and back door and v cuts. Too much perimeter passing and dribbling, etc. Big guys need to have touches and to kick out. Actually, if you watch the game tape. Sorolla and Smits when they didn't travel or dribble off their feet had some decent effectiveness. Lots of opportunity here. For younger fans, lots of season left so lighten up a little.
Quote from: valpo84 on December 15, 2017, 08:54:17 AM
Concur that we all need to take a deep breath. This team is neither an 8-0 team or a get blown out by over 60 pts to B1G teams. It's somewhere in the middle and about where we all expected them to be after losing Alec and others and bringing in a whole bunch of new bodies.
1. Very disappointed in turnovers. We are predictable on offense and so we are making easy to steal passes. We are putting the ball on the floor too much down low. Drop step or kick back out, not dribble off your foot (hello Smits). Valpo had "climbed" back with about 4 mins left 1st half. Chance to cut the lead to 12 and had a mini-run going. Smits dribbles ball off foot and suddenly it's 17 pts and game over.
2. Our athleticism was not equal to NW's. Maybe it was the sluggishness of finals week, but although the first few minutes saw us playing aggressive D, throughout the evening we were outjumped and outquicked. Not since the Arizona game 1996 did I feel our talent was not anywhere near the other team's. (Well, maybe the Duke game at Cameron in 2004 or 05. Those games though taught us where we need to go and to build back to that (1996 was needed to have 1998).
3. Brick City. Said last year and said it in an earlier post this year. We are NOT A GOOD SHOOTING TEAM. NW had 4 guys knocking down 3s easily. We struggle on the shot, we're inconsistent and there is not a Broekhoff, Peters, Barker, Schmidt, Redmond, Drew, Gipson, Wood, etc. anywhere on this team. Matt has got to go find a couple knock down 3 artists.
4. Rebounding. We have got to get back to the basics of basketball life... Control the glass. What I like about Golder is he has "it." But, we are not boxing out well as a starter.
We predicted 10-4, 9-5 or so for the first two months. Ball State was a pick-em, especially without Walker. Win on the coast and right the confidence ship and then we'll be in conference play. But no one said this was going to be an easy year and we all knew it was a rebuilding year. Let the process play out, but there are key areas that now need to show improvement, like others said, the offense is starting out too high, it's not attaching the middle with motion and back door and v cuts. Too much perimeter passing and dribbling, etc. Big guys need to have touches and to kick out. Actually, if you watch the game tape. Sorolla and Smits when they didn't travel or dribble off their feet had some decent effectiveness. Lots of opportunity here. For younger fans, lots of season left so lighten up a little.
Well said. The only point where I would differ is on the shooting numbers. Last night we shot 41.2% from the 3 (7 of 17). Northwestern was unconscious shooting 54%. On the season so far, Joe is shooitng 35.9%, Marcus 50%, Bradford 35.3% and even McMillan is shooting 40% albeit a very small sample at 4 of 10.
It is the lack of hustle, effort and teamwork that is most concerning to me.
I think what we are seeing is a tea that is less cohesive then the 8-0 start led the to believe.
We dont have a go-to person and they dont appear to know each other well enogh in tight ones.
Hope that fixes itself.
Still, lots of basketball left to play and we were never an At-Large so its still conference/Arch adness that is the goal
(apologize for typos, a few keys are broken on the keyboard)
72--concur with the "team" concept, particularly on O. D last night, there was a lot of talking earlier on assignments and the intensity was there. But you and I know from playing a lot of hoops, that when guys are burying everything (or consistent turnovers), it becomes disheartening. There were heads dropping after some of the shots. What was the encouraging counterbalance was the run towards the end of 1st half. There was still effort and fight. 2d half is a write-off. The offense looks labored and when guys turn it over, teamwork gets stressed with guys then trying to do too much.
05--the question isn't ##s as much as who do you feel confident will knock down 3s when you need them. I can still hit 30% in the gym or a driveway with no one guarding me, but what will I shoot with a defender closing or in the flow of an offense? I have no confidence in this team's ability to do that. There is hesitation and lack of confidence on the court and their shooting mechanics are not repetitive, consistent 3 shooters, with exception of maybe Burton. Micah is improved, but those parabolas he's throwing up there are highly inconsistent. McMillan doesn't count as most of those were in blowouts that I recall. Not that he can't be like Jubril going forward who can knock one down to keep D's honest, and that's the thing. D's can pack in against us and keep Bakari and others from slashing to the hoop, or disrupt the entry passes to the post, because who cares if we shoot a 3.
Quote from: vu72 on December 15, 2017, 09:18:19 AM
Well said. The only point where I would differ is on the shooting numbers. Last night we shot 41.2% from the 3 (7 of 17). Northwestern was unconscious shooting 54%. On the season so far, Joe is shooitng 35.9%, Marcus 50%, Bradford 35.3% and even McMillan is shooting 40% albeit a very small sample at 4 of 10.
It is the lack of hustle, effort and teamwork that is most concerning to me.
I haven't watched Valpo nearly as much as all of you have, but the impression that I got from watching last night was that the guys were hustling, but that they weren't confident in what they were doing. As someone else mentioned, there really wasn't any reason to double Pardon, especially after the first couple of 3's dropped.
While I would never say you should win a game if your opponent hits 12 threes, the reason for the 34 point blowout is that Valpo put up 39 shots, and Northwestern put up 61. The biggest piece of this is that Valpo had 21 turnovers, which Northwestern converted into 30 points. Again, to my untrained eye, it looked like Northwestern knew exactly where Valpo's players were going to be in their offensive sets. Northwestern's players are quicker, but Valpo looked like a team that is still thinking through their offensive sets because they don't have confidence when they are running through them. The other piece of this is Northwestern, despite shooting better from the field, also had twice as many offensive rebounds as Valpo. Northwestern got back nearly 30% of their misses, while Valpo was only able to rebound 17% of theirs. The zone they were utilizing, especially in the first half when they gave up 8 offensive rebounds (Valpo had 10 defensive rebounds in the 1st half), was a killer.
If you combine the 2nd chance points and points off of turnovers, Northwestern outscored Valpo in these categories 27-5 in the 1st half, and 20-0 in the 2nd half.
Quote from: valpo84 on December 15, 2017, 09:57:14 AM
72--concur with the "team" concept, particularly on O. D last night, there was a lot of talking earlier on assignments and the intensity was there. But you and I know from playing a lot of hoops, that when guys are burying everything (or consistent turnovers), it becomes disheartening. There were heads dropping after some of the shots. What was the encouraging counterbalance was the run towards the end of 1st half. There was still effort and fight. 2d half is a write-off. The offense looks labored and when guys turn it over, teamwork gets stressed with guys then trying to do too much.
05--the question isn't ##s as much as who do you feel confident will knock down 3s when you need them. I can still hit 30% in the gym or a driveway with no one guarding me, but what will I shoot with a defender closing or in the flow of an offense? I have no confidence in this team's ability to do that. There is hesitation and lack of confidence on the court and their shooting mechanics are not repetitive, consistent 3 shooters, with exception of maybe Burton. Micah is improved, but those parabolas he's throwing up there are highly inconsistent. McMillan doesn't count as most of those were in blowouts that I recall. Not that he can't be like Jubril going forward who can knock one down to keep D's honest, and that's the thing. D's can pack in against us and keep Bakari and others from slashing to the hoop, or disrupt the entry passes to the post, because who cares if we shoot a 3.
It is interesting to see the young guys like Hazen, who appears to be losing his confidence. Was obviously benched last night and when he did play made a couple of terrible passes that were intercepted. Back to the bench. :(
What was particularly glaring was the free throw shooting. Yikes! We shot 56% last night and now are at 70% for the season. 56%?? Really? Bradford is shooting 50% and air-balled one last night. That hasn't happened since 2008 when Jarryd Loyd did it against Butler at the ARC.
It's too bad that the team left its hustle and competitive fire back at the ARC. VERY disappointing effort. Is Smits on something or what. Some of these guys act like they don't care...come on Matt some of these guys need to understand a few things and GET IN THE GAME! I think a few butts need to be kicked. Kiser looked scared to death, Smits couldn't figure out what was going on. Sarolla looked like he was in a knitting class and afraid to drop a stitch. We have one of the country's best perimeter passing games above the foul line...no inside / outside game which means no offense. At times it looks like we are afraid of contact...driving to the bucket, aggressive rebounding. It amazes me that with our height we are usually playing with a 6'9" to 7'0" guy always on the floor but how many times have our "big guys" led the team in rebounding? Lets WAKE UP, HUSTLE and COMPETE. We may not be the best team in the MVC, but we sure as heck should be better that we have showed against decent competition. Finals week, losing your best player to illness, or whatever...last night was EMBARRASSING!
Young coach, young team.
Quote from: zvillehaze on December 14, 2017, 10:32:07 PM
Quote from: bigmosmithfan1 on December 14, 2017, 09:59:20 PM
-Body language/fight. Northwestern is a good team that shot well tonight, but we made their lives WAY too easy with a lack of intensity when we got behind. We looked absolutely defeated once we fell behind double digits, and the body language made it clear they didn't intend to attempt any comeback this evening. That is not acceptable under any circumstances, and whatever mojo the coaching staff needs to perform to nip this very toxic habit in the bud, they should do it.
Most posters here were fine/happy with Lexus leaving because they thought Valpo had more "talented" players on the roster. But he was "talented" at winning, leading and competing ... he's taken those qualities to Boise and it's paid dividends for them. I think his leadership would have been an asset for Valpo had he stayed. :twocents: :twocents:
I was one who was ok with Lexus moving on. Never disliked the kid, just was willing to take a chance at the level of talent we got in return for his spot.
Think it was Linssen or was it Fazekas? Either way, I'd gladly have paid him 4-years worth of scholarship money again. But I'm just as glad to see him in a Boise uniform doing well.
Transition year 1, I'm ok with the decision coach and Lexus made.
Start the best five players, leave them in longer than the rest and make others from the bench work their way into the lineup. There is too much rotation, apparently so as not to hurt someone's feelings. Not a recipe for winning games.
I'm not sure if there is anything else to say because everyone touched on the issues with this team. The amount of turnovers with this team is baffling. It's a very serious concern. You can't expect a team to go on any sort of run if we're finding idiotic ways to turnover the ball. On top of the turnovers we don't run an efficient or capable half-court offense. Something needs to change.
Is this team a poor ball-handling team?
Is this team a poor 3 point shooting team? Yes.
Is this team a poor half-court offensive team? YES.
I still have confidence in the Coach Staff long-term but this upcoming stretch of games is where coaches earn their money. This team is scuffling. The next 2 games are against very winnable opponents. A win would be nice but seeing offensive competency & not turning the ball over would be even better. I'm not sure if this is a personnel issue of not having the talent you want to run your "scheme" or if it's the youth of the team (probably the latter), but one thing is for sure and its that this team is garbage on the offensive end of the ball right now and its particularly obvious when Tevonn is not playing. I'm going write off the defensive performance last night because we know this is a strong defensive team but our offense is a far cry from our defense.
This team is frustrating to watch.
Coach Lottich went on the record said he thought we might not see these errors anymore in a month or so. Let's hope so. He calls them "unexperienced plays". (start 0:45 - 01:05)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9DGZq4N0dQ&t=199s
Would someone else start the game thread for Santa Clara? need to shake it up!!
I like watching Linssen when he gets in games - high energy, good rebounder.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: NativeCheesehead on December 10, 2017, 10:15:05 AM
Valpo - 51
NW - 74
When we win the MVC tourney from the 3 seed in March, we'll look back at this week (8 days) as a tough slide that brought the team together and made them realize how hard it really is to win at this level. But I don't think we're done being humbled yet.
WINNER! WINNER! CHICKEN DINNER!
Quote from: EddieCabot on December 14, 2017, 08:59:28 PM
Quote from: FWalum on December 14, 2017, 07:39:25 PM
Northwestern has had just great spacing, probably because of the early success from three. They're just carving us up with the side to side skip pass.
You're a coach ... can you explain why Valpo doubles the post EVERY time it's thrown in? Doubling an non scorer like Derek Pardon makes no sense when you're leaving shooters like McIntosh, Law, Lindsey and Skelly wide open. That strategy may work against Trinity Christian and North Park, but top-100 teams just carve it up.
I am not really going to second guess the coaching staff. Everyone, whether it be in business or coaching, makes bad calls strategically at some time or another. Coaches don't put in a defensive strategy if they don't think it will be effective and this has been a strategy used by Valpo going back to the early Bryce years with mainly good effect. If we had known that NU was going to hit their first 7 three-point attempts then we probably would have done something different. I realize that up until the Purdue game we had not played particularly good teams, but we had held teams to under 28% from 3 Pt range and NU was considered to be only a slightly above average 3 Pt shooting team at a little under 35% when we played them. I don't think anyone would have expected them to hit 57%.