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Wow.  I fear the loss of momentum, but here's where Loyola having more to lose than us comes into play.

Loyola's gotta be wetting their pants right about now.

Somebody who isn't JFL is going to have to take charge here.  He's is out of synch. I know that since his near defection, there's been a fear of being criticizing him, but don't count me among them. We need him in this game, but not shooting out of the flow.

I'll be fine. I'll be all about cheering on Valpo by game time. I just need time to mourn our league's lost multibid chances and also our league's likely lost chances at extra NCAA credits from a deep tournament run. At this point I can't see a team I feel confident will win its first round game so it might as well be us. Go Valpo!

I think any team in this league could win a first round game. Yes UNI was in a separate class, but clearly they were not perfect either. It kills the chance for a 2 bid league, but the winner of the league will still likely be a 20 win team from a good conference that should get a decent seed.

UNI started out with puzzle pieces that fit pretty well and they were reasonably well-seasoned (an experienced, long-standing coach and no critical positions depending on freshmen). They either weren't deep or chose instead to play a short rotation at the expense of resiliency and endurance. They might have just hit their ceiling while others improved. Please, let's stop mourning the would-be king.

UNI losing today is awful for the league and bad for us. Not that Loyola would have taken us lightly but the odds of 1 and 2 going down in same day are not good.

You, sir, have learned nothing about the MVC.

Can't believe we didn't make one three.  It's been 9 years since that has happened.

Wasn't helped by the fact that the team's two best 3pt shooters had their minutes limited for some reason.

I asked the question after the game. Came down to getting stops...Krikke and Sackey were playing better defense.

Indeed. Fazekas was getting scored on consistently. You get the sense that he's avoiding contact to preserve himself. When he's getting open and shooting well, you can accept the softer defense, but Evansville didn't give him any opportunities and, worse of all, the rest of our offense couldn't make them pay for covering him tightly.

Hopefully, we've gotten through our jitters and Loyola experiences some of their own, but I'm not counting on it.

This game is getting funny , if we somehow win , no way we beat Loyola PLAYING LIKE THIS !

Frustrating play.  It's that disorienting period when a key player returns and tries too hard. JFL is definitely not in peak form.

I sure hope Luke Morrill gets some good minutes.

Even UNI doesn't seem out of reach ...

Especially if it's in the championship round with as many minutes as their starters have played during the season and will have played in the tournament.

I would have rated NIU at 55%, Loyola 30% and split up the rest.   Those two stand above the others in my eyes.   Very consistent players and well coached.

I would rate NIU at 0%.  The Huskies are having a good season but there's no way they beat any of the MVC opponents in Arch Madness. 

Couple of wins down the stretch and a 500-record = a Coach Of the Year?

Lol I can't even ....

If there was a most improved . . . . maybe

Do we even know what the criteria is and who votes (sorry, I don't pay too much attention to this stuff)? Shouldn't it always be the coach for the team with the most wins? Because giving it to a coach that appears to exceed expectations is really just an award for some people having guessed wrong.  Even giving it for regular-season performance seems short-sighted cause sometimes teams peak later.  I hate awards. 

Back last fall Valpo was recruiting Jeremiah Williams, who had transferred for his senior year to Simeon High School in the CPL. He visited Valpo, but decided to not commit to any school at that time.

Apparently Valpo is still in the mix per the linked article below. He says he's leaning to SIU now. Mullins has done a heck of a job at SIU in his short tenure. Loyola also is mentioned among his current suitors.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/2/27/21156276/jeremiah-williams-simeon-basketball



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Speaking of old-looking (from another thread on Krutwig), Williams looks like he's in his 30's.

I watched Indiana State beat up on Southern Illinois last night--on the road.  The game before they beat UNI at home.  With Javon out we will have a really hard time keeping up with their very athletic guards. Will need guys like Zion Morgan to really step it up on the defensive end and for us to stay hot from the 3.  Possible win?  Sure. Probable win? Nope.

Indiana State is playing the same rotation we faced in our previous win whereas we'll have quite a new look without JFL and with Fazekas and Sackey (whom they didn't see the last time).  Fazekas and Sackey (the latter playing much better of late) will add two modes of attack at the extreme ends of the spectrum that they didn't really have to defend before. The adjustments they try to make to keep Fazekas from lighting it up from the perimeter and Sackey from speeding into the paint will open up interesting possibilities for McMikke and Clay.

The two games we have in common in most-recent play are MSU and SIU; we handily won both, at home, and they split, winning on the road, but losing at home. MSU has the athletes to deal with ISU's guards, but we didn't seem to have any problem with either team's athleticism (perhaps because we underrate our own).  What I wonder is whether our hot perimeter shooting is just a result of the comfort of home or a new normal?

Agreed he is still learning.  I think we could have gotten someone that wasn't still learning.  He's going in the right direction. 10th place 9th place 7th place?

Let's try 5th or 6th? Go Valpo! I BELIEVE!

We still have a chance to win 20 games.

Well this is unusual.  I like it.

Good defensive start and the offense is happily moving well and not settling for threes. MSU has got to be confused as to how and whom to shut down with JFL out.

Lol. I wish we had middle of the pack facilities.

I wish we had middle of the PAC facilities. 

Don't mean to offend Tex, but Texas has big pockets in football and hoops.  Neither perform well.

C'mon, Mick. Don't think about money, think about resources, especially effective ones. None of us is so simple-minded as to think that money can't be misspent but few of us think you can get something for nothing.

As for why the Drew's can't happen again? It's not that it can't; it's that you can't easily select for it. They were the perfect storm in terms of the people, the state of college hoops at the time, and the state of the program (low expectations and a high level of patience).

We may have middle of the pac funding but that doesn't mean we have to be middle of the pac results.  Those shouldn't be correlated.  After all, they never have been for us. 

Look at our recent success.  Minus 3 years... 

I'm not sure how resources, which require funding, have no correlation to sustained success.  If you're referring to the success under the Drew's, you're describing the scenario where someone exceeds expectations in spite of the resources. Homer struggled for many years and eventually succeeded because of Scott and Bryce. The entire Drew period of overachievement was possible only through their familial synergy.  But it was not sustainable (nor improvable) because investment did not keep pace and because luck like that doesn't repeat itself often.

Touché. Great points ... middle of the pac is true in all of those categories. Just a bit spoiled I suppose with our relatively recent success.

Idk if it's a total cop out on the attendance thing though ... I'm sure it's true attendance is down overall ..I. but still a lot of happening, well attended games out there

Look at the Loyola game last year at home or the drake game last year at home - those were great environments

I'm not even sure we're as high as the middle in some of those areas, which is why they were all phrased as questions. The main point was that those looking at coaching as the problem are doing so in a vacuum.

If a coach performs in the middle of the pack for middle-of-the-pack incentives with middle-of-the-pack facilities and resources, you gotta figure you're getting what you pay for, right?  If not, and your answer is to replace the coach, while keeping all other things the same, what is your expectation? And if the new coach somehow turns out to exceed expectations do you respond with better wages and improvements to facilities and resources right away, as part of a strategy to capitalize on that good fortune or do you stand pat and congratulate yourself for your great choice and see how long it will continue?  If the latter, how easy will it be to find someone to exceed expectations again? 

If we win this one, I'd like to see if we can come back from 19 down next game...you know, just for yucks.

It's past due. But it'll favor the big boys. Like everything else.

I'm not sure whom it favors. Good players from lower-tier programs and mediocre players from higher-tier ones probably face the same risk of failure when they swap tiers. I almost feel like the players who didn't quite fit in at the major programs are more likely to be swayed by not sitting out since they generally make the move to the "lesser" team for more playing time.

http://valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/news/2019-20/19721/mens-basketball-seeks-to-extend-winning-streak-on-wednesday/

Will 3 be a charm as we seek 3 in a row and our 3rd conference road win with 3 regular-season games to follow?

Can't wait to hear Vance and Bakers take on Valpo's wins against their Persian Hounds and Birds of red.

I actually enjoy them. They give props to good play and credit to teams other than their own. Actually, sometimes they're harder on their own

I agree with this.  The hosts are open and honest about their allegiances, but also give credit to other teams.  They covered the SIU loss on the previous episode.  I think their take was a little bit more of "SIU played terribly" rather than "Valpo played great".  Was probably a little of both.

In any event, I'm appreciative that they do the show, and hope they continue.  And I will look forward to hear how they address the Valpo comeback. 

Let's face it without SIU shooting and playing so horribly there is no way Valpo wins so easily because, again, Valpo did not play at their best and, more importantly, to their fullest potential. 

Sorry, Valpo's defense was intense that night and SIU's offensive issues were a product of it. They were blocking shots, disrupting the flow, and forcing SIU into shooting more than half of their attempts from the perimeter (and you know how well that usually works out).

Yes, it was the Illinois State fans that really trashed Valpo joining the MVC.  There were a few UNI fans (not many), but ISUr fans were pretty outspoken about our joining.

I've gotten to know a few ISUr fans at Arch Madness over the last several years. Spent some time with them last night. The people I've met love having Valpo in the league.

Fan message boards should never be taken as the voice of all fans, but at least one person on redbirds.net acknowledged the less-than-appreciative stance of ISU fans towards the addition of Valpo and Loyola.

Let's not forget how upset most were where the Valley added those pathetic underachieving Valparaiso and Loyola programs; two programs that have consistently beat us like a drum since they began MVC play.
We are now the dregs of the MVC.