Well, we have another game against a team that doesn't even mention the event on their website. That is if I have the right Augustana.
There at least 2 of them. D2 Augustana is in South Dakota and D3 Augustana is in Rock Island, IL. I think we play the D3 team. They are ranked #2 in D3 going into the season. They show a game versus University of Minnesota on Nov 7 but nothing about playing us on the 3rd.
If it is the IL team, their roster shows one guy 6'8" and 3 6'7".
Any info on this??
Its the IL team that is coming in on Thursday. http://www.augustana.edu/x37964.xml (http://www.augustana.edu/x37964.xml)
Quote from: vu72 on October 31, 2011, 10:02:51 AM
Well, we have another game against a team that doesn't even mention the event on their website. That is if I have the right Augustana.
There at least 2 of them. D2 Augustana is in South Dakota and D3 Augustana is in Rock Island, IL. I think we play the D3 team. They are ranked #2 in D3 going into the season. They show a game versus University of Minnesota on Nov 7 but nothing about playing us on the 3rd.
If it is the IL team, their roster shows one guy 6'8" and 3 6'7".
Any info on this??
Not exactly sure what you saw but it is in several places on their website (though not on the schedule). Augustana (IL)was a very good D3 team last year (made the Elite eight). They graduated 1 starter, who happens to be my nephew. They actually have 2 guys that are 6-9 and several others in the 6-7 to 6-8 range. Eight players back with a lot of experience.
Their coach is former Valpo assistant Grey Giovanne (sp) from the Tom Smith era. He will run players in and out all game. I have seen him play 11 players in the first five or six minutes. As exhibitions go, this one is pretty decent.
Great D-3 school, but we should be able to beat this team by 20+ points if all goes as it should. Otherwise, this will be a big let down for me. It is the same argument we use against our football team when playing scholarship teams, in that Augustana should not be keeping up in the scoreline with the gap in talent.
During the years I was on campus, we would have beaten a school like this by 30-35 in exhibition, but I don't expect that this year in getting a lot of pieces together.
Quote from: valpotx on October 31, 2011, 01:39:18 PM
Great D-3 school, but we should be able to beat this team by 20+ points if all goes as it should. Otherwise, this will be a big let down for me. It is the same argument we use against our football team when playing scholarship teams, in that Augustana should not be keeping up in the scoreline with the gap in talent.
During the years I was on campus, we would have beaten a school like this by 30-35 in exhibition, but I don't expect that this year in getting a lot of pieces together.
Let's not get too excited. This Augustana team returns four starters that have played together for a long time. Undoubtedly they will be launching 3's all over the place with good size inside. I would expect a game similar to last game with better shooting on our part and much better play from Richie and Will. We have a long way to go to be ready for AZ.
I'll say Valpo by 10.
It is not getting excited to say we should beat a D-3 team by 20 points. Whether we do it or not is one thing, but that should be the expectation of a D-1 school even with our transition....
Heres my preview for Thursday. I have parent teacher conferences but hopefully will make it to the game.
http://sectionee.blogspot.com/2011/10/game-preview-preseason-finale-vs.html (http://sectionee.blogspot.com/2011/10/game-preview-preseason-finale-vs.html)
According to the Valpo Crusader's Facebook page, ESPN's Andy Katz is going to be at this game "filming a story about Homer and Bryce Drew."
Augustana is from the same conference as Elmhurst, also coached by a former Valpo assistant, which we played in an exhibition game a few years ago. Expect Augustana to be better than Elmhurst, which I seem to recall we beat rather comfortably after a comparatively close first half. To think we'll crush this team is to drink too much of the Kool Aid, but to think we'll lose to them is scary (and yet possible). Lots of work to do before facing the HL teams, let alone Arizona.
Quote from: swiftmutiny on November 01, 2011, 08:02:13 AM
According to the Valpo Crusader's Facebook page, ESPN's Andy Katz is going to be at this game "filming a story about Homer and Bryce Drew."
I'll be sorry to miss it*. Hopefully they get a half-decent crowd.
*Another soccer conflict! Not a game this time, but a limited screening of "Rise And Shine: The Jay Demerit Story" - check it out, Nov 9/10 (or Nov 3) at a theater near you!
Sorry for responding to the off-topic portion, but is that actually in theaters? His story is pretty awesome
They played a lot of Division I schools... but they've only beaten western Illinois
it shouldn't be that hard of a matchup, especially without preseason nerves
Quote from: valpotx on November 01, 2011, 02:53:55 PM
Sorry for responding to the off-topic portion, but is that actually in theaters? His story is pretty awesome
Replied over in "General Sports":
http://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=369.msg5637#msg5637 (http://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=369.msg5637#msg5637)
But, yes! A pretty awesome story, opening tomorrow in limited release - including (just?) one showing in Forth Worth.
At the game with my laptop. Will refrain from constant updates but wanted to share a few things.
First MBB game of the year for me, the video boards and the intro video are amazing. The sound system has definitely been upgraded. The PA was clearly heard over a drumline playing for the Valpo intros, which is a drastic change from the BracketBuster in February when the same thing happened.
Also, Homer addressed the crowd about 15 minutes prior to tip. He wants to thank everyone for their words, calls, cards, "and most importantly, your prayers." Go Homer and go Valpo basketball!
I love the drum line intro!
Just looked at the box score. Did some happen with Van Wijk? He only played 12 minutes and just in the first half.
Van Wijk got smacked in the jaw in a flagrant foul from what I saw, and he sat out the rest of the game. It didn't look like anything serious to me so they were probably just being on the safe side by keeping him out (unless someone else saw something that I didn't).
He had ice on it for a couple minutes and then had a seat on the bus. It looks like he'll be fine.
Quote from: swiftmutiny on November 03, 2011, 09:19:46 PM
Van Wijk got smacked in the jaw in a flagrant foul from what I saw, and he sat out the rest of the game. It didn't look like anything serious to me so they were probably just being on the safe side by keeping him out (unless someone else saw something that I didn't).
Highlight of the game: when Kevin got hurt and couldn't shoot the free throws, Augustana's coach chose Buggs to shoot for Kevin. Erik made two beautiful free throws that touched nothing but net! Everybody in my section looked at one another and smiled. As I suggested after the Hillsdale game, it is clear that Erik's free throw form has definitely improved.
Absolutely. I was impressed all around with our free throws this evening. Shot a solid 19 of 23 for 83%, which hopefully sets the trend for the rest of the season.
And we were 19 for 21 going into the last couple of minutes of sloppy play.
OK good news that Van Wijk is OK. Though I did not see the game or what happened, the Augustana player is probably darn lucky Van Wijk didn't respond. Kevin looks like he could handle himself quite well.
Ironically, I saw two exhibitions games this year (never would have planned for that). Valpo-Hillsdale and Kansas-Pittsburg State. We all thought Valpo struggled against Hillsdale, but I guess exhibition stuggles are not that uncommon. Kansas only lead a .500 DII team at half by five and only made it a blow out in the last 10 minutes.
Oh...and I am rambling...the Valpo video at introductions is much like the one at Kansas (I mean this in a good way as I think the people at Valpo did a really nice job). Now all we need is 5 National Championships, 15 Final Fours, the inventor of basketball, etc. to go with the Valpo video (just kidding). But seriously, the intro at Valpo really brought out the heritage and pride in the program.
Quote from: KL31NY on November 03, 2011, 07:13:11 PM
At the game with my laptop.
On press row, I get it. But, you were just in the bleachers, with a laptop on your lap? Hardcore?
Good game, one where the final score did not indicate the blowout that it was. Up by 21 with about 2:30 left, we should not have let them get that close...a 12-0 run will do that though with several turnovers. We need to get better on not making stupid mistakes. 22+ turnovers or whatever against a D-3 team, would only have been much worse versus real competition.
http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/colleges/8603683-419/mens-basketball-drew-pleased-with-valpos-progress-despite-some-sloppy-play.html (http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/colleges/8603683-419/mens-basketball-drew-pleased-with-valpos-progress-despite-some-sloppy-play.html)
Four Crusaders had at least four fouls, including 7-foot-1 redshirt sophomore Hrvoje Vucic, who fouled out in 13 minutes of action.
Vucic certainly got his money's worth in his 13 minutes of playing time. 5 fouls in 13 minutes. Has any Valpo player ever fouled out of a game in less time?
"I thought our guys really made great strides from Saturday against Hillsdale (a 73-71 win) and I was very happy with their progress," first-year head coach Bryce Drew said. "When we scheduled these two games, we knew these were two very good teams and good competition for our guys. I'm very, very proud of the effort. There's a lot of teams already that have lost in exhibitions, so I'm proud of these guys that they did not."
"I want our guys to play hard, but being an exhibition game, when Kevin got hurt, I think our goal was to go with a full roster on Monday to Arizona," Drew said. "You saw us take out Ryan Broekhoff, Matt Kenney, Erik Buggs — we really made a conscious effort to get everybody out of the game at that point."
As a result, the box score was pretty well balanced. Richie Edwards — playing center for most of the second half after Van Wijk (nine points, seven rebounds in 12 very effective minutes) was hurt — scored a team-high 14 points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers. Kenney and Broekhoff each had 13, while Will Bogan knocked down 3-of-4 from deep to post 11 points.
For Bogan, it was a nice turnaround after an 0-of-4 effort against Hillsdale.
"Definitely feels good," the Ole Miss transfer said. "It's been a while since I've shot the ball in bulk in a game, so it felt good to do that and hit a few."
Drew was particularly pleased with the defensive effort, as the Crusaders hounded the Vikings into 22 turnovers and 38.9-percent shooting from the floor. VU also was a sparkling 19-of-23 from the free-throw line.
Quote from: agibson on November 03, 2011, 10:42:03 PM
Quote from: KL31NY on November 03, 2011, 07:13:11 PM
At the game with my laptop.
On press row, I get it. But, you were just in the bleachers, with a laptop on your lap? Hardcore?
You got me. ;D I was helping a couple students set up for a practice radio broadcast and when they were settled in, I started to prep for the Valpo/St. Joe's women's game Saturday among other things...
Any minutes out of Vucic in the regular season on a game-by-game basis is a plus. Anything to spell Kevin & Richie.
I do believe Antti had similar bursts of fouling up until his JR year. For big guys like Antti/Vucic that didn't have many years of experience before Valpo, they need time to learn how to position themselves. Smaller guys that know how to play will just run right at big guys who are slow, to draw fouls...
Speaking of which, a nice series of plays in a row from Antti in this clip, though terrible defense by the other team:
Nikkila (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TemARCIxMjA#)
The Art of the Sky Hook - Antti Nikkilä (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QElg2_oPr4I#)
Quote from: historyman on November 03, 2011, 11:59:32 PM
Vucic certainly got his money's worth in his 13 minutes of playing time. 5 fouls in 13 minutes. Has any Valpo player ever fouled out of a game in less time?
Doesn't sound too surprising for a developing big man. I don't know the "fastest foul out" stat - that would be a fun one.
The announcer in the first clip was the best part!!! :lol:
I believe Aaron Thomason once fouled out in about 3-4 minutes. I believe we were playing Stanford either out there or in a tourney somewhere and it was close and we needed fouls given.
I am not sure, but Phil Willie might also be in the running for the record of that dubious stat. I don't know that he fouled out but there were a few games (besides just the Oakland game) that he came in and had some very quick fouls.
Quote from: humbleopinion on November 03, 2011, 09:39:58 PM
He had ice on it for a couple minutes and then had a seat on the bus. It looks like he'll be fine.
Wow! My how times have changed. I had no idea there was a bus from the ARC back to the dorms!! ;)
So, is everyone feeling better about Bogan and Edwards? Can't wait to see Fernandez as he surely will be better than Vucic, although I saw some decent play from him tonight also--nice 15 footer!! ;)
Twenty-five points from your newcomers.
That's more in line with what you'll need to compete.
Sounds like the game wasn't as close as the final score indicated.
Quote from: vu72 on November 04, 2011, 08:57:30 AM
So, is everyone feeling better about Bogan and Edwards? Can't wait to see Fernandez as he surely will be better than Vucic, although I saw some decent play from him tonight also--nice 15 footer!! ;)
Yes, Edwards, Bogan, and Kenney all had very good games, a turnaround from the first game. Also, Vucic played significantly more minutes, especially in the second half after Kevin was hurt, but even in the first half, where Bryce's strategy seemed to be to play Kevin and Vucic at the 5, so Edwards was always at the 4, where he might work best. Of course, that plan was altered by Kevin's injury. Still, in the future it would be nice if Kevin, Fernandez, and Vucic could share all the time at the 5, and Edwards got used to playing mostly at the 4 spot.
After watching the video clips of Antii, the body that Antii has/had should be the type of body that Vucic has, not just tall and lanky, but tall and physical, not throwing elbows, but throwing the body around to get rebounds.
Well if you remember, Antti was actually kind of pudgy when he came to VU, which was why he was so slow too. Whenever he had the ball, it seemed like an eternity before a move was made. In these clips, he looks to be in very good shape, and much quicker than anything we ever saw from him. I imagine that 10 years of national team ball, and 8-9 years of professional ball will help with that.
Sorry to build up on Antti like this, but seeing as he was my lab partner in Biology classes for 2 years, I like to point out his improvement lol.
Quote from: vu72 on November 04, 2011, 08:57:30 AM
So, is everyone feeling better about Bogan and Edwards? Can't wait to see Fernandez as he surely will be better than Vucic, although I saw some decent play from him tonight also--nice 15 footer!! ;)
I feel better, but I still don't feel anywhere close to good, especially with Bogan. He made several absolutely awful passes last night; passes that wouldn't have cut it in a high school game. He better clean that stuff up, or faster teams will eat him alive.
Quote from: valpofan56 on November 04, 2011, 11:24:36 AM
Quote from: vu72 on November 04, 2011, 08:57:30 AM
So, is everyone feeling better about Bogan and Edwards? Can't wait to see Fernandez as he surely will be better than Vucic, although I saw some decent play from him tonight also--nice 15 footer!! ;)
I feel better, but I still don't feel anywhere close to good, especially with Bogan. He made several absolutely awful passes last night; passes that wouldn't have cut it in a high school game. He better clean that stuff up, or faster teams will eat him alive.
Give them some time. As the confidence level and familiarity improves the play will get better. Bogan's turnovers were a little disturbing to me, but when I looked at his career stats and saw that he had a career high in turnovers last night it made me feel a little better knowing that he had played, especially as a freshman, against much tougher competition than he did last night and averaged far fewer turnovers against the "big boys". I think last night was just a "blip" on the big picture radar.
For those who were unable to attend the game, there is a good video of highlights now up at the Valpo Athletics main page (and below). Also, I want to mention that the showing of replays on the video boards during the game last night was a welcome addition.
Valpo Crusaders (MBB) vs. Augustana (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBRVvAtgiiM#ws)
Darn. I was hoping to see a clip of Buggs psyching out the Augustana coach ;)
Quote from: valpotx on November 04, 2011, 10:43:09 AM
Well if you remember, Antti was actually kind of pudgy when he came to VU, which was why he was so slow too. Whenever he had the ball, it seemed like an eternity before a move was made. In these clips, he looks to be in very good shape, and much quicker than anything we ever saw from him. I imagine that 10 years of national team ball, and 8-9 years of professional ball will help with that.
Sorry to build up on Antti like this, but seeing as he was my lab partner in Biology classes for 2 years, I like to point out his improvement lol.
I do remember that, but I was just thinking that Vucic needed something on his body, even if it is a little flab for awhile. He just looks tall and lanky still.
Bogan coming off the screen to hit threes is very encouraging!
Quote from: bbtds on May 17, 2011, 04:18:33 PM
Quote from: valpofan56 on May 15, 2011, 09:04:30 PM
I really hope with the addition of Boggs and Bogan we don't have to see Buggs for more than 10 minutes a game. I think Buggs can play a really important role as a defensive, energy guy off the bench but with his complete and total ineptitude on offense he really should never be anymore than that.
I say give Buggs a chance to figure out some way to be a scoring threat. If he totally bottoms out then take away his minutes. It's totally up to Bryce now. That may be the biggest change in this Buggs situation.
Quote from: valpopal on November 03, 2011, 09:46:45 PM
Highlight of the game: when Kevin got hurt and couldn't shoot the free throws, Augustana's coach chose Buggs to shoot for Kevin. Erik made two beautiful free throws that touched nothing but net! Everybody in my section looked at one another and smiled. As I suggested after the Hillsdale game, it is clear that Erik's free throw form has definitely improved.
What does everybody think of Erik Buggs now. Should we see more of Boggs and Bogan and not more than 10 minutes of Buggs per game
OR more of Buggs?
I think Bryce just knows more about pushing the right buttons with Buggs.
Oh, yeah, I'm back. I was not in touch with a computer this summer and waited for the basketball season to begin. Things are much less hectic now. If you were wondering I wasn't gone because of dcvalpo, who I notice has left the board, but because of personal circumstances.
Buggs is the point guard and noone else has even challenged him after these first three games.
Kurth will most likely play the backup point although I'm pretty sure I saw Jay playing some point yesterday as well. Bogan and Boggs (when he is eligible) will play the 2.
Quote from: sectionee on November 08, 2011, 07:25:37 PM
Buggs is the point guard and noone else has even challenged him after these first three games.
Did Bogan run the point for a while against Arizona? I noticed him _guarding_ their point (well, the guy bringing the ball, slowly, down the court), at least, on one position.