Messages

ValpoHoops, wh has this same opinion about a team that when ahead by a comfortable amount of points, continues to pour it on with the bench players, or when Detroit does it with Ray Jr. still on the floor, since their bench doesn't exist. He's always going to play the sportsmanship card, even if it is the losing team messing with the rules.

I'm well aware of that...and on the other side of it, I agree 99% of the time. On this side, I don't...and he said on the board that the kid was the "chump of the week", coupled with saying he took the ball away from Bobby (which was not the case), so I stated my opinion...if we all agreed on everyhing, there wouldn't be a message board.

[he did nothing wrong]

The "chump of the game" award goes to GB's Carrington Love, who took the ball out of Capo's hands with 5 seconds to go (and everyone on both sides standing motionless) and scored his only 2 points on an uncontested layup as time expired. Bobby got credited with a TO he didn't earn, Love got credited with a steal and basket he didn't earn, and that was Valpo's 10th TO when they should have been in single digits. 

He didn't take the ball from Bobby's hands...Bobby threw a soft, 20 foot pass to Lavonte and Love stepped through the passing lane. Meaningless of course, but he did nothing wrong.

He did everything wrong.  At the end of the game when the body language of one team says 'we're going to hold the ball and stop trying to score' and the body language of the other team says 'ok, we're going to stop closely guarding you,' it is totally inappropriate for some bozo to steal the ball at that point and score. It's the same as a sucker punch, thrown after 2 people agree to put their guard down.  Aren't you a coach?

Yes, I am. Green Bay was still guarding at that point. The shot clock was still on (1.9 second difference after GB's made basket). If you don't want them to score, you don't throw a bad pass...play for 40 full minutes, not 39:55. Last I checked, until the horn goes off, you're allowed to try and get the ball back from the other team and score. (and again, the shot clock had yet to be turned off...I would feel differently had that been the case)

In my opinion (and what I've been taught by those who I see as my mentors) is that it is the LOSING TEAM who decides when the game is over. We were trying to hold the ball for a shot clock violation...Green Bay had every right to play defense.

Perhaps you and I differ on this one, and that's fine. The game was not over, and it was not GB's responsibility not to score at that point. If I were breaking down the film with the team today, I would be more disappointed in Bobby's pass than I would in the GB's player stealing it for a layup...that's just a difference in philosophy, and I don't think either is necessarily wrong...just differing viewpoints.

The "chump of the game" award goes to GB's Carrington Love, who took the ball out of Capo's hands with 5 seconds to go (and everyone on both sides standing motionless) and scored his only 2 points on an uncontested layup as time expired. Bobby got credited with a TO he didn't earn, Love got credited with a steal and basket he didn't earn, and that was Valpo's 10th TO when they should have been in single digits. 

He didn't take the ball from Bobby's hands...Bobby threw a soft, 20 foot pass to Lavonte and Love stepped through the passing lane. Meaningless of course, but he did nothing wrong.

ESPN reports:  Joining the Catholic 7 schools -- DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova -- in the new "Big East" this fall will be Xavier and Butler, sources said.

MVC will be untouched.  I don't think we will see a dominoe effect like most of us were anticipating. 

not yet at least. i find it a little hard to believe that they're going to simply sit tight with 9 schools. wouldn't surprise me in the least if they work on adding a couple more over the next couple years, and the valley, while a little far west of their footprint, is a reasonable conference to at least look at.

Even though nine is a strange number, from a scheduling standpoint, its perfect. Having the teams play a full double round-robin schedule of 16 games is the perfect model...giving enough inventory for the networks and leaving enough non-conference games for teams to a) play some good teams, b) play some cupcakes and c) play in a preseason tournament without struggling to squeeze them all into their 30 game limit.

1. Valpo
2. Detroit
3. Wright State
4. Green Bay
5. UIC
6. Youngstown State
7. Loyola
8. Cleveland State
9. Milwaukee

Certified and volunteer are not mutually exclusive. And, if they're paying that many guys to be coaches, the better have the best damn arts program in Illinois.   I'm not arguing with you, I just think it's ridiculous.

[EIGHT]

Apostle, come IHSA regional/sectional play, the varsity head coach brings all of his coaches, varsity assistants, sophomore level, and freshman level coaches to the bench with him. Gives some of them experience coaching in a game that means more than just building up program basics and traditions. Yes, it looks like the end of our bench, with transfers, managers, and eligible players sitting out with injuries, but this happens all over, as a part of program expectations, since so many programs bring up potential sophomores and freshmen to fill a couple more roster spots, so they can get experience being with varsity, even if they don't play at all.

So you're saying a team needs EIGHT assistant coaches? That would mean that their varsity has two assistants, then the JV coach, two JV assistants, a freshman coach and two freshman assistants (assuming that would be the breakdown) To have that many guys on the bench is absurd...how on earth do you actually "use" these coaches during a game? Is each one assigned a player (which would also be absurd)?


Edit: Sorry, that all came across as harsh, but I don't feel like changing it...I certainly didn't mean it that way...I was too busy laughing at the picture and just got going...


I guarantee you that several (most?) of these guys are volunteers (perhaps even parents, uncles, brothers, etc.) who are basically trying to get on their resume that they were an assistant at Simeon and they coached Jabari Parker...and they'll all try to be the one who takes credit for working individually with him (not that I blame them...)

If I was allowed to go more than8 hours away without taking leave, I'd be driving to GB as we speak.

How far can you get on 8 hours? Or, why can't you just drive faster?

i can get to minneapolis or rapid city. those are the outer limits of what leadership considers our 'local area.' anything beyond that, and we have to take leave.

Eh, just tell them you're going to the Minnesota game and having dinner with friends after. It's only about five more hours to GB from there...isn't that worth it for the team???

If I was allowed to go more than8 hours away without taking leave, I'd be driving to GB as we speak.

How far can you get on 8 hours? Or, why can't you just drive faster?

The Marian Catholic (now 32-1) girls hammered Whitney Young tonight...63-39 in the state semi-finals...and the game was nowhere near that close. Isaac had four points, but did an OUTSTANDING job of helping to shut down Linnae Harper who struggled to find her game all night. Isaac and one other player for Marian split time guarding her. Harper is a top-10 recruit in the 2013 class and is headed to Kentucky...she averages 19 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.

If you have nothing better to do with your Saturday night, they will be playing 29-3 Rolling Meadows in the state championship game tomorrow night at 8:15. The game is televised on Channel 248 on Comcast Valpo.

Marian Catholic, as I said is 32-1...their only loss is a 61-55 decision to Rolling Meadows on December 28.

The players are talented, and trying to learn a new system. I did notice the double stacked, but we weren't using it properly. Some may be the players not executing, but watching the way were were using the screens didn't make sense at times either. Are they being shown how to roll off of them properly? It still comes down to having a shooting guard on the floor in each rotation.

The staggers/doubles is newer stuff...its not going to be perfect yet. Right now, the players are feeling the reads and even through the WSU game, it got a lot better than from the beginning. This is going to be something that's going to have a very steep curve for them right now, just based on the timing.

As for shooting guards, the problem is that we don't have anyone who is consistently knocking them down on the outside. We have eight players who have taken at least 20 3FG...of that group the ONLY one shooing better than 33% is Tab (Wiedemann is second at 32%). To say we need a shooter on the floor is accurate...but who is it??

[I]

Here's the key issue (in my opinion) right now that causes the differences of opinion here:

jack, just based on your postings, I believe you to have "a dog in the fight" as they say. I'm not saying you absolutely do, and I'm not calling you out for it. If you do, its absolutely understandable why you have a very short-term view...ie, we need to do this now, change the system now, etc. That view is fine, and if my belief is correct, totally understandable...and again, I'm certainly not calling you out for it.

Now, the issue with that is that I don't think this team, as currently constructed, is good enough on a talent level to win a bunch of games...period (I thought 10-12 coming into this year would be about right). That's a result of what these coaches inherited when they got here. Saying that, I also think that putting their system in RIGHT NOW, and taking the punches is good in the long term...if you take this year and run some other system, then you have to start all over again next year, and you're in the same boat. I've been involved with building a team at the college level, it just takes time.

Do I want the team to win now, you can bet the farm that I do, but I also understand that this year was never going to be a great year in the W/L area, and that next year may well be a struggle too. However, once this year is done and next begins, its then fair to start evaluating whether or not the team is making progress. I have been to several practices over the past couple of weeks, and I was at a couple early in the season as well. I know that it hasn't showed a lot in game situations, but I do believe that the players - both on an individual basis and as a team - are improving.

Not having Liz healthy the last few games really hurt...it basically forced Tab and Gina to play a ton of minutes, and even Shaq to play at the 4 for stretches...I believe this was manifested big time in the WSU game, when Tab played 42 minutes...that's just too many for her and it showed. This has possibly made it look like we have taken a step back...we simply have ZERO depth, especially up front.


Main idea: The short-term outlook of this team (aka, this year) isn't great, but I don't think you can say "let's change a bunch of stuff to make sure we win right now" if it hurts you later on. Our current kids play hard and with passion, that's something you can not teach them to do...and they have talent...they just don't have ENOUGH of it as a group, and they aren't athletic enough to make up for it.

I think the kids that come back next year will build a solid foundation, and the kids who are hopefully coming in next year should be able to contribute right away. I really believe the 2014 class is the one that will be the group that pushes this program forward (The 2013 class was basically blown up with the coaching change...that's just how it works unfortunately).

Hello, and welcome to the ARC high schoolers. Please remember that if you accept our free entrance fee you may not play athletics at Valparaiso University....

Not that easy. By offering free admission to anyone who qualifies as a prospective student-athlete, we are breaking ncaa rules, whether we would recruit them or they would play here or not. That part is irrelevant.

[TWO]

I'm not sure how fair it is to criticize clock management for a team that was down 7 at the under-four media timeout and proceeded to win the last 3:30 7-0. On one hand, jack, you're criticizing Richardson for forcing bad shots (disclaimer: I have no idea about Charae not passing to Carr, I wasn't paying attention to the game for a lot of that part, I was talking to some folks I hadn't seen in a while), but then you turn around and want the players to take faster shots, obviously that they didn't think were good ones. We either scored or got fouled on EVERY possession after the last media timeout, so to me those are all good possessions. Yes, going a little faster may have given us a chance to win it in regulation, but we got back and gave ourselves a chance to win.

As for who started in overtime...would you have rather had the group that started the game that lost the first 89 seconds of the game 8-0? That would have been a great start to a five minute period. I'm not saying the lineup on the floor was perfect (obviously, it didn't work), but I don't really know who else should have been out there. Nobody on the perimeter could make a shot, that is a fact...so, if you aren't going to get any offense from your guards, it makes sense to put the best defenders out there.

The game was not lost in the last three minutes, or even in the overtime in my opinion. It was lost between the 8:00 and 6:30 marks of the second half. We had been down 60-53, scored five straight to get within two and the WSU went on an 8-0 run (a three before the 8:00 media timeout and five points immediately after) to push their lead back up to 68-58. During that time, we had 2TO, gave up an offensive rebound/foul/free throws and had a shot blocked inside. The lineup at the time: Tab, Gina, Shaq, Laura, Carr. That group had TWO segments of the game that they lost 8-0 in 90 seconds. (I didn't realize how bad this particular segment was until I looked it up) We had to work so hard to come back, again, that our best players, and the only one really who could score on a consistent basis, used up everything they had.

The fact is this: We are playing in a conference full of ATHLETES with a group of players who are very fundamentally sound and skilled, but many times aren't athletic to play with some of the players who are on the other teams. Our shooters can make shots, but they don't have a slasher threat to create space other than Shaq. Without a threat to penetrate the paint, defenders aren't going to sag off of a shooter and give them space.

The young lady from Chicago is a good step in the direction we need to go with our personnel. As valpo4life said, it is my understanding that the remainder of the kids being recruited for next season are bigs to help Tab and Liz. Hopefully we hear news on some of them soon.

No worries. As I understand it, all the rest of the players being recruited are in fact post players.

Very true. Hopefully there's news on this front soon...

[Starting Guards: 6-20 (2-8)]

Tough one to lose after a hard-fought comeback...simply put, Tab can't do it all...we just couldn't put the ball in the basket at all...and WSU starting hot like they did dug us a nice early hole again...

Carr 3-8 (1-3)
Richards 2-8 (1-5)
Scott 1-4 (0-0)
Starting Guards: 6-20 (2-8)

Wiedemann 0-3 (0-3)
Richardson 1-5 (0-1)
Bench Guards 1-8 (0-4)

All Guards 7-28 (2-12)
Posts not named Gerardot 6-23 (2-8)

Everyone not named Gerardot 13-51 (4-20)    [25.5%/20.0%]


Tab: 14-27 (4-7)...thank God she played well. Unfortuantely, she was absolutely out of gas at the end.

Kevin had 978 (according to VU game notes, which would be official) into the YSU game as scored 15, gving him 993.

Back to the topic...

Sagarin has us a 0.02 point favorite for this one (including the "Home Advantage" for GB). I'll take us, minus the points...

Valpo 76
Green Bay 72

The look on the faces of their coaching staff was worth the price of admission all by itself. 

As they left the huddle during the timeout...I kid you not...one of their assistants turned back to the team and said, "they're going to throw it deep...don't get caught sleeping!"

Oops...

This matches the STL-corrected version of what I posted here two days ago

OK...I tried to make it nice and simple for myself...I confuse easily. 

[VU WIN + WSU WIN]

STL, please correct if these are wrong, but I think they are good...


#1 - Valpo
#2 - Detroit

#3/#4 - UWGB/WSU (WSU owns tiebreak based on season sweep)...tie only happens with VU WIN + WSU WIN

#5/#6 - UIC/YSU (UIC owns tiebreak based on season sweep)...tie only happens if BOTH WIN OR BOTH LOSE

#7/#8 - LOY/CSU...tie only happens with LOY WIN OVER CSU (which would also give LOY the tiebreak based on season sweep)

#9 - Milwaukee

I feel like Valpo does a pretty good job of winning games down the stretch that don't really have a bearing on things... The Missouri State and EKU bracketbusters... the game vs Butler last year. I know Valpo will be playing for pride, so I don't think they'll lay an egg, but I think the lack of pressure is almost good for Valpo. Valpo played loose during the EKU game and absolutely destroyed them.

Great point. Crazy how that always seems to happen.

These are all teams that aren't familiar with us (and granted, we aren't familiar with them either). We run a lot of sets, like an NBA team, and they aren't going to be able to spend the time to look at enough film to properly scout them all.

When we play in the HL, they know a lot of our stuff and some teams do a very good job of guarding the set and not giving up easy baskets. YSU did an outstanding job of this...almost every possession, their assistants were up shouting what we were about to do.

Makes you wonder why we get the home run pass so often against HL teams...

Kurth, Boggs, Bogan, Buggs, Kenney, KVW, then Rowdy?  I am predicting based on playing time/accomplishments.

Swap Buggs/Kenney, and I'll go with that.

[Michigan City]

With Valpo HIGH playing in the Michigan City Sectional tonight ... some of the locals have a difficult decision to make.  The Valparaiso team is favored to win both games...maybe the weather will keep some people in town to hit the ARC

Sectionals at Michigan City (Portage, Valpo, Chesterton, LaPorte), Kankakee Valley (Andrean, KV, Knox, Calumet), Plymouth (New Prairie, SB St. Joseph), Winamac (North Judson, Winamac, North Newton, Rochester), among others that are outside the region (not that Plymouth really counts...) have already been postponed for the evening.

I wouldn't be shocked to see some others (Kouts, Wheeler, Hammond, Gary West Side) get pushed back this evening as well.

Nice to see Coleman get some playing time today.  Still don't understand why he hasn't been playing more.

I don't have "official" numbers, just what I've come up with through my own math, but in Horizon League play Coleman is something like a -50 in his time on the court and everyone else is positive. I think I had Lavonte second worst at like +25 and from there it's another big jump to the next of the guards. I know te coaches have access to the "official" stats, and I would think it's hard to justify playing a guy who - every time he gets on the court - the team loses ground.