Week 2 MVC games

[SanityLost17]

Valpo now goes on the road to play Southern Illinois and Loyola. How they perform in those two games will say a lot on whether they are a contender or pretender. I think they could lose both and still be labelled a contender for 4th-ish place if they play tough close games. Make no mistake, Valpo played terrible in the non-con and Valpo fans really struggled with why that happened because on paper we returned enough talent and experience to have a very solid season. Only 6 wins in conference last year, but we returned almost every major contributor and got some major upgrades through recruiting/transfers, not to mention having a years experience of playing valley style basketball. How we have played the last few games is far more indicative of what we thought we would see all year.

Lets be honest, without a half court prayer it should be IllSt who is 3-0 right now which would not be a surprise to anyone, but we will take it. I won't make any excuses if Fazekas is out a few weeks. Pretty much every MVC team is dealing with at least 1 major injury right now or will have one in the near future because that is part of the game.

[sixth ace]

Saturday

Indiana State < Evansville
Valpo <Southern Illinois
Illinois State <Loyola
Missouri State > Bradley

Sunday

Drake>Northern Iowa

[bleach]

Saturday

Indiana State at Evansville
Valpo at Southern Illinois
Illinois State at Loyola
Missouri State at Bradley

Sunday

Drake at Northern Iowa

Aces
SIU
Blers
Braves
UNI

[Blers]

Ramblers are Jekyll and Hyde. When they play well they can dominate. When they play bad it's so ugly. A lot of it comes down to shot making and the bench.

The bench has so many individual pieces with promise, but they're all in their first years (or second with first years of playing time) and we haven't even been able to get two bench players to really flash at the same time. Kaifes has gone off a couple times, Uguak dominated against ISUb, Bujdoso played great against Richmond and Ball State, but we need more consistency. Part of that is being so young, but it's frustrating. I thought after their opening week they figured it out, but they came out so flat against Evansville and seemingly everything that could go against them did (plus I think Evansvilles legit, at least at home!).

Getting Williamson back is big, he's a sophomore but i think has a lot of leadership upside already, and is easily our grittiest defender. Looking like it'll be a looooong up and down year for most teams in the valley!

[Go4Valley]

Valpo now goes on the road to play Southern Illinois and Loyola. How they perform in those two games will say a lot on whether they are a contender or pretender. I think they could lose both and still be labelled a contender for 4th-ish place if they play tough close games. Make no mistake, Valpo played terrible in the non-con and Valpo fans really struggled with why that happened because on paper we returned enough talent and experience to have a very solid season. Only 6 wins in conference last year, but we returned almost every major contributor and got some major upgrades through recruiting/transfers, not to mention having a years experience of playing valley style basketball. How we have played the last few games is far more indicative of what we thought we would see all year.

Lets be honest, without a half court prayer it should be IllSt who is 3-0 right now which would not be a surprise to anyone, but we will take it. I won't make any excuses if Fazekas is out a few weeks. Pretty much every MVC team is dealing with at least 1 major injury right now or will have one in the near future because that is part of the game.

Prayer or not....Illinois St didnt finish. Valpo made plays needed. Road life will be tough for any of Valley teams. I see the race to not be in PIG to be very wild

[SycamoreMaze]

Ramblers are Jekyll and Hyde. When they play well they can dominate. When they play bad it's so ugly. A lot of it comes down to shot making and the bench.

The bench has so many individual pieces with promise, but they're all in their first years (or second with first years of playing time) and we haven't even been able to get two bench players to really flash at the same time. Kaifes has gone off a couple times, Uguak dominated against ISUb, Bujdoso played great against Richmond and Ball State, but we need more consistency. Part of that is being so young, but it's frustrating. I thought after their opening week they figured it out, but they came out so flat against Evansville and seemingly everything that could go against them did (plus I think Evansvilles legit, at least at home!).

Getting Williamson back is big, he's a sophomore but i think has a lot of leadership upside already, and is easily our grittiest defender. Looking like it'll be a looooong up and down year for most teams in the valley!

Remember to give Evansville more respect next time. Their board started a thread that your post (and others) aren't giving them their due.

[VUGrad1314]

Evansville's growth has been amazing to watch. I'm very impressed that it's happening so fast. I can't wait until the rebuild matures and they really start to take flight. It will be great for the MVC!

[Atlanta Ace]

Saturday

Indiana State at Evansville - Aces
Valpo at Southern Illinois - Salukis
Illinois State at Loyola - Ramblers
Missouri State at Bradley - Bears

Sunday

Drake at Northern Iowa - UNI

[Blers]

Ramblers are Jekyll and Hyde. When they play well they can dominate. When they play bad it's so ugly. A lot of it comes down to shot making and the bench.

The bench has so many individual pieces with promise, but they're all in their first years (or second with first years of playing time) and we haven't even been able to get two bench players to really flash at the same time. Kaifes has gone off a couple times, Uguak dominated against ISUb, Bujdoso played great against Richmond and Ball State, but we need more consistency. Part of that is being so young, but it's frustrating. I thought after their opening week they figured it out, but they came out so flat against Evansville and seemingly everything that could go against them did (plus I think Evansvilles legit, at least at home!).

Getting Williamson back is big, he's a sophomore but i think has a lot of leadership upside already, and is easily our grittiest defender. Looking like it'll be a looooong up and down year for most teams in the valley!

Remember to give Evansville more respect next time. Their board started a thread that your post (and others) aren't giving them their due.

Seriously? That's a shame. I was literally posting about the Ramblers season in general not excusing the loss as a fluke. I go on here to see what other fans have to say about their teams, so i was giving an honest assessment. I give Evansville credit for winning but I can't go overboard; it'd be over valuing what Loyola is currently. They beat a team that's currently 9-7, not 15-1. It's also a team that is consistently shooting in the mid 30% range in loses and in wins is shooting in the mid to high 50's (we've shot 60% in games 3 times this season). And in the cases of at least 3 of our loses (Furman, Ball State, and St. Joes) it's because the team couldn't hit wide open shots despite pretty solid ball movement. This looks to have affected confidence at times; with players then passing up open looks/trying to do too much. It was even mentioned on the CBS broadcast how "______ needs to shoot that" a couple of times.

Also a team can come out flat and also lose to a team that's playing really well. They're not mutually exclusive, and i didn't say "they came out flat against a bad team". I think McCarthy is a good coach who can build something there. Finally I think saying that they're "legit at home" is also definitely warranted when they're 8-1 at home but 0-7 on the road. I'm sure that'll change before long; maybe even in a rematch in Chicago! But with that it's fair for me to say they're a different beast at home right now. That's not smack talk, it's just the truth. It's been 3 games, I don't think there's an anti E-Ville agenda, it's just early and no ones going crazy praising any team, especially in such a down year.

WOOOOOOOF.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

^ Looks like just 1 person. Everyone else denounced the point.

A winter weather advisory hasn’t stopped UE from selling out the lower bowl for ISU tomorrow. UE says they’re 200 tix from #MovingTheCurtain as of yesterday.

ISU@Loyola is sold out. Loyola’s 3rd sellout (Furman, Nevada). Last year’s ISU/Loyola game had secondary ticket prices so high it eclipsed the Blackhawks, Bulls, & Blue Demons combined.
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