pgmado
Bench Warmer
Posts: 171
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Post by pgmado on Dec 22, 2010 12:00:58 GMT -5
Recruiting has gone down hill?
Ashley Varner - Indiana All-Star Betsy Adams - Indiana All-Star Skyler Gick - Indiana All-Star, first-team All-State Stefanie Lang - Indiana junior All-Star Laura Richards - Indiana junior All-Star Tabitha Gerardot - Indiana All-Star, first-team All-State, third in Ms. Basketball
There is plenty of talent coming through the door. What makes me laugh is that people in Northwest Indiana are constantly harping on VU for not bringing in local talent. Ok, so Freeman recruits all over Indiana and then people complain that recruiting has fallen off. Make up your mind people. Do you want local kids that you can feel good about who are marginally talented, or do you want a national (or international) roster of players who are good, but you somehow have angst towards because they didn't grow up watching Hoosiers every day?
As someone who has had several conversations with Keith concerning the teams over the last two years, his take is dead on. He believes that you can't shortcut the path to greatness. Now you can argue all you want about whether or not this collection of players will be great, but Freeman is right, there is no shortcut to building a successful team.
Freeman once said to me that "experience is what you get when you don't get what you're looking for." I think it's a very powerful quote and one that I believe will pay off over the next two years.
Sorry for my rant, but this constant double standard people have just irritates me.
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Post by rlh on Dec 22, 2010 12:01:26 GMT -5
Adams is the 2 guard, not the point...Laura Richards is the point with Gick her backup at present
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Post by vu72 on Dec 22, 2010 12:05:57 GMT -5
On paper you really can't knock the recruiting. Several Indiana All Stars. As for jj's comments about Indiana, well, they come from a guy stuck in rural South Carolina! Hicksville indeed! Look, it is a fair criticism of Keith when he does bring in "name" recruits and still the record is not very good. The injuries, the transfer of that gal from Pennsylvania and youth are causing the problems. Still, Keith needs to get these kids up to speed. As for the point guard question, wasn't Gick a point in high school? She came in with offers from Northwestern and others. The preseason reports from Paul Oren and others (last year) had her being almost guaranteed to be the point for four years. Still, she is not where we need her to be. Just a guess that things will be much better next year with a year of maturity, another strong class coming in and the return of Varner.
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Post by ValpoHoops on Dec 22, 2010 13:45:29 GMT -5
Recruiting has gone down hill? Ashley Varner - Indiana All-Star Betsy Adams - Indiana All-Star Skyler Gick - Indiana All-Star, first-team All-State Stefanie Lang - Indiana junior All-Star Laura Richards - Indiana junior All-Star Tabitha Gerardot - Indiana All-Star, first-team All-State, third in Ms. Basketball These players are good..they have the resume, but they haven't produced. I guess the idea I'm thinking is that we haven't had the "great" players the past few seasons that we did when I was in school (03-07). High school awards and honors are great, but they at the college level they aren't worth the paper the certificate is printed on (and you know this just as well as I do, Mr. pgmado). Personally, I think part of that is recruiting and part of it is development. When the graduating class of '07 came in (Braun, Rietema, Myers), those players made an impact - right away - on what was already a good program and they GOT BETTER...MUCH BETTER. I see Gerardot making a solid impact right now, and Lang seems to be finding her way, but they need help, and they need to keep improving. And, you guys are right...we NEED a point guard. Betsy Adams is a scoring guard and will never play the lead guard spot. Laura Richards is a point guard, but doesn't seem to have the ability to score a lot, and that hurts her. For whatever reason, Gick has struggled too. Until they get someone to run the show, they will struggle.
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jack
Recruit
Posts: 55
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Post by jack on Dec 22, 2010 16:07:51 GMT -5
I truly think they've found their point guard of the future. Those of you that aren't familiar with Carr, the player Keith recruited from Heights, should check her out. This kid see's the floor about as well as any I've seen, has great reflexes, Isn't shy about directing traffic, and can put up points if needed. The last I heard, she was on pace to break the Hamilton Co. all time scoring record. She's got a huge upside, and seems to be a great kid too. I'm looking forward to watching Keith work her into the fold. With the talent already here, they could really have something special for a few years.
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Post by valpogal on Dec 22, 2010 21:39:31 GMT -5
Its not the recruiting. Its the coaching.
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Post by jj on Jan 2, 2011 19:17:10 GMT -5
Maybe. We're now faced with another loss to Butler, a 12 pt. differential. Butler owns us (football,volleyball,basketnall,others) Why?
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Post by indyvalpo on Jan 6, 2011 22:27:00 GMT -5
Ladies get hammered again. Freeman starts the same lineup for the 14th time in a row. The team sits at 3-11. Lang scores 15 but only plays 16 minutes.
It only took a year and a half but it would appear that Skylar Gick has been completely destroyed. She played significant minutes on probably the best Indiana Girls All Star team ever and now....
How bad will it have to get before he at least tries something new?
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Post by stlvufan on Jan 6, 2011 22:50:10 GMT -5
Ladies get hammered again. Freeman starts the same lineup for the 14th time in a row. The team sits at 3-11. Lang scores 15 but only plays 16 minutes. It only took a year and a half but it would appear that Skylar Gick has been completely destroyed. She played significant minutes on probably the best Indiana Girls All Star team ever and now.... How bad will it have to get before he at least tries something new? I can't authoritatively confirm your assessment, but I can tell you that my interest level for VU women's basketball has gone way down, mainly because I don't get the sense that they will ever compete very well in the Horizon League, so I guess by default I'm saying I agree with you. The thing is, I was kinda jazzed by how close the Butler game was until midway through the second half (though I did feel like the Lady Bulldogs had a *real* off day). The only thing I can offer is that the Lady Titans are for real as well, they really battled the Phoenix up in Green Bay. But when I watch the Lady Crusaders play, it just looks like the talent has gone way down from what it was when we first entered the HL. That upset over Green Bay seems like ages ago now.
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Post by valpofan56 on Jan 6, 2011 22:54:44 GMT -5
How bad will it have to get before he at least tries something new? Keith is one of the most stubborn persons I've ever met. I doubt anything is going to change . . .
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Post by indyvalpo on Jan 7, 2011 7:47:55 GMT -5
If he starts the same line-up after this perhaps we need a new voice..
Slow start leads to women's basketball loss for Valpariaso University
Detroit 68, Valparaiso 52
A sluggish start proved to be the downfall for Valparaiso University's women's basketball team Thursday night.
Detroit raced to a 15-2 cushion over the first 5 minutes, 49 seconds of the game, leading to a 68-52 Horizon League win over the visiting Crusaders.
VU (3-11, 0-2) was 1 of 6 from the field with four turnovers during the opening stretch, and the Crusaders were unable to get inside single digits the rest of the contest.
"I didn't think we played with much energy or passion," Crusaders coach Keith Freeman said. "That's kind of hard to accept."
The Titans (8-6, 2-1) had four players in double figures, led by Cherridy Thornton's game-high 18. Detroit also scored 29 points off 19 VU turnovers.
"They trapped our ball screen," Freeman said, "and we threw the ball all over the gym.
"I can handle execution problems if we play with maximum effort and energy. If we don't, that's a bad combination."
Valparaiso High School grad and Crusader freshman Stefanie Lang had a career-high 15 points. She tied for team honors with junior Betsy Adams.
Those numbers didn't ease Freeman's frustration for his team's performance.
"If we have the passion, the next step is learning how to play basketball," he said. "My responsibility is to get the players to play hard, and they didn't do it.
"I don't have an answer for it, but it's going to have to change."
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jack
Recruit
Posts: 55
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Post by jack on Jan 7, 2011 16:15:10 GMT -5
I certainly expected more from them at this point in the season, as did a lot of people. I will have to re-iterate though, that there seems to be some chemistry missing, and it doesn't appear that any player wants to step up and lead. The coaches can only do so much from the sidelines - at some point, a player needs to step up and take charge on the floor. Every good team has a "go to' player that, by their own actions and deads, takes charge, and instills confidence in their team mates. It just doesn't seem to be happening here. I do have to agree with Freeman though, the players he has out on the floor that are put into the ball control possitions, seem to panic, and throw the ball all over the place - that's where the confidence comes in. Just because you're a standout on a quality team in highschool, doesn't automatically lead to sucess at the next level. College is an entirely different game. You may have been a star playing against other highschool athletes, but now you're competing with the best of the best, and you had better be able to dig down deap and find a little more, or you're not going to make it. Unfortunately, there just isn't a crystal ball to tell you what player can step it up, and what ones peaked before they arrived. Freeman has a lot of talent, but no one who wants to take the reigns when the wistle blows. Is it the recruiting? Maybe, a little. But you can watch these ladies play and know they aren't leaving it all on the floor. At this point, I'd be playing a lot of girls, a lot of minutes. You'd hate to start talking about preparing for the next season at this point, but it's crucial to find the players that can give good, hard, quality minutes, so a plan can be put in place when the next class arrives. He's got some players coming in next season that have shown their willingness to grab the reigns and lead, and whether they get a lot of minutes or not in their first year, they'll certainly be catalysts in practice to drive the other players to either pick up their play, or move out of the way and let others step in and try to make a difference. It would be a shame to see these young, talented ladies, go through another disappointing season, when you can see the talent, and know they're possibly just a floor leader away from putting up some "W"s. Winning is infectuous, and has a way of curing a lot of ills.
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jack
Recruit
Posts: 55
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Post by jack on Jan 10, 2011 8:43:11 GMT -5
I thought the Wright State game was certainly winable. We're just not making good decisions with the ball, and the defense seems to move in slow motion at times. When a team is shooting 52% from long range, there needs to be some adjustments made to deny the ball to the hot hands. Our shot selection, and the players doing the shooting was poor, once again. The fact that we only got to the charity stripe 11 times in this game tells me we aren't playing agressive enough. It was nice to see Freeman change up the starting line up though. At least he's looking for answers to why we're in such a slump. The need is there to keep looking. Very nice outting for a few players. It's a shame we can't have these efforts by more players in the same game.
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Post by ValpoHoops on Jan 13, 2011 21:54:02 GMT -5
December 10, 2008: Valpo 71, Purdue 60....biggest win in program history. January 13, 2011: YSU 62, Valpo 55...worst loss in program history, perhaps? Just two years between. They have fallen a long ways in a short time.
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Post by eguins on Jan 13, 2011 22:47:49 GMT -5
This is not the YSU Women's team you guys beat 80-28 last year. They've been in all but 3-4 games this year and let a few double-digit leads slide on the road this year.
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