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Post by vu72 on Dec 29, 2010 14:43:29 GMT -5
So if you look back to the preseason, we had a bunch of people saying Valpo wouldn't be any better than last year etc, etc, etc. Everyone is obviously entitled to their own opinion and Lord knows I've been wrong more than once (does the name Halvorsen ring a bell??)
Now we are 10-4 vs. 6-8 over the first 14 games. We arer 2-0 in conference vs. 1-1, (with the 1 win being a miracle over Milwaukee).
Without tooting my horn too much, I said that simply improving our defense to a point where we were middle of the Horizon pack would have gotten us to 20 wins last year.
Well folks, we are now 6th in defense in the Horizon, not quite middle but awfully close. We remain No. 1 in offense as we were last year.
Are we a better team? Can we get to or past 20 wins? Will we compete for a title? I think so. How about the naysayers? Pretty quiet of late. I won't name names...you know ho you are!! ;D
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Post by jj on Dec 29, 2010 14:52:26 GMT -5
I'll get on board if we win 4 of the next 5 games. My guess is 3-2 at best,but more likely 2-3. Go Valpo!
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Post by milanmiracle on Dec 29, 2010 16:55:06 GMT -5
I know I am a glass half empty guy so being optimistic is hard, but they are definitely better than last year, no doubt about it. They might even get to 20 wins which is certainly much, much better than the last couple of years where they weren't even competetive with good teams. I guess I am holding out for a good win, not just one that looks good on paper. Oakland is nice, but it's still Oakland no matter what the RPI says. If Valpo can beat Butler...that's a different story.
Are they Horizon League championship material...no I just don't see it. I've seen Valpo and I've seen Butler play more than once this year and sorry, but Butler is better at this point...unfortunately.
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Post by wh on Dec 29, 2010 18:17:20 GMT -5
Let me offer up the most optimistic projection anyone on the board will make: -- 8-1 conf. home games -- 4-3 remaining conf. away games -- 1-0 bracket buster home game -- 23-8 regular season record Note: In 2 of the 4 losses we will lose the lead in the last 5 min.  |
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Post by crusadermoe on Dec 29, 2010 19:00:41 GMT -5
wh predictions are a bit bold.
Bigs were my key concern. Beating OU's Keith Benson at Oakland showed we might handle Eli Holman of Detroit. But I would say 6-3 at home (lose to CSU, Detroit, Butler) and 3-4 on the road (same 3 plus WSU). That yields 20-11 and 11-7 in league.
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Post by valpo10 on Dec 29, 2010 20:36:37 GMT -5
Ego boost thread eh?
Until we compete/beat a really good/great team (aka Butler/CSU/Detroit) I will not believe in this team.
Edit: Prospects are looking good though. Beat a good Oakland team.
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Post by lowposter on Dec 30, 2010 8:08:51 GMT -5
I consider myself more pragmatic than naysayer and will chime in.
This is a good, very good offensive team with skilled players at a number of positions. Homer and the coaches did a great job coaching this team last year (perhaps his best coaching in his career?). This set the table for a solid team this year. The key was having so many returning players...the chemistry was already established.
The emphasis on defense and rebounding seems to have worked, at least so far. Bugg's return has helped with perimeter defense.
That being said, lets hope that our defense continues...it should and that we can neutralize bigs in the HL. Finally, lets hope we can hit free throws at the point guard position down the stretch.
The fact there were 4400 at the ARC against BSU is very positive. This is an electric venue when filled with fans. This can provide a great lift.
I dont know enough about the HL to make predictions, but this team should be poised to make a very good run the next couple of months (and hopefully longer).
HL looks really loaded this year. This is so much better than the old days of SL.
lowposter
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Post by valpo84 on Dec 30, 2010 9:51:42 GMT -5
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Post by agibson on Dec 30, 2010 11:02:43 GMT -5
I'll get on board if we win 4 of the next 5 games. My guess is 3-2 at best,but more likely 2-3. Go Valpo! Winning four's going to be tough, and would indeed begin to feel like somethin a bit special. I think we have a reasonable shot at getting three games out of those five. And, that this is consistent with a solid, top-three in the HL, type of season. |
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Post by valpofan56 on Dec 30, 2010 11:10:37 GMT -5
This guy is a giant tool. He lost all credibility for me when he said that Norris Cole and Gary Waters are the best player and coach, respectively, in the league. Matt Howard or Shelvin Mack are the best players in the league and without a doubt the best coach in the league is Brad Stevens. There's being a homer and then there's being a moron. This guy is definitely the latter. |
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Post by vu72 on Dec 30, 2010 12:46:16 GMT -5
This guy is a giant tool. He lost all credibility for me when he said that Norris Cole and Gary Waters are the best player and coach, respectively, in the league. Matt Howard or Shelvin Mack are the best players in the league and without a doubt the best coach in the league is Brad Stevens. There's being a homer and then there's being a moron. This guy is definitely the latter. Norris Cole may very well be the best player in the league if it isn't one of the Butler guys or Brandon Wood. As for the best coach, funny how you say its Stevens who just happens to have, according to you, the two best players. Last year was he the best coach? Let's see, he had the two best players this year, plus an NBA lottery pick.  Coincidence?? I think the best coach is the one who does the most with the talent provided. The jury is still out on that one until we see who exceeds the pre-season predictions by the largest margin. |
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Post by wh on Dec 30, 2010 13:01:51 GMT -5
I've come to learn that most of these reporters from the large HL city newspapers don't know jack about the rest of the league. The HL teams they cover are small potatoes when compared to their professional teams and in many cases higher profile local college teams. In contrast, look at our guys from the Times and Post Trib. For them, VU is a big deal. Both papers are at every home game and almost every away game. They take the time to sit in on the press conferences, write blogs and feature stories, attend tournament games, and study the numbers.
Notice that he is picking Milwaukee to finish last. Why? Because CSU went up to Milw and blew them out two or three weeks ago. With that one game as his only frame of reference, Milw. is obviously terrible and won't beat anybody this year. I would trust my wife's picks over this guy's, and all she does is attend some of our home games (probably like this guy does at CSU, now that I think about it).
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Post by valpofan56 on Dec 30, 2010 13:32:03 GMT -5
This guy is a giant tool. He lost all credibility for me when he said that Norris Cole and Gary Waters are the best player and coach, respectively, in the league. Matt Howard or Shelvin Mack are the best players in the league and without a doubt the best coach in the league is Brad Stevens. There's being a homer and then there's being a moron. This guy is definitely the latter. Norris Cole may very well be the best player in the league if it isn't one of the Butler guys or Brandon Wood. As for the best coach, funny how you say its Stevens who just happens to have, according to you, the two best players. Last year was he the best coach? Let's see, he had the two best players this year, plus an NBA lottery pick. Coincidence?? I think the best coach is the one who does the most with the talent provided. The jury is still out on that one until we see who exceeds the pre-season predictions by the largest margin. Hmm, Butler was a bounce away from a national championship. I'd say that they exceeded their pre-season predictions by quite a large margin. There were a couple of members of the media last year that had Butler in the Final Four (Pat Forde, being one of them), but I'd be willing to bet that even they only picked them because if they made it they'd look smart. I'm sure if you asked Pat Forde, off the record, last year whether he thought Butler would actually be in the final four, I'm guessing he'd say no. |
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Post by zvillehaze on Dec 30, 2010 13:57:59 GMT -5
This guy is a giant tool. He lost all credibility for me when he said that Norris Cole and Gary Waters are the best player and coach, respectively, in the league. Matt Howard or Shelvin Mack are the best players in the league and without a doubt the best coach in the league is Brad Stevens. There's being a homer and then there's being a moron. This guy is definitely the latter. Norris Cole may very well be the best player in the league if it isn't one of the Butler guys or Brandon Wood. As for the best coach, funny how you say its Stevens who just happens to have, according to you, the two best players. Last year was he the best coach? Let's see, he had the two best players this year, plus an NBA lottery pick. Coincidence?? I think the best coach is the one who does the most with the talent provided. The jury is still out on that one until we see who exceeds the pre-season predictions by the largest margin. I've got a lot of respect for both Cole and Waters ... I don't necessarily agree that they're the best player and coach in the league, but they're certainly in the discussion. For vu72 ... it's pretty clear you don't think much of Stevens as a coach. Which HL coaches do you think are better? As for exceeding expectations, you are correct that Stevens has only finished above the preseason prediction one time, winning the league in '08-'09 after being picked 5th. I'm predicting that he'll once again fail to exceed preseason expectations this year. |
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Post by valpo89 on Dec 30, 2010 15:19:34 GMT -5
I've always been of the opinion that it's really hard to judge coaches based only on watching them during games. I also think it would be premature to call Stevens the best coach in the league, simply because he's so young and doesn't have the long-time body of work to judge. He took over a great thing, and must be given credit for not screwing it up or in fact making it a better program. I just have trouble giving too much credit to anyone under 40 years old.
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