Firday 8 p.m. - Men's Basketball at Valparaiso

[ysuindy]

The men travel to Valpo for a Friday night game.

Wondering when the team is leaving.  The Lake Michigan Lake Effect Snow Machine is expected to crank up Thursday and early Friday.  South Bend in line for up to 11 inches of snow, lesser amounts west to Valpo.  Assuming the team is bussing to Valpo means a stretch of bad weather on the Indiana Toll Road.

Valpo is 10-7, 3-2 in the League.  The Crusaders are 6-2 at home, losing two points contests to Oakland and UW-Milwaukee.

Sagarin's overall ratings make Valpo a 5 point favorite, the predictor rankings have the Crusaders favored by 4 1/2.  Sagarin's home court advantage is nearly 4 points.

Pomeroy gives YSU a 36% chance of winning, predicting a 76-71 Valpo win.

YSU's statistical strength continues to be low turnovers.  Penguins are 6th in the nation, turning the ball over on only 16% of possessions.  Valpo ranks 283rd, turning the ball over on 23% of possessions.   In a 70 possession game, Valpo would turn the ball over an additional 4 times - can the Penguins capitalize?  Valpo excels in limiting opponent offensive rebounds, a YSU weakness.  Sounds like the same scouting reports as last week.

[ysuindy]

To answer my question - the team left this morning (Thursday).  Looks like they should beat most of the weather in to Valpo.  Newest forecast for Valpo is up to 8 inches.  Hopefully they have a good bus driver!

[ysuscuba]

I'm excited about this series.  I know we don't have a deep bench but at least 4-1 is something we all can get excited about midseason.

[Wick250]

This game tonight might be the most important that we have played since we lost in the finals of the Mid-Continent tournament in 1998.  If we can steal it, we might be able to stay in contention all season for a top four league finish.  Lose it, along with the inevitable loss to a more talented and much deeper Butler on Sunday, and we are back to the pack, struggling to keep afloat.  Valpo has two big guys that can score.  I just don't see how Eargle can stay on the court for enough minutes.  But I sure hope that I am wrong.

[YSUGO]

Well unless we make a spirited comeback...we are down by 13 with 4:30 to go...so whats everybody thoughts...now?

[ysufan0505]

This team will go nowhere unless they get a post presence. They can't defend in the post because Eargle gets pushed around like a rag doll and then on the offensive side, all they do is sit with the ball on the outside, wait for a screen, pass and then shoot. Never try and go inside to the post and off the ball screen, never give it to Eargle when he cuts to the hoop, and they cannot rebound at all. Kinda hard when your tallest player on the court is 6-7.... Horrible

[Pita]

What a disappointment tonights game is.  I thought if we beat Valpo,
as I expected us to do, perhaps we could possibly beat Butler on
Sunday.  My gosh, we were never in the game, no offense, no
defense.  I do believe I know, what the next necessary step has to be;
but I hate to think about it.

I was so encouraged prior to tonight.

Yipes
 

[ELPENGUIN]

We were rocked tonight.  Did you see the size and athleticism of the Valpo inside players.  Holy cow we are no match for this team.  Also, note that even with the size they had, they ran with us.  We also had no answer for their zone defense when they used it.  Out-stratagized and out-played.

[BTD30]

I'm not surprised about what happened tonight. I expected it.

[YsuPride]

The downfall slide begins and reality sets in.  No bench and no size will kill us the rest of the year.  Sunday against Butler may be even worse because Butler has to win and we only have 1 day to prepare for them.
Interesting to see how we finish the rest of the season.   Slocum will probably get a 10 year extension from Strollo anyway because of his stellar winning %.

[OleYSUfan]

Pride:
A little laughter (lol) is great, but your probably right Slocum has a terrible Div 1 record and by far worst of any Horizon League coach, yet he's still here. We still may end up with a 9-9 record in the Horizon and get his long contract extention.

We must somehow get good strong inside presence or forget our chances of every getting a NCAA tournament bid.

[IAA Fan]

From the Valpo Story: Going up against one of the nation’s top shot-blockers in YSU’s Damian Eargle, Van Wijk didn’t back off from his usual aggressive style of play in the post, going inside time in and time out.  The junior finished the night 7-of-14 from the floor and also got to the free throw line 11 times, hitting nine of his attempts, for his career-best 23 points.  Van Wijk also grabbed seven rebounds and rejected a pair of Penguin shots.

[Wick250]

OleYSUfan is correct.  We will probably finish around 9-9.  We will hold a press conference and announce that contract extension, citing the phenomenal advances that we made this year.  Reality check time.  Take a look at our sophomore and freshmen classes (scholarship players only.)  What do you see?  For me, I see one exceptional sophomore and nothing else whatsoever.  That is our future. 

[YSUGO]

Same stuff, different game....We will have to start all over again...will it really change anything?

[ysuindy]

OleYSUfan is correct.  We will probably finish around 9-9.  We will hold a press conference and announce that contract extension, citing the phenomenal advances that we made this year.  Reality check time.  Take a look at our sophomore and freshmen classes (scholarship players only.)  What do you see?  For me, I see one exceptional sophomore and nothing else whatsoever.  That is our future.

Wick - the only hope I hold is that three years ago we would have had Ashen Ward in that group.  Hopefully a few of these guys can develop to be a solid contributor like Ward has.  But yes, star power is lacking in the younger classes - really noticeable when compared to Butler's freshmen today.  We better enjoy the somewhat "down" year for Butler, because as others have noted, they are recruiting at a much different level - as their guys get more experience, they are going to be really scary again.