PPS Preview for #BeatDetroit

Looking ahead to Thursday we would be hard pressed to find two teams who's style of play was less alike.  Valpo can play the half court game, work the ball inside, draw fouls, hit the perimeter jumper when its there.  Detroit on the other hand is a fast paced, get the ball and run team.  They like to run and gun and play the high scoring game.  Let's first take a look at each teams' PPS along with their opponents:

		Minutes	+	-	PPS
Valparaiso	Valpo	3625	0.82	0.33	0.49
Opponents	Valpo	3625	0.70	0.35	0.35
		Minutes	+	-	PPS
Detroit	DET	3400	0.91	0.35	0.56
Opponents	DET	3400	0.82	0.35	0.47

Valpo has a very low team PPS while Detroit is sporting a good mid major level team score.  Valpo's biggest detractor is obviously their very high turnover number.  Valpo has turned it over 281 times (with only 231 assits) while Detroit has only given it up 196 times (against 249 assists).  But, where Valpo trails Detroit in team PPS they have a sizable lead when it comes to limiting their opponents.  Valpo has allowed opponents to shoot less then 40% from the field, they out rebound the competition, and are very good at drawing fouls.  Detroit has allowed teams to shoot it at a 46% clip (including nearly 40% from 3pt range...Ryan, Lavontae, Ben, and Will are licking their chops) and they get outrebounded.

I don't have the energy to write up a couple game plans tonight to #BeatDetroit, we'll save that for tomorrow, but what I did have energy for was figuring out their key players (guys who average over 10 minutes per game) PPS.  I had the energy because there was only 6 of them (Valpo has 9, this will come into play in tomorrow's game plan).

Detroit	DET	Minutes	+	-	PPS
Ray McCallum	DET	597	1.19	0.37	0.82
Jason Calliste	DET	567	0.88	0.36	0.52
Nick Minnerath	DET	447	1.00	0.39	0.61
Doug Anderson	DET	445	0.96	0.37	0.59
Juwan Howard	DET	483	0.76	0.28	0.48
Evan Bruinsma	DET	338	0.75	0.29	0.46
PJ Boutte	DET	183	0.64	0.39	0.25

 
 These guys are all pretty solid.  They don't give up the ball much and they wreak havoc on the other teams guards forcing a multitude of turnovers.  The one guy who does give it up from time to time is Calliste and the one guy who doesn't make free throws is Anderson.  I'll go more into these details in tomorrow's post.  The numbers up top don't lie.  I don't see a blow out in either team's favor regardless of which team is able to dictate the tempo.

Don't forget to predict the final score and Ryan Broekhoff's combined first half points + rebounds in the comments section of the previous two posts.  Also follow @sectionee.  Lots of free haircuts from Cuts and Shaves being thrown out during this game Thursday! #BeatDetroit

Cuts and Shaves Free Haircuts Giveaway Extravaganza

In case you have been living under a rock, in a cave, or spending time in some faraway jungle community Valpo will be traveling to Detroit for the long awaited chance to get a little revenge on their hated conference rival.  To make things even more interesting our guy Matt at Cuts and Shaves in Chesterton has charged me with giving away some haircuts during the game.

I have several of these gift certificates burning holes in my pockets.  Here is how you can win them.

* Follow SectionEE on twitter.  All new followers from now until the end of the game Thursday will be entered for a chance to win one of the gift certificates

* Post your prediction for Ryan Broekhoff's total points + rebounds for the first half of the game

* Post your prediction for the final score of the big game

We may have a 4th to give away as well...make sure you are following us on twitter and check back here frequently for your chance to win.  Don't start posting your predictions yet.  We will post on here and let you know via twitter and Facebook when the fun all starts for the second and third (and fourth) competitions.