Valpo/Detroit PPS

Valpo pulled off what will perhaps be the comeback of the year in college basketball yesterday.  After trailing by as much as 22 points in the second half and by 11 with under 3 minutes to play, the Crusaders found a way to win 89-88 at Detroit Mercy.  This match up featured the two leading candidates for the league POY and saw some of the highest PPS I've seen in a Valpo game to date.

		Minutes	+	-	PPS
Valparaiso	Valpo	200	1.03	0.35	0.68
Detroit	DET	200	0.95	0.34	0.61

Detroit dominated the first half, while Valpo was able to make the needed adjustments and maintain composure en route to a 57 point outburst in the second half.  Valpo used the hot shooting of KVW and Matt Kenney, won the rebounding battle, and finally had more assists then turnovers.  Detroit shot themselves in the foot with two silly technical fouls leading to 4 easy points for Ryan Broekhoff.  Outstanding performances from this game to the Crusaders VanWijk and Broekhoff, while Nick Minnerath put up a huge PPS for the Titans.

Player	School	Minutes	+	-	PPS
Ryan Broekhoff	Valpo	35	1.40	0.29	1.11
Lavontae Dority	Valpo	20	1.00	0.60	0.40
Kevin Van Wijk	Valpo	30	1.87	0.20	1.67
Erik Buggs	Valpo	28	0.93	0.57	0.36
Matt Kenney	Valpo	30	0.18	0.25	-0.07
Will Bogan	Valpo	28	0.83	0.13	0.70

Detroit	DET	Minutes	+	-	PPS
Ray McCallum	DET	35	0.80	0.60	0.20
Jason Calliste	DET	38	0.66	0.21	0.45
Nick Minnerath	DET	33	1.94	0.24	1.70
Doug Anderson	DET	31	1.06	0.26	0.80
Juwan Howard	DET	35	0.49	0.34	0.15

A few things worth noting.  Will Bogan's cold shooting continued for Valpo but he did a nice job chasing Jason Calliste around all night and limiting his effectiveness.  Also worthy of mention was the POY candidate Ray McCallum was completely taken out of this game by the defensive effort of Erik Buggs.  Buggs is notorious in these parts for low PPS, seeing him finish with a higher score then Jr will be a real treat for all Crusader fans. 

The Broekhoff/McCallum race for POY was a little one sided this night and Rowdy should be separating himself from the field of POY contenders with his season long run of solid play.

Game Wrap Up: Half a game

The Crusaders did me a favor tonight.  I took my 5 year old to the game hoping there would be no doubt by half time as to who would win this game.  Well, it was 43-16 at the half and we were both happy to head home!

The Half Game
Valpo attacked the basket early and often in the opening half.  KVW could not be stopped, he currently has 18pt and 10 reb (as I check my I Pod for updates.  The Saints had no chance in this one as Valpo was too big, too fast, and too athletic.  As I type this it is 74-28 Valpo, time to get Shelton some PT.

I'm a bit troubled by
* Ryan Broekhoff's poor shooting so far this season.  He is a scorer so I'm not real worried, hopefully he is just getting the misses out of the way early on this year.

* Tommy Kurth's lack of good play.  I'm not sure if he is just still rusty from not playing last year or if what he is showing is what his skill set is.

* After seeing what Cleveland State did to Vandy and now watching Detroit battle with Notre Dame the Horizon League is really showing some depth.  McCallum and gang are good...real good.  The announcers said a decision on Eli Holman is coming soon.

* Speaking of announcers...I'm not sure who was announcing the VU game tonight, but I hope that will be his time.  A three pointer is not a touchdown or a homerun (props to the student who yelled that out in the game). 

I'm encouraged by
* Richie Edwards' has been playing well, taking better shots, and hitting his freethrows.  He really looked to move the ball tonight when he didn't have a good look.  Much improved over what I saw from the stands the first few games.

* Erik Buggs continues to have a coming out party.  He attacked the rim several times with nifty moves to get by multiple defenders, found teammates for open looks (a couple open threes that were missed early on), and even hit a three pointer.

Up Next
Valpo will welcome the Akron Zips to the ARC on Friday.  

All Horizon League Efficiency

After running the numbers for the Crusader team I started wondering how they would match up with the top players across the conference.  I took the list of the All Horizon League 1st and 2nd teams and put the numbers into the super calculator.  Here are the results:

1st Team All Horizon League
1) Norris Cole: .90817
2) Matt Howard: .82579
3) Anthony Hill: .78222
4) Brandon Wood: .74643
5) Vaughn Duggins: .68189

2nd Team All Horizon League
1) Eli Holman: .79541
2) Shelvin Mack: .69729
3) Ray McCallum: .67122
4) Rahmon Fletcher: .65541
5) N'Gai Evans: .56372

Ok, once again these numbers probably don't mean much of anything.  But a couple of things come to mind when comparing these.  First, Vaugn Duggins had a monster conference season statistically.  There are two guys on the 2nd team, and I'm sure others from around the league that didn't make either team, that graded out higher then he did overall.  My second thought is: Why in the world did Eli Holman not play more?  He had to have been injured.  The guy is a flat out monster in the paint.  He needs more touches and more minutes for Detroit this coming season.  He is my preseason pick for conference player of the year assuming he is healthy.  Third thought, N'Gai Evans played very well in conference play.  Don't let his low grade fool you.

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