Game Recap: This is the face of disappointment...

I wish I could say the results of the game last night surprised me.  VU looked unprepared on both sides of the ball.  The Iona zone defense frustrated Valpo, our guards didn't stay in front of anyone when we went on the defensive, everybody on the team seemed to be dribbling the ball to the corner and getting trapped, and I thought I was going to go crazy watching as pass after pass went out of bounds or was thrown away due to Crusaders jumping to pass the ball almost every time it seemed.

VU started in a zone defense and after the first 10 minutes Iona had 26 points on the board and they weren't missing any of their shots (granted most of them were pretty good looks).  Valpo finally went man and stopped them a few times in a row, but anytime Valpo got within 6 points Iona would score and take the momentum back.  For the game, Iona shot 58% from the field and 47% from behind the arc.  I also think they must have gotten 4th rate officials for this 4th rate tournament, because these guys were aweful.  Not calling fouls (I know they let um play in a tournament, but there were some blatants ones not called), not calling travels, they blew many calls both for and against Valpo (by no means am I blaming the refs, I think Valpo got more calls then went against them).  It seemed like the refs and the VU players were just going through the motions.  Very disappointing.

One bright spot from this game: Jay Harris.  I've been a big Jay Harris critic this year as he has made bad turnovers on numerous occassion or made poor shot decisions.  Harris shot 7-14 from the field and ended up with a game high 20 points.  The last few games Harris had played some good basketball and he is one guy I'm looking forward to seeing return next season for the Crusaders.

Well, the season is over, but continue checking back.  Watch for returning player information, a little Crusader history, and anything else that might pop up that is related to VU or Horizon League basketball.  Hopefully we will be following Butler and Cleveland State for a couple more weeks as they make their way through their respective post season tournaments.