Game Previews: Weekend Warriors

With the Crusaders playing games Friday, Saturday and Sunday we thought we would group the three previews into one post. Myself, Brent, and Danny each took one game and hope to provide a little insight and a prediction for our game. It should be a great weekend of basketball at the ARC with some good competition in what is sure to be an exciting ending to the 2k Classic benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer. Now onto the previews....

Friday vs. Akron - by Brent

Valpo's lack of a frontcourt will be front and center in this contest as Akron boasts of 6'8" all MAC second teamer Nikola Cvetinovic and MAC tournament MVP and 7 footer Zeke Marshall. They will also bring 3 other bigs off the bench to give KVW big trouble all night. The key will be to get both of these gentlemen into foul trouble early as they have a tendency to be over aggressive at times.

When it comes to the backcourt Valpo is going to have their hands full with starters in PG Alex Abreu, SG Brett McClanahan, and SF Quincy Diggs. The advantage here is slightly in Valpo's favor as Akron really only has one option off the bench to spell Abreu and McClanahan in Xavier transfer Brian Walsh.

This will be a battle between a four guard fast pace game of the Crusaders and the hard defense and half court game of the Zips. Valpo will be out manned down low and must push the tempo and get themselves in position to get good shots early in the shot clock. They must also put themselves in good position to grab rebounds to limit the Zips second chance shots. Finally, they must attack the basket and get Marshall and Cventinovic into foul trouble.

This is an early test for the Crusaders as Coach Drew must come up with a game plan to deal with the height advantage the Zips have. If he can come up with a game plan to beat the height and the Crusaders execute it it will set a tone moving forward towards Horizon League play. If they cannot, then Horizon League teams will have a blue print for success against the Crusaders. This will be a close matchup and certainly a game to watch as an early test of height vs. speed.

Saturday vs. IU Kokomo - by Danny

This Saturday will be the second day of the 2k classic Coaches vs. Cancer sub-regional that Valpo is hosting. The Crusaders will be taking IU Kokomo. The Cougars are a first year program, and their first win came against IU Northwest on November 1st in Gary. It appears that IU Kokomo is not a Division 1 program, and is still looking to find an identity as a first year program. Quite honestly, it is difficult to find any substantial information about the team at this point. They are just that new. Their team is made up of mostly freshman, but does have a veteran guard in Anthony Graves. I assume he is the best player for the Cougars.

Valpo will come into Saturday evening already have played the Akron Zips on Friday (Check out the game preview for Akron here on SectionEE). This will be the fifth contest of the young season for the Crusaders. The Crusaders are shooting 51% so far on the season, and will look to continue the hot shooting. In the game against Holy Cross, VU shot a sizzling 61%. So the high shooting percentage for the year so far is not necessarily a reflection of consistency, since the Crusaders only shot 41% at Arizona. Even though it is still early on, a few of the new guys seem to be making some strides. Will Bogan, the transfer from Ole Miss, scored 19 points on 8-12 shooting in the victory over Georgia Southern. JUCO transfer scored 25 points on 8-12 shooting as well in the victory over Holy Cross. Look for the usual suspects in leading the team in this game. Ryan Broekhoff, although only shooting at 24% from 3 on the year, has been the most consistent player for Valpo in terms of scoring. He and Kevin Van Wijk are tied for a team leading 15.3 ppg. Interestingly enough, Broekhoff has the edge over Van Wijk in rebounding at 9 per game versus 8.

So after looking at some stats, I think it is safe to say this will be a runaway for Valpo. IU Kokomo is a team mostly made up of freshman, in addition to only being a first year program. Perhaps Valpo wanted an easy contest in this tournament that they are getting to host. Look for Van Wijk to be dominate inside, and Broekhoff to continue his season as the high point man. This could be a game to get some playing time for the subs to get them more accustomed to each other. Matt Kenney, interestingly enough, is leading the team in steals so far this season with 6, as opposed to the idea that it might be Erik Buggs. Expect him to keep that up and get some baskets in transition. The Crusaders will get an easy win, and will hopefully be a part of a successful weekend for Valpo overall.

Valpo wins 76-48 (No real science went into this. Just my estimation!)



Sunday vs. Duquesne - by Hank

The Dukes have split their first two games this season, falling to Arizona and whomping Green Bay. They took on Arizona two days after Valpo did, falling to the Wildcats by 8 points.  Duquesne has had much success behind the arc, but that hasn't kept them from throwing up plenty of long range sots (10-44 22.7%).   Duquesne has had a lot of success taking care of the ball turning it over only 19 times in two games.

Duquesne is a deep team having 9 players play double digit minutes in both of their two games.  They are a young team and they don't have a lot of size (they have been out rebounded 93-65 on the season).  One player to watch for Duquesne is #23 B.J. Monteiro.  The 6'5'' senior shooting guard scored 17 against Green Bay.

For Valpo to win they will somehow have to have fresh legs after playing both Friday and Saturday.  The depth of Duquesne could really come into play in this game.  Two keys for Valpo's success will be to force at least 15 turnovers and to out rebound the Dukes and find some second chance points.