Game Preview: IPFW

The Crusaders finish up a three game road trip with a visit to Fort Wayne in a contest against the IPFW Mastodons.  If you go back to our preseason predictions both Brent and I predict a Valpo Victory in this one.  Valpo is coming off an exciting team win in their conference opener at Butler on Saturday while the Mastodons will try to build off their victory at home over South Dakota.

The Opposition

The IPFW Mastodons are 3-3 on the year with victories over Judson, Nebraska Omaha, and South Dakota.  Their losses have come at the hands of a highly ranked Xavier team, at Iowa, and at home to UMKC.  The Mastodons are led by Frank Gaines and Trey McCorkle.  Gaines is the leading scorer averaging over 23 points per game, is a threat from the outside (10-31), and a turnover waiting to happen (18 on the year).  McCorkle is averaging a respectable 13.5 points per game and nearly 8 rebounds.  IPFW is not a real good shooting team (just over 30% from outside and 44% overall) but they appear to be a decent rebounding squad (outrebounding their opponents by an average of 9 per game).


Factoids about IPFW and Mastodons
IPFW is the 5th largest school in Indiana and the largest in the Northeast part of our state. Notable Alumni include US Congressman Mark Souder, a lady named Jennifer Bosk, and a fella named Tony Laux.

The Mastodon is much more interesting then the university.  Mastodons loved cold weather, had yellow/brown fur, and lived during the ice age.   They had both small ears and tails to help maintain body heat. The mastodon weighed anywhere from 10-15,000 pounds and would eat up to 300 pounds of vegetation a day. The mastodon should not be confused with the mammoth.

Keys to a Valpo Victory
* Rebound on the defensive end.  The 22 offensive rebounds surrendered against Butler is unacceptable.  Valpo won't win if they don't fix this.
* Valpo needs to continue to attack the rim and pound the ball inside.  They have great success doing this all year.  I would like to see the ball come back out once in a while, but I can't argue with the results so far.
* Valpo can't look ahead to Saturday's game with Bowling Green.  If they can keep their focus on IPFW this should be a victory.

Prediction
I went with a 6 point win in my prediction and I'm going to up it just a bit.  I'll say its a Valpo victory 74-63.