Valley Thoughts

[RoyalShock]

Evansville and Missouri are having a public battle over the transfer of Dru Smith to MU and his subsequent waiver request.

https://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2018/10/31/missouri-evansville-engage-in-public-battle-over-dru-smith-transfer-waiver/

After reading the article I have to side with Evansville on this one. I hope it was someone in the AD's office and not Cuonzo who asked Evansville to lie and throw themselves under the bus.

Until the NCAA changes the rules, waivers should not be granted for a player because "the opportunities that I have are too hard to pass up". Basically, he thought he was too good for Evansville.

[wufan]

Have to wonder if there is something similar going on with West Virginia in regards to Allen...i.e. Teddy said he couldn’t get along with the staff, but the staff still wanted Teddy.

[Shockm]

Have to wonder if there is something similar going on with West Virginia in regards to Allen...i.e. Teddy said he couldn’t get along with the staff, but the staff still wanted Teddy.

There may be a similarity as in conflict with West Virginia but as for him feeling he was too good for them would be "silly" so there are lots of differences too. That wouldn't seem to be a strong argument from W. Virginia.

[ShockTalk]

Teddy was a roll player for WV averaging 11.9 mpg and 8th in average minutes. In his first 8 games, he played between 9-17 minutes. After that, it was more of a roller coaster playing between 3-25 minutes. In those remaining 27 games, he played seven times more than 17 ( 4 times 23 or 24minutes) and eleven times under 9 (twice 3 minutes, once 4, and four times 5). There was also no consistency of minutes. For example, playing 6 ,5, and 10 in the conference tourney, then 23, 19, and 12 in the NCAAs.

Not related to this discussion, but a word about "how badly we may need him" now. While the up and down minutes may be cautionary, he's a small forward that shot only .120 from 3 when he did shoot (3-25 for the season). He's not going to stretch the defense. While he averaged only 1.8 fouls per game, that's better than 4.5 fouls per 30 (not 40) minutes.

[C0|dB|00ded]

He was a freshman (in the B12). He averaged 23.4 pts. per 40 mins. played...

He is instant offense. Practically unstoppable with the ball in his hands.


T


...:cool:

[ShockTalk]

If he fouls at the same rate as last year, he'll probably not reach 30 minutes very often, much less smell 40. HCGM sets down anybody with 2 fouls in the 1st half and Teddy averaged 1 foul every 6.7 minutes. If he continues to do the same and does reach 30 mpg, our bigs will have to be good enough to draw defenders out and our shooters will need to be effective from 3. Burton, who looks the farthest along so far, has been slotted by HCGM as a PG or SF because he's not good enough (yet) from 3 point to play the SG.

WV had 4 players who shot between 163-196 3 pointers last year at a clip of .373 to help Teddy get to the inside. We have, well.... yet to be determined. McDuffie in his best year shot .355 from 3.

Your right. He was a freshman (in the B12)......surrounded by experienced B12 players, many of whom, could knock down the 3. He's now going to be surrounded with inexperienced D-1 players.

I hope Teddy can play this year, for several reasons. I also hope he has the kind of season you believe he will have. I think he would have thrived on our team last year. This year's team is still very unknown.

[SB Shock]

Mvc couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. They are ranked 32nd.

[1972Shocker]

Isn't it too early for these RPI rankings to mean anything?

[ShockTalk]

Honest question. Isn't most all of a conference's position among other conferences pretty much completed by the time conference play starts? If so, we're about 20% in.

[pinstripers]

https://watchstadium.com/news/missouri-valley-basketball-coaches-rank-the-best-jobs-in-the-conference-02-01-2019/

interesting read

[RoyalShock]

Re: Valpo

"The knock: “Facilities. They suck.” – Missouri Valley assistant"

Ouch

[WuDrWu]

Kind of funny that the Shocks are on the cover.

[WuDrWu]

Man has Loyola been all over the map. They are the best team in the Valley and are 7-2 but sheesh, some of their results.

Struggle with UNI at home, needing an 11-0 run from 6:35 to :37 seconds then held on for a 61-60 win.
BLASTED at bad Southwest Missouri State 70-35....almost a FORTY point beating.
Hammered ISU Blue 79-44
Won at Drake 85-74
Then immediately was Evansvilled 69-48.

There are others, but man, that's a wide range of headscratchers, both ways.

[AndShock]

2nd place ISUr down 21 at home to Valpo in the second half.

[shocktheheart]

Watching the valley tourney on tv and they actually showed a kid wearing a WSU sweatshirt in the crowd

[WuDrWu]

Even Higgy can't save this debacle. So painful.

[WuShock16]

I either didn’t realize or didn’t remember that Bradley coach Brian Wardle is a jackass.

He basically kicked the longtime Peoria newspaper columnist out of a pre-NCAA media session because “you don’t promote the Bradley brand.”

I’m comparing this to Bob Lutz. Is he arrogant? Of course. Did he write stuff that was probably overly critical of the Shockers? Sure. However, I would NEVER expect him (or any other media member) to “promote” the Shockers. The media’s job is to report the news. It’s always nice when things are positive, but it’s not their job to be a total fanboy.

I’m looking forward to watching Bradley get plastered by a 1 or 2 seed.

[shoxlax]

https://www.pjstar.com/sports/201903...-bradley-brand


Here is the referenced article. Dave Reynolds is a legendary beat writer in the context of that conference. Something about Wardle has never set right with me.

[rrshock]

Wow. SID should be in hot water at minimum plus the AD. That school is a joke.

[WuDrWu]

Bradley fans chime in. Good stuff.

https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sports-forums/basketball-fan-talk/484124-pjstar-bu-squabble

From "DaCoach":

There are a lot of legitimate reasons for this, and Bradley is 100% justified. Just read any article by any other beat writer with any newspaper covering any other team in the MVC. The difference in quality and quantity of coverage is like night and day. Anyone who cannot see that is deluded by the years of lousy coverage Bradley has gotten.

[giskard]

Bradley has had to retreat:

[ShockTalk]

And this has now officially taken over the spotlight from the Bradley players, big time. Hope you got what you wanted Wardle.

[1972Shocker]

Did you see Bob Lutz, comment/reply to this tweet? Assuming this was really Bob. looked legit with his League 42 logo and it appears to link to his twitter account.

Bob Lutz
@boblutz
Replying to
@BradleyBraves
You’re an embarrassment and you deserved all the embarrassment and shame that came with this. It’s who you are now. Nice job.
2:26 PM · Mar 16, 2019 · Twitter for iPhone