Agree with what’s said, defense is poor. We went away in the 2nd half from what was successful in the first, for whatever reason either being coached or the players playing this way - they want to be a jump shooting team and we aren’t good at it. We started hot from 3 but miss after continual miss in the second half should have triggered someone to change what they were doing and we didn’t. That allowed DePaul to climb back in addition to them making the 3s they were missing in the first half.

Also very concerned with lack of adjustments and how slow Valentine is to stem any bleeding. It’s been an issue for two years now, he allows teams to make large runs before calling a time out; maybe inexperience? But at some point you need to change what you’re doing if it shows up time and time again. Even with bad teams they make a run against us and claw back. Overall, not impressed with how he has coached this year. We have talent, for whatever reason it’s not showing up and we look like a team that’s lost.

Ben Schweiger is developing nicely, not as hot as Wednesdays game but still good.

Can somebody convince me that Saint is worth the minutes he plays? Not a strong offensive player with quick step on the drive and not that good on the defense. Am I wrong?

Bryce also seems not to be fitting in with what Drew wants though this means more Welch who definitely makes his minutes productive

OK, I'm very supportive of Drew. Maybe he needs to be less of a "friend," though. And I think eight players is too tight of a rotation.

The problem with the team to me is it seems like we're playing to find a style that works for us, rather than being taught to operate in a system. I'm sick at home today (COVID test was negative) so I was watching a bunch of A10 teams as well as ours. The problem is, our success was built on an offensive and defensive style where we could put in good athletes (so of the best we could get at the MVC level) and all work together (Culture, total buy in, etc.) in a system to win. The A10 is a league where we'll be playing three and four star athletes every game. Once they know your system and have the athleticism to defeat it, you're going to struggle. The closest thing to a "system" team in the A10 is Davidson. They still have 4-star and 3-star players, but they're put into discrete roles, with an overall plan or style.

Butler is another school that used their system to get out of the Horizon (and the next year, the A10) for a home in the Big East. They haven't had as much success after starting to get 3 and 4 star guys, and mostly abandoning their philosophy at a higher level. I guess the idea is to build teams around two or three knockout athletes, and as long as you have them, keep riding it. If your next 4-star player is another type of player you can go in a different direction. It also allows you to adapt during the game.

I just thought we'd be a lot more prepared for this new kind of approach with new players. I think the unsure nature of it has led to turnovers-- in a system you know where the next pass goes, and the next one after that. And I don't think our best athletes are going to hold up to the best at STL, Dayton, VCU, etc. I thought we'd at least stay competitive by using our defensive experience and philosophy.

Well, anyway, those are my thoughts. We've got UWGB next, and they're horrible. Let's use that game to get right for Clemson a week from today. Yeesh.....

Can't lose that game at home. Bad.

Drew just can't seem to stop the bleeding when things start to go south. Some of his substitutions today just made no sense. He took out Braden when he got his third foul and the press was killing us, but doesn't put another ball-handler out in his place. Saint immediately turns it over on two separate possessions. Not saying they were his fault, but why no Quinn there? Then he leaves Saint in over Phil down the stretch for the last ten minutes... I just didn't get it. Again, not trying to dump on Saint, he's not why we lost, but we had a lot of success in the first half with Phil sucking the defense in and creating space for 3s and drives, even if he wasn't converting his shots that well. Maybe he was missing some defensive assignments I missed, but I didn't see anything egregious. Depaul made a lot of deep threes down the stretch, but ultimately only scoring 23 points in the second half is what killed us.

And those last two "plays" we ran at the end of regulation with the chance to win were atrocious. Marquise was on fire all night and completely dominating his guy, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know you give him the rock with the game on the line, but two straight times we have Norris go on (I guess?) isolation plays to dribble into nowhere and throw up prayers.

All in all -- very disappointing game (and season) for Drew. The players played well enough to win, gave him a huge cushion, and he choked.

Agreed on those last play calls. That was especially hard to watch. Braden just chucking up a 3. Need better.

Tough loss. However, it was a huge improvement over the Myrtle Beach games. Many of the new players are struggling to fit. Several of the new guys are better "players" than we have had in the past, but it is clear that the players who have been in the system longer play better as a team. We need these new players to adjust and it is going to take time. I am seeing improvement, but it is painful. It is unfortunate, but I don't think we play optimally if we have two new players on the floor at the same time.

Exactly right, in my opinion.

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Man it hurts to lose to Depew but the effort by the team was incredible and the atmosphere in the gym was electric and down the stretch it was deafening. Was a great college game day atmosphere, by far the best in the Chicago area. Kennedy's steal and Norris leaping onto the floor to get the ball in the closing minute were really something. This team really put it all out there yesterday. It was a tough loss. That is going to happen and of course this hurt more than the others cuz it was Dpew!

We have new people to integrate after having kids playing forever. Yes we have a new young coach and all of this is not going to produce what we have been blessed with for the last 6 years. But the atmosphere in the gym yesterday down the stretch was incredible...I hope everyone sticks with this group and coach even though it is going to be bumpy.

.The first half was a pretty darn good half. Stumblefield made adjustments at half pulling his players up higher, out of the corners and took advantage of our switches and getting players isolated at the rim . We adjusted after about 4 or 5 hoops and they had turned the mo. They got it to 6 and then we took it back to 15...then they got REAL hot from 3 and we bogged down on offense.
I agree Drew looks indecisive at times and the play we got at the end was either blown up or not executed.
The rotation was really short and Brad Norris looked flat out exhausted the last 5 minutes. It is curious that Quinn is now getting zero minutes. .Seems like one way or another we have to stretch the bench some.
Our offense needs another contributor...The fact that Sheldon Edwards for whatever reason is not the player that tormented us at Valpo and Thomas can no longer hit the 3 . Schweiger is coming along but as any young player looked cautious yesterday down the stretch. Alston needs to be more consistent. Somehow we need to get more offense.
I still think there are times for this group to play zone.
Some of the 3s that Dep. hit were undefendable.
In the end in a game that came down to one point DeP shot 17/19 from the line and we were 8/13.

Not much to add. Frustrating game.

1. Braden needs to lighten up. Down the stretch and in OT he was doing too much and being too ball dominate. Marquise had his best game in his career and Braden needed to get him the ball on the last possession in regulation. Point guard 101, get it to the hot guy. Braden is a system guy. He's trying to play one on one like a 5 star. He's goid, not that good.

2. Officials were erratic and kept stopping the game while play was live. I have never seen media time outs called in the middle of live action. The time out in OT when De Paul was not playing well that wasn't charged to anyone was bizarre. The phantom foul in the 1st half in a De Paul shooter shooting a 3 was a joke and got De Paul back in the game. De Paul was fouling just as much and the free throw differential was huge reason for loss.

3. Turnovers still a huge problem. This and FTs was reason for liss.

4. We were lousy defending the 3.

5. Drew needs to be better.