Arch Madness vs. Drake Preview and Game Thread -- 3-6-2022

[goramblers2011]

Believe these are our final records vs Valley teams during our time here. Arch Madness records in parenthesis. Interesting that we never played MoSt of Evansville in St. Louis. Finished with a winning record vs every current MVC team, that's pretty cool.


Bradley 16-7 (4-1)
Drake 13-7 (2-0)
Evansville 11-7 (0-0)
Illinois State 11-8 (1-0)
Indiana State 12-9 (2-1)
Missouri State 10-8 (0-0)
Northern Iowa 14-7 (2-1)
Southern Illinois 11-9 (1-1)
Valpo 11-1 (1-1)
Wichita State 0-7 (0-1)

[JC64]

I'm in agreement with swellafelon. We should schedule some of our former MVC rivals in the future. I particularly would like to see us play former MVC teams like Butler, Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Wichita State. We will be playing St. Louis, for certain.

[ahunte1]

An awesome thing that I realized today (unless I’m wrong), is that I think we left the Valley beating every single team the last time we played them. Now that is satisfying…avenging Bradley, UNI, and Drake all over the course of Arch Madness

Very astute indeed!

[Rambler303]

That’s a fantastic stat and a good way for us to end our time in the Valley. It’s been a fun ride in the conference and we will always be appreciative of the chance they took on a program trying to return to relevancy.

I too would like to continue to schedule MVC teams, specifically S. Illinois, UNI, Drake, Illinois State, and UIC. We always complained (and rightfully so) that other Chicago teams never played us, we should walk the walk and play UIC every year. Its is a fun city rivalry game and with them moving up to the MVC that shouldn’t be an anchor strength of schedule wise.

[RamblinTank22]

Didn't want this to get lost. In the biggest game of the season, Williamson and Uguak both got a double-double. Williamson had 18 pts and 10 rebounds. Uguak had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

[natetheskate]

Gonna miss Arch Madness..great to hang out with so many Rambler fans,,,meet Players parents..great to interact with other fans and most respect the Ramblers, but heard more than one Bradley fan say " dont care who wins long as it isnt LU"
Give Drake some credit today for also playing some good defense...They got a hand on a couple of 3s, really harrassed Norris.
We played small I am guessing over half the game.
Knight did not score in the last two games.
Old man Schweiger and his YMCA 3 point shot was crucial...
We got the same ref again today that called the Technical on Drew in the UNI game and again he made some horrendous calls on us...I made sure to give him a piece of my mind as he left the court...Should have been more focused on the V...but the guy really ticked me off.
Very Cool that Keith Clemmons got the Academic Athlete of the year....
Great to see the students and lots of young ALumns enjoying themselves.
This team just plays so hard....
Gonna mis Arch Madness

[440Rambler]

Arch is a fantastic tournament. I am sure it will change a bit as the conference expands. Valley was a great spot for us to prove our commitment to athletics wasn't a fluke and that we were an investable team. I'll miss Drake and UNI and am happy that UIC will keep us connected to the Valley for years to come on an annual scheduling basis. If Ben or DeVries wants to do a home-n-home annually I think we should do that as well. Cant have an entire non-con of Valley teams but 2 games a year sounds perfect.

I am really excited for the A10 tournament next year, following the VCU/Dayton crew on twitter it sounds very fun. They're in DC this year and have been in New York in prior years, love getting to visit bigger cities like that. Plus some of these fan bases seem wild in terms of excitement for their crew (some of the more vocal valley teams would rather hate on us than root for their team IMO). But mostly I cannot wait for the jesuit rivalries, its going to rule.

[jdubs]

This team knows how to play its best when it matters and now we’re hot at the best time of the year. Losing to UNI may have been the best moment of the season in hindsight. Really seemed like the team had trouble finding motivation for a lot of conference games this year. Getting the 4 seed gave us that “underdog” mentality and some motivation for the tourney. Now we’re rolling, have almost 2 weeks to rest up, and will again be “underdogs” with a likely 10-11 seed for the dance. Really like where we’re at right now

[natetheskate]

Looking at the box score we did not have a particularily good game.56. More turnovers than assists. 37% shooting , 23% from three, Drake scored 25 points off of LU turnovers but we outscored them in the paint...rebounds fairly even...Drake had 8 blocks.We had 5 more made free throws mostly due to fouling at the end of the game.
This was a heavyweight fight where both teams were throwing every punch they had...and we earned the decision...

[AMDG]

Didn't want this to get lost. In the biggest game of the season, Williamson and Uguak both got a double-double. Williamson had 18 pts and 10 rebounds. Uguak had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

I never thought Williamson had an NBA future but his increased scoring this year has lead me to believe that he will be drafted in the second round. He has an elite defensive skill that a team can use as their last man off the bench and now his offense isn't an impediment. He can defend three NBA positions. I think his dribbling has gotten better as well where he can help at the point in a pinch.