Since I started the last one and that worked out well...
Let's do this.
Hosting an Alumni Association promoted viewing party on Tuesday night. I sure hope we don't play as tight then as we did last night. Hope we got it out of our system and can play with more confidence and not over think things. Not sure why I agreed to do this because I would have loved to have seen these seniors in person one last time. I'm sure they will make us proud.
If you're able to make the NCAA Tournament, you'll get to see them together again.
Quote from: FWalum on March 10, 2013, 07:31:59 AM
Hosting an Alumni Association promoted viewing party on Tuesday night. I sure hope we don't play as tight then as we did last night. Hope we got it out of our system and can play with more confidence and not over think things. Not sure why I agreed to do this because I would have loved to have seen these seniors in person one last time. I'm sure they will make us proud.
Really? Other than missing some free throws I thought we played very well. It was GreenBay that played a terrific game that made it as exciting as it was. Both teams shot over 42% from the 3 and 50% or better overall. We had 16 assists and only 8 turnovers. Those stats will beat most teams.
Quote from: vu72 on March 10, 2013, 10:42:42 AM
Quote from: FWalum on March 10, 2013, 07:31:59 AM
Hosting an Alumni Association promoted viewing party on Tuesday night. I sure hope we don't play as tight then as we did last night. Hope we got it out of our system and can play with more confidence and not over think things. Not sure why I agreed to do this because I would have loved to have seen these seniors in person one last time. I'm sure they will make us proud.
Really? Other than missing some free throws I thought we played very well. It was GreenBay that played a terrific game that made it as exciting as it was. Both teams shot over 42% from the 3 and 50% or better overall. We had 16 assists and only 8 turnovers. Those stats will beat most teams.
overall, we played pretty well. but there were a couple stretches where we got tight and missed shots we had no business missing.
Like when ben missed the put back at point blank
Valpo exposes WSU's weak offense and completely smothers them with terrific D. Valpo wins it in less exciting fashion (thankfully) 67-55
So if we win Tuesday night's game, is it worthy of storming the court?
There was a very good attendance at the pre-game buffet in the Hilltop Club last night. I enjoyed meeting some folks for the first time who were kind enough to come up to me and offer complimentary words about my photos. There will also be a pre-game buffet before the Wright State game. Although the championship game is on a weeknight instead of a Saturday, I hope the turnout is good again, and I look forward to meeting others as well.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/2whfqsi.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/21e579g.jpg)
Quote from: chipper955 on March 10, 2013, 11:48:10 AM
So if we win Tuesday night's game, is it worthy of storming the court?
Yeah. Even if it is Wright State.
But, still on Spring Break, I wonder if you'll have enough students for a storming.
I don't anticipat losing to Wright State, but if we do, Wright State will be a 16th seed for sure. Let's take care of business.
Ran across on twitter some interesting chatter and tidbits re: WSU team plans today, and what Coach Donlon thought of the Valpo-Green Bay game final shot by Ryan. Dave Jablonski covers WSU for the Dayton Daily News.
All from tweets per David Jablonski@davidjabs7 from earlier today.
Wright State basketball team is staying in Chicago tonight before returning to Valparaiso on Monday.
Coach Donlon: "I didn't want them sitting in the hotel in Valpo, watching SportsCenter all day. I wanted them to get out, get away from it"
Billy Donlon said he and assistant coach Scott Woods stayed to watch the Valparaiso game against Green Bay last night.
Donlon said of Broekhoff's shot, "When it left his hands, I thought it was good. It's a tough thing for G. Bay and a great thing for Valpo"
Interesting tidbit: 6 of Valpo's final 9 games of the season have been featured on ESPN U or higher.
@Cleveland State Feb 9: ESPN 2
@Wright State Feb 12: nope
Detroit Feb 16: ESPN 2 (ugh)
@Loyola Feb 19: nada
Eastern Kentucky Feb 23: ESPN U
Youngstown State Feb 26: no
@Green Bay Mar 2: ESPN U
Green Bay Mar 9: ESPN U
Wright State Mar 12: ESPN
That's not half bad in my opinion! Time to make good use of our increased publicity as of late, LETS GO VALPO!
Heard around the gym on Saturday that the HL contract with ESPN is up after this year as well. (This could be true, could be totally wrong).
Losing Butler will hurt, obviously, but I think we are probably in for a "better" deal...maybe not more money, but hopefully more games on TV. I know this is a different topic/thread, but this could have a significant impact on expansion as well.
As far as Valpo...keep putting on a good show and having good crowds (forget attendance...just atmosphere) and the networks will keep coming back.
oklahomamick --I don't see how WSU could end up a 16 seed coming out of the 12th/13th ranked conference, even if they weren't the conference regular season champ. I think there's enough automatic bids from weak conferences that WSU would end up more like a 14 (15?)....just the opinion of this Raider fan. Although the last time they got in after beating Butler in the championship game, they were "rewarded" with a 15 seed, so who knows.
Nice wins by both our clubs last night -- looking forward to a good game on Tuesday!
Edited to say this...I hadn't bothered to check Lunardi's brackets until now (never really felt the need to 'til now!), so I see he has Valpo at a 14 right now. So, I could see WSU being assigned a 15, but can't quite fathom a 16. Anyway, time will tell should WSU pull another upset.
For anyone interested there's going to be a
"tweetup" Tuesday at Figure 8. If you don't know where Figure 8 is its on Indiana between Washington and Franklin, right next door to Greek's Pizza and a block north of Valpo Velvet. If you don't know where either of those are, you're in trouble.
We'll be meeting up at 6:30, and I'll be at the big table so we can have as many as we want there.
For the under 21 crowd, or those who don't want to be written about in the torch, they have their own root beer served in large steins.
Anyone see news on how kevin's ankle is doing?
Quote from: ncatprof on March 10, 2013, 08:19:23 PMoklahomamick --I don't see how WSU could end up a 16 seed coming out of the 12th/13th ranked conference, even if they weren't the conference regular season champ. I think there's enough automatic bids from weak conferences that WSU would end up more like a 14 (15?)....just the opinion of this Raider fan. Although the last time they got in after beating Butler in the championship game, they were "rewarded" with a 15 seed, so who knows.Nice wins by both our clubs last night -- looking forward to a good game on Tuesday!Edited to say this...I hadn't bothered to check Lunardi's brackets until now (never really felt the need to 'til now!), so I see he has Valpo at a 14 right now. So, I could see WSU being assigned a 15, but can't quite fathom a 16. Anyway, time will tell should WSU pull another upset.
Its simple, because WSU is ranked higher than 140.
If Wright St's win over Valpo co-insides with another upset or two, they'll be a 15. Conversely Valpo will just about guarantee a 13 with a win. One more upset from Akron, Bucknell, Davidson, or La Tech would seal the deal.
It should be a very close game. Kudos to Coach Donlon for his defensive game plan against Detroit. They really threw McCallum off his game -he we definitely forcing things near the end. Bruinsma scored 15 but he wasn't really being guarded closely.
Perhaps Wright plays Broekhoff the same way - try to get the ball out of his hands and force others to make plays, especially if KVW is limited.
Should Broekhoff be more aggressive earlier in the game and plow to the hole and try to make things happen or be patient in the offense?
Can Kenney and Bogan (looked tight against Green Bay and Detroit in final last year) make shots?
It'll be fun to watch. I made just my second trip ever to the ARC for the games Saturday. What an experience. I dug out my Sweet 16 shirt for the game and will wear it again Tuesday for good karma.
Quote from: ncatprof on March 10, 2013, 08:19:23 PM
oklahomamick --I don't see how WSU could end up a 16 seed coming out of the 12th/13th ranked conference, even if they weren't the conference regular season champ. I think there's enough automatic bids from weak conferences that WSU would end up more like a 14 (15?)....just the opinion of this Raider fan. Although the last time they got in after beating Butler in the championship game, they were "rewarded" with a 15 seed, so who knows.
Detroit wasn't helped last year by winning the 14th ranked conference. They ended up with an RPI of 127, but were a 15 seed. Wright St is sitting at 140 RPI. Seeds are rewarded based on how well you do in an entire year, not just the last week.
If WSU would win, it would take a LOT to push them to a 14 seed.
Here's the seeding breakdown just based on RPI.
16 - BSouth - Liberty 287
16 - SWAC - 182 +
16 - Colonial - Northeaster 165 or James Madison 189
16 - MEAC - 150+
16 - AE - Vermont 122 or Albany 147
---
15 - NEC - M St Marys 119 or Long Island 183
15 - BWest - 112..113...+
15 - SB - FIU 109 or WKU 171
15 - MAAC - Iona 100 or Manhattan 180
----
14 - ASUN - FGC 96
14 - Ivy - Harvard 93
14 - BigSky - Montana 84 Weber St 94 ...others+
14 - Summit - 76, 77, 121, 249
----
13 - Southern - Davidson 67 or Charleston 131
13 - Southland - 63, 97, 143...+
13 - Horizon - Valparaiso 60 or Wright State 140
13 - Patriot - Bucknell 51 or Lafayette 160
WSU would be at most a 15 seed due to their RPI. It doesn't matter what your conference RPI is, if your own RPI isn't good.
I see us making this less stressful this time:
Valpo 74
WSU 60
Quote from: chef on March 10, 2013, 11:28:44 PMIf Wright St's win over Valpo co-insides with another upset or two,
Sounds like siamese twin upsets. Maybe you meant coincide? But obviously that would be a penny killing itself due to having little value. ;D
Will Mike Cusack be at the game tomorrow night? Maybe we can get his ideas on conference expansion. ::) ;)
(Some of you should get that.)
Quote from: a3uge on March 11, 2013, 12:21:08 AM
Quote from: ncatprof on March 10, 2013, 08:19:23 PM
oklahomamick --I don't see how WSU could end up a 16 seed coming out of the 12th/13th ranked conference, even if they weren't the conference regular season champ. I think there's enough automatic bids from weak conferences that WSU would end up more like a 14 (15?)....just the opinion of this Raider fan. Although the last time they got in after beating Butler in the championship game, they were "rewarded" with a 15 seed, so who knows.
Detroit wasn't helped last year by winning the 14th ranked conference. They ended up with an RPI of 127, but were a 15 seed. Wright St is sitting at 140 RPI. Seeds are rewarded based on how well you do in an entire year, not just the last week.
If WSU would win, it would take a LOT to push them to a 14 seed.
Here's the seeding breakdown just based on RPI.
16 - BSouth - Liberty 287
16 - SWAC - 182 +
16 - Colonial - Northeaster 165 or James Madison 189
16 - MEAC - 150+
16 - AE - Vermont 122 or Albany 147
---
15 - NEC - M St Marys 119 or Long Island 183
15 - BWest - 112..113...+
15 - SB - FIU 109 or WKU 171
15 - MAAC - Iona 100 or Manhattan 180
----
14 - ASUN - FGC 96
14 - Ivy - Harvard 93
14 - BigSky - Montana 84 Weber St 94 ...others+
14 - Summit - 76, 77, 121, 249
----
13 - Southern - Davidson 67 or Charleston 131
13 - Southland - 63, 97, 143...+
13 - Horizon - Valparaiso 60 or Wright State 140
13 - Patriot - Bucknell 51 or Lafayette 160
You are missing a 16 seed, there are 6 total. If we win tomorrow night we will most likely end up a 13 seed. Some of these "experts" have us a 14 seed below SF Austin and S Dakota St. I disagree with that. A 12 seed is our ceiling and we would need a few upsets for that to happen. I predict that Akron will not win the MAC tournament so that could be one there. I think we would need 2-3 more...
Quote from: valpocleveland on March 11, 2013, 09:35:30 AM
Quote from: a3uge on March 11, 2013, 12:21:08 AM
Quote from: ncatprof on March 10, 2013, 08:19:23 PM
oklahomamick --I don't see how WSU could end up a 16 seed coming out of the 12th/13th ranked conference, even if they weren't the conference regular season champ. I think there's enough automatic bids from weak conferences that WSU would end up more like a 14 (15?)....just the opinion of this Raider fan. Although the last time they got in after beating Butler in the championship game, they were "rewarded" with a 15 seed, so who knows.
Detroit wasn't helped last year by winning the 14th ranked conference. They ended up with an RPI of 127, but were a 15 seed. Wright St is sitting at 140 RPI. Seeds are rewarded based on how well you do in an entire year, not just the last week.
If WSU would win, it would take a LOT to push them to a 14 seed.
Here's the seeding breakdown just based on RPI.
16 - BSouth - Liberty 287
16 - SWAC - 182 +
16 - Colonial - Northeaster 165 or James Madison 189
16 - MEAC - 150+
16 - AE - Vermont 122 or Albany 147
---
15 - NEC - M St Marys 119 or Long Island 183
15 - BWest - 112..113...+
15 - SB - FIU 109 or WKU 171
15 - MAAC - Iona 100 or Manhattan 180
----
14 - ASUN - FGC 96
14 - Ivy - Harvard 93
14 - BigSky - Montana 84 Weber St 94 ...others+
14 - Summit - 76, 77, 121, 249
----
13 - Southern - Davidson 67 or Charleston 131
13 - Southland - 63, 97, 143...+
13 - Horizon - Valparaiso 60 or Wright State 140
13 - Patriot - Bucknell 51 or Lafayette 160
You are missing a 16 seed, there are 6 total. If we win tomorrow night we will most likely end up a 13 seed. Some of these "experts" have us a 14 seed below SF Austin and S Dakota St. I disagree with that. A 12 seed is our ceiling and we would need a few upsets for that to happen. I predict that Akron will not win the MAC tournament so that could be one there. I think we would need 2-3 more...
>< oops. Still, going by just RPI, Valpo appears safe. It would take an upset or Southern, Southland, Patriot, Summit or some other to absolutely lock that 13 in.
Quote from: chipper955 on March 10, 2013, 11:48:10 AM
So if we win Tuesday night's game, is it worthy of storming the court?
No. Bigger fish to fry.
Quote from: 70zboy on March 11, 2013, 12:17:35 AM
It should be a very close game. Kudos to Coach Donlon for his defensive game plan against Detroit. They really threw McCallum off his game -he we definitely forcing things near the end. Bruinsma scored 15 but he wasn't really being guarded closely.
Perhaps Wright plays Broekhoff the same way - try to get the ball out of his hands and force others to make plays, especially if KVW is limited.
Should Broekhoff be more aggressive earlier in the game and plow to the hole and try to make things happen or be patient in the offense?
Can Kenney and Bogan (looked tight against Green Bay and Detroit in final last year) make shots?It'll be fun to watch. I made just my second trip ever to the ARC for the games Saturday. What an experience. I dug out my Sweet 16 shirt for the game and will wear it again Tuesday for good karma.
I thought Kenney, while he missed those two free throws didn't look tight at all and wasn't afraid to take a good shot, or even not so good shots. I thought he did what VU needed to get the win. I have said for a long time, he's the X factor. You know what you're getting from Ryan and Kevin...and if Kenney plays up to his ability that gives you 3 pretty good players. That's what you need to continue having success.
Quote from: milanmiracle on March 11, 2013, 01:58:42 PM
Quote from: chipper955 on March 10, 2013, 11:48:10 AM
So if we win Tuesday night's game, is it worthy of storming the court?
No. Bigger fish to fry.
My argument for storming the court would be we haven't gone dancing since 2004, as well as in almost every one bid conference if the home team wins there is always a court storming because you never know when the next time you will be back. I think that, if victorious, there will be a court storming.
Unless your a student I wouldn't concern yourself with storming the court. I wouldn't do it just because there isn't many students at these games. I think it would look silly
Quote from: valpo4life on March 11, 2013, 02:36:12 PM
Quote from: milanmiracle on March 11, 2013, 01:58:42 PM
Quote from: chipper955 on March 10, 2013, 11:48:10 AM
So if we win Tuesday night's game, is it worthy of storming the court?
No. Bigger fish to fry.
My argument for storming the court would be we haven't gone dancing since 2004, as well as in almost every one bid conference if the home team wins there is always a court storming because you never know when the next time you will be back. I think that, if victorious, there will be a court storming.
Quote from: valpo4life on March 11, 2013, 02:36:12 PM
Quote from: milanmiracle on March 11, 2013, 01:58:42 PM
Quote from: chipper955 on March 10, 2013, 11:48:10 AM
So if we win Tuesday night's game, is it worthy of storming the court?
No. Bigger fish to fry.
My argument for storming the court would be we haven't gone dancing since 2004, as well as in almost every one bid conference if the home team wins there is always a court storming because you never know when the next time you will be back. I think that, if victorious, there will be a court storming.
I suspect there will be a court storming, and that's okay.
That being said, if they stormed the court
last year, that would have been fine. But this is a senior laden team with something to prove AND defending HL champs. It is expected that they win this game, and anything less is a large disappointment. I don't think the players would be stunned if they won, why should the fans?
I hope everybody enjoys storming the court, because we all know it's coming! ::)
Quote from: truth219 on March 11, 2013, 02:40:22 PM
Unless your a student I wouldn't concern yourself with storming the court. I wouldn't do it just because there isn't many students at these games. I think it would look silly
200 allotted student tickets. Already gone. There will be students there. If we win an auto-bid I see nothing wrong with doing it, if they allow it.
From the WSU board:
Free bus trip, free ticket being provided for 200 students. Send your name and UID to Brandon.hays@wright.edu by midnight tonight. Let's fill that student section up and be loud!!
Looks like they will have plenty of students to storm the court, if they win. :)
With overall ticket sales really picking up now and lots of students on both sides, the game atmosphere should be awesome. I'm starting to get excited already!
Quote from: vuweathernerd on March 11, 2013, 02:48:16 PM
Quote from: truth219 on March 11, 2013, 02:40:22 PM
Unless your a student I wouldn't concern yourself with storming the court. I wouldn't do it just because there isn't many students at these games. I think it would look silly
200 allotted student tickets. Already gone. There will be students there. If we win an auto-bid I see nothing wrong with doing it, if they allow it.
"If they allow it"
That's the kicker. They pulled the ropes across in a hurry after the Green Bay game, and if the #2 buzzer beater on Sports Center isn't storming-worthy...
Quote from: vuweathernerd on March 11, 2013, 02:48:16 PMI suspect there will be a court storming, and that's okay.
So with the upper deck only at 50% sold right now, shouldn't we be wondering why only 200 student tickets were allocated? I know the US Cell in Milwaukee seats 11k, but they had about a thousand seats allocated a couple years back (the back of the section was empty).
And to stop students from storming the court is an absolute bonehead move, even worse than listening to these people stopping the students.
Creighton stormed the court yesterday. It is perfectly fine for one bid conferences to storm :)
These tickets weren't free....students faculty staff all had to pay these. Could be why only 200 for our students. I thought both the students and community came out in force Saturday. I don't expect quite as much from the community with e late weeknight start plus e students are on break. I still think it will be a great at,osphere tomorrow night.
Looks like Wright State may be subsidizing their whole block of tickets? Or, anyway, adopting a different pricing calculus than VU
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/sports/basketball/wright-state-releases-ticket-info-for-horizon-leag/nWnZG/ (http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/sports/basketball/wright-state-releases-ticket-info-for-horizon-leag/nWnZG/)
$15, $10 for students.
Quote from: 70zboy on March 11, 2013, 12:17:35 AM
It should be a very close game. Kudos to Coach Donlon for his defensive game plan against Detroit. They really threw McCallum off his game -he we definitely forcing things near the end. Bruinsma scored 15 but he wasn't really being guarded closely.
He told Dan Dakich today that same strategy might not work quite as well against Valpo because unlike Detroit, they can win with either style.
Quote from: milanmiracle on March 11, 2013, 01:58:42 PMNo. Bigger fish to fry.
Yes. Although: if it had been Detroit, though, I think that would change that sufficiently. No one hates Wright State.
Very true. The only teams that I dislike in conference are Detroit and Cleveland State. Both are because of their players/coaches attitudes
Quote from: LaPorteAveApostle on March 11, 2013, 04:36:13 PMNo one hates Wright State.
I think Jr might have stumbled on something last year that should become the pattern for behavior in all future Horizon League championships. So if either teams winds up with a 10 point lead with 20 seconds to go they should already have designated someone to stand out front dribbling the clock down who will then sprint for the basket, dunk the ball and then dance for the ESPN camera. Then for the next 10 years the loser can remember the incident and mutter outloud "I just hate them ***holes". It has worked pretty well for Detroit vs Valpo game attendance. :)
Quote from: HC on March 11, 2013, 03:49:06 PM
These tickets weren't free....students faculty staff all had to pay these. Could be why only 200 for our students. I thought both the students and community came out in force Saturday. I don't expect quite as much from the community with e late weeknight start plus e students are on break. I still think it will be a great at,osphere tomorrow night.
In the past, student senate has picked up the tab for the student tickets and distributed them for free...anyone know if they did that again this year?
Quote from: Valpo2010 on March 11, 2013, 06:50:58 PM
Quote from: HC on March 11, 2013, 03:49:06 PM
These tickets weren't free....students faculty staff all had to pay these. Could be why only 200 for our students. I thought both the students and community came out in force Saturday. I don't expect quite as much from the community with e late weeknight start plus e students are on break. I still think it will be a great at,osphere tomorrow night.
In the past, student senate has picked up the tab for the student tickets and distributed them for free...anyone know if they did that again this year?
that was my interpretation. i thought i saw somewhere that they were free to the students. perhaps that's why.
The 200 were probably free, maybe paid by Senate. Students can also buy tickets for $10.
Yes, 200 student tickets were paid for by the Athletics Department (at least, if I remember correctly... it may have been Student Senate), though not all of them were claimed. That doesn't really surprise me considering that it was only the semi-final, but I thought we got a pretty good turnout anyway. They paid for another 200 tickets for the final on Tuesday, all of which have been claimed. Tickets were handed out to myself and the other students who were there Saturday after the game, and any others were able to pick them up later.
As for storming the court, it depends on whether they let us. Since last season they've been pulling the ropes out after every single game, and they've added additional security to sit there and "babysit" ever since we did the Harlem Shake during the Detroit game. I can tell you what, though, if it ends like the Green Bay game did then I'll tear those damn ropes down myself.
I don't think this made it to the board?
Paul Oren @NWIOren 21 hours ago
Quote
For the insomniacs...Valparaiso's Kevin Van Wijk was feeling much better today. Looks like he'll be fine for Tuesday's title game. #HLMBB
Good news!
And, even better (game day piece must be posting shortly...)
Paul Oren @NWIOren 4 hrs
Quote
Van Wijk with a sly smile: "Everybody is healthy." #HLMBB
Ah, sorry, the game day piece was posted three hours ago
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/crusaders-set-to-battle-wright-state-for-horizon-league-title/article_a6ec5f1f-ee6b-5ee1-bc0d-bf77364d344f.html (http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/crusaders-set-to-battle-wright-state-for-horizon-league-title/article_a6ec5f1f-ee6b-5ee1-bc0d-bf77364d344f.html)
Quote
Kevin Van Wijk is expected to be in the starting lineup after spraining his right ankle in the first half of Saturday's win against Green Bay. The senior big man was moving better throughout the day on Monday and even joked about his status.
"Everybody is healthy," Van Wijk said. "We're preparing for this like it's any other game. Everybody knows what is at stake here. We beat them twice in close games and they want to win just as much. There's going to be a lot of passion and energy on the floor."
Remember when? VALPO vs wrong state?prequelJanuary 19: @Valpo 69, WSU 63.
POG: Rowdy 18 & 10 & 4 assists.
POG, non-broekhoff division: KVW 18 & 7 (& career high 4 assists!)
Enemy POG: Cole "who?" Darling, 22 points (and ZERO rebounds despite being, like, really tall)
(http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/000/897/231/111503576_display_image.jpg?1304380327)
cole darling's favorite nba player Looked bad when: down 7 with under 7 to play.
But then: We held them without a point for 3 minutes.
Still, though!: We down 4 with 2:23 after 2 of Darling's 10 FTs.
But then: and then for the last 3:13 they did not make a FG.
aren't you like forgetting the awesome moment when: Rowdy showed why he
was ^
deserved to be the HL POY with 12 points from that point on, including 10 points in a 1:51 span.
Until finally: Billy Donlon made a very sad face in the postgame. (Possibly because he was mistaken for a ballboy.)
(http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumblarge_373/1236653011944Bb9.jpg)
*artist's conception of Coach DonlonAlleged attendance: 4,860, on a night when many should have been studying or doing one of their overextended activities.
Quotes:
Quote"Full credit goes to Wright State's defense," Broekhoff said. "They took me out of the game for most of the game, denied touches. But (my teammates) got me open, and I was lucky enough to knock down some shots and get to the free-throw line."
...
"Wright State is one of the best defensive teams in the country, and I think it took us some time to get used to the tempo and pace that they were bringing on offense and defense," Valpo coach Bryce Drew said.
...
"Dude I just done put the team on my back doe," said Rowdy.
ED NOTE: one of the above quotes may be fictionalized.
busting a NuttFebruary 12: Valpo 68, WSU 61.
POG: KVW 20 & 9
...really? what did rowdy have? 10 / 5 / 3. And 3 blox.
not that KVW isn't like a bear though. If "bear" = "shoulda been 1st team HL-er" then yes.
MAJOR WRATH Yes. Major Wrath indeed.
Enemy POG: AJ "Todd" Pacher 23 / 6 / 3 out of nowhere (previous game high 10!)
wait who is that is that a real person or are you just making jokes again(http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/shared-blogs/dayton/wrightstatesports/upload/2011/08/wright_state_focus_meet_the_ra/AJ%20Pacher.jpg)
yes you totally are that's like, my lab partner from 10th gradeLooked bad when: well, we never trailed. for the second straight game. that's good.
But then: they cut it to 2 when it was 5-3. Oh, and again at 51-49 at the midway point of the 2nd, and 53-51 a minute later.
Until finally: We hit a bunch of free throws, and remembered we were better on defense.
Putting the fun in fundamentals: The teams: 30-34 (88.2%) from the line (VU 18-20, UIC 12-14).
MAJOR WRATH!!! Oh. ok. sigh.
(http://www.easymemes.com/uploads/memes/78635_uSgxnd0v8jr71L9.jpg)
Quotes:
Quote"It was a very physical game and we were able to get the ball in to Kevin," Valparaiso coach Bryce Drew said. "Kevin made some great heads fakes, got his defenders in the air and was able to finish. His nine rebounds led us and he was very aggressive tonight."
...
"Matt played excellent for us," Drew said. "He had great vision and made some big shots." ... "We're going to enjoy this one," Drew said. "This was a physical game. Everyone in the locker room is exhausted."
...
The Wright State postgame was animated. ... "Oh man...those guys," coach Donlon said. "I totally hate 'em. Hate. 'Em. I couldn't believe Bryce beat me for COY last year and I ain't gonna let that never happen again. And when we play those guys again we're gonna kick 'em in the crotch. You done better totally print ALL that, Paul."
ED NOTE: one of the above quotes is
probably totally fictionalized.
Wrong State? Really? I thought Vaalpo fans were more original than that.
Quote from: WSU85 on March 11, 2013, 09:59:13 PMWrong State? Really? I thought Vaalpo fans were more original than that.
that's what the rest of the post is attempting to atone for.
EDIT also: Vaalpo? i thought wrong state fans were more intelligent than that.
The earliest Vegas lines had Valpo by 9. That's since slid to about 7.5.
I think StL mentioned it earlier, but without a link. Donlon was on the Dan Dakich show earlier today
http://www.1070thefan.com/podcast/Episodes.aspx?PID=2155 (http://www.1070thefan.com/podcast/Episodes.aspx?PID=2155)
Donlon had quite complementary things to say about VU and their chances of making a run in the NCAA. Did he almost say "_when_ they get to the NCAA"?
(StL did, of course, have the link up on his blog. http://media.1070thefan.com/Podcasts/2155/031113_BillyDonlon.mp3 (http://media.1070thefan.com/Podcasts/2155/031113_BillyDonlon.mp3))
Quote from: agibson on March 11, 2013, 10:42:54 PM
I think StL mentioned it earlier, but without a link. Donlon was on the Dan Dakich show earlier today
http://www.1070thefan.com/podcast/Episodes.aspx?PID=2155 (http://www.1070thefan.com/podcast/Episodes.aspx?PID=2155)
Donlon had quite complementary things to say about VU and their chances of making a run in the NCAA. Did he almost say "_when_ they get to the NCAA"?
(StL did, of course, have the link up on his blog. http://media.1070thefan.com/Podcasts/2155/031113_BillyDonlon.mp3 (http://media.1070thefan.com/Podcasts/2155/031113_BillyDonlon.mp3))
One of the more interesting comments came from Dakich: "...Ray McCallum helped destroy IU basketball." I'm a little surprised (or maybe more than a little surprised) that he would say that on the air.
Quote from: wh on March 12, 2013, 02:50:41 AM"...Ray McCallum helped destroy IU basketball."
well, Tom Crean didn't have a problem blaming Jeff Meyer in public recently either...
Hey guys. WSU fan here (oh my god! It's an invasion!). I've got a few things to respond to on here, but I've lost track of what topic is in what thread so I'll just knock 'em all out in one post to start.
1. You guys have a great board here. I look at all the HL boards from time to time (kudos to the Milwaukee fan who set up the hub) and yours is the most comprehensive / sane
2. If you want WSU opinions/news/info, check out the Wright State proboards site in addition to RaiderRoundball. It's more active with a broader (and less crotchety) membership than RRB.
3. WSU fans - at least all the ones I know – have a ton of respect for Valpo's program. They all also HAAAAATE Detroit.
4. The "Wrong State" thing is irksome more because it's lazy than offensive. The absolute saddest/funniest version of this is Detroit's "(W)right State Wrong School" chant. This is what uncreative Ohio opponents do since, you know, we're in the same state. When the Titan fans do it, it's the most instant schadenfreude possible.
5. I can't post any links since I'm a newbie, but the Dayton Daily News website has a few articles about tonight's game in the Wright State section, including one with some good quotes from Bryce.
6. Game 1 our best performances came from Darling(out for the year), Arceneaux and Sledge. Game 2 was Pacher and Dixon. Every player who has seen significant court time has been the go to guy at one point or another this season so it's tough for opponents to key in on somebody. The guy who will probably be the biggest x-factor tonight is Jerran Young. Valpo's only seen 19 minutes of him all year, but if he can stay out of foul trouble this time it's going to be a very different game than the first two.
7. 7. That Dakich quote. ...wow.
Quote from: gerb on March 12, 2013, 06:45:10 AMThe "Wrong State" thing is irksome
never tell people what bothers you, because then you arm them against yourself. in a 1000-word post, now 2 people have picked out the same two words. *sound of fingers tenting Mr.-Burns-style*
plus, nobody hates you, so the least we can do is manufacture some animosity.
other than that, hey, welcome!
Quote from: LaPorteAveApostle on March 12, 2013, 06:51:41 AMQuote from: gerb on March 12, 2013, 06:45:10 AMThe "Wrong State" thing is irksome
never tell people what bothers you, because then you arm them against yourself. in a 1000-word post, now 2 people have picked out the same two words. *sound of fingers tenting Mr.-Burns-style* plus, nobody hates you, so the least we can do is manufacture some animosity. other than that, hey, welcome!
I should rectify that, but since you had to go and quote it...
The "Wrong State" or "wrong school" or whatever thing is water off a duck's back to most fans now. You almost feel bad for people who use that as their trump card in lieu of anything creative.
Regardless, thanks for the welcome. Hoping for a good, non-controversial, injury-free game tonight.
Quote2. If you want WSU opinions/news/info, check out the Wright State proboards site in addition to RaiderRoundball. It's more active with a broader (and less crotchety) membership than RRB.
Hey -- I don't consider myself crotchety >:( ;)
I'll second the notion this is a nice and active board with tolerant fans -- also hoping for a good, clean, injury-free game tonight. Good luck to all involved -- should be a good one!
Amen! It will be a good game.
Not one Detroit fans consider entertaining, but then again, they find spray-painting our town fun too, so let's not let them be the sole arbiters.
let's hear it for two teams Playing The Game The Right Way.
Quote from: LaPorteAveApostle on March 12, 2013, 07:48:26 AM
.......
let's hear it for two teams Playing The Game The Right Way.
Sorry but I would prefer to see the game played the "Valpo" way.....
Less than 700 seats available in the upper deck. CC is nearly soldout (17 to go) while EE and AA are pretty open yet. Still, if a bunch of students show it should be very exciting!
Quote from: WSU85 on March 11, 2013, 09:59:13 PM
Wrong State? Really? I thought Vaalpo fans were more original than that.
Left the State?
Wleft State?
Print State?
Type State?
Bicycle Brothers Government Owned University?
First Flyers State?
Ohio Wrong /Indiana Correct/Illinois Criminal University?
Wright State to work for minimum wage university?
Gay Wrights State University?
Wright State for a loser University?
Wright as rain State of Flooding University?
i knew i could count on bbtds.
water off a duck's back indeed, if that's all they notice!
Quote from: Smj on March 12, 2013, 08:13:41 AMSorry but I would prefer to see the game played the "Valpo" way.....
come on, dude, they are understood to be ONE and the SAME! :)
I love posting the following video before big games like this. The quality is pretty bad, but it's an awesome video that always gets me excited. Hope it gets you pumped, too. Go Valpo!
History of Valpo Mens Basketball (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-E0AqpF8q0#)
ESPN Bracketology was Valpo against Oklahoma State, I like that matchup and for selfish reasons Valpo would be in the Oklahoma media a little more.
I will not be able to watch the game tonight. Will ESPN replay at some point???
I don't know that a replay is likely, but the archive will doubtless be on ESPN3 online.
WSU v Butler News Coverage
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rfWPIlhkDKI (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rfWPIlhkDKI)
This is the type of video that will have me floored all the way up to Valpo today. News cutting in for an interview the final seconds of the 2007 Championship and pandemonium at the Nutt House just as the news clip ends. Many fans will enjoy this feeling tonight as one team and its fans will be heartbroken. Good luck, here's to an injury-free, well played, and well officiated game!!
Apparently Bryce was on ESPN1000 last night
Chris and Adam @bestof1000 21 hours ago
Quote
RT "@davejuday: Fans of the @HorizonLeague, Valpo's Bryce Drew joins @ESPNChiBears & @tweetjhood at 9:15pm on @ESPN1000."
Retweeted by Adam Amin
I don't immediately see an archive, but maybe others can find one.
I'm curious to see what kind of defense adjustments Donlon may try tonite. I'm guessing nothing different unless Rowdy gets off to a hot start. Would they leave anyone open a lot like Bruinsma was for Detroit?
Let's get this W. I'd like to add a new NCAA shirt to my collection. I wore my Sweet 16 shirt Saturday at Valpo (didn't see any others) and I'll wear it again tonite for hopefully good karma.
Wow bbtds. Those are all pretty lame. How about Wright State: the Horizon rep fpr the NCAA tourney.
Wright state butt raiders
Quote from: WSU85 on March 12, 2013, 04:13:06 PMWright State: the Horizon rep fpr the NCAA tourney.
Fine, as long as you tell us what "fpr" stands for.
And remember to add "in 2007".
Quote from: WSU85 on March 12, 2013, 04:13:06 PM
Wow bbtds. Those are all pretty lame. How about Wright State: the Horizon rep fpr the NCAA tourney.
That would be Wrong State, Wrong Team!
Get off my back, Wilbur Wright State University, said Mr. Ed
Now that one is funny
Quote from: WSU85 on March 12, 2013, 04:26:18 PM
Now that one is funny
Well at least I didn't injure an tendon and come up lame...........
Mr. Ed - Intro (Opening Theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_PZPpWTRTU#)
How about "Wright '140 RPI With a Ceiling of a 15 Seed' State"
Well, that conversation of good will turned quickly. Regardless, looking forward to a good game from Val-poo. ;)
Quote from: gerb on March 12, 2013, 04:45:04 PM
Well, that conversation of good will turned quickly. Regardless, looking forward to a good game from Val-poo. ;)
Gerb - You have a classy program, an excellent coach and players that put team before self. You are a worthy opponent and if for some reason we lose this game, I will proudly support WSU as our representative in the Big Dance. Good luck and may the best team win!
You've got a helluva coach at Wright State. Best of luck.............................next year! This is the Valpo seniors' night!
Valpo 67
Dudley Do-Wright State 58
Snowing big thick "lake effect" flakes in Valpo right now. Hope this is supposed to end soon.
Quote from: gerb on March 12, 2013, 04:45:04 PMWell, that conversation of good will turned quickly.
were you expecting a replay of the Milhouse vs. Bart miniature golf championship match?
(http://content7.flixster.com/question/64/52/30/6452301_std.jpg)
"This is the most stirring display of gallantry and sportsmanship since Mountbatten gave India back to the Punjabs."
(-- Tearful announcer, "Dead Putting Society")
VU 72
WSU 63
Does anyone else think that regardless of outcome, their coach will be a hot commodity this summer? Taking a team that was 'supposed' to finish last to a third place regular season finish, and the HL tourney championship game can get you some looks.
I saw on the WSU board that they think we will lose Bryce this year. I think that with this solid recruiting class coming in, he will want to see how it plays out after a few seasons more.
Quote from: wh on March 12, 2013, 04:55:44 PM
Quote from: gerb on March 12, 2013, 04:45:04 PM
Well, that conversation of good will turned quickly. Regardless, looking forward to a good game from Val-poo. ;)
Gerb - You have a classy program, an excellent coach and players that put team before self. You are a worthy opponent and if for some reason we lose this game, I will proudly support WSU as our representative in the Big Dance. Good luck and may the best team win!
Yup. You will. ;D
68-62 Valpo. God I hope I'm wrong and it's a blow out. If we get up by 10, I will consider the game over.
Quote from: valpotx on March 12, 2013, 05:03:10 PM
Does anyone else think that regardless of outcome, their coach will be a hot commodity this summer? Taking a team that was 'supposed' to finish last to a third place regular season finish, and the HL tourney championship game can get you some looks.
I saw on the WSU board that they think we will lose Bryce this year. I think that with this solid recruiting class coming in, he will want to see how it plays out after a few seasons more.
Bryce isn't leaving unless a bluechip job comes and offers him Calipari like money, and that job isn't coming.
Quote from: valpotx on March 12, 2013, 05:03:10 PM
Does anyone else think that regardless of outcome, their coach will be a hot commodity this summer? Taking a team that was 'supposed' to finish last to a third place regular season finish, and the HL tourney championship game can get you some looks.
I saw on the WSU board that they think we will lose Bryce this year. I think that with this solid recruiting class coming in, he will want to see how it plays out after a few seasons more.
Give that man a BIG pay raise! (Said not having a clue what he makes now.) ;)
Quote from: gerb on March 12, 2013, 05:03:23 PM
Quote from: wh on March 12, 2013, 04:55:44 PM
Quote from: gerb on March 12, 2013, 04:45:04 PM
Well, that conversation of good will turned quickly. Regardless, looking forward to a good game from Val-poo. ;)
Gerb - You have a classy program, an excellent coach and players that put team before self. You are a worthy opponent and if for some reason we lose this game, I will proudly support WSU as our representative in the Big Dance. Good luck and may the best team win!
Yup. You will. ;D
Wwwrrrrrrrrrrrrrrright!
Money seems not to be Bryce's main motivation or he would never have taken the Valpo job. I can't imagine VU pays him a lot.
Remember also that he earned well over $8M in the NBA. Plus he picked up daily NBA meal money" of $80 or more bucks per day. Eat hamburgers and reasonable cost meals and you pocket $50 per day. Doubt he was out howling at the moon past 4am every night.
I agree he will likely want to coach his own recruits for a couple years and now he has a great shot at the NCAA every year. Now....Roger Powell? I think he will be offered a lot of jobs very soon. No surprise if he is not back next year.
Paul
I guess that the same poster on the WSU board also mentioned that we will lose 69 of our 72 points per game. We actually retain 21 ppg out of the 72 ppg, or around 28%. It will be a different team next year for sure, but I think that our guys will get it together by conference to give it a top 4 run. We aren't really a program that rebuilds as others do in our conference, but rather reloads :)
As a lot of you probably know, Coach Donlon grew up in the northern Chicago suburbs. At the beginning of this school year, his father who is now serving as a basketball operations assistant (he's on the bench too), was a dean at our local high school. Prior to that he had been the high school coach and prior to that served as as assistant at Northwestern to Bill Foster. I can't say for sure but I'm thinking he stayed put in the north Chi suburbs to provide a stable home base for his family instead of continually moving around as an assistant. Kudos for that.
"We're excited," he said. "It doesn't matter who we play (today). This week is all about us."
Doug Minnerath on March 9th
I understand Detroit players will be gathering at Jason Calliste's apartment tonight to watch the big game and chow down on some Chinese. House rule: every egg roll has to taken 4 times around the waist and bounced twice on the floor before being eaten. ;)
1. Detroit sucks...can I get a retweet?
2. I'm not really sure why any of us are attempting to stir up any bad blood between the two schools on the boards. I have respected Wright State ever since I have been affiliated with Valpo. Good, consistent program with respectable players.
3. Talking about seeding at this point is like counting your chickens before you even have a chicken to lay an egg that hasn't even hatched yet. With that said, whoever said Wright St. woud get a 16 if completely insane and should never post again. Its uninformed BS like that that makes me shy away form boards in general, and irritates fans of other teams. 1. Liberty 2. James Madison 3. Iona 4. Western Kentucky 5. SoCon winner (1 seed Southern, all other eligible teams below .500 if they win it) 6. NEC Conference winner. All of those teams would DEFINITELY be lower than Wright St. There is no possible way Wright St. would be a 16. So think before you post.
4. Lets go Valpo! I hope to see us make more free throws, not allow many second chances, and for KVW not to go down for any amount of time. If all three of those things happen, we have an excellent shot.
Quote from: wh on March 12, 2013, 05:44:54 PMHouse rule: every egg roll has to taken 4 times around the waist and bounced twice on the floor before being eaten.
well put, except for they won't bounce unless they're spring rolls
Quote from: drewsaders11 on March 12, 2013, 06:09:34 PM1. Detroit sucks...can I get a retweet? 2. I'm not really sure why any of us are attempting to stir up any bad blood between the two schools on the boards. I have respected Wright State ever since I have been affiliated with Valpo. Good, consistent program with respectable players.
1. Yup
2. I don't see any bad blood here. I think both of our fan bases have a solid respect for the others'. In a situation like this, though a little good-natured manufactured animosity can be fun. I mean really, you guys are like our much much older but much much smaller brother who happens to have NOT won a national championship on any level despite a 51-year head start.
Quote from: LaPorteAveApostle on March 12, 2013, 06:40:33 PMQuote from: wh on March 12, 2013, 05:44:54 PMHouse rule: every egg roll has to taken 4 times around the waist and bounced twice on the floor before being eaten.
well put, except for they won't bounce unless they're spring rolls
You can bet Ray Jr will "stuff" the last one in his mouth as he's walking out the door.
Quote from: historyman on March 12, 2013, 06:43:49 PM
Quote from: LaPorteAveApostle on March 12, 2013, 06:40:33 PMQuote from: wh on March 12, 2013, 05:44:54 PMHouse rule: every egg roll has to taken 4 times around the waist and bounced twice on the floor before being eaten.
well put, except for they won't bounce unless they're spring rolls
You can bet Ray Jr will "stuff" the last one in his mouth as he's walking out the door.
And Anderson will wonder why his "long shot," Wright State, didn't come through as he watches Ray Jr "stuff" that last egg roll.
Quote from: historyman on March 12, 2013, 05:01:44 PM
Snowing big thick "lake effect" flakes in Valpo right now. Hope this is supposed to end soon.
Might now be finished. About an inch accumulated, but I suspect the roads are fine.
We just signed Bryce to a multi-year extension last summer.
I doubt he's getting mega-bucks, but I'd guess his salary is within laughing distance of competitive.
I doubt salary's one of his most significant motivating factors, and I bet it didn't even take the NBA per diem to make it true.
Anyone else cheering for Notre Dame women's basketball to pull away so this game starts soon?
We look terrible, luckily WSU went through an 0-11 stretch otherwise theyd be kicking our ass. We need to step it and stop wasting our trips on offense.
Ugh. Another ugly game with typical sloppiness and turnovers. This looks like a team full of freshmen instead of seniors. If we're playing a decent tourney team, we would be down at this point by at least 10. Wright State has been horrible, and we are not much better...so far.
This team needs to cut down the turnovers.
Buggs played a great first half. Dority showed great energy, but it appeared he was too tense. Has to chill a bit -- forcing too much.
no offensive rebounds given up until the last possession. Thats good basketball. Limit the turnovers, though.
Here's how bad it's gotten: Friends are asking me if they can change the channel to watch something else. Reminder to self: Don't talk up Valpo just because we're on ESPN.
This performance is inexcusable.
Paul
This is Detroit 2.0. Holy ****
What the hell has happened to this team? Pull your head out of your ass and starting playing basketball.
Ditto...ditto....ditto.
Seniors? Stop dribbling into corners and turning away from the basket while you are dribbling!!
Our offense = pass around and dribble until you turn it over. We look pathetic, scared, overmatched ... how embarrassing.
Do we still pass balls into the post?....or just blindly rush into the lane (Buggs)....or just dribble sideways across the court (all the others)?
Bardo: "Even with that bucket, Valpo has more turnovers than field goals."
Bardo's dissing Ryan and Valpo's seniors (rightfully so). Frankly, I wish Bardo could jump onto on the floor--He'd probably be the best player on it tonight.
There's 8+ minutes left and we're down to one timeout. Awesome.
Although I want to be positive, I've watched too much Valpo basketball to know this isn't going to turn out well.
Bardo is right. Broekhoff has to find ways to go to the rack and get free throw opportunities. The offensive motion goes nowhere right now. Just put Ryan at the point and let him do whatever he can.
I can't believe I am nearly giving up on us with 7 minutes left. But that's how it feels after 33 minutes of horror.
We may well win it, but if this game is any indication, we should be relegated to a 15 seed and get blown out by 30 in the tournament (which would be consistent with our past history). I just hope the committee is not watching this game.
DANCING!
We played poor, no doubt about it. Tight? Soft? Scared? Dumb? Maybe all of the above. BUT, I know the guys were playin their hearts out. They gutted it out, kudos, CELEBRATE ... although you could easily argue that we didn't deserve to win either game this tournament. Sigh. Yay? Boo? I don't even know anymore...
GO VALPO
I've never been more pissed...or proud to be a Valpo fan.
Hey, to play that badly and still find some way to win is saying something. Billy D showed his CoY prowess during this tourney he came up with game plans to totally exploit Detroit and Valpo and save for some execution down the stretch in our game, it would have worked. Well done to WSU, the shoe may very well be on the other foot next year.
Erik Buggs, well done.
We're going to the NCAA! At last!
It was a horrible, horrible game. Except for Buggs. WSU's defense was ferocious. I don't remember ever seeing a defense double team ball handlers on the perimeter with such ferocity. Rowdy all the time, but others too.
I don't know if I can bear to rewatch this one, or even the Green Bay game.
But, we're going to the NCAA!
As I said in chat, I have never been so angry after a win. A win is a win though, so I am starting to calm down. If WSU had any kind of offense today, we stood no chance with 25 turnovers. I would love it if someone had a stat on the record of teams who commit that many turnovers...maybe the first win ever? lol
Let's regroup and be excited to watch the selection show for the first time in 9 years! Congrats to WSU on a fantastic season, and coming out with the perfect defense in the second half. They will be good again next year, so hopefully our new guys will be ready.
BTW, what idiot would have them rope off the student section after you win an NCAA bid? It isn't like we are Duke and get in all of the time nowadays. In my day, it was the expectation, and we still would storm for the clincher. Terrible call by the official who made that decision, as every other 1 bid conference will have their students celebrating among the team...
A great comeback !!!! now that dance ;D
Tx I will have to agree with you. Coach Donlon was definitely COY. And showed it tonight. They will be tough next year. And another question, who were the A$$ holes that picked them as ninth? ;D My congrats to Coach Donlon. Coach Drew, let's get on with the journey, NCAA + a few! :thumbsup:
Kenney played the worst game of his career, and still played 33 minutes. Boggs and Dority were sitting on the bench ready to take his spot. Wonder why Bryce kept Kenney on the court when he was making turnover after turnover?
i seriously considering throwing my plastic cup at the wall, but i didn't want to get banned from b-dubs. my god was that frustrating. but on the bright side, we seem to have learned something from the detroit loss - in a similar situation tonight, we were able to get the stops necessary and convert on the other end. glad to see this class will get to go to the dance - now go raise some hell, boys!!!
Buggs was named HL tournament MVP, and rightly so. :thumbsup:
Biggest home win since when?
Western Illinois, 1995? – This was the last time VU won a conference tournament championship game at home.
Notre Dame, 1988? – Last time VU defeated a ranked opponent at home. Major major upset. Maybe the greatest upset in Valpo history.
Butler, 2011? - Hadn't beaten them before since '93.
UWGB, 2013? - No explanation needed.
What home win has been bigger, or is tonight's win the biggest in ARC history? I still say ND is tops, but this one can't be too far behind.
Hell of a job guys. Way to bring home NCAA tournament appearance #8!
We played as bad as we could in the second half and still managed to gut out a win. I'll take winning ugly over losing beautifully every time, particularly if it gets us to the dance!
Cudos to WSU for making us look silly for most of the second half, and even more cudos to the team for not quiting and gutting out a win! Now if someone can help me locate my voice.... :thumbsup:
Quote from: vuweathernerd on March 12, 2013, 10:40:39 PM
i seriously considering throwing my plastic cup at the wall, but i didn't want to get banned from b-dubs. my god was that frustrating. but on the bright side, we seem to have learned something from the detroit loss - in a similar situation tonight, we were able to get the stops necessary and convert on the other end. glad to see this class will get to go to the dance - now go raise some hell, boys!!!
Ya know, I think Detroit just timed their run at the right time. If WSU's was in the last 6-7 mins, we wouldn't have had time to right the ship. Conversely, if Detroit had their big run in the first 6-7 mins of the 2nd half, I think Valpo may have been able to right things (except with Buggs fouling out).
Thankfully I was wrong about this game. Back to the NCAA Tournament!
Although I'm living in North Dakota, I'm going to see if I can make it to the first round. I'd love if we would get the #13 seed in Kansas City.
Also, we can finally move on from last year. If we had lost...we would have been able to call it a curse...but it would have been totally and completely crushing. I was considering not watching another Valpo game until they made the NCAA tourney, fortunately that will be sooner than later. :lol: :'( >:( :lol: :P
mj you're in Bismarck? weathernerd and I are in Minot....small world! I was mad that the NDSU/SDSU game was on the big screen at BWWs, but we still watched the game!
Yea I've been in bismarck for about a year and a half. Let me know if you guys are ever in town.
Sometime soon, game highlights from Dial Global Sports will be online here: http://dialglobalsports.com/2013/03/horizon-league-championship-highlights-valparaiso-62-wright-st-54/ (http://dialglobalsports.com/2013/03/horizon-league-championship-highlights-valparaiso-62-wright-st-54/)
Wayne Larrivee of Chicago Bears/Bulls and Green Bay Packer fame was play-by-play with Will Perdue on color
How bout this for irony: 8 points is our largest margin of victory over WSU this year! 69-63, 68-61, 62-54 Wow. Sure doesn't feel like it!
Congratulations on your first HL Tourney Championship.
I will be rooting for you guys in the Big Dance. Hopefully the selection committee gives you a decent matchup and seed.
I really thought we had you rattled in the 2nd Half. But I give props to your guys for gathering their composure, while the Raiders inexperience showed up at the wrong time. It would have been nice to have Cole Darling's experience down the stretch of that game, but you play the cards you are dealt.
Again good luck in the NCAA's, and we owe you some payback next year. :)
Because links are gifts that keep on giving...
JIM PETERS: Valpo like a second home to Ryan Broekhoff's family
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/jim-peters-valpo-like-a-second-home-to-ryan-broekhoff/article_0588f769-a131-5af1-b4e7-631201757feb.html (http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/jim-peters-valpo-like-a-second-home-to-ryan-broekhoff/article_0588f769-a131-5af1-b4e7-631201757feb.html)
ValparaiZone sells out its tickets in less than 24 hours for HL championship game
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/valparaizone-sells-out-its-tickets-in-less-than-hours-for/article_35af167c-0632-5c88-953d-1c97d72212fb.html (http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/valparaizone-sells-out-its-tickets-in-less-than-hours-for/article_35af167c-0632-5c88-953d-1c97d72212fb.html)
Loyal VU basketball fans cheer on Crusaders in Horizon League championship
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/loyal-vu-basketball-fans-cheer-on-crusaders-in-horizon-league/article_4abb6970-1639-57d0-b38a-0d79909d4944.html (http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/loyal-vu-basketball-fans-cheer-on-crusaders-in-horizon-league/article_4abb6970-1639-57d0-b38a-0d79909d4944.html)
Crusaders heading back to NCAA tournament
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/basketball/college/crusaders-heading-back-to-ncaa-tournament/article_9e5a5baa-43bd-5fdf-b12c-37bf70ab51a2.html (http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/basketball/college/crusaders-heading-back-to-ncaa-tournament/article_9e5a5baa-43bd-5fdf-b12c-37bf70ab51a2.html)
Damn proud. To be able to go through such an atrocious stretch as Valpo did, and still win the game, is remarkable. Just speaks to their defensive effort, and their will to play through adversity. Buggs played out of his mind. He was even 4-6 for FT, which is pretty well above his average.
Quote from: valpotx on March 12, 2013, 10:32:19 PM
BTW, what idiot would have them rope off the student section after you win an NCAA bid? It isn't like we are Duke and get in all of the time nowadays. In my day, it was the expectation, and we still would storm for the clincher. Terrible call by the official who made that decision, as every other 1 bid conference will have their students celebrating among the team...
I was shown a photo on facebook that looked like the players storming the student section.
Here's one that suggests that they _eventually_ let the students on the court
https://twitter.com/NWI_Hillary/status/311677418576429057/photo/1
after they had time to set up some staging.
And, in the second version of the ESPN SportsCenter game highlights they had video of the students approximately like that twitter photo. Sort of as if they had stormed the court.
Ya they did 5 mins after the game was over
Props to buggs for getting his third foul with 18 mins left and play basically the rest of the game foul free
GREAT COMEBACK. This team has had a target on its back all year. Expectations were very high. Picked to win the regular season. Then hosting the tournament. Bryce let the SENIORS play out the game. No substitutions. Their game to win or lose. I am so proud of this team. Congratulations again. Now on to the big Dance.
Quote from: KL31NY on March 12, 2013, 11:02:37 PMWayne Larrivee of Chicago Bears/Bulls and Green Bay Packer fame was play-by-play with Will Perdue on color
Thanks for post. Nice to hear Larrivee again - miss hearing him in Chicago area.
Just got home. Before I say anything else, I want to congratulate WSU on an outstanding effort. Everyone knows how hard they play, but more than that they have several really talented players and great team speed to go with it. Thank goodness they kind of ran out of gas there at the end, because they had our number in the 2nd half up until the last 5 min. or so.
The atmosphere at the ARC was nothing short of amazing. The bands and student sections were great. Fans on both sides were into it from beginning to end. It was a great show for a national TV audience. Valpo and WSU did the Horizon League proud tonight!
Confident, Outraged, Resigned, Relieved Lollipop passes - ugh!
Thanks to Buggs for finding the seams and scoring when nobody else could (only 3 non-Buggs baskets in second half!)
Broekhoff - until the big 3 in danger of pulling a McCallum Jr. (at least on offense) Kenney -some of the weak passes were hard to believe. Bogan- nice game, did make a few shots.
Game of runs 25-8 in the second half to the 5:30 mark then 16-0 Valpo the next 5 min
Ugly, but we're dancing. Great defensive game plan again by Coach Donlon. Thank heaven for Buggsy tonite.
It is hard to say that I enjoyed this game because I really wanted these seniors to experience making the NCAA tournament. I certainly enjoyed the outcome.
Though they blew a 14 point lead and committed an unholy 24 turnovers, I think we also need to think about how much this meant to the players - and that is why they tightened up in the second half (helped by Wright State's good defense). I am optimistic that they will feel they have the weight off their back and will play loose and free in the NCAA tournament game.
As I mentioned in another post, I do not want them to play Kansas (unless it is somehow much later in the tournament). If Kansas win on Thursday, they will likely be a 2 (or better) and certainly no worse than a 3...which would prevent them from playing Valpo since I see them as a solid 13 now.
Thank you to the players and coaches for a fun and enjoyable season - though a few more wins would be very special.
Just home from some celebratory beverages with a few old friends (and Mr. Wischusen of ESPN...awesome guy, great stories...very enjoyable couple of hours).
Credit to Wright State...I knew they weren't going to go away. Their intensity level picked up in the second half and shocked our guys. The deplorable play we showed was more about what they did to us...they were excellent. If they had anyone on their team that could score (Darling?) they would be damn near impossible to handle.
Our guys made the plays in crunch time. Ryan was not great tonight by any stretch (WSU did an outstanding job of basically beating him up) but he made a GINOURMOUS shot when it mattered most and the guys hit their FT's down the stretch.
Doesn't matter how...JUST MATTERS THAT WE GOT IT DONE! PUT ON YOUR DANCING SHOES!!!!!!!
CBS Front Page...
And ESPN...
http://dialglobalsports.com/2013/03/horizon-league-championship-highlights-valparaiso-62-wright-st-54/ (http://dialglobalsports.com/2013/03/horizon-league-championship-highlights-valparaiso-62-wright-st-54/)
Larrivee literally said "A DAGGGGERR" as Broekhoff hits his dagger three at the end of the game. He's never been wrong on a dagger call before.
Quote from: ValpoHoops on March 13, 2013, 12:59:31 AM
CBS Front Page...
It would be nice if they spelled Valparaiso correctly :). At least each announcing team pronounces it correctly nowadays
Congrats on a well-deserved win. It looked like the Raiders might just steal it away (literally), but your seniors got their composure back down the stretch. Buggs killed us, although it was Broekoff's shot that seemed to put the nail in the coffin.
Good luck in the tournament!
Quote from: valpotx on March 12, 2013, 10:24:13 PM
If WSU had any kind of offense today, we stood no chance with 25 turnovers. I would love it if someone had a stat on the record of teams who commit that many turnovers...maybe the first win ever? lol
While it can be done, even against top competition, it probably isn't a good recipe for a win.
Maryland beat Duke last month with 26 TOs:
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330470120 (http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330470120)
Quote from: valpo04 on March 13, 2013, 05:49:20 AM
Quote from: valpotx on March 12, 2013, 10:24:13 PM
If WSU had any kind of offense today, we stood no chance with 25 turnovers. I would love it if someone had a stat on the record of teams who commit that many turnovers...maybe the first win ever? lol
While it can be done, even against top competition, it probably isn't a good recipe for a win.
Maryland beat Duke last month with 26 TOs:
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330470120 (http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330470120)
WSU's 54 points didn't just happen, any more than our 62 did. Only 4 times in 33 games has WSU scored fewer than 54 points. While they held us 10 points below our per/game average, we held them 8 points below theirs. Our defensive intensity matched theirs blow for blow, and in the end that's what won us the game despite our offensive woes.
Interesting tidbit from an article in the Dayton Daily News:
Van Wijk's ankle: Valparaiso big man Kevin Van Wijk, of the Netherlands, sprained his ankle in Saturday's semifinal win over Green Bay, but he played 32 minutes Tuesday and had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Van Wijk's parents stayed at the Country Inn and Suites just off campus, and after returning to the hotel following the game, his dad Henk, wearing a No. 55 Van Wijk jersey, showed a reporter a cell phone photo of Van Wijk's ankle. It was black and blue, and the dad was surprised his son was able to play as well as he did on it.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/sports/basketball/notes-donlon-proud-of-wright-state-despite-defeat/nWqWN/ (http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/sports/basketball/notes-donlon-proud-of-wright-state-despite-defeat/nWqWN/)
(http://www.easymemes.com/uploads/memes/2653_Qs7AmOZG4OG26j4.jpg)
I have watched a lot of college basketball in my lifetime and I have never seen a senior-laden team struggle this much at home as prohibitive favorites against a 3 & 4 seed. Very frustrating. 24 turnovers at home from a team with this much experience! Just does not give much reason for hope in the NCAA tournament as a double-digit underdog at a neutral site against a 2 or 3 seed nationally. I hope we can somehow magically play much better next game. Much more than 12 turnovers and we have little chance. A super-strong defensive pressure team like Ohio State will be a horrible match-up for us. Any Big 10 team will be a bad match-up. I am very glad we are Dancing but I am not cautiously optimistic after the last two games. Please prove me wrong Valpo and make a run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quote from: Valposter on March 13, 2013, 09:34:07 AM
I have watched a lot of college basketball in my lifetime and I have never seen a senior-laden team struggle this much at home as prohibitive favorites against a 3 & 4 seed. Very frustrating. 24 turnovers at home from a team with this much experience! Just does not give much reason for hope in the NCAA tournament as a double-digit underdog at a neutral site against a 2 or 3 seed nationally. I hope we can somehow magically play much better next game. Much more than 12 turnovers and we have little chance. A super-strong defensive pressure team like Ohio State will be a horrible match-up for us. Any Big 10 team will be a bad match-up. I am very glad we are Dancing but I am not cautiously optimistic after the last two games. Please prove me wrong Valpo and make a run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Valpo a 15 seed? U out cho damn mind.
All that matters is the scoreboard! ;)
That said, it was hard to watch that debacle. I don't think either team played well, and it showed. How you lose when the other team turns the ball over that many times is astounding. I hope they play better in the NCAA's, or they're going to lose by 30. Yikes. I can't remember calling a win pathetic before, but I think in this case the shoe fits.
Quote from: a3uge on March 13, 2013, 10:09:21 AM
Quote from: Valposter on March 13, 2013, 09:34:07 AM
I have watched a lot of college basketball in my lifetime and I have never seen a senior-laden team struggle this much at home as prohibitive favorites against a 3 & 4 seed. Very frustrating. 24 turnovers at home from a team with this much experience! Just does not give much reason for hope in the NCAA tournament as a double-digit underdog at a neutral site against a 2 or 3 seed nationally. I hope we can somehow magically play much better next game. Much more than 12 turnovers and we have little chance. A super-strong defensive pressure team like Ohio State will be a horrible match-up for us. Any Big 10 team will be a bad match-up. I am very glad we are Dancing but I am not cautiously optimistic after the last two games. Please prove me wrong Valpo and make a run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Valpo a 15 seed? U out cho damn mind.
That's what you took out of that post? Yea, we are going to be at best a 13 seed. Doesn't matter. We can be a 1 seed with 3 byes and we are going to get crushed the next game we play if we keep playing like this. That's the point. 24 turnovers. Kevin hurt. Rowdy invisable. Kenny handing the ball to anyone on the other team who wants it. Seniors playing scared to death to loose instead of playing to win. That's the point I was making, not a stupid debate about seeding. Ridiculous post.
Quote from: Valposter on March 13, 2013, 11:17:08 AM
Quote from: a3uge on March 13, 2013, 10:09:21 AM
Quote from: Valposter on March 13, 2013, 09:34:07 AM
I have watched a lot of college basketball in my lifetime and I have never seen a senior-laden team struggle this much at home as prohibitive favorites against a 3 & 4 seed. Very frustrating. 24 turnovers at home from a team with this much experience! Just does not give much reason for hope in the NCAA tournament as a double-digit underdog at a neutral site against a 2 or 3 seed nationally. I hope we can somehow magically play much better next game. Much more than 12 turnovers and we have little chance. A super-strong defensive pressure team like Ohio State will be a horrible match-up for us. Any Big 10 team will be a bad match-up. I am very glad we are Dancing but I am not cautiously optimistic after the last two games. Please prove me wrong Valpo and make a run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Valpo a 15 seed? U out cho damn mind.
That's what you took out of that post? Yea, we are going to be at best a 13 seed. Doesn't matter. We can be a 1 seed with 3 byes and we are going to get crushed the next game we play if we keep playing like this. That's the point. 24 turnovers. Kevin hurt. Rowdy invisable. Kenny handing the ball to anyone on the other team who wants it. Seniors playing scared to death to loose instead of playing to win. That's the point I was making, not a stupid debate about seeding. Ridiculous post.
It's not ridiculous because the premise of your post was Valpo playing a 2 or 3 seed against a Big Ten team. While they could get a 14 seed, they are more likely to get a 13. There's a big difference between playing against Michigan St/Georgetown vs playing against a flawed Oklahoma St/Marquette/Arizona team. Yeah, of course they'll need to play better, but they won't be double-digit underdogs and the sky is NOT falling. Kevin's going to have a ton of time to heal and they'll be playing a team that isn't familiar with us. This team has a ton of talent with guys that can put the team on their back. If they all play okay they're going to have a good chance at an upset. One of the guys is going to go off - it always happens. We just need everyone else clicking. Turnovers will come, and we'll have to limit them, but they're capable of bringing it together and playing as a team. If they're playing a 2-seed. No chance as all. Luckily they won't be.
Congratulations to the Crusaders on winning both titles this season. Your team played well all year and will hopefully continue to do so in the NCAA tourney. Of course I wanted my team to be in the final against you but we didn't do what was necessary to get there so that's that.
Though there seems to be bad feelings, not on my part, I wish you all great success in the Dance and make the HL proud by sending a team or two home.
Though I cheer for and support Detroit, I also support the league and I always want our league teams to do well. With that said, Go Valpo! Represent the Horizon League well.
Quote from: TitanReg on March 13, 2013, 12:44:37 PM
Congratulations to the Crusaders on winning both titles this season. Your team played well all year and will hopefully continue to do so in the NCAA tourney. Of course I wanted my team to be in the final against you but we didn't do what was necessary to get there so that's that.
Though there seems to be bad feelings, not on my part, I wish you all great success in the Dance and make the HL proud by sending a team or two home.
Though I cheer for and support Detroit, I also support the league and I always want our league teams to do well. With that said, Go Valpo! Represent the Horizon League well.
Very classy post, then again I would expect nothing less from you. For those who don't know, TitanReg is actually Reggie Hall, a former Titan baseball player and longtime supporter of UDM athletics. Reggie recently received the prestigious John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award from the UDM Athletic Department. He is also the longtime sports producer for ABC News in Detroit.
The following video and story tells more about Reggie and his many contributions:
http://news.yahoo.com/video/reggie-hall-honored-university-detroit-191942340.html (http://news.yahoo.com/video/reggie-hall-honored-university-detroit-191942340.html)
http://www.detroittitans.com/news/2013/2/26/GEN_0226131018.aspx (http://www.detroittitans.com/news/2013/2/26/GEN_0226131018.aspx)
That's really great to hear from a Titan fan like him.
I am crawling ashamedly back onto the VU bandwagon like others on this board. I really bailed at the 7 minute mark last night. It just looked horrible at 50-44 Wright St. We just couldn't do anything. The KVW ankle issue does explain some of the horrible offensive flow.
But....anyway, we can all hold our heads very high over the next 9-10 days until the first round. Hopefully, we can also be proud of our first round performance too. Heal that ankle, Kevin! Bobby is just a step slow and doesn't have that 70% FGP/amazing knack around the hoop. If KVW can maneuver again and we catch fire from 3-point land, we can possibly still be in the game in last 5 minutes. Those are "Ifs".
Quote from: a3uge on March 13, 2013, 10:09:21 AM
Quote from: Valposter on March 13, 2013, 09:34:07 AM
I have watched a lot of college basketball in my lifetime and I have never seen a senior-laden team struggle this much at home as prohibitive favorites against a 3 & 4 seed. Very frustrating. 24 turnovers at home from a team with this much experience! Just does not give much reason for hope in the NCAA tournament as a double-digit underdog at a neutral site against a 2 or 3 seed nationally. I hope we can somehow magically play much better next game. Much more than 12 turnovers and we have little chance. A super-strong defensive pressure team like Ohio State will be a horrible match-up for us. Any Big 10 team will be a bad match-up. I am very glad we are Dancing but I am not cautiously optimistic after the last two games. Please prove me wrong Valpo and make a run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Valpo a 15 seed? U out cho damn mind.
These type of posts (and similar ones by people like crusadermoe), puzzle me. Yes we played very tight last night, but the last TWO games? We shot over 40% from the 3 and had 16 assists versus 8 turnovers against Green Bay--who had beaten a team like Marquette earlier in the year and played Wisconsin very well, losing by 11 on the road.
We have lost a total of three games when having all of our rotation 8 available. In all losses, we have not been beaten by anyone by more that 13 points. We will play a New Mexico/St. Louis level team. Five of our seven losses have been on the road. This will be a neutral site. We certainly can win this next game.
Quote from: wh on March 13, 2013, 01:26:55 PM
Quote from: TitanReg on March 13, 2013, 12:44:37 PM
Congratulations to the Crusaders on winning both titles this season. Your team played well all year and will hopefully continue to do so in the NCAA tourney. Of course I wanted my team to be in the final against you but we didn't do what was necessary to get there so that's that.
Though there seems to be bad feelings, not on my part, I wish you all great success in the Dance and make the HL proud by sending a team or two home.
Though I cheer for and support Detroit, I also support the league and I always want our league teams to do well. With that said, Go Valpo! Represent the Horizon League well.
Very classy post, then again I would expect nothing less from you. For those who don't know, TitanReg is actually Reggie Hall, a former Titan baseball player and longtime supporter of UDM athletics. Reggie recently received the prestigious John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award from the UDM Athletic Department. He is also the longtime sports producer for ABC News in Detroit.
The following video and story tells more about Reggie and his many contributions:
http://news.yahoo.com/video/reggie-hall-honored-university-detroit-191942340.html (http://news.yahoo.com/video/reggie-hall-honored-university-detroit-191942340.html)
http://www.detroittitans.com/news/2013/2/26/GEN_0226131018.aspx (http://www.detroittitans.com/news/2013/2/26/GEN_0226131018.aspx)
I really hope that Detroit can add baseball sometime in the near future. I believe it was 2001 when they shut the program down? It was around the same time that IUPUI did the same thing, which was my first year of ball at VU.
Quote from: crusadermoe on March 13, 2013, 01:46:29 PMIt just looked horrible at 50-44 Wright St. We just couldn't do anything. The KVW ankle issue does explain some of the horrible offensive flow.
It would be interesting to get a count on deflected and intercepted entry post passes but Kevins ankle could explain much of that problem. Most of the overplayed passing lane TOs are harder to explain because a lot of them you could see developing long before the ball was released. There were also.a number of wide open backdoor oportunities that closed before they were spotted or executed. I am not going to crticize anybody because we still managed to win with the trio of Kevin, Matt, and Ryan all delivering way substandard performances. Go Valpo- I still like our chances!
Question (and not looking to start no trouble, just here to do the NCAA shuffle), why didn't WSU come back out for the awards ceremony and All-Tourney team announcements. At a minimum send those selections out to receive the awards? Donlon may have been in Presser, but this seemed a very Quitness errr Lebron type move and we, the fans, would have appreciated having the chance to congratulate a valient effort in both games. (Folks, Donlon coached a huge game with defensive adjustments that forced our offense into running into doubles and strips, etc.. As a coach, I would (a) want to instill and foster sportsmanship (Horizon League goal too), (b) honor a season that was way beyond expectations for WSU, and (c) have this young team see the trophy ceremony and cutting nets as a motivator for next season (visualize yourself doing that while running and lifting during the summer). Am I missing something? What did we do last year, as I was overseas?
justducky -- another factor was the very physical nature Pacher and Tavares Sledge (some hybrid 80s dance band?) treated KVW. They went through him, held him, manhandled him all night and the reffing (which will be left unsaid for now) let them do it (and then Donlon would whine when there was a call, must be watching Gary Waters tape). Pacher finally fouled out late. This factor, serious physical D, was also going on the perimeter (Ryan was being held all night, reminded me of what they used to do to Bryce to try to slow him down).
Quote from: valpo84 on March 13, 2013, 02:42:09 PM
Question (and not looking to start no trouble, just here to do the NCAA shuffle), why didn't WSU come back out for the awards ceremony and All-Tourney team announcements. At a minimum send those selections out to receive the awards? Donlon may have been in Presser, but this seemed a very Quitness errr Lebron type move and we, the fans, would have appreciated having the chance to congratulate a valient effort in both games. (Folks, Donlon coached a huge game with defensive adjustments that forced our offense into running into doubles and strips, etc.. As a coach, I would (a) want to instill and foster sportsmanship (Horizon League goal too), (b) honor a season that was way beyond expectations for WSU, and (c) have this young team see the trophy ceremony and cutting nets as a motivator for next season (visualize yourself doing that while running and lifting during the summer). Am I missing something? What did we do last year, as I was overseas?
I wouldn't overthink this. Some teams do, some don't. They chose not to, and that's fine in my book.
Couple things to think about in terms of Donlon being gone (and he was in the press room doing interviews):
1) Game time was 8PM Central (This is 9PM in Dayton)
2) The game ran just a little over two hours, so past 11:00 in the east
3) WSU's writers and news were pretty tight up against deadlines, so they probably wanted him as early as possible.
Back to the original question, after HOW they lost (losing a late lead, etc.) its like having your heart ripped out...staying to watch would be like laying on the ground and watching the lions eat it...
Quote from: valpo84 on March 13, 2013, 02:45:55 PM
justducky -- another factor was the very physical nature Pacher and Tavares Sledge (some hybrid 80s dance band?) treated KVW. They went through him, held him, manhandled him all night and the reffing (which will be left unsaid for now) let them do it (and then Donlon would whine when there was a call, must be watching Gary Waters tape). Pacher finally fouled out late. This factor, serious physical D, was also going on the perimeter (Ryan was being held all night, reminded me of what they used to do to Bryce to try to slow him down).
Yup! We should also mention that not only was the hand part of the ball last night but also most of the lower arm, chest, chin and any other body part within 10 inches of the ball. The refs were very consistent in allowing ball hack contact. We finally figured that out and got a few hack turnovers ourselves but it was a little slow in coming.
Quote from: ValpoHoops on March 13, 2013, 02:48:12 PM
Quote from: valpo84 on March 13, 2013, 02:42:09 PM
Question (and not looking to start no trouble, just here to do the NCAA shuffle), why didn't WSU come back out for the awards ceremony and All-Tourney team announcements. At a minimum send those selections out to receive the awards? Donlon may have been in Presser, but this seemed a very Quitness errr Lebron type move and we, the fans, would have appreciated having the chance to congratulate a valient effort in both games. (Folks, Donlon coached a huge game with defensive adjustments that forced our offense into running into doubles and strips, etc.. As a coach, I would (a) want to instill and foster sportsmanship (Horizon League goal too), (b) honor a season that was way beyond expectations for WSU, and (c) have this young team see the trophy ceremony and cutting nets as a motivator for next season (visualize yourself doing that while running and lifting during the summer). Am I missing something? What did we do last year, as I was overseas?
I wouldn't overthink this. Some teams do, some don't. They chose not to, and that's fine in my book.
Couple things to think about in terms of Donlon being gone (and he was in the press room doing interviews):
1) Game time was 8PM Central (This is 9PM in Dayton)
2) The game ran just a little over two hours, so past 11:00 in the east
3) WSU's writers and news were pretty tight up against deadlines, so they probably wanted him as early as possible.
Back to the original question, after HOW they lost (losing a late lead, etc.) its like having your heart ripped out...staying to watch would be like laying on the ground and watching the lions eat it...
I still remember 2002 when they made Ron Hunter bring back his team for the postgame ceremony in spite of the fact that there were no runner up awards to hand out like there was for the women's final. I thought that was kinda cruel myself.
I remember that in both 2000-2001 and 2002-2003, our team was still sitting in their seats as the runner-up during the presentations
Not going to overthink it, but valpohoops your explanation is a bit hollow. The whole point of a tournament is to celebrate the winner and the thrill of the competition. In the Olympics, the 2d and 3d place finishers are honored. I think WSU deserved (and should have been) to be out there and be congratulated. I know it's tough (been there done that), but someone once said you learn more from losing than winning. Losing graciously and being part of the congratulations to the victor is a teaching moment. And who cares what time it is, do you think they would have went straight to the bus if they had won? As I said, it didn't have to be Donlon, it could have been their captains. Frankly, sitting behind their bench watching Donlon and some of their players when they had the lead (Donlon could have been T'ed up and #4 came very close to bumping a ref (brushed the ref with his hand), it didn't surprise me all that much, just disappointing as they deserved a round of applause from an appreciative audience, remember we're not Detroit.
As another in the coming full circle category, did others notice that last year's and this year's finals ended on a dunk. :)
Yeah, the dunk by an unguarded Sledge at game end was really weird. I guess you could call the dunk a "Sledgehammer" and cue up Peter Gabriel. It seems it will be a Horizon League tradition to stage a dunk in the last second.
Not really wanting to mock Wright State though. They were fantastic on defense as many have already said in detail. They will definitely be favored next year and they are very athletic as well as well-coached. Jaran ? is a superstar in waiting just like the Cleveland St. kid who plays forward.
Quote from: crusadermoe on March 13, 2013, 06:38:08 PMYeah, the dunk by an unguarded Sledge at game end was really weird. I guess you could call the dunk a "Sledgehammer" and cue up Peter Gabriel. It seems it will be a Horizon League tradition to stage a dunk in the last second.
No no no he missed the point of my earlier post completely. If WSU had a 10 point lead at the time then Sledge should have taken the slam then followed it up with strutting and chest pounding (in order to build up next years rivalry and attendance).
If on the other hand we had the 10 points and the ball then I would have for voted for Will to go for the slam (not sure he can) followed by the obligatory ESPN camera dance (not sure he can do that either). I am pretty certain that if he could have pulled that off then both the Nutter and the ARC would have been filled to capacity for both of next years regular season matchups. :)
Dunk at buzzer with huge lead = classless
Dunk at buzzer with huge deficit = weird, but no offense against class
That's my position and I'm sticking to it.
Quote from: valpo84 on March 13, 2013, 06:05:34 PMThe whole point of a tournament is to celebrate the winner and the thrill of the competition. In the Olympics, the 2d and 3d place finishers are honored.
I agree with this in the Olympic model. The Horizon League, however, does not give out silver medals (nor do most others...). By this logic (just using this as an absurdly ridiculous example) whoever from the other teams made all-tournament should have been there as well. They lost a heartbreaker, I don't think it should be expected of them to sit there and watch the team that beat them celebrate. As I recall, we did not stay on the floor last year...
As for Donlon, I was simply stating facts. Our guys were on the floor celebrating, he was alreaday giving interviews and the WSU writers were hurrying to get stories in. Had they won, the Dayton media would have covered the celebration and then rushed to meet deadline, just the same...and would have been late.
For those interested, I have just posted about 50 new photographs from Tuesday evening to my blog, Valpo Basketball Photography: 2012-2013, including the three examples below. The photo journal now has 500 pictures from throughout the season. You are invited to browse: http://photography226.wordpress.com/ (http://photography226.wordpress.com/)
(http://i50.tinypic.com/xc24v8.jpg)
(http://i50.tinypic.com/2ewejqv.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/351bev9.jpg)