Messages

Thank God it's not April 1 or I wouldn't have believed it — way to go Dr. Small & Co.!

Way to provide some hope for this program and in turn a commitment to the future — not only of this program but the institution and community.

Thank God it's not April 1 or I wouldn't have believed it — way to go Dr. Small & Co.!

Way to provide some hope for this program and in turn a commitment to the future — not only of this program but the institution and community.

Top 3 in no particular order:

Dunehawks     
Hilltoppers     
Kernels/Fighting Kernels/Golden Kernels

I can only imagine the ways in which — based on past precedent and the ways in which programs have been cut and a lack of facility improvements have been made to the existing ARC — Valpo will elect to go with the most cost-effective option.

Short of announcing a sponsorship from a major corporation, there's no way Valpo goes with new colors or anything radically different (mascot-wise) for cost-savings.

But, we can dream!

It's all a win-win for ML. We hired him as a HC when (in all likelihood) there most likely wasn't a situation at hand where multiple suitors were vying for his services. No fault to him or slight implied. Just a reality given his relative inexperience in the coaching world to be handed the keys to a HC D-1 job.

He was able to ease into things with the aid of AP and riding off the successes of Bryce and the Drew's long-standing stamp of approval on the brand. Also a tough ask given those realities for anyone taking over.

He's recruited decently well. Been the HC during a major conference move. Won some games that didn't look promising and lost some games that should've been won, etc.

He's managed a pandemic — something only acting coaches will have experience with to date and hopefully something we'll never have to experience again, God-willing.

Has been able to find some good talent out of high school while hasn't had the easiest time retaining such talent. Partially on him, partially on the changing landscape of the league, partially a result of changing player preferences, partially on transfer changes, etc .

While I've never personally been impressed and admit by own biased, limited POV — I still think he's in a win-win.

Keeps saying to trust the process and emphasizes being in a rebuilding phase but largely a result of losing so many players to the transfer portal and not being able to retain talent like other mid majors (Loyola) been able to do.

Best case? He has success here and gets multiple suitors to either drive up his salary here or leave and go make more money elsewhere. He's young and has a career ahead of him  .. worst case, he's mediocre core and we get more of the same .. leading to a lack of suitors and interest by others and his being comfortable here while enabling a mediocre success rate ...

Highly unlikely he ends up being a rock star of a head coach and yet opts to stay — so it's really a matter of if he figures things out and gets snatched up by someone else in which case we were able to take on the growing pains for his eventual success thereafter or we stay "comfortable" in being as-is ...

Interesting point


Maybe that's part of the situation at hand. Not necessarily a matter of "falling in love" if you don't have a lot of suitors perhaps. How many of our players, like many lower to average mid-major programs, recruit players who didn't have many other D-1 offers?


Many factors at play even for highly sought after recruits but if you only have one or two or at most a handful of offers and haven't gotten much attention from the "experts" who rank prospects and such, it may be a matter of settling, being thankful for the opportunity itself, and/or figuring it's a matter of getting one's foot in the door before (at best) transferring to a bigger program with more exposure thereafter.


Not necessarily a 4 year commitment at this point. Could be related to academic degrees offered and such too obviously.

I've been off the grid a bit and out of the loop. Haven't posted on here this season but did watch all season. Wasn't healthy for me to be so negative about things and so forth when I recognized it doesn't really matter how I feel in the big scope of things.

That said, just wondering — was I see a lot of comments about having ML as our coach for 3 more years. Did he officially sign a contract extension? Assuming so based on these comments but just didn't know. I know it's a private school so details are known but just curious.

Hope everyone is well. Been a rough year in our world. 

With it now being September and having had two major power 5 conferences (along with the large majority of FCS conferences and programs) postpone the football season while gearing up for the others to start, how are we feeling about the odds of the season being played? And if so — seating capacity? Will we still be in stage 4.5 per executive orders and thus if we play b-ball what will crowd be like?

Seems like the nba bubble is working fairly well. Granted, it helps when Disney owns ESPN and abc etc — but will be interested to see how college football plays out and thus how that impacts the basketball season.

Heartbreaking to see programs being cancelled around the country as we've seen of late in Valpo. Like it or not, major power 5 football funds these other sports. Basketball behind that. They're financially codependent in that regard. Crazy times to say the least.

Would be intrigued to see dollar amounts and details in the contract though we likely never will as it's a private university - right??

One of the positives about it being private if you're Matt I suppose. Given the sheer volume of cuts the university appears to be making and the number of furloughs etc - seems like a big ask to be giving him or any other coach for that matter a raise right now. Especially when there's such uncertainty surrounding the status of a season taking place. We had a hard time getting students and fans out prior to the pandemic taking form here in the USA. I cannot imagine - especially given the number of season ticket holders who are older - what things will look like this year.

Will hopefully need to provide contingency plans for season ticket holders. Ex: allow season ticket holders to hold onto their seats after the 2020-2021 season even if they don't renew their season tickets for *this* season.

Even if you u have season ticket holders put down some sort of a down payment or deposit.

I don't envy those trying to make budgeting projections and so forth amidst this uncertainty. Not to mention the likely lack of buy-in games and such in which mid majors can garner revenue to help close the gap. Especially cumbersome for a private institution.

Will be interesting to see how others could follow suit. Particularly Clay. Building a team around JFL provides a lot of buzz. Not a reassuring thing for Coach L to say he was surprised by the news? Shouldn't be the case. He should know and be in communication with these guys. Plain and simple. And for those being dismissive of JFL as he transfers, that's shameful. He poured his blood, sweat, and tears into that court in a Valpo uniform. We should be thankful for the 2 years. JFL provided the best March madness we got this year playing through what he played through. Wish him the best. Will support him wherever he goes.

He doesn't owe us anything and has more than paid his dues.

It was a totally different ball game when Bryce left Valpo for Vandy. Horizon - SEC meant a lot of things, including much more money to spend on staff.

Vandy - year off - GCU is very different. Idk GCU's financials but have a hard time believing he could lure some of his former assistants back financially. Powell? Either stays with the Zags or takes a HC position. Diebler - I don't see him leaving again as his heart is there. And rightfully so.

Some of the others? Maybe. GCU just isn't  of the same caliber academically. And it's more of a lateral move from Valpo. Sure their game day experience and facilities are 100% better than Valpo. Maybe even better than Vandy???

But just a different situation all around. That said, I can imagine Bryce knows a lot of b-ball minds. Many of whom wouldn't cross our radar. So I'm sure he'll be just fine in putting a staff together. I'd imagine this was a major part of his interview process.

And .... zero from Valpo

As I've said in other threads, I was pleasantly surprised by ML's in-game and between-game adjustments. Idk what changed down the stretch but it was impressive.

Am I ready to say we should extend him to a long term extension? Not quite. Do I think he deserves 3 years with additional options for a 4th, etc? Yes - I could go with that - especially because of the star power of Krikke and Clay assuming they stay the next 3 years.

Others? I obviously overreact throughout the season.

But I also think there's some merit to some of our reservations and rationales along the way. So, we need to be careful not to overcommit either, agreed?

Now, quantifying overcommitting and so forth is tough as it's easier said in theory than in practice with real figures.

With that said, maybe ML's competitive nature is magnified when he's "under the wire" and so it would be helpful if he has built in incentives and also conditions for the years of the contract's length.

Assuming the major puzzle pieces stay in tact - which I think they will - success for the 20/21 season definitely means

1. We are top 2 in the league. Maybe top 3-4 at worst depending on the parity and how things shake out.

2. Defend our home court. Less than 3 losses on the season at home. 1 or less loss at home in conference.

3. Advance to the mvc championship game and play well. Ideally get an NCAA birth.

Is there a site where transfers get posted? Excuse my ignorance haha

To me, some of those in question depend on whether they'd be eligible as graduate transfers.

1. Zion - no way he leaves unless he graduates and can immediately play elsewhere. Don't see him wanting to sit out again. Though I could definitely see him wanting to get more playing time. And, I think he deserves it.

2. Mileek - idk if he's going to graduate this year. Nonetheless - I don't see him leaving as Valpo has been good to him throughout his... methodical development and despite being arrested.

3. Siggy - I could definitely see him transferring and sitting out a year ... or playing overseas maybe.

4. Clay - I don't see him leaving. Valpo took a chance on him early in the process compared to others. He's an instant star. At least not until he'd be a graduate transfer. Seems like a gym rat - have a hard time believing he'd transfer.

5. Nick - only way he transfers is if can do so as a grad transfer and not bait out. Feels like we haven't seen his full potential.

6. Gordon - I don't feel he's gotten a fair shake thus far. If he could be an immediately eligible grad transfer, I could see him moving closer to his brother. But will likely stay.

7. Freeze - I wouldn't be surprised if he left, especially with the incoming freshmen and Krikke being a star in the making. We didn't get to see enough of him to gauge one way or the other.

8. JFL - it'll be interesting to see what he does in a year assuming he graduates with a year of eligibility remaining. Will likely depend on how this year goes.

9. Krikke - not leaving.

Anyone I'm missing?

I clearly didn't see this coming. Look like a completely different team out there. And, we are mixing things up defensively ... just impressive all around.

If what we have seen the last 3 days is a testament to what Matt & Co. are building here, then I stand corrected and will be the first to admit it. Now, I don't get how the team we're watching is the same team we've been frustrated with and up and down about.

Granted, we gave up a big lead yesterday - which was reminiscent of a negative pattern. But, still. It's not just the (3) wins it's the way we've gone about doing so that is so perplexing. Some of yall are apparently geniuses and/or your hopeful optimism is paying dividends down the stretch.

Either way - kudos to you believers all along because I DID NOT think Matt & Co had this in them. I knew we had some players but that has been an all-around effort WITH in-game changes and between game changes.

Just impressive. Win or Lose tomorrow - still impressive to say the least.

Based on what we've seen the last three days - allow me to say this:

I WAS WRONG

Even UNI doesn't seem out of reach ... I feel like Loyola is in our heads and more mental - apart from Krutwieg who we don't have any answers to (nor do most of their other opponents). And, we almost broke that curse last time out ... and at their place. We beat Indiana Stat, Drake, Bradley, MSU, etc. once ... really is anybody's to win.

We could beat anyone. We could lose to anyone. Pretty much sums it up. Good parity. Anyone could win this tournament.
Anyone could bow out early in an "upset" in this tournament. Nothing would really surprise me at this point. Hoping for a good week(end) of b-ball.

Interested in doing a little exercise here. I've got two questions that I'm curious to see answers to.

What are the best three things that the Valparaiso basketball program has going for it?

1. History / The Shot / The Drews
2. Being in the MVC
3. Being in the Chicagoland area / recruiting opportunities

What are the three biggest obstacles or improvements or shortcomings that impact the Valparaiso basketball program?

1. Not having a Drew as coach and thus negating the history and notoriety making us have "a thing" that makes us unique (other than our brown jerseys which we only wore last year unfortunately).
2. Apathetic administrative and donor support (leading to horrible facilities and sub-par game day environment).
3. Acceptance of mediocrity and moral wins as a barometer of success or measuring our success relative to others historically. Again goes back to our struggle to find an identity in the post-Drew era.

Optimistically-speaking:

We play Evansville for the PIG, right? If so, that gives us an opportunity to get our feet under us ... get our 2nd win in Arch Madness play, and garner some confidence going into Friday's match-up. I'm hoping JFL stayed back to help him get healthy and that he'll be ready-to-go next weekend. Though, I don't know a lot about mono.

Either way, Evansville proved 16 times that they could not win a conference game. They've got some players but never made it all work. So, we've gotta feel good about that. Maybe even better than if we had been a (6) seed even if it means we have to partake in the PIG.

I know no MVC team has won since the start of this format being the 7-10 seed but there's still something good about being the team who stays in a groove instead of the one that ends up resting, playing a team that's just come off a win in the PIG, and losing a game they shouldn't have lost. That happened to us in the Horizon a few times.

So, all is not lost.

Nice to see UNI get some love on College Game Day this morning. Not sure if anyone else watched. I was multi-tasking and getting ready for the Valpo game. But, they were talking about UNI as an at-large and how they'd be a tough-out for Baylor (as an example). That's what we need ... the MVC to be a 2-bid league again.

Has it always been a Valpo "thing" to make excuses for the coach/team? Honestly asking - not trying to be a jerk. It's not a bad thing if that's the case as it would show loyalty and optimism ... dedication, you know?

But it would help me better contextualize the unwavering support for ML and company. Does that make sense?

Pretty sure I said "those who" - I'm no genius but couldn't that refer to those on the podcast???

Let's go Coach Tonagel!!!!!