Messages

Mo State seems to be able to commit extremely physical fouls and be immune to the consequences. They aren't actually illegal fouls but in ticky-tack Valley officiating, they usually spend 8 minutes studying the monitor against everyone else deciding if they are "flagrant."

I don't think any of us can take too much away from this. Having watched the Aces lose by 48 to Drake, it's just what happens. (It helps when Darnell Brodie decides to make college basketball his entire career.)

You get a talented hoss in the middle who gets friendly looks from refs who think the "paint" isn't dry enough to call 3 seconds, plus, a couple of sneaky veterans, and a coach who has had time to build a roster and sustain it, you get these clobber-fests. When a team shoots 63 pct., it could mean a couple of things -- but the odds don't favor it by any college team that isn't playing Grinnell. It's not always bad defense, but it is usually about quickness and court savvy.

You can't coach some of that.

Every year, there's a mid-major somewhere that overachieves.

Related thread somewhere discussed how Brian Wardle is a jerk. I got to see him in action last night against UE. Unless he's just frowning while singing a Captain and Tennille song, yeah ... he's a pickle.

[They need to replace the bleachers in that place -- now. It would improve attendance and in-game comfort for us old people who can't walk those "steps." The ARC is plenty useful as an arena if they do that, despite what I read from other fan boards. I can't speak to the facility as a whole. I don't have any need for that.]

Observations from a UE grad/fan.
Great enthusiasm by student body, which makes the ARC a tough place to play. A couple of other sideline notions, but those don't matter much.

They need to replace the bleachers in that place -- now. It would improve attendance and in-game comfort for us old people who can't walk those "steps." The ARC is plenty useful as an arena if they do that, despite what I read from other fan boards. I can't speak to the facility as a whole. I don't have any need for that.

The game itself was basketball as it should be played in an era of drive-to-contact. Nothing ruins a game like 64 free throws. That didn't happen and the players on the court weren't getting into foul trouble. The best can play the game.

I won't evaluate the Valpo team/roster. There are always good players at VU. This year, maybe not enough.

I think both teams should be charged with a loss in this one.

My first visit to the ARC (looked it up, 1987) when Marty Simmons was playing for Evansville. I had no idea what Valpo brought to the table but they literally curb-stomped the Aces by 20-some points. (80-58). A Valpo guard -- I think his name was Mike Jones -- nailed about 6 shots from out in left field.
Aces at the time were overall doing pretty well in the Jim Crews years. 

The guy who made the shot in 1969 was Dave Weeks. I remember it being a boring night on campus and a bunch of us went to the airport to greet the team after they got home. There are other stories connected to this but the Aces were a so-so team and that win gave them either the ICC title or a tie. We were thinking the NCAA would give them a "bid" to the tournament, but they didn't. Good grief, why do I remember this stuff?

Conflating games from 50 years ago -- nah, nobody does that! Actually there are games that were so memorable to me that I could literally write down every moment that mattered. Then somebody would ask me about it and I'd look it up only to say, "I was certain that Roberts pitched that game. He wasn't even on the team until 3 years later."

As an aside, I am told that the game is Sensory Awareness Night, a science-based social statement that will make the intros much quieter. Not sure how anyone gets much awareness from that but I get the point. Either way, it's not likely to have an effect on you if ESPN+ is your window.

I am just glad you folks haven't booted this old UE grad off your forum. 

Sloan did not play 65-66 but Humes did. Either way, we have the same game. But my reference to 1966 means 1965-66. The 66-67 Aces team was brutally awful.

I have the box from the game (I hope I can insert it somehow) from the Evansville paper.

https://scontent-ord5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/420122637_7688130317881699_6989921024278117194_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=3635dc&_nc_ohc=cHlqByyLLzgAX98XWfj&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-2.xx&oh=00_AfDgC2fxndFrOi5SLFnmCAY1ABVynFIXQNvEgzZ1oxZ04g&oe=65ACAA4C

Sloan was a member of the 1964-65 title teams but not a member of the 1966 team. The 1966 team included Larry Humes, Herb Williams, Sam Watkins, Ron Johnson, Rick Kingston, and a bevy of players who tried to replace Sloan. That team won the ICC and was defeated in the Regionals by SIU, which I believe lost to Ky. Wesleyan in the NCAA finals.
Evansville had won 35 straight going into the 65-66 season and lost its home opener to Iowa. It was a good but not great team. With the home stadium as its 6th man, the Aces were always highly ranked in an era when 10,000 fans was appealing to even Big 10 teams that would go there. Most College Division "gyms" were not much better than high school courts.

I was a frosh at UE that winter. We listened to all the Aces games on the radio. The robes were an Evansville trademark but the players never actually liked them. Most games, they were wadded up under the bench or flung off to the side.

The Aces were extremely difficult to beat at Roberts Stadium and the ICC games, which included Valpo, were usually quite a draw for the fans. I never saw a game in Hilltop, so that's kind of a memory I missed. I heard though that playing at St. Joe was even more difficult.

UE supporter, general basketball fan, lacking expertise or insight:

Aces are missing Ben Humrichous, an NAIA transfer who emerged as the team's best player. He has some form of undisclosed foot injury and has been "day to day" since the first of the year. The Aces truly miss his leadership.

UE is not an untalented team and any one of 4 or 5 guys can get hot and grab the reins. Of late, they have played teams that are either a lot better or a little better but playing over their heads. Murray is one.

What flaws the Aces have are similar to all rebuilding programs -- inconsistency at unpredictable points in a game. In a home game, the advantage is not obvious. UE's success early on was measured against weaker OVC teams and some really sloppy examples of MAC programs. The 10 wins is notable considering they won 5 last year and 6 the year before.

Watching VU, if they get into foul trouble, they will probably get bonked.

Lottich always seemed to get the kind of players I liked to watch, but his in-game coaching seemed to fail him way too often. They could have had 4 or 5 more conference wins this year by playing better. That's no title team, but it's not terrible.

Yeah, that's about the size of it.
Facing facts about the oxpecker leagues that the NCAA is shoving to the curb, getting a .500 record is probably as good as it gets. For general fans, an entertainment value.
I have to turn off Aces games at halftime now.
Get used to complete roster turnover every 2 years now.

As an Evansville alum who lives in Valpo and has followed both teams, the regular complaints about the VU men's BB program are, in my opinion, misguided. I recall the Drew coaching days when the Crusaders Beacons recruited globally and were always a delight to watch.
I don't get over there much these days since the Pandemic, but I do go when the Aces are there, renewing friendships. The Aces this year are more painful to watch than they are embarrassing. But that does not mean I don't appreciate what VU has going for it. If there is a downside, I am surprised that student interest has fallen off as it has. That is probably true across the country for programs not in the P5 realm at campuses with 30,000 students.
To the point: Valpo basketball, while a shade shy of 2016 (which won't happen again), is in a pretty good place. Lottich is not a great strategian, but he is also like all the other mid-majors coaches, in that he will have to recreate his roster every year.
That's what the Portal has done.
I will say that the ARC needs some work. The pullback bleachers are past expiration date. The PA guy can stop officiating, to make that complete.
Otherwise, VU doesn't need to fire its coach. The Valley is changing. Valpo has a long history of finding players who surprise me. Ryan Broekhoff for $400, Alex! Ben Krikke for the bonus round.
Despite Evansville's current almost-DOA approach to the sport, it's still a great entertainment at the Beacon palace. Focus on that. Arch Madness is winnable for somebody. Just that, it's hard to win 4 games -- but we all wanted a 12-team league, right? Only 4 teams benefit from that.

Living in Valpo and not being a graduate and not even a lifer, I don't find a lot of connection between the university and the "Dunes." It seems quite a stretch.

But Brown and Gold also offers very little appeal.

Mascots matter.

I am still backing Swamp Ducks, which isn't about anything. You can just do some great cheers that rhyme with it.

Just finished getting caught up on the thread and, as an Evansville alum/fan, I think it's interesting that one of the desired criteria would be the ability to win in March. Not sure what that means other than, the Aces aren't exactly achieving that. While I won't ridicule VU quite as much owing to better results over the same amount of time, is it that we expect newcomers to prop up the programs that aren't excelling? I mean, I don't think UE should be thrown out of the Valley, but ... ha-ha ... we'd be kind of like the ugly kid you stick in the closet when company comes to admire all your other handsome offspring.

I don't know if the non-revenue sports are in this conversation but the Valley is a really good baseball conference. So I will keep this at men's BB and let that topic carry its own message.

The interesting changes in how D-1 sports shakes out now that the NCAA has legalized tampering ... whatever on that.


I guess I am still not sold on the need to expand the conference. It seems the only way to do that is to cannibalize some other mid-major conference. I'd be real conservative about that until we see what this absurd '1,500 players in the portal' looks like on Aug. 15.

It will not look like the product you ordered from Amazon.

Extra scholarship years will have a larger impact on football and baseball players than it will on a small roster like a basketball team. Look past the sport and across the horizon to places like the Big 10 where as many as 20 or 30 athletes are affected by the shortage of a full season.
For baseball players who didn't get a season at all in 2020, that was painful for their potential in the pro ranks.

If you do any research on the K.K.K. you will learn that the "Knights of the Golden Circle" is a close cousin and is often the same thing.

"Kernels" is a local usage. If you have to explain to people that popcorn was not really invented in Valpo, you tend to lose your conversation base. Selling the school globally isn't quite the same thing as a statue of old Orville that most people in Valpo don't even like.

To that end, the person who donates the most money to the university is going to have a lot of say in this.

You will end up with something like "Express" or "SkyBirds" or some such squished-together name. I vote for SwampDucks (one word, 2 capitals).

I agree with you on the premise here but I'm not sure the rush to change the mascot/image was entirely driven by that, though it is currently trendy to claim as much. I think it's about money, mostly money, new money, new markets ... dumping the mascot makes for good theater.

I agree that one single voice from a person who asserts these events occurred without corroboration ... it smells like the whole of a university is being swept under the bus because the majority not only tolerates these abuses but apparently isn't willing to step up to change it.

"So we'll do it for them."

I am still trying to understand what "wokeness" actually means, since it's not a word.