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If Valpo ends up settling for anything less than $500k, then this is a brilliant move by Heckler.  It's just like buying a car ... why pay the sticker price when you can negotiate a better deal?

Um, I'll bite... because you already entered into a contract to pay the sticker price?

The better college player is not always the better pro player.

Reports out of Detroit that Michigan Assistant Bacari Alexander has been hired as new coach.

Jenkins stays. Appears report in error. Off Goodman list.

 

I would argue this is a big step down for Nagy.   SDSU has much more name recognition, great facilities, and has the Summit League conference tournament literally in their own backyard.     

Not remotely. Besides paying a whole lot more, WSU has a much bigger basketball budget, double the attendance, a much more fertile recruiting area, better facilities, less conference travel, and -- wait, you think South Dakota State has more name recognition?

But we agree - great hire for the Raiders.

In the original feasibility study NKU did about moving up to Division I, the recommendation was to seek admission to the Horizon League. I think they really wanted in to the OVC when the Horizon wasn't going to take them, but I think the Horizon was always their target and any desire to join the OVC is dead.

To expound on my point about KC, he left st. Louis at the end of the 1st semester of his freshman year and transferred to Valpo.  Thereafter, he sat out 2 semesters and began playing in the 2nd semester of his 2nd year.  The issue is why at that point was he considered a 2nd semester sophomore instead of red shirt freshman?  why did he lose a year of eligibility just because he transferred at the end of the first semester when he would have been granted an extra year had he transferred at the end of the 2nd semester?  This never made any sense to me, and it never will.

To expound on my point about KC, he left st. Louis at the end of the 1st semester of his freshman year and transferred to Valpo.  Thereafter, he sat out 2 semesters and began playing in the 2nd semester of his 2nd year.  The issue is why at that point was he considered a 2nd semester sophomore instead of red shirt freshman?  why did he lose a year of eligibility just because he transferred at the end of the first semester when he would have been granted an extra year had he transferred at the end of the 2nd semester?  This never made any sense to me, and it never will.

May not make sense, but the NCAA counts playing in a season as a season. So Carter played his freshman year at St. Louis (one semester), his sophomore year as a Crusader (one semester), his junior year as a Crusader. That's just how they do it, and it happens a lot. For example, Brandon Kearney last year at Detroit: freshman year and soph fall at Michigan State; sat spring/fall semester, played 1 semester at Arizona (junior year), then senior year at Detroit - 6 semester total, over 4 seasons.  It happened with Lavonte Dority, too, remember. The handful of games he played with South Florida before transferring during his sophomore year counted as a full season, and so he only played 1 1/2 seasons at Valpo.


The NCAA maybe should have a mid-season transfer redshirt, kind of like if you are injured and have played in fewer than 6 games you don't count that season. Bu they don't have that, and Carter's not in the least unique.

Relvao is gone. It is worth it for a Sweet 16 appearance. A shot like this--gotta take it. And if successful, better recruits will follow.

Way out thought.  Based on a positive appeal and Vashil being granted that lost year.  Why would the university then have to dump a credentialed scholarship player to make room for him?  That would be an unfair penalty on any young man who drew the short straw.  Might this be a precedent for a temporary (one year only) 14th scholarship or a red-shirted year on scholarship?

I have never heard of the NCAA granting an extra scholarship. Can't see any basis for doing so.

Quote from: aevans12 on Today at 02:10:04 PM What ever happened with the conference challenge that was floated by Gary Waters and others?  Is that still a possibility for this season? Long discussion starting on page 3 of this thread.  Doubt it will happen ever.

Definitely not this year because Oakland and Detroit have announced their schedules.

ps why don't the mid-majors just fill their OOC home schedules with other mid-majors?

Because the high majors demand to play the vast majority of their games at home. The mid-majors, if they want to play high majors at all (and sometimes to fill their coffers) have to play "guarantee" games and "exempt tournament" games on the high major courts. So every mid-major starts with about 4-5 games on the road. If you fill out your schedule with only home and homes against other mid-majors, you'll effectively play about 4 home and 9 road games a games in non-conference. A lot of coaches, players, fans, and administrators don't want to do that. So to balance it out a bit, you've got to buy a couple games. But mid-majors can't afford to write $90,000 guarantee checks. So you either buy a MEAC or SWAC team or something like that, or you buy a D-II or D-III team. The latter is cheaper, won't hurt your RPI, and is probably no less a draw than a low D-I team (how many fans would know, for example, that Delaware State is D-I and Kentucky State is D-II, that Tennessee Tech is D-I and Indiana Tech is NAIA, or that Presbyterian is D-I and Catholic is D-III?).

That leaves no margin for error on an at-large bid and gives us very little chance for an 8 or 9 seed

Rather be a 11-12 seed. Difference in quality of first round opponent (a 5 or 6 seed vs. an 8-9 seed) is pretty insignificant, it's typically a major conference team with 9-10 losses, a team that can be beat. Then the second round opponent (a #3-4 seed) is likely to be much more beatable than the #1 seed that the 8-9 plays in the second round.

No reason why Detroit needed a top 50 schedule.

Remember Detroit was predicted for third or fourth last year in the league. A lot of people thought they'd be pretty good. It's easy to know Oakland's schedule last year was too tough, but very often it's tough to know in advance how hard you need to schedule. Another reason this ain't so easy.

My preference would be to play it at the regular season champs' place, but with 8 teams playing games on 3 consecutive days. You could cut the field to 8 with first round games on Tuesday, then play Friday, Saturday, Sunday at the home of the regular season champion. It's very tough for visiting fans to attend a game Saturday, then have two days off and have to return for a Tuesday final. Of course, if the regular season champ loses on Friday or Saturday, attendance for the final goes to hell. Nothing's perfect, eh?

A variation would be to do that, but with games Friday and Saturday (no double bye), and then a final on Tuesday at the highest remaining seed. That brings back the double travel issue for fans of the lower seed in the final, but presumably assures a better turnout for the final.

While eliminating the double bye in that format would work a bit against top teams, the top teams still get an advantage. It would mean the #1 and #2 teams play games against teams seeded 7th or lower in the first round, and then it looks the same as now, with a semi-final and final. While I don't mind favoring the top teams in the regular season, the double bye is a big edge, and not always all that fair, either. Suppose, for example, Oakland had won one more game during the season, say beating Detroit in their first matchup. They would have finished tied for second with GB at 12-4. It's not clear to me why Oakland should then get the benefit of a double bye simply because they beat Cleveland State twice and Green Bay only beat Cleveland State once.

In the end, there is no perfect format unless you're a high major and can sell 12,000 seats every session at a neutral site. And then who needs a "perfect" format?

why is Wofford a projected 12 seed?  I don't get that. What have they proven?

#50 RPI, double digit win over Iona, win at North Carolina State.

Snowed in Detroit today. Students are off campus on spring break. And first round games never draw well - crappy opponent, doesn't appear on printed schedules. It's amazing they've got anybody there.

Yes.

The HL is probably rooting for Valpo, we have the best shot at a high seed

Actually, no, Green Bay still has the best shot at a high seed. Their win at Miami is still the best non-conference win for the Horizon this year; if they beat you at the ARC it will be a better win than if you beat them at the ARC (because it will be a road win vs. a home win), giving them a second win better than any on your resume; if they win out they'll have a higher RPI than if you win out. Best scenario for Horizon in terms of seeding is Valpo beats Detroit and CSU to host tournament; Green Bay wins out for the #2 seed; and Green Bay beats Valpo at the ARC for title.  Of course, if Valpo is more likely to win a game or two, than that is the best outcome regardless of seeding.

Detroit is choking (or should we say, just being Detroit). Lead down to 3.

Detroit is choking, lead to 4 with Cleveland State at the foul line.

Wright State isn't very good.

Just in case someone tags Valpo with area code graffiti again.........here are the area codes for the other HL teams Oakland           248 Detroit             313 Cleveland St     216 Youngstown St  330 Wright St         937 UIC                 312 Milwaukee        414 Green Bay        920

Until I got to Green Bay, I was afraid these were RPI numbers.

Generally conferences have avoided 2 teams from the same market. See Oakland's struggle to get in the Horizon. Also, Lipscomb has no history of success. I'm not sure having ONE team close by for a conference game would lure Belmont in.

That's true, but in this case, I assure you, the ONLY reason Lipscomb is being considered is to be a tandem partner with Belmont. If they come in at all, Belmont does not want to come in without a southern travel partner. Lipscomb will not get an invitation unless Belmont gets one and indicates that it's acceptance is conditioned on Lipscomb or other southern travel partners. And note that unlike the Oakland situation, there is no Horizon member who would veto adding a team in its market. You are right that having only ONE close team may not be enough - Belmont would be most likely to join if accompanied by 2 other southern schools, one of which might be Lipscomb.

UAB is in Alabama. No. And I think Libscom means no Belmont. So no.

On UAB, you gotta be thinking big, and definitely adding more south. That would be a big move and would need to be carefully considered, but without dawdling.


Lipscomb actually means Belmont almost for sure--Lipscomb is talked about mainly as a way to convince Belmont to join, giving them a southern travel partner. I don't think we'd see Lipscomb without Belmont, and we're more likely to see Belmont with Lipscomb. Lipscomb is Belmont's historic rival, too.

New Mexico game is in the program, Dec. 6: http://www.golobos.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=87115&SPSID=616926