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There's the offer to Sasha. He's going to get some bigger looks next season, hopefully he will want to stay close!

Pretty smart kid as well; he's received offers from Yale, Penn, and Columbia along with good basketball schools like Northern Iowa and Xavier. Hopefully he'll want to stay close to home.

Will I cheer for Bryce? No. Will I cheer against him? No. I cheer for Valpo, Bryce is no longer a part of the program; he did some great things while he was here. Now he's gone. I've never cared about Vandy basketball so there's no reason for me to start. Do I blame Bryce for leaving? Not at all. If somebody offered me a job where my raise is 2 million dollars I would take it in a heart beat. Who wouldn't? Am I disappointed that he left? As a fan, of course.

I follow Valpo basketball. I will not start following Vandy because of Bryce.

Starting to sound more and more that the hire has been on the Valpo staff for a while. To me a hire from within is the best thing regarding next season; with the amount of talented seniors and juniors who are already comfortable playing for Coach X.

Like many others it sounds more and more like it'll be Lottich or Gore at the helm next season. Can't complain about that a whole heck of a lot.

I kinda get the impression that Bryce knew he was going elsewhere at the end of this season and spent little time recruiting. We only have one scholarship spot filled, and it wouldn't shock me if a few more scholarship spots open up due to transfers. This is the most important off-season is program history. Valpo still has the chance to build upon the Bryce Drew era and become a perennial mid-major powerhouse or fall back into the pool of mediocrity with everybody else.

What's with all this negativity.... I know Bryce left, and we all knew it was coming. The only other place Alec goes next season would be the NBA and I am doubtful that happens. I don't see him at another university next season.

Hopefully all it means is that Valpo already has a guy in mind and it isn't Powell.

Next season is going to be the most important season for the program. Do they continue to build upon what Bryce did or do they fall back down with the rest of the HL. Like everyone else, I hope nobody transfers and if we return everybody I believe we'll be in good shape. Hopefully Lexus can return to the form he was before all the injuries. To me he's the most logical choice as the PG. Let us not forget he was on the all-freshmen team along with Alec a few seasons ago.

I really hope our next HC is Powell, I think it would be the best transition. He's proven to be a great recruiter, has that pipeline in Chicago and was a big reason why guys like KC and Alec Peters went to Valpo.

I don't know but I kinda hope Bryce doesn't have anywhere near the success at Vandy that he did at Valpo; especially if guys like Peters and Tevonn leave. This is the most important off-season for the basketball program. If things go well we should be alright for the future and Bryce was simply a stepping stone but if they go South, thanks for nothing Bryce.

Should Carter get another year? Yes. Will he? I doubt it. If he doesn't it'll be a shame because of some very unfortunate circumstances for Carter during his freshman season at SLU, he'll likely be screwed out of  a full season. He had an injury that sidelined him as well as the passing of his head coach Majerus; he didn't fit into Crews' plan, and he didn't go to SLU to play for Crews.

I really hope that he gets another season. It happened with Vashil. Why not Keith?

I think the key to this game for us will be can we drive to the hoop and get to the line early on. If they're bench isn't that deep and we can get a few of their starters to have 2-3 fouls by the end of the first half I like our chances.

Another point of interest is when we get to the line make our damn FTs. We were lucky BYU shot as poorly as we did from the charity stripe, if they would've shot well it would've been the final game of the season.

That said, Valpo wins by 7.

The biggest threat to Bryce leaving was last year when the Iowa State job opened up. It's rare when  a projected top-10 program has a head-coach vacancy. I don't foresee him leaving for Vandy but you never know.

The HL is ranked higher than the MAC most years.  The MAC has not been constant multi-bid league like the MVC.  The MAC is focused more on football when the MVC (they have football too) is more focused on basketball. 

The ONLY advantage is see in the HL is that most of our alumni and student recruiting comes from states within the HL.  Although the HL and MVC share states within their respected footprints, MVC does not have teams or games in Michigan.  Valpo several alumni living in Michigan.  Same goes for Wisconsin and Ohio.  MVC has teams in Iowa and Kansas but VU does not have a strong presence in those states.

MVC tournament is a more neutral site than HL's Motor City Madness.  Is St. Louis more convenient for our fans and alumni than Detroit?  Would we have more fans there than we would at Detroit?

I'd love to see Valpo in the MVC, one I live in Des Moines so I get to see them in Drake and UNI. Also the conference is significantly stronger. You pick up the whole state of Illinois which still includes Chicago as well as central and southern Indiana which currently has 0 HL teams. I think more people would be willing to go to St. Louis over Detoilet any day of the week.

Yes you lose Michigan and Wisconsin but your cheeseheads can still easily travel southward to Chicago for Loyola; the only ones who get screwered are your Michiganders, which sucks for them. You basically pick up the rest of the state of Illinois, with Bradley and Southern Illinois; as well as the rest of Indiana with Indiana State and Evansville. The Illinois+Indiana populations of Valpo fans greatly outweighs the Michigan+Wisconsin fans.

I've been a proponent for Valpo going to the MVC ever since they were looking to pick up another school. Hopefully the MVC is looking to expand this season and take a good long look at Valpo.

good comments, but Valpo lost to GB. You can analyze it all you want, but at the end it gets settled on the court. Valpo met a hot GB team in the Horizon tournament - it happens.

And that's the reason the conference tournaments don't work for weaker conferences like the HL. GB wasn't the best team, they aren't a good representative for the HL. I know they won the conference tournament and because of that they deserved to go. You can also go back a few seasons ago when Milwaukee represented the HL with a 15 seed and got blown away by Villanova; when without a doubt Green Bay should've been the representative.

The conference tournaments are ticking time bombs for mid-majors; just because you won the conference tournament, just a handful of games, doesn't show that you're the best in the conference. It just shows you won a few games in a row.

What does the NCAA want? Does it want the team with the better record or the team that wins with everything on the line? What is most exciting?

Having the best of the best be represented is the most exciting. Valpo had a way better chance than Green Bay at making a run in the tournament. What's more exciting have Green Bay lose by 20 in round 1 or potentially have a mid-major, Cinderella, like Valpo make a run to the Sweet 16 or beyond. 

I think 68 is good, the problem is the selection committee; not the amount of teams. Also when you have teams like Austin Peay a .500 team that finished 8th in the OVC that won the tournament to get it; really doesn't deserve it. I say do away with the conference tournaments. Every year the best teams from each conference aren't represented because of this. Out of the HL there was without a shadow of a doubt that Valpo was by far the best team and the most deserving of a shot in the NCAA tournament but one misstep at the worst time of the season cost them a shot the opportunity and sent 4th place Green Bay to the tournament. The conference tournaments are ticking time bombs for mid-majors; just because you won the conference tournament, just a handful of games, doesn't show that you're the best in the conference. It just shows you won a few games in a row.

Time to get our first post-season victory tonight in what seems like forever ago. The one thing that worries me is that they come out flat and disappointed of not going where they wanted to go. Is the NIT the NCAAs? No. Still an NIT tournament champion banner would look nice hanging in the rafters of the ARC.

And so is life...

Many of the best mid-majors don't have a chance this year at making some noise. It's disappointing; especially that mediocre to sub-par power conference teams make it in because they won a game or two in their conference tournament. Perhaps the NCAA should just do away with the conference tournament. It puts an unfair weight on the season. For the first 30 games you are by far the best team in your respectable conference; maybe even one of the best mid-majors in the country. You have a bad outing coupled with having a team drill everything from outside and you lose. Your season is over because of one game.

The selection committee is without a doubt biased. It's all about the money. Who will bring in more money Michigan and Syracuse or Valpo and Monmouth. Valpo and Monmouth are without a doubt more deserving but Michigan and Syracuse will fatten the wallets a bit more.

Sadly have to agree. Valpo isn't getting in. I mean there's always the chance but nothing went right for us. Maybe Bryce sold his soul to the devil but that's about the only way we get in.

To be honest we'd be screwing the tons of grade school kids who look forward and work hard to get to this event every year.  Don't we have a plaque area at the ARC that lists the winners each year.  I believe so.  I also have to assume we get a facility fee that might be better than anything we get from the NIT.

Honestly who gives a crap about the grade kids. It's Valpo's home court. Even though the NIT wasn't what it was it's still a chance to host a game at home and potentially against a big name, power conference school. You can't tell me that if Valpo is playing at home against Ohio State people aren't going to show up. If Valpo does get to host a game, you reschedule the high school tournament on short notice. You're not screwing the kids out of this tournament. Instead of playing during time A; you play during time B the next day. The Valpo players should without a doubt get precedence over anything that doesn't have to do with Valpo basketball; especially something that has nothing to do with the school. You reschedule the high-schoolers. Plain and simple, if they don't like it too bad.

I'm sorry but if Valpo gets an NIT wins round 1, gets into round 2 and doesn't play at home because of some dumb high school basketball tournament than I hope guys like Alec leave. If Valpo basketball doesn't come before high school basketball then Valpo doesn't deserve one of the premier mid-major programs in the country. All though I trust that if this did happen the high school games would get rescheduled, basketball is the premier sport and an opportunity to play another game in the ARC, potentially against a school from the B1G doesn't happen often. Last time we had a school from a true power conference in the ARC was 2010 against Purdue.

Hopefully all this talk is all for not because Valpo get an at-large. Still holding out hope for that but I know it's unlikely but I've seen crazier things happen.

The first 4 should be for situations like these. A team that deserves to be in the tourney but had a bad game at the worst time possible. Is there a chance at an at-large. Yes, it would probably be a play-in game, which I'd be fine with. I give Valpo somewhere around a 30-40% chance at an at-large bid which would most likely be a play-in if Valpo got in.

Probably impossible under the Olympia contract, unless maybe you left the other six teams slog it out for a consolation prize.

What would be the point of the consolation prize? Congrats you stink so here's trophy showing that you are the best of the worst?

Is the 4 team or 6 team tournament idea a good one? Yes. Makes sense. Will it happen? No.

LeCrone is an absolute buffoon. He's an idiot plain and simple. He has completely ruined the integrity of the Horizon League. There was a time not too long ago the HL was damn close to being a top-10 conference. A lot of that had to do with Butler but there were other schools that were successful. Watching the game on Monday night I would cringe whenever they said the HL is as strong as ever. Are these guys idiots!?! You have perennial bottom feeders with RPIs well south of 250. NKU stinks, UIC stinks, YSU stinks, CSU stunk (this year). Every year the HL seems to have 3-4 teams that can barely muster 10 wins, including DII games. There is without a question Valpo deserves to be in the NCAA tournament, will they? No. LeCrone did nothing to help Valpo make it to the tournament. Instead Green Bay will get a 15 seed and will be one-and-done. It wasn't too long ago when the HL had 4 or 5 quality mid-major programs that would've been given something higher than a 15 seed. In 2010 there was Butler, Valpo, Milwaukee, and Cleveland State that were all within a game of winning the regular season. Valpo needs to do whatever they can to get out of the HL. If not I have a feeling that we'll eventually be brought down to the level of many of the other programs and be back to a normal mid-major. Hopefully we don't look back to this era in Valpo basketball and go 'What if?' although I have a terrible feeling that is the case.

Thanks again LeCrone, you took the Horizon League which was once a promising mid-major conference and have done nothing but run it into the ground.

There is no question Valpo needs to get out of the HL and this new tournament form is one of the worst ideas the HL has had. Chances of Valpo getting an at-large is slim, is there a chance? Yes but a very slim one. The HL is going to get a 15 seed because of the format instead of the 10-13 that Valpo would have most likely received and a decent chance at making a run.

I can't stand when the announces compliment the HL and say it's stronger than ever. Um.... No it's not. Valpo is your prized possession after that it's a bunch of mediocre to bad mid-major teams. There's no question Valpo regressed over the course of the conference season. Playing significantly inferior opponents night-in-night-out only hurts your team not help them.

Valpo needs to join the MVC, I've been saying it for years. There's no question this team would've been among the top MVC teams this season. Perhaps having a bad game at an inopportune time like last night. We wouldn't be talking about the NIT but still the NCAAs and perhaps instead of a 12 or 13 seed they receive a 7, 8, or 9 seed.

Is there a possibility Valpo gets an at-large? Yes. Perhaps Bryce has to sell his soul to the devil for that to occur. As a fan I still hold out hope for that at-large. Realty though says otherwise, they'll be relegated to the tournament where dreams go to die the NIT. Will I watch the NITs? No question. Will I want them to win the tournament? Of course. Will I still be disappointed in the season's outcome? You betcha.

Wright State is the most similar team in the HL in terms of style of play. Valpo simply has too much talent and athleticism for Wright State to win. Wright State keeps it "close" about a 10 point margin with a few minutes left, Valpo hits a few free-throws and wins by 13-16.