We snubbed Ft. Wayne

[a3uge]

There is a minimal chance that we would eek out a win against IU on their floor or ours because we would not match up well against them, so hats off to IPFW.

It's interesting how Valpo always does poorly in your theoretical games.

[Valpo89]

My comment on the News-Sentinel web site:

I understand why Tom picked Valpo to highlight in this article, at least they have actually been a consistent opponent on the Fort Wayne schedule since FW became a D1 program. He should have done a little more digging like I did when asked by the Fort Wayne athletic department to talk to Mark LaBarbera (VU's AD) about why VU would not schedule FW this year. The simple reason is that VU was involved in a tournament in Las Vegas that allowed them to play (and beat) Alabama and BYU in conjunction with a West coast trip to play Oregon, all of which was happening during the OOC time during which VU normally played FW. Just like FW, Valpo rarely gets to play major conference teams on a neutral floor and they had to take advantage of that opportunity. Perhaps Tom should talk to his Butler contacts to find out why the Bulldogs stopped playing FW as soon as Dane Fife became the head coach, or why Butler quit playing Valpo after the 2011-2012 season, despite their long history of playing 103 times since 1936. In Tom's defense, this is the game within the game that the power conferences play knowing that they will never play Mid-Major teams on that team's home-court in order to maintain the illusion that they are sooooo much better and deserve the lofty rankings along with the majority of spots and higher seedings in NCAA tournament.

To answer Serious Cubs Fan's question about Tom's axe to grind against Valpo, besides being a Butler alum and ardent fan, as he should be, all I know is that Tom got into a tiff last season with VU TV announcer Todd Ickow that was not very pretty. Maybe Tom ought to realize that there are probably a lot more Valpo Alums in Fort Wayne than Butler Alums and then maybe he would actually talk to the Valpo SID and get some accurate information.

This is awesome. Did Davis respond?

[covufan]

My comment on the News-Sentinel web site:

I understand why Tom picked Valpo to highlight in this article, at least they have actually been a consistent opponent on the Fort Wayne schedule since FW became a D1 program. He should have done a little more digging like I did when asked by the Fort Wayne athletic department to talk to Mark LaBarbera (VU's AD) about why VU would not schedule FW this year. The simple reason is that VU was involved in a tournament in Las Vegas that allowed them to play (and beat) Alabama and BYU in conjunction with a West coast trip to play Oregon, all of which was happening during the OOC time during which VU normally played FW. Just like FW, Valpo rarely gets to play major conference teams on a neutral floor and they had to take advantage of that opportunity. Perhaps Tom should talk to his Butler contacts to find out why the Bulldogs stopped playing FW as soon as Dane Fife became the head coach, or why Butler quit playing Valpo after the 2011-2012 season, despite their long history of playing 103 times since 1936. In Tom's defense, this is the game within the game that the power conferences play knowing that they will never play Mid-Major teams on that team's home-court in order to maintain the illusion that they are sooooo much better and deserve the lofty rankings along with the majority of spots and higher seedings in NCAA tournament.

To answer Serious Cubs Fan's question about Tom's axe to grind against Valpo, besides being a Butler alum and ardent fan, as he should be, all I know is that Tom got into a tiff last season with VU TV announcer Todd Ickow that was not very pretty. Maybe Tom ought to realize that there are probably a lot more Valpo Alums in Fort Wayne than Butler Alums and then maybe he would actually talk to the Valpo SID and get some accurate information.

This is awesome. Did Davis respond?

Not yet:

http://www.news-sentinel.com/sports/Fort-Wayne-wins-again--but-is-that-a-good-thing-


Here is Davis' retweet of News-Sentinel if someone would like to seek a response:

https://twitter.com/TheNSSports/status/810922792837386240

[FWalum]

Hopefully I will get a chance to talk to Coach Coffman tonight.  We host the IPFW coaches show every Tuesday night at the ACME Bar and Grill and my cousin and coaching partner is the color commentator for their TV broadcasts. I'll report back on any comment I can get from the coach.

[Pgmado]

I break this all down on Twitter.

Games Valpo had to play this year
Home Return games: Ball State, Rhode Island, Indiana State, Chicago State
Road Return game: Missouri State

Vegas tournament games
Vegas: Alabama, BYU
Home Vegas games: Southern Utah, Coppin State

New Home and Home
Home: Santa Clara (will go there next year)

That leaves three slots on the schedule. Valpo wants home games in order to make money. Looking anywhere at 6-to-8 non-conference home games a year. On strength of NIT run, want as many home games as possible to bring in fans. Putting Trinity Christian on schedule when it was helps replicate Horizon League tournament of playing three games in four days. It's not a great game, but it's also a bit hypocritical of Valpo to not give the little guy a shot when it is constantly looking for shot against bigger programs.

That leaves two road games. Going out west for Vegas gives Valpo the impetus to reach out to Oregon again. Game gets scheduled and Valpo has a top RPI game against a preseason top five opponent.

Now we're down to one road game. Valpo has been trying to get Kentucky on the schedule for several years. Nearly had it locked in during 2014-15 season. Take blowout win against Maine off the schedule and put in blowout loss to Kentucky and Valpo's RPI still jumps high enough to land a No. 12 seed. Valpo has the chance to get another RPI boosting game at Kentucky. Of course Valpo will take that over Fort Wayne.

[VULB#62]

I break this all down on Twitter.

Games Valpo had to play this year
Home Return games: Ball State, Rhode Island, Indiana State, Chicago State
Road Return game: Missouri State

Vegas tournament games
Vegas: Alabama, BYU
Home Vegas games: Southern Utah, Coppin State

New Home and Home
Home: Santa Clara (will go there next year)

That leaves three slots on the schedule. Valpo wants home games in order to make money. Looking anywhere at 6-to-8 non-conference home games a year. On strength of NIT run, want as many home games as possible to bring in fans. Putting Trinity Christian on schedule when it was helps replicate Horizon League tournament of playing three games in four days. It's not a great game, but it's also a bit hypocritical of Valpo to not give the little guy a shot when it is constantly looking for shot against bigger programs.

That leaves two road games. Going out west for Vegas gives Valpo the impetus to reach out to Oregon again. Game gets scheduled and Valpo has a top RPI game against a preseason top five opponent.

Now we're down to one road game. Valpo has been trying to get Kentucky on the schedule for several years. Nearly had it locked in during 2014-15 season. Take blowout win against Maine off the schedule and put in blowout loss to Kentucky and Valpo's RPI still jumps high enough to land a No. 12 seed. Valpo has the chance to get another RPI boosting game at Kentucky. Of course Valpo will take that over Fort Wayne.

this scenario doesn't mean "snub."  Snub, to me, means completely turning your back to a person, organization, event, etc.  I could definitely see Matt saying "we can't play you this year (see above), but let's work on a visit next year."  But that either got left out of the article or was spun to add a bit sensationalism/controversy to the article.

The other thing I noted was that in the article the coach was quoted as "would not play us."  There is very little distance in terms of speech between 'would not' and 'could not' but there is a huge gap in perception.

[valpo64]

I believe that sometime earlier this season either ML or MLaB had stated that the reason we didn't play Ft.W this year was because of scheduling problems for us.  However I think one of our people also said they hoped it could be worked out for next year.

[M]

Who cares...it is flattering that teams are upset they didn't get on our schedule.

[FWalum]

Had a long talk with Coach Coffman tonight after his segment of the show on ESPN 1380 here in Fort Wayne.  John is a delight to talk to and his passion and enthusiasm for the game and his team is great for Fort Wayne.  Coach Coffman was very surprised when I told him that some Valpo people felt that he was calling us out for not playing them.  He was very disappointed that the two teams were unable to play and responded to Tom Davis when TD specifically asked him about whether he had tried to schedule a game with Valpo.  He said that he couldn't remember exactly how he worded his response to Tom and in fact had not even read the article.  He was surprised when I told him that a fair amount of the article was about Valpo's refusal to play a good FW team here at home.  We talked more about his Lutheran background, his mother's family being one of the 7 original founders of Frankenmuth (his grandfather's voice is the recorded voice you hear when visiting the Frankenmuth Museum), and his friendship with Bryce.

Scheduling problems are a real issue for all mid-majors and more so if you are perceived to be a threat. Games they had gotten in the past to play at Michigan and Illinois where not to be had this year. He caught a lot flak for not getting VU on the schedule, but he told me that he completely understood Valpo's situation, wanting to play some other teams coming off of the NIT run with a new coach. He really thinks that the two schools playing each other would be good for both schools and hopes that Valpo will want to play again in the very near future... at the Memorial Coliseum.

He also said that Tom Davis likes to be the antagonist and stirs the pot whenever he can citing the shellacking TD gave Fort Wayne after the Notre Dame loss. Butler coach Chris Holtmann called him and wanted to know what he had to do to get Davis off of his back after this article Holtmann handles Butler win superbly, just not the postgame. I guess in the end all Tom wants to do is sell papers and website views. 

I keep telling TD and his reporters that he should be covering the Lutheran University in a Lutheran town, I just didn't expect it to be like this.

[valporun]

Tom Davis sounds like the kind of reporter that is so flippant towards any suggestions of what to write about, and how to present it in words, that he just uses the suggestions as toilet paper, and write about what he wants how he wants whenever he wants.

[VULB#62]

Thanks FWalum for the very clear summary of how this REALLY went down. Unfortunately, the TDs in the media create controversy where there is none and contribute to the fake news we are being subjected to recently.

[a3uge]

Wow, Coffman seems like a good dude too.

[oklahomamick]

Wish we could snub Mercy this this year.  Their rip is 314! 

[FWalum]

Wish we could snub Mercy this this year.  Their rip is 314! 

It will be interesting to see what Fort Wayne does when they visit Detroit Mercy Thursday night.  Coach Coffman said there were some match up issues athletically with Detroit and felt they definitely were not as bad as their record indicated.

[oklahomamick]

Wish we could snub Mercy this this year.  Their rip is 314!

It will be interesting to see what Fort Wayne does when they visit Detroit Mercy Thursday night.  Coach Coffman said there were some match up issues athletically with Detroit and felt they definitely were not as bad as their record indicated.

He said that because hes a good guy and knows the business.  Just giving respect.  It's coach talk.

[valporun]

I would give Detroit a little bit of a pass, post-MacCallum. The RPI will pick up for them in a year or two.