1/9/13 Valpo at UIC game thread

[historyman]

I thought I would start this game thread early since tickets are going fast and people need to plan earlier than usual. Since my son is going to school near UIC and I've made the trip both by train and by car I can convey some important info.  Here's the info bbtds gave about the tickets:

There are seats in section 106 ($23.78 per seat-$18 plus $5.78 ticketmaster fees) and section 108 ($20.67 per seat-$15 plus $5.67 ticketmaster fees) per the Ticketmaster website for the Valpo at UIC game on Jan. 9 as of today/Saturday. http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/04004926D5085F85?artistid=843544&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=7

If going by train: Take the NICTD/Southshore at the Dune Park Station. Hwy 49 north to US 12 east. After going under the bridge for Hwy 49 turn left into the Dune Park Station. I suggest taking the 3:02 p.m. westbound train, although you could also take the 5:05 p.m. westbound train which if everything goes right would get you to UIC Pavilion just as the game is starting if you buy your tickets ahead of time on ticketmaster. Cost is $7.25 for southshore train to downtown Chicago. You can pay the conductor on the train with cash or buy a ticket in the station through the vending machine using a credit card. The 3:02 train will get you to the Van Buren station (the station before the last stop at Millennium station) at 4:19 p.m. Walk west (away from the lake) through the tunnel till you come up in the park at the corner of Michigan Ave & Van Buren. Keep walking west (away from the lake) along Van Buren on the northside of the street. The elevated Loop train tracks will be overhead since this is the south end of the Loop. You will cross Wabash and State Streets and then come to Dearborn. At Dearborn turn right and you will see the Blue line subway entrance directly in front of you. Go down the stairs into the subway. Take the Blue line train towards Forest Park. It will cost you $2.25 and you will need exact change for the fare card vending machine. Select "BUY FARE CARD" button then put your money in the machine (no credit cards or change given) then press the "VEND" button. Your fare card will pop out near the bottom right of the machine. You insert the fare card with the white side facing away from you and with the yellow arrow pointing down into the turnstyle slot. After you insert the fare card it will pop back up and you take the fare card and proceed through the turnstyle. Board the train going towards Forest Park. At that time of day the trains run every 4 to 8 minutes. Go 3 stops to the UIC/Halsted station (which is in the middle of the Eisenhower/I-290 expressway). After getting off the train walk in the direction the train was traveling (west-away from the lake and in the opposite direction of the Sears/Willis Tower) towards Morgan Street. You will take the stairs/escalator up to street level. You should be facing west-in the opposite direction of the Sears/Willis Tower. Turn left/south on Morgan Street. Walk south on Morgan till you get to the next street Harrison and turn right. Walk on the north side of Harrison. Go past the UIC Education/Performing Arts building, then a surface parking lot, and then the UIC Harrison Street Parking Structure (a multiple level parking garage). After the parking garage is the UIC Pavilion. Gate 2 will be the first doors you will see after the parking garage (the parking garage is attached to the Pavilion by walk ramps). If you still need to buy tickets you must walk to the west side of the Pavilion where the ticket windows face Racine Street.

If going by car: Take US 30 west to I-65 north to I-80/94 west. Take the I-94 west ramp/Bishop Ford exit after you pass the state line. Take the I-94/Bishop Ford (I-94 will become the Dan Ryan Expressway after 95th Street) to the Roosevelt/Taylor exit, exit 52B, near downtown. Take the frontage road to a stop light and turn left on Roosevelt. Go over the Dan Ryan and then turn right on Halsted. Go to Harrison and turn left. Go past Morgan Street and look for the Harrison Street Parking Structure (multi level parking garage) on right. The parking garage is attached to the UIC Pavilion by walk ramps. It costs $5 to park for UIC events.

Returning by train: The southshore train times at the Van Buren station for returning to the Dune Park station are 8:43 p.m., 11:03 p.m. and 12:48 p.m. So if the game ends around 9:00 or 9:15 then you will have about 1.5 hours to kill. One suggestion is to walk east on Harrison to Halsted and turn left/north on Halsted and go to Greektown. It's about 3 or 4 blocks north on Halsted. When returning home walk south on Halsted to Van Buren (about 2 blocks & turn right/west. Go 2 blocks to Peoria Street and turn left. Go 1/2 block to the entrance for the UIC/Halsted Blue line station. Take the Blue line train in the direction of O'Hare. Go 3 stops to the Jackson station. Go back the same way you came by taking the stairs up to the corner of Dearborn and Van Buren. Walk east on Van Buren till you cross Michigan Ave into the park. Take the stairs under the sign that says "METRA"(this will get you back to the Van Buren station). Take the southshore train to the Dune Park station.

[agibson]

Quote from: bbtds on December 22, 2012, 06:50:57 PM

    There are seats in section 106 ($23.78 per seat-$18 plus $5.78 ticketmaster fees) and section 108 ($20.67 per seat-$15 plus $5.67 ticketmaster fees) per the Ticketmaster website for the Valpo at UIC game on Jan. 9 as of today/Saturday. http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/04004926D5085F85?artistid=843544&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=7

I'm still seeing these two blocks of tickets.  Maybe 100-150 seats total.  Seems strange.

[valporun]

agibson, I'm guessing it's a matter of "Who wants to go watch UIC fall apart again for $20+ thru Ticketmaster"?

[valpotx]

Valpo 72
UIC 63

[HC]

Valpo 71 UIC 65
Valpo plays better D then YSU which will propel us to the win at UIC.

[bbtds]

The fact that YSU beat Loyola by 2 at Loyola today, 1/5/13, doesn't hurt Valpo at all.

[crusadermoe]

No gimmes this year it seems.     Unless a team is an injury mess like CSU.

Valpo finds a way.    62 to 58.   We can't score well this year.

[truth219]

Honestly, if valpo plays like they did on Saturday they might lose. Heres why i think that. Because UIC probably isnt unable to score like CSU was. Cleveland did not take advantage of our turnovers. Id like to say that we will not have as many, but turnovers seem to be a guarantee with this years squad. We had a few scoring droughts against Cleveland and if we have them in Chicago i think UIC will get a lead and ride it out. Lets be honest it hasn't been tough to scout valpo this year. Our interior game was almost nonexistent against CSU. Hopefully bogan keeps his shooting up and kenney can hit a few more. Sure Kenney had 14 but he shot 5 of  14..not exactly lighting it up. I people love rowdy because he is the ultimate team player, but what this team needs is the ultimate leader. Everyone on our team would rather pass than shoot, besides dority. I just hope we see some sort of flow to the offense, fewer minutes without points, keep the boards going, and get some more points in the paint. 

[valpopal]

Our interior game was almost nonexistent against CSU.

We all would have liked to see a couple more baskets inside, but let's not exaggerate the situation. The "truth" is that our interior game beat CSU's interior easily:

Both teams started a C-F-G-G-G lineup. Our starting C-F combo scored 16 points and had 18 rebounds. Theirs had 0 points 4 rebounds.
Valpo outrebounded CSU by a large margin: 43-27, and 13 -5 on offensive rebounds, even though CSU had more chances for offensive rebounds.
Points in the paint: Valpo 28, CSU 20.

Therefore, by the stats that measure interior success, Valpo was far from "almost nonexistent."

[covufan]

Valpo  -  66
UIC     -  62

We hit our 3's, then hit our FT's at the end of the game. 

[valpopal]

The Vegas line is not out yet, but I figure UIC may be a 3-4 point favorite at home. Still, I think it is time for a Valpo road upset to ease the home loss to Loyola a bit:

Valpo 67
UIC    61

[oklahomamick]

The Vegas line is not out yet, but I figure UIC may be a 3-4 point favorite at home.

I don't think vegas will have them as a 3 point favorite, especially after the loss to Cleveland St.  Vegas gives Valpo a lot of credit. 

[HC]

I'll say Valpo 69-65 winners

[vu72]

Our interior game was almost nonexistent against CSU.

We all would have liked to see a couple more baskets inside, but let's not exaggerate the situation. The "truth" is that our interior game beat CSU's interior easily:

Both teams started a C-F-G-G-G lineup. Our starting C-F combo scored 16 points and had 18 rebounds. Theirs had 0 points 4 rebounds.
Valpo outrebounded CSU by a large margin: 43-27, and 13 -5 on offensive rebounds, even though CSU had more chances for offensive rebounds.
Points in the paint: Valpo 28, CSU 20.

Therefore, by the stats that measure interior success, Valpo was far from "almost nonexistent."

did you really expect the "truth" to have a reasonable opinion??

[bbtds]

I think Valpo pulls out a close one at the end.

Valpo        60
UIC           55

[oklahomamick]

The Vegas line is not out yet, but I figure UIC may be a 3-4 point favorite at home.I don't think vegas will have them as a 3 point favorite, especially after the loss to Cleveland St.  Vegas gives Valpo a lot of credit. 

Vegas has Valpo -3

[vu84v2]

Prediction:  Valpo still does not find offensive consistency, but plays tough and guts out a win at UIC.  Valpo 63  UIC 59

[oklahomamick]

nullMaybe I should have bet on my prediction of the odds since Vegas currently has UIC as a 3-point favorite. (I'm usually pretty close because I know how they figure the odds, and I was once a math major.)

The sports book I'm looking at has Valpo as the favorite by 2.5.  (line has moved .5 in favor of UIC)  They predict Valpo winning.  You initially stated that UIC would be favored.... 

[valpopal]

The sports book I'm looking at has Valpo as the favorite by 2.5.  (line has moved .5 in favor of UIC)  They predict Valpo winning.  You initially stated that UIC would be favored.... 

Yep, I saw that and immediately pulled my comment. Sorry! Still, hard to figure though since UIC is 40 spots higher than Valpo in the current RPI and the game is on their home court. That usually would translate into at least a 3 point advantage for UIC. Still, I am also picking Valpo to win.

[ml2]

I will be at the Pavilion tonight for the game. If anyone attending would like to meet up, please send me a PM! Thanks and GO CRUSADERS!

[chef]

The line set in Las Vegas is purely in hopes of getting the same amount wagered both ways. The average person sitting in the MGM sports book will likely not know what the RPI of either team is. Valpo's name recognition and preseason hype is going to shift the line a bit in their favor. That being said, I, like everybody else on here believes that Valpo is going to win this game!

[covufan]

The Vegas line is not out yet, but I figure UIC may be a 3-4 point favorite at home.I don't think vegas will have them as a 3 point favorite, especially after the loss to Cleveland St.  Vegas gives Valpo a lot of credit. 

Vegas has Valpo -3

Doesn't this mean that Valpo is getting 3 points, or UIC favored by 3?

[LaPorteAveApostle]

RPIForecast currently gives us a 44% chance, and we're the 'dog by 1.7 points (the .7 is probably one of them rimming Boganny shots).

RealTimeRPI says UIC 69-59.

I say hell with 'em both.  Valpo, 56-54.

[valpo4life]

UIC just lost to Cleveland State by 10. I will be fully ashamed if we lose this game. Time for this team make a statement on the road with an easy win.

[vuweathernerd]

UIC just lost to Cleveland State by 10. I will be fully ashamed if we lose this game. Time for this team make a statement on the road with an easy win.

i very much doubt that this will be an easy win on the road. what we've seen since the start of conference play is that anybody can win or lose on a given night, regardless of location. hell, uic might come out looking to prove something after their loss to csu from the other night.