2/16/13 Valpo home to UDM

[agibson]

They may be the elast attractive but still I'm going to guess another 200 in each for roughly 850 seats to be filled.

How do those sections (AA, EE) work?  Can the general public buy a ticket there? Or is it strictly for folks with university ID's and courtesy cards, on a walk-in basis?

[vu72]

They may be the elast attractive but still I'm going to guess another 200 in each for roughly 850 seats to be filled.

How do those sections (AA, EE) work?  Can the general public buy a ticket there? Or is it strictly for folks with university ID's and courtesy cards, on a walk-in basis?

Good question.  I suspect they are held out for the visitors and the people you mentioned and then released as the game approaches.

[agibson]

Good question.  I suspect they are held out for the visitors and the people you mentioned and then released as the game approaches.

But, with the exception of e.g. Butler last year, they don't even ticket them.  If you've got the right credentials they just wave you in.

Maybe they're effectively general admission?  So, once BB, CC, and DD sell out they might then sell additional general admission tickets?  Good for a seat in AA or EE, if you can find one, or for the track, the bleachers by the concession stand, etc?

[agibson]

The NWI Times game day piece is up
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/basketball/college/vu-men-face-detroit-with-chance-to-clinch-championship/article_bb023474-d648-58fd-b12b-9d636f649de2.html

Kudos to Paul for putting a human face on the evil empire!  With quotes like

"We're looking up at Valpo right now and we understand that this is a great opportunity for us," Detroit coach Ray McCallum Sr. said. "This will be one of the best environments in college basketball for this game."

and

"All of the accolades that Broekhoff has received are ones that he's earned," McCallum Sr. said. "He makes the team better. If he needs to get 17 rebounds, he'll do that. If he needs to score 30, he can do that. He's important for us."

(OK - that one, ending the piece, is a bit of a non sequitur.  He's important for us... to guard?  To neutralize?  To mitigate?) 

All that said, Go Valpo!  Beat Detroit!  219 > 313

Tickets still available, buy yours now!

[HC]

Just looked outside, and its a beautiful day to #beatdetroit! 

[vu72]

I'd say about 600 seats left in BB, CC and DD at 9:30 am

[truth219]

Still quite a few seats. Can someone post the article from the times. Not the link but the actual article me phone is being difficult

[valpopal]

Today is Visit Day for many high school seniors considering enrolling at Valpo in the fall. I hope some of them and their families get a chance to experience a great example of VU student spirit at the game tonight, and maybe a big win as well.

[wh]

VU men face Detroit with chance to clinch championship

15 hours ago  •  Paul Oren Times Correspondent(0) Comments
Horizon League
Detroit (17-9, 9-4) at Valparaiso (20-6, 10-2)

When: 5 p.m. today.

Radio/TV/Internet: WAKE-AM (1500), WEFM-FM (95.9), WJOB-AM (1230)/ESPN2/valpoathletics.com.

Notes: The Crusaders have won six of their last seven meetings with the Titans, including an 89-88 come-from-behind victory at Calihan Hall earlier this season. ... Valparaiso can clinch at least a double bye in the Horizon League tournament with a win and could possibly clinch the right to host the tournament depending on other conference games this weekend. ... Valparaiso's Ryan Broekhoff has been named the Horizon League Player of the Week four times this season. He never won the award last year despite earning Player of the Year honors. -- Paul Oren

VALPARAISO | The last time Detroit was in the Athletics-Recreation Center, the Valparaiso men's basketball team failed in its bid to win a championship.

The Crusaders have another title on the line Saturday afternoon as Valparaiso can lock up at least a share of the Horizon League regular season championship and get one step closer to securing the right to host the conference tournament.

Standing in their way will be the Titans, Valparaiso's newest rival and perhaps toughest hurdle between the Crusaders and an NCAA tournament berth.

"We're looking up at Valpo right now and we understand that this is a great opportunity for us," Detroit coach Ray McCallum Sr. said. "This will be one of the best environments in college basketball for this game."

The Crusaders have a 10-4 record against Detroit since joining the Horizon League six years ago and have won six of the last seven games between the two squads. The one loss came when it hurt the most, a 70-50 defeat in last season's Horizon League title game, sending the Titans to the NCAA tournament.

"We had two championship teams battling each other on the floor that night," McCallum said. "Fortunately we played our best game of the season when it counted and we came out ahead."

Valparaiso's rivalry with Detroit stems just as much from conference tournament losses (The Crusaders were upset by the Titans in 2010) as it does from regular season wins. It's been more than three years since Valparaiso has lost to Detroit in the regular season and two of the wins at Calihan Hall have featured unbelievable heroics. Will Bogan connected on seven 3-pointers last season and Erik Buggs went coast-to-coast for a game-winning layup at the buzzer to win 73-71 last season.

The Crusaders trailed by 22 points in the second half at Detroit this season before rallying to score the final 12 points of the game and win 89-88.

"We had a great first half and then Valpo had a great second half," McCallum said. "It was a game that came down to the last possession. We had the ball and a chance to win."

Saturday's contest will feature a rematch of two of the best individual performances in the Horizon League this season. Detroit's Nick Minnerath had a career-high 36 points in the Jan. 17 loss to the Crusaders while Kevin Van Wijk added a career-high 31 points for Valparaiso.

The contest will also feature the two best players in the Horizon League. Reigning conference Player of the Year Ryan Broekhoff scored 18 points on just 10 shots against the Titans while Preseason Player of the Year Ray McCallum Jr. had just six points on 11 shots. McCallum led Detroit with 21 points in last season's Horizon League title game.

"All of the accolades that Broekhoff has received are ones that he's earned," McCallum Sr. said. "He makes the team better. If he needs to get 17 rebounds, he'll do that. If he needs to score 30, he can do that. He's important for us."

[wh]

Valparaiso can clinch share of title with win against rival Detroit
By Michael Osipoff 648-3137 or mosipoff@post-trib.com February 15, 2013 11:28PM

The Big Number

Jordan Coleman played in every game but one this season. The junior guard didn't see the court on Tuesday at Wright State.

"It was an in-game decision," Crusaders coach Bryce Drew said. "The other players were playing well. We decided to go bigger, playing Bobby (Capobianco) a little more, playing him and Kevin (Van Wijk) together."

The Bonus

Ryan Broekhoff's mother and stepfather, Jo and Kevin Toebelman, arrived in town last week from Australia. They're staying nearby in a fully furnished two-bedroom apartment.

"They're here for about four more weeks, which is really great," Broekhoff said. "I've had a couple home-cooked meals, stuff like that you miss from home. I do a bit of cooking around the house, but it's just so nice to get some of Mom's cooking and kind of be taken care of again, and just get that sense of home and family again. It's really nice, and they came at a great time of the year.

"It's been really great having them in the stands, and being able to go out after the game and see family, as well as everyone else."

They attended the Crusaders' games at both Cleveland State and Wright State, remaining in Ohio in between. They last visited around this time during Broekhoff's sophomore season, along with his brother, Daniel.

"A lot's changed since then. We're in a good position now, and hopefully we can keep building on it," Broekhoff said.

Updated: February 16, 2013 2:01AM

VALPARAISO — When last these teams played at the Athletics-Recreation Center, Ray McCallum was dunking to punctuate Detroit's win over Valparaiso in last season's Horizon League Tournament championship game.

If the first-place Crusaders defeat the second-place Titans on Saturday night at the ARC, they will be on the verge of forcing Detroit — or any other league opponent — to again have to beat them on their home floor in the league tournament to deny them a trip the NCAA Tournament. A win would clinch at least a share of the regular-season conference title for Valparaiso (20-6, 10-2 Horizon League), oh-so-close to guaranteeing it would host the league tournament. With both Youngstown State (against Milwaukee) and Green Bay (at Cleveland State) both winning on Friday night, the Crusaders, even with a win against the Titans (17-9, 9-4), cannot clinch the outright title and be assured to host, though they could reduce their "magic number" to one.

"We're still pretty far away from what we really want to achieve, but it's a good feeling, because everybody worked so hard — coaches, staff, players," Kevin Van Wijk said. "Everyone has put extra time into our goals.

"A lot of guys have a lot of memories about them (the Titans), thoughts behind what this game means. I think the guys have a little more motivation, because it's called a rivalry — it kind of helps you get more motivated than you already are. There will be a great vibe in the building, and it's great to feel that."

The game will be televised by ESPN2, as part of "Rivalry Week." A sellout crowd was anticipated at the ARC.

"You try to approach each game the same," Ryan Broekhoff said. "But tomorrow, when the ARC is packed out and the environment's really good, all of us will get a little more adrenaline and a little more excitement through us than maybe another game.

[valpopal]

One of the Titans' big men on the bench, Lippert, has tweeted that he didn't make the trip to Valpo but stayed behind in Detroit. I don't know the reason, and he usually doesn't play much, but from his messages it doesn't sound like an injury. If the refs call a tight game, as expected, and players get in foul trouble, and if Detroit has one less big body on the bench, that could be a factor.

[crusaderjoe]

The line right now is Detroit -4 as a dog.

[govalpogo]

Here's a little preview I've whipped up for the occasion, it's essentially a repackaging of highlights from Youtube. Be nice, I only have windows movie maker to work with on this computer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WWrWQQAVUs#

[Smj]

This post might piss some readers off.   I was not going to post for a while because I felt bad that a Detroit fan thought poorly of valpo fans.   However today I finally realized I don't care.

I call it as i see it....   He calls it as he sees it....   Chances are we are never going to agree - and an even bigger chance we would never really need to.   We are fans of our teams.   This is a fan site for valpo fans and I am not probably going to say things that an opponent's fan is going to love reading.   

There is definitely a rivalry been these teams and I see no reason to appologize for that.

[vu72]

Here's a little preview I've whipped up for the occasion, it's essentially a repackaging of highlights from Youtube. Be nice, I only have windows movie maker to work with on this computer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WWrWQQAVUs#

Wow!  Nicely done.  Three cheers!!!  And to think, I had a hard enough time just trying to get my columns straight on a recent post!   

[Chairback]

I believe Detroit has all the confidence in the world playing in our place.  They came into our gym when it counted the most and beat the hell out of us.  They are very athletic compared to us and we struggle against athletic teams.  I feel we will be chasing them the whole game trying to take the lead.  They force turnovers and we turn the ball over a ton even against average teams.  Not a good combo.

One thing that irks me is does it really matter if Ray J dunked it in our faces at the end of the game?  The whole second half they rubbed it in our faces so who cares about the end of the game dunk.  Our collapse in the second half is more distrubing than that.  The kid is young and he was headed to the NCAA tourney, he got excited.  I do not take it as a slap in the face but as immaturity.  The kid is a competitor and I'd love to have him at Valpo.  Imagine how good he'd be if he didn't play for his dad.

Detroit 72 Valpo 65.   I hope I'm wrong and our guys play the way they are supposed/expected/should play but we struggle in big games.

[agibson]

One of the Titans' big men on the bench, Lippert, has tweeted that he didn't make the trip to Valpo but stayed behind in Detroit. I don't know the reason, and he usually doesn't play much, but from his messages it doesn't sound like an injury. If the refs call a tight game, as expected, and players get in foul trouble, and if Detroit has one less big body on the bench, that could be a factor.

5 MPG, probably less in league play.  Played two minutes against us - a rebound, a foul, shot 1-2, and got an "and one".  Still, who knows?  For want of a nail...

[agibson]

Today is Visit Day for many high school seniors considering enrolling at Valpo in the fall. I hope some of them and their families get a chance to experience a great example of VU student spirit at the game tonight, and maybe a big win as well.

I was at parts of the Christ College visit event today.  It sounded like the game hadn't been previously mentioned.  I talked it up a bit, and got a little polite interest, but no obvious takers.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Here's a little preview I've whipped up for the occasion

Awesome, man.  thanks.

[crusadermoe]

So enrollment staff doesn't see the game as a selling point?    No wonder admissions plods along.  Gaining but not dramatically

[agibson]

So enrollment staff doesn't see the game as a selling point?    No wonder admissions plods along.  Gaining but not dramatically

My perspective's fairly narrow - who knows, for other constituencies they may have promoted it.  But, it seems not to have figured in the Christ College package. 

[wh]

Looks like about 480 seats still available.  I would think walk-up sales will cover those.  Getting ready to head out the door.  Go Crusaders!

[humbleopinion]

My daughter, who attends games occasionally, just texted me to say that she's already in line outside the ARC.  If that's any indication, the student section should be packed.

[vu72]

I believe Detroit has all the confidence in the world playing in our place.  They came into our gym when it counted the most and beat the hell out of us.  They are very athletic compared to us and we struggle against athletic teams.  I feel we will be chasing them the whole game trying to take the lead.  They force turnovers and we turn the ball over a ton even against average teams.  Not a good combo.

One thing that irks me is does it really matter if Ray J dunked it in our faces at the end of the game?  The whole second half they rubbed it in our faces so who cares about the end of the game dunk.  Our collapse in the second half is more distrubing than that.  The kid is young and he was headed to the NCAA tourney, he got excited.  I do not take it as a slap in the face but as immaturity.  The kid is a competitor and I'd love to have him at Valpo.  Imagine how good he'd be if he didn't play for his dad.

Detroit 72 Valpo 65.   I hope I'm wrong and our guys play the way they are supposed/expected/should play but we struggle in big games.

So if they are so athletic and force turnovers etc, why did we win at THEIR place?  You are underestimating Valpo and how good they have become over the last several games.  We are coming into our own.  Valpo wins 66-62

[Pathfinder]

Here's a little preview I've whipped up for the occasion, it's essentially a repackaging of highlights from Youtube. Be nice, I only have windows movie maker to work with on this computer.

Very nice.