3/12/13, 8pm - ESPN: Wright St. @ Valpo HL Championship Game Thread

[valpo04]

Since I started the last one and that worked out well...

Let's do this.

[FWalum]

Hosting an Alumni Association promoted viewing party on Tuesday night. I sure hope we don't play as tight then as we did last night. Hope we got it out of our system and can play with more confidence and not over think things. Not sure why I agreed to do this because I would have loved to have seen these seniors in person one last time. I'm sure they will make us proud.

[chef]

If you're able to make the NCAA Tournament, you'll get to see them together again.

[vu72]

Hosting an Alumni Association promoted viewing party on Tuesday night. I sure hope we don't play as tight then as we did last night. Hope we got it out of our system and can play with more confidence and not over think things. Not sure why I agreed to do this because I would have loved to have seen these seniors in person one last time. I'm sure they will make us proud.

Really? Other than missing some free throws I thought we played very well. It was GreenBay that played a terrific game that made it as exciting as it was. Both teams shot over 42% from the 3 and 50% or better overall. We had 16 assists and only 8 turnovers. Those stats will beat most teams.

[vuweathernerd]

Hosting an Alumni Association promoted viewing party on Tuesday night. I sure hope we don't play as tight then as we did last night. Hope we got it out of our system and can play with more confidence and not over think things. Not sure why I agreed to do this because I would have loved to have seen these seniors in person one last time. I'm sure they will make us proud.

Really? Other than missing some free throws I thought we played very well. It was GreenBay that played a terrific game that made it as exciting as it was. Both teams shot over 42% from the 3 and 50% or better overall. We had 16 assists and only 8 turnovers. Those stats will beat most teams.

overall, we played pretty well. but there were a couple stretches where we got tight and missed shots we had no business missing.

[truth219]

Like when ben missed the put back at point blank

[HC]

Valpo exposes WSU's weak offense and completely smothers them with terrific D. Valpo wins it in less exciting fashion (thankfully) 67-55

[chipper955]

So if we win Tuesday night's game, is it worthy of storming the court?

[valpopal]

There was a very good attendance at the pre-game buffet in the Hilltop Club last night. I enjoyed meeting some folks for the first time who were kind enough to come up to me and offer complimentary words about my photos. There will also be a pre-game buffet before the Wright State game. Although the championship game is on a weeknight instead of a Saturday, I hope the turnout is good again, and I look forward to meeting others as well.

[agibson]

So if we win Tuesday night's game, is it worthy of storming the court?

Yeah.  Even if it is Wright State.

But, still on Spring Break, I wonder if you'll have enough students for a storming.

[oklahomamick]

I don't anticipat losing to Wright State, but if we do, Wright State will be a 16th seed for sure.  Let's take care of business. 

[vufan75]

Ran across on twitter some interesting chatter and tidbits re: WSU team plans today, and what Coach Donlon thought of the Valpo-Green Bay game final shot by Ryan. Dave Jablonski covers WSU for the Dayton Daily News.

All from tweets per David Jablonski‏@davidjabs7 from earlier today. 

Wright State basketball team is staying in Chicago tonight before returning to Valparaiso on Monday.

Coach Donlon: "I didn't want them sitting in the hotel in Valpo, watching SportsCenter all day. I wanted them to get out, get away from it"

Billy Donlon said he and assistant coach Scott Woods stayed to watch the Valparaiso game against Green Bay last night.

Donlon said of Broekhoff's shot, "When it left his hands, I thought it was good. It's a tough thing for G. Bay and a great thing for Valpo"

[govalpogo]

Interesting tidbit: 6 of Valpo's final 9 games of the season have been featured on ESPN U or higher.

@Cleveland State Feb 9: ESPN 2
@Wright State Feb 12: nope
Detroit Feb 16: ESPN 2 (ugh)
@Loyola Feb 19: nada
Eastern Kentucky Feb 23: ESPN U
Youngstown State Feb 26: no
@Green Bay Mar 2: ESPN U
Green Bay Mar 9: ESPN U
Wright State Mar 12: ESPN

That's not half bad in my opinion!  Time to make good use of our increased publicity as of late, LETS GO VALPO!

[ValpoHoops]

Heard around the gym on Saturday that the HL contract with ESPN is up after this year as well. (This could be true, could be totally wrong).

Losing Butler will hurt, obviously, but I think we are probably in for a "better" deal...maybe not more money, but hopefully more games on TV. I know this is a different topic/thread, but this could have a significant impact on expansion as well.

As far as Valpo...keep putting on a good show and having good crowds (forget attendance...just atmosphere) and the networks will keep coming back.

[ncatprof]

oklahomamick --I don't see how WSU could end up a 16 seed coming out of the 12th/13th ranked conference, even if they weren't the conference regular season champ.  I think there's enough automatic bids from weak conferences that WSU would end up more like a 14 (15?)....just the opinion of this Raider fan.  Although the last time they got in after beating Butler in the championship game, they were "rewarded" with a 15 seed, so who knows.

Nice wins by both our clubs last night -- looking forward to a good game on Tuesday!

Edited to say this...I hadn't bothered to check Lunardi's brackets until now (never really felt the need to 'til now!), so I see he has Valpo at a 14 right now.  So, I could see WSU being assigned a 15, but can't quite fathom a 16.  Anyway, time will tell should WSU pull another upset.

[Kyle321n]

For anyone interested there's going to be a "tweetup" Tuesday at Figure 8. If you don't know where Figure 8 is its on Indiana between Washington and Franklin, right next door to Greek's Pizza and a block north of Valpo Velvet. If you don't know where either of those are, you're in trouble.

We'll be meeting up at 6:30, and I'll be at the big table so we can have as many as we want there.

For the under 21 crowd, or those who don't want to be written about in the torch, they have their own root beer served in large steins.

[Smj]

Anyone see news on how kevin's ankle is doing?

[oklahomamick]

oklahomamick --I don't see how WSU could end up a 16 seed coming out of the 12th/13th ranked conference, even if they weren't the conference regular season champ.  I think there's enough automatic bids from weak conferences that WSU would end up more like a 14 (15?)....just the opinion of this Raider fan.  Although the last time they got in after beating Butler in the championship game, they were "rewarded" with a 15 seed, so who knows.Nice wins by both our clubs last night -- looking forward to a good game on Tuesday!Edited to say this...I hadn't bothered to check Lunardi's brackets until now (never really felt the need to 'til now!), so I see he has Valpo at a 14 right now.  So, I could see WSU being assigned a 15, but can't quite fathom a 16.  Anyway, time will tell should WSU pull another upset.

Its simple, because WSU is ranked higher than 140. 

[chef]

If Wright St's win over Valpo co-insides with another upset or two, they'll be a 15. Conversely Valpo will just about guarantee a 13 with a win. One more upset from Akron, Bucknell, Davidson, or La Tech would seal the deal.

[70zboy]

It should be a very close game. Kudos to Coach Donlon for his defensive game plan against Detroit. They really threw McCallum off his game -he we definitely forcing things near the end. Bruinsma scored 15 but he wasn't really being guarded closely.

Perhaps Wright plays Broekhoff the same way - try to get the ball out of his hands and force others to make plays, especially if KVW is limited.

Should Broekhoff be more aggressive earlier in the game and plow to the hole and try to make things happen or be patient in the offense?

Can Kenney and Bogan (looked tight against Green Bay and Detroit in final last year) make shots?

It'll be fun to watch. I made just my second trip ever to the ARC for the games Saturday. What an experience. I dug out my Sweet 16 shirt for the game and will wear it again Tuesday for good karma.

[a3uge]

oklahomamick --I don't see how WSU could end up a 16 seed coming out of the 12th/13th ranked conference, even if they weren't the conference regular season champ.  I think there's enough automatic bids from weak conferences that WSU would end up more like a 14 (15?)....just the opinion of this Raider fan.  Although the last time they got in after beating Butler in the championship game, they were "rewarded" with a 15 seed, so who knows.

Detroit wasn't helped last year by winning the 14th ranked conference. They ended up with an RPI of 127, but were a 15 seed. Wright St is sitting at 140 RPI. Seeds are rewarded based on how well you do in an entire year, not just the last week.

If WSU would win, it would take a LOT to push them to a 14 seed.

Here's the seeding breakdown just based on RPI.

16 - BSouth - Liberty 287
16 - SWAC - 182 +
16 - Colonial - Northeaster 165 or James Madison 189
16 - MEAC - 150+
16 - AE - Vermont 122 or Albany 147
---
15 - NEC - M St Marys 119 or Long Island 183
15 - BWest - 112..113...+
15 - SB - FIU 109 or WKU 171
15 - MAAC - Iona 100 or Manhattan 180
----
14 - ASUN - FGC 96
14 - Ivy - Harvard 93
14 - BigSky - Montana 84 Weber St 94 ...others+
14 - Summit - 76, 77, 121, 249
----
13 - Southern - Davidson 67 or Charleston 131
13 - Southland - 63, 97, 143...+
13 - Horizon - Valparaiso 60 or Wright State 140
13 - Patriot - Bucknell 51 or Lafayette 160

[valpotx]

WSU would be at most a 15 seed due to their RPI.  It doesn't matter what your conference RPI is, if your own RPI isn't good.

I see us making this less stressful this time:

Valpo 74
WSU 60

[historyman]

If Wright St's win over Valpo co-insides with another upset or two,

Sounds like siamese twin upsets. Maybe you meant coincide? But obviously that would be a penny killing itself due to having little value.

[crusaderjoe]

Will Mike Cusack be at the game tomorrow night?  Maybe we can get his ideas on conference expansion. 

(Some of you should get that.)

[valpocleveland]

oklahomamick --I don't see how WSU could end up a 16 seed coming out of the 12th/13th ranked conference, even if they weren't the conference regular season champ.  I think there's enough automatic bids from weak conferences that WSU would end up more like a 14 (15?)....just the opinion of this Raider fan.  Although the last time they got in after beating Butler in the championship game, they were "rewarded" with a 15 seed, so who knows.

Detroit wasn't helped last year by winning the 14th ranked conference. They ended up with an RPI of 127, but were a 15 seed. Wright St is sitting at 140 RPI. Seeds are rewarded based on how well you do in an entire year, not just the last week.

If WSU would win, it would take a LOT to push them to a 14 seed.

Here's the seeding breakdown just based on RPI.

16 - BSouth - Liberty 287
16 - SWAC - 182 +
16 - Colonial - Northeaster 165 or James Madison 189
16 - MEAC - 150+
16 - AE - Vermont 122 or Albany 147
---
15 - NEC - M St Marys 119 or Long Island 183
15 - BWest - 112..113...+
15 - SB - FIU 109 or WKU 171
15 - MAAC - Iona 100 or Manhattan 180
----
14 - ASUN - FGC 96
14 - Ivy - Harvard 93
14 - BigSky - Montana 84 Weber St 94 ...others+
14 - Summit - 76, 77, 121, 249
----
13 - Southern - Davidson 67 or Charleston 131
13 - Southland - 63, 97, 143...+
13 - Horizon - Valparaiso 60 or Wright State 140
13 - Patriot - Bucknell 51 or Lafayette 160

You are missing a 16 seed, there are 6 total. If we win tomorrow night we will most likely end up a 13 seed. Some of these "experts" have us a 14 seed below SF Austin and S Dakota St. I disagree with that.  A 12 seed is our ceiling and we would need a few upsets for that to happen. I predict that Akron will not win the MAC tournament so that could be one there. I think we would need 2-3 more...