2013-2014 Season

[valpotx]

I imagine that they will base that award on the conference season?  Alec hasn't done as well in conference, except the last 2 games.

[classof2014]

Both Lexus and Alec have a shot at the FoY award. I think a lot depends on where Valpo finishes in the standings. If Alec finds his early season form and has another 30 point outburst he might just win the award.

As well if Valpo finishes in the top 3, I think that gives both Alec and Lexus an advantage over Oakland's Felder. Since it looks like Oakland might finish 8th. Also how many of Felder's assists came on passes to Bader? They also have a fast paced offense, which leads to his increased assists and points.

Not trying to take anything away from Felder because he along with our FOUR stellar freshman will be the face of the league in another year or two. Coming in to the season, I knew this freshmen class would either make or break Valpo's future in basketball. Last years team was a stepping-stone. And it looks like this core group of freshmen might bring Valpo into college basketball stardom in another two years.

Crazy to think we have a legitimate shot at first place and we start 3 freshmen and play 4 on a regular basis (so I would imagine if Clay stays healthy). Compare that to GB and CSU, who are more veteran team. It would be interesting to see if we play the most freshmen percentage wise compared to other teams in the HL.

[Kyle321n]

Crazy to think we have a legitimate shot at first place and we start 3 freshmen and play 4 on a regular basis (so I would imagine if Clay stays healthy). Compare that to GB and CSU, who are more veteran team. It would be interesting to see if we play the most freshmen percentage wise compared to other teams in the HL.

Not that hard to look up (for me at least).

Stats by Freshmen (During conference play)

Team	Players	GP	MIN	REB	AST	STL	BLK	PTS
VALPO	5	44	879	127	63	23	8	273
DET	2	22	509	63	29	19	7	156
OAK	2	12	384	41	79	10	1	145
UIC	3	22	301	20	15	8	1	79
UWGB	3	22	272	44	9	12	10	68
YSU	4	29	138	16	14	8	3	34
UWM	1	10	92	6	3	2	0	26
WSU	2	9	44	7	4	5	3	8
CSU	1	5	24	1	2	0	0	1

I want to point out a few things. 
1. Cleveland and Wright have been led by non-freshman, quite obviously. Milwaukee's Cody Wichmann has played ~10 minutes per game, but does very little else.
2. Youngstown's freshman actually play the least amount of minutes per game and only one, Marcus Keene, averages 2+ ppg.
3. Oakland has 2 freshmen who have played, but Jalen Hayes, has only played 1 minutes this season. He obviously did nothing in that 1 minute of play.  That means Felder is out assisting every team's freshmen totals.
4. Detroit's freshmen are basically split even for every statistic this season. It's really odd how similar they are.
5. Obviously we've got the most minutes with 5 freshmen playing and 3 of those playing 20+ MPG.  Oakland actually has the most MPG with 32, and if you took out their 1 min in 1 game, they are up to 34.8. Detroit is second with 23.1 and we're 3rd with 20.0
6. 5 teams have a freshmen who play 10+ MPG: Valpo (3), Detroit (2), UIC (2), Oakland (1) and GB (1).

[LaPorteAveApostle]

That's great stuff--thanks for the analysis, K!

I agree that we won't win the award because of overall excellence, but I'd rather have a Frosh Five than the FoY any day.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/

For some reason, this poll is incorrectly listing this year's best college team in Indiana.
ISU 17, ND 14, IU 12, VU 10.  Etc.

Could we maybe do something about that?

[valpotx]

Anyone else finding it funny that the A-10 is predicted to have 6 teams, the American have 5 teams, and the Big East have 3 teams in the NCAA tourney?  I know that the money was better for 'those who shall not be named' to join the Big East, but in the first year, it appears these other conferences have come off better than their current conference .

http://espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology

[historyman]

Another interesting seed that Lunardi projects is Dayton as a #12 in a play-in game. The play-in (first round) games have taken place on Dayton's home floor ever since they were started a few years back. Would the NCAA allow Dayton to play another 12 seed (in Lunardi's projection it would be Arkansas) on their home floor in the big dance?

[wh]

Anyone else finding it funny that the A-10 is predicted to have 6 teams, the American have 5 teams, and the Big East have 3 teams in the NCAA tourney?  I know that the money was better for 'those who shall not be named' to join the Big East, but in the first year, it appears these other conferences have come off better than their current conference .

http://espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology

I'm not all that surprised about the American. It has most of the basketball powerhouses from the old Big East who have maintained their prominence. What is telling about the new Big East is that only 2 of 3 teams were part of the Big East "pre-breakup."  The new Big East is obviously just a shadow of its former self.

[zvillehaze]

Anyone else finding it funny that the A-10 is predicted to have 6 teams, the American have 5 teams, and the Big East have 3 teams in the NCAA tourney?  I know that the money was better for 'those who shall not be named' to join the Big East, but in the first year, it appears these other conferences have come off better than their current conference .

http://espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology

I'm not all that surprised about the American. It has most of the basketball powerhouses from the old Big East who have maintained their prominence. What is telling about the new Big East is that only 2 of 3 teams were part of the Big East "pre-breakup."  The new Big East is obviously just a shadow of its former self.

Big East only #4 RPI conference after being #2 last year, so definitely worse.  A-10 is very good, as they were last year when Butler was a #5 seed for the A-10 tourney and a #6 for the NCAA tourney. 

The American does lose Louisville after this year and rumblings are that Cincinnati and UConn want out.  If they can keep those two, they'll still have some good teams at the top, but the bottom isn't good at all.

[a3uge]

Anyone else finding it funny that the A-10 is predicted to have 6 teams, the American have 5 teams, and the Big East have 3 teams in the NCAA tourney?  I know that the money was better for 'those who shall not be named' to join the Big East, but in the first year, it appears these other conferences have come off better than their current conference .

http://espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology

I'm not all that surprised about the American. It has most of the basketball powerhouses from the old Big East who have maintained their prominence. What is telling about the new Big East is that only 2 of 3 teams were part of the Big East "pre-breakup."  The new Big East is obviously just a shadow of its former self.

Big East only #4 RPI conference after being #2 last year, so definitely worse.  A-10 is very good, as they were last year when Butler was a #5 seed for the A-10 tourney and a #6 for the NCAA tourney. 

The American does lose Louisville after this year and rumblings are that Cincinnati and UConn want out.  If they can keep those two, they'll still have some good teams at the top, but the bottom isn't good at all.

The MW only sending a pair instead of 5 last year is surprising...

Keep in mind most the conference shuffling had very little to do with  basketball. The football playoff system created instability everywhere, causing schools to flee from the old big east to power football conferences, which lead to the old big east to form a more  basketball focused conference. The old big east became the old CUSA basically, adopting more of a football focus. The old big east (American) will lose members over time and gain current CUSA members, while the new big east will gain members like SLU, VCU, Dayton over time. Even though the committee is handing them less bids this year, they're stable and positioned better than the American for basketball.

Saying the Big East is a shell of its former self is misleading... It is, but the shell is the American Conference. The new big east is a brand new conference.

[valpopal]

With the NCAA tournament ending this week, and the VU players looking forward to next year already engaged in workouts to better themselves, I thought I'd offer a few final comments about the season. First, the team performed close to expectations, if not better. Their closing standing in the conference was a little above preseason projections, and the inconsistencies anticipated by a team heavily depending on freshmen came about just as foreseen. [By the way, the final conference ratings were released this week, and the Horizon League ranked 12th, which was as expected. We have to remember that with the Big East split and adding of the American Athletic Conference, there was one more automatically ahead of us this year.]

On the other hand, those freshmen exhibited more skill and more maturity at times than most expected. Peters displayed why he will be a top player in the league. Williams surprised many with his advanced ability to handle the ball, and he certainly scored more than he was expected to do in his first year. Adekoya showed strength and a willingness to rebound with bigger guys in the paint, though his performance seemed to vary from game to game. When healthy, Yeo was a pleasure to watch on the court. He hasn't yet had the consistent health to present his full talents, and one hopes he will have that chance next year. Davidson's game is a work in progress, as the off-season could help him strengthen and gain confidence. In the preseason, I don't know if anyone could have predicted that 3 of our freshmen would win conference Freshman of the Week honors.

The senior class showed sparks at times, and they had the difficulty of following a stellar senior group from the previous year, but overall their output was not what had been desired. However, Dority's summer of hard work paid off with a terrific season that excelled beyond preseason polls, which did not even include his name on all-conference first or second teams. (One hopes his efforts in the off-season will serve as a model for the young players returning next year.)

The complete performer that Keith Carter promises to be has yet to be witnessed, and he could be a much improved player when he gets to play a full season. Fingers are crossed that Nickerson heals quickly and completely from his surgery and gets some training time during the end of the summer to be in shape for the new season. Fernandez grew more confident and more assertive as the season moved toward its close, and he could be an even more pleasant surprise next year. Due to health concerns, Chadwick's status apparently remains questionable.

The two Canadian players arriving in the fall have been kept mostly under the radar, but some very good reports about their play have increased curiosity and optimism. They will be a mystery until the new season is upon us. Another mystery remains in who Bryce will be able to obtain as a big man to add to the roster, most likely through graduate transfer, overseas, or JUCO ranks. That player could be the wild card for the upcoming year.

Speaking of Bryce: after losing an entire starting rotation (plus some) from the previous season, he and the coaching staff did a pretty good job of managing to place on the court a competitive team that was more than a "rebuilding" squad. In fact, during much of the season the team had to be considered in contention for the league lead or at least a bye in the conference tourney. Only at the end—perhaps because of the lack of experience in maintaining play for a full season by some—did the team falter. I also would give the coaching staff good marks for developing the freshmen and providing them a lot more court time than some expected. This should pay dividends in the future, and that future looks to be interesting for fans.

My final team picture for the 2013-2014 season:



     

[vu72]

Fantastic photographic work as is now expected from you!!  A very fair assessment of the past season as well.  When you think that we almost beat St. Louis, who was a top 20 team and almost beat Mercer, who beat Duke in the tourney, the future is indeed bright.  I would add the performance of Keith Carter at the end of the season showed some of the stuff we will see on a regular basis in the future.  For me the biggest surprises were Williams, who flew under the radar while all the talk was about the other freshman, and Vashil, who made a giant leap from the previous year.  If that continues, he will have a great senior year.               

[covufan]

Pal,

Great summary and picture!  One of the frustrating things as a fan is the up-and-down nature of the season.  By my count, there were about 10-11 games where, if we had played up to potential, we could have won.  The games at home and in the league really brought home how close this team could have been.  I can only imagine how frustrating these things are to the coaches. 

I look forward to the upcoming offseason, as I think this team is talented and with a few more key players gained during this offseason could be special next year.

[valpopal]

I have found Bobby Capobianco to always be well-spoken. His post-game comments were usually thoughtful and well articulated. Like others on many of the Valpo teams, he has been a good representative and a credit to the coaches who bring in fine young men and women to the university as student athletes.

Therefore, on Easter, I pass along a moving message by Bobby Capobianco in this video shown today, filmed for his church about the transfer he made to Valpo, as well as transitions in his life and faith: Bobby Capobianco on Vimeo

[valpopal]

As we have ended all sports for the 2013-2014 year and the summer lull is upon us, I thought this might be a good time to remind everyone that all my photos of Valpo sports during the last year are available at my sports photography web page.

Many of these personal pictures were taken specifically for sharing at the Valpo Fan Zone, and I began the new web page at the end of last May to keep from cluttering this site, as well as to be an archive for review at any time. Though I am not officially affiliated with Valparaiso University Athletics, I am thankful to the Valpo Athletics folks for their assistance and comments of support throughout the year, as well as the appreciation expressed to me by many (administrators, coaches, players) for the audience found at the Valpo Fan Zone.

Therefore, in a sense, this is an anniversary of one full year for the web page, which currently includes 1,640 photos—a majority of them focused on basketball, but various other sports included as well. While we wait for a new season of sports to resume, feel free to take a moment to browse these images of the past year: enjoy! https://www.flickr.com/photos/96208998@N05/sets/