Valpo Opponents' Schedule & Results 2013-14

[classof2014]

This is either great news or bad news for Milwaukee, they beat Davidson a tough team at Davidson. When they had a nice win over the Wildcats last season that was the only bright spot on the season.

But after watching this game I think Milwaukee will be better this year, they have a pretty good JUCO in Matt Tiby, had 21 points and 9 boards for the Panthers and also had 21 in his first game, which was coupled with 10 or 11 rebounds (not sure all I know he had a double-double with 21 points). One thing that was significant improvement from last year is the FT shooting. The commentators said they have only missed 4 shots all year which is a big change from last year. Jordan Aaron doesn't look very good and I thought he was overrated going into the year. Don't think Milwaukee will win the HL this season but they should be respectable foe any night and capable of surprising a few teams. I think last season might have just been a down year in Milwaukee.

But who knows they did lose to Loyola in their first game but overall a nice win for a program that needed to beat a decent team like Davidson. They're probably gonna be around .500 this year and probably won't finish in last place.

[bbtds]

11/11/2013 Monday

Milwaukee   81
Davidson     77

[bbtds]

ALL TIMES EASTERN STANDARD TIME

11/12/2013 Tuesday

Morehead State at East Tenn State  7:00 p.m.
Evansville at IUPUI  7:00 p.m.
Ohio at Ohio State  8:00 p.m.
Oakland at UCLA  9:00 p.m.


11/13/2013 Wednesday

Florida State at Central Florida  7:00 p.m.
Wright State at Georgetown  7:00 p.m.
Valpo at Illinois  7:30 p.m.
Saint Louis at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville  8:00 p.m.
Cleveland State at San Francisco  11:00 p.m.


11/14/2013 Thursday

Detroit at Connecticut  7:00 p.m.
Loyola Marymount at Long Beach State  10:00 p.m.


11/15/2013 Friday

San Jose State at Milwaukee  6:30 p.m.
Murray State at Old Dominion  7:00 p.m.
Cleveland State at Texas-Arlington  8:30 p.m.
James Madison at Northern Illinois  9:00 p.m.
Oakland at California  11:00 p.m.


11/16/2013 Saturday

Wright State at DePaul  2:00 p.m.
Seton Hall at Mercer  3:00 p.m.
Eastern Illinois at Illinois-Chicago  4:00 p.m.
James Madison at Milwaukee  6:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Green Bay  8:00 p.m.
East Tenn State at Western Kentucky  8:00 p.m.
Saint Louis at Southern Illinois-Carbondale  8:05 p.m.


11/17/2013 Sunday

Youngstown State at Massachusetts  1:00 p.m.
Valpo at Ohio  2:00 p.m.
James Madison vs San Jose State  2:00 p.m.
Bethune-Cookman at Central Florida  2:00 p.m.
Milwaukee at Northern Illinois  4:30 p.m.
Bradley at Illinois  6:00 p.m.
Northern Arizona at Loyola Marymount  7:00 p.m.
Oakland at Gonzaga  8:00 p.m.


11/18/2013 Monday

Cleveland State at Eastern Michigan  7:00 p.m.
S.E. Missouri State at Ball State  7:00 p.m.
Mercer at Evansville  8:05 p.m.


11/19/2013 Tuesday

Detroit at James Madison  7:00 p.m.
Winthrop at East Tenn State  7:00 p.m.
DePaul at Milwaukee  8:00 p.m.


11/20/2013 Wednesday

Ohio at Morgan State  7:30 p.m.
Northwestern at Illinois-Chicago  8:00 p.m.
Valpo at Evansville  9:05 p.m.


11/21/2013 Thursday

Central Florida at Miami  7:00 p.m.
Samford at East Tenn State  7:00 p.m.
Oral Roberts at Saint Louis  8:00 p.m.


ALL TIMES EASTERN STANDARD TIME

[a3uge]

This is either great news or bad news for Milwaukee, they beat Davidson a tough team at Davidson. When they had a nice win over the Wildcats last season that was the only bright spot on the season.

But after watching this game I think Milwaukee will be better this year, they have a pretty good JUCO in Matt Tiby, had 21 points and 9 boards for the Panthers and also had 21 in his first game, which was coupled with 10 or 11 rebounds (not sure all I know he had a double-double with 21 points). One thing that was significant improvement from last year is the FT shooting. The commentators said they have only missed 4 shots all year which is a big change from last year. Jordan Aaron doesn't look very good and I thought he was overrated going into the year. Don't think Milwaukee will win the HL this season but they should be respectable foe any night and capable of surprising a few teams. I think last season might have just been a down year in Milwaukee.

But who knows they did lose to Loyola in their first game but overall a nice win for a program that needed to beat a decent team like Davidson. They're probably gonna be around .500 this year and probably won't finish in last place.

Obviously did not watch the game (there was an incredible Temple Kent St game going on), but it I'm not going to change my outlook on Milwaukee based off of one game that had a 40-15 free throw differential. While it will be hard for UWM to be as abysmal as last year, I don't see the Horizon teams that are going to finish behind them (barring major injuries). Detroit? UIC? Valpo? Maybe they have something with Tiby. Hopefully it's not a repeat of last year where they beat Davidson and proceeded to lose 9 of their next 10 OOC games.

[Smj]

If Tiby looks like last night for much of the season - UWM will have a good year.   He was better than I expected and will be difficult for some to guard...   (they're not rebuilding/reloading - they appear to be rebooting.)

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Jordan Aaron doesn't look very good and I thought he was overrated going into the year.

I lol'd

[vu72]

Let's remember that the win over Davidson was at Davidson who is picked second in their conference and has the pre-season POY.  A very nice win for the Horizon!!

[Smj]

I definitely think UWM just had a very impressive win....

[historyman]

I definitely think UWM just had a very impressive win....

Agree.

[bbtds]

11/12/2013 Tuesday

Morehead State    71             
East Tenn State   63

Evansville            84
IUPUI                  78

Ohio                   69
Ohio State           79

Oakland               60
UCLA                   91

[EddieCabot]

Oakland               60
UCLA                   91

I need someone smart (wh, BigDWSU?) to answer this, but does Oakland scheduling and getting blown out by a bunch of BCS teams really help anyone?  I assume Oakland gets paid for these games, so it helps pay Kampe's salary, which helps ... Kampe.  Does it help Oakland?  Does it help the Horizon?  I don't know the answer ... I'm just asking.

FWIW, it seems like UWM winning at Davidson and Valpo beating Murray State helps the league way more than Oakland getting their ass handed to them at UCLA and (insert 5 other teams on their schedule). 

[chef]

Kampe believes that the tougher the non-conference schedule, the better it prepares his team for the conference. It's always been his philosophy, and I think it has no factor in paying his salary. For the rest of the league it would be better for Oakland to win more non-conference games. However, I don't think Kampe is concerned with the rest of the league.

[wh]

Oakland               60
UCLA                   91

I need someone smart (wh, BigDWSU?) to answer this, but does Oakland scheduling and getting blown out by a bunch of BCS teams really help anyone?  I assume Oakland gets paid for these games, so it helps pay Kampe's salary, which helps ... Kampe.  Does it help Oakland?  Does it help the Horizon?  I don't know the answer ... I'm just asking.

FWIW, it seems like UWM winning at Davidson and Valpo beating Murray State helps the league way more than Oakland getting their ass handed to them at UCLA and (insert 5 other teams on their schedule). 

I think we have to remember where Oakland came from and the huge challenges they faced in trying to attract good basketball players. For starters the Summit is at best a lower mid-tier conference.  Oakland's basketball facilities are mediocre.  Traveling to play conference opponents several states and hundreds of miles away can be brutal. They belonged to the Summit, yet are located in the heart of MAC and HL country and competed for the same players. Their academic reputation is decent, but nothing special.  These are all considerations that they would have had to work extremely hard to overcome every time they knocked on a potential recruit's door.

Simply put, I think Kampe used the allure of playing high profile OOC opponents as his number one way of offsetting all the recruiting negatives and get his share of decent athletes - nothing more, nothing less.  Effect on RPI, preparation for conference play, and other OOC scheduling considerations became secondary, if considered at all. After all, the Summit is strictly a 1-bid conference. Its tournament representative will almost always be seeded somewhere between 14 and 16.  In the grand scheme of things, a lot of these factors don't carry much weight - positively or negatively - for a conference like the Summit. Certainly, Kampe and company knew that better than any of us.

Kampe was quoted in recent months as saying that now that Oakland has joined the Horizon League, he will be looking to dial down their OOC schedule somewhat.  I think that lends credence to the premise that they scheduled the way they did out of necessity, and that he sees this as a necessity no longer exists to the same extent. If so, the proof of the pudding will be revealed in next year's schedule.     

[LaPorteAveApostle]

it helps pay Kampe's salary, which helps ... Kampe.

no fan of his--he's a blowhard--but you could argue that repeatedly getting beaten badly doesn't help a coach at all...just the opposite.

[classof2014]

I don't understand Oakland's scheduling. I'm guessing they're getting paid to play these games but they can't be healthy for their confidence knowing they're going to get blown out of the water. Playing 5 BCS schools and another top-notch program in Gonzaga is not real smart if you're Kampe. I can't imagine the players get all too excited for these games, I understand if you had one or two of these programs is nice to have on your schedule but 6 is way too much. Their first four games is also a brutal stretch for them. Starting in North Carolina, travelling to LA, then up the coast to play Cal and Gonzaga, then back across the country to play in a tournament in South Carolina. I understand wanting to play to play top-level programs but there's a way to do it.

If Kampe wants a good schedule to look at, look at Valpo's. Games against: Murray State, Illinois, Ohio, Evansville, Central Florida, Mercer, St. Louis, etc... Those were all very good mid-major's last year (minus Illinois being a BCS) but every one of those games we have a legitimate shot at winning. If we do well against teams like this it will help us at the end of the year and will help a team grow because you're playing tough opponents night-in-night-out but not one of these games is not winnable.

There's a reasonable chance Oakland has 6 20+ point losses on their schedule at the end of the OOC. If I were a recruit that wouldn't look too good to me. So what if you play BCS schools? You get killed by all of them.

I think Kampe is a good coach but an awful scheduler. I understand not wanting a bunch of cupcakes on the schedule, like Wright State but going the complete other way and scheduling big-name programs isn't the way to do it either. Valpo probably has the most balanced OOC schedule in the HL, a lot of tough but winnable games against programs people have heard of and have had success. It's not playing 10 IPFWs/IUPUIs and it's not playing 5 BCS schools either.

[valpotx]

Are you kidding?  Kids love these games against top notch programs, as it allows them to say they played against a storied program.  If an NCAA D-1 athlete is not excited to challenge themselves against this type of competition, they need to drop down a level!  This doesn't mean they will be competitive, but I am sure almost every single athlete that plays against these teams has no regrets whatsoever...

[classof2014]

Are you kidding?  Kids love these games against top notch programs, as it allows them to say they played against a storied program.  If an NCAA D-1 athlete is not excited to challenge themselves against this type of competition, they need to drop down a level!  This doesn't mean they will be competitive, but I am sure almost every single athlete that plays against these teams has no regrets whatsoever...

But if you go in and lose all those games by 20+ points that proves that you're not good enough to play with the big-boys. I agree, I think kids love playing games like this but 6 is too much. Instead schedule high-level mid-majors that you have a shot at beating instead of 6 games where it's reasonable to say we're gonna get blown out in all of them. When it comes to recruiting, they can say we play the top-level programs but when you do you get killed by all those top-level schools I see it doing more harm than good.

Losing by 25 to NC and losing by 30 to UCLA just shows Oakland isn't ready to play the big-boys. It's nice to say we play these programs but when the results aren't good I think it does more harm than good.

[valpotx]

My point was not towards Oakland scheduling the games, it was more to you saying that, 'I can't imagine the players get all too excited for these games.'  I bet every single player on Oakland loves all 6 games, regardless of getting their brains beat in  .  I agree with the point that the school should not schedule 6 games with this difficulty.

[covufan]

I bet every single player on Oakland loves all 6 games, regardless of getting their brains beat in  .

I agree with this.  Most of the former players of both basketball, football, baseball and other sports have posted the same thing.  When Valpo schedules a Duke or NC, the players learn and know that they can compete, especially on any given possession.  As a team, they've competed for 20 or minutes on several occasions.  Football can be a little different, going up against top tier scholarship granting I-AA programs, but the players learn and need that competition. 

It is only the alums and fans that appear to not like this scheduling.  My guess is that most of them never played the sport, even in high school.  At any level, you want to compete against the best. 

[classof2014]

I'm all for putting one or two of these games on the schedule. But 6 seems a bit much for me, especially when Oakland isn't an elite mid-major program. Perhaps looking to schedule the elite mid-major schools would be more beneficial than 5 BCS schools along with another top program in the country. As a fan I do look forward to when Valpo plays a BCS school, looking forward to the game tonight against U of I but scheduling 6 games against elite teams might be a bit much for a program like Oakland who isn't an elite mid-major program. Right now I'd say they're mediocre and have a chance to move up in the world. But scheduling 6 games where you might have tops 20% chance to be a team like Cal is your best chance I don't necessarily find beneficial.

[valporun]

I'm guessing most of these games were scheduled back when Oakland was thinking they would be stuck in the Summit? I mean 6 BCS games is a lot, but when you're in a league where most of your travel is by plane, it does require a lot of financial planning to make it work. Yes, an 0-6 start will hurt the HL, but did Greg Kampe know when he planned these games that a spot in the Horizon League was going to be there? It should show us how lucky we were that a Horizon League spot opened up for us when it did, or we might have had to have a hard schedule like this to prepare for play in the "League of Geographic Mess" financially. At least in 2014-15, Kampe won't have to schedule 6 practically impossible  games to get ready for HL play.

[bbtds]

I'm guessing most of these games were scheduled back when Oakland was thinking they would be stuck in the Summit? I mean 6 BCS games is a lot, but when you're in a league where most of your travel is by plane, it does require a lot of financial planning to make it work. Yes, an 0-6 start will hurt the HL, but did Greg Kampe know when he planned these games that a spot in the Horizon League was going to be there? It should show us how lucky we were that a Horizon League spot opened up for us when it did, or we might have had to have a hard schedule like this to prepare for play in the "League of Geographic Mess" financially. At least in 2014-15, Kampe won't have to schedule 6 practically impossible  games to get ready for HL play.

Take a look at the "new" WAC. Talk about having to travel. Seattle to Chicago to Corpus Christi.

[a3uge]

Georgetown beating up on Wright State early. Halfway through first, Georgetown already in bonus. I don't think Wright State is built to go against larger athletic teams. I think Valpo can use their size against Wright State in the future.

[bbtds]

11/13/2013 Wednesday

Florida State       80
Central Florida     68

Wright State        70
Georgetown          88

Valpo                    52
Illinois                   64

Saint Louis                 82
Southern Illinois-Edw.  58

Cleveland State          82
San Francisco            91

[StlVUFan]

I think Kampe is a good coach but an awful scheduler.

He's been known to half-heartedly agree with you.