Valpo to play in CollegeInsider.com Tournament

[valpo84]

Some commentator this week said that you can coach, cajole, counsel, consult, caution and kick in the pants as a coach, but in the end, the players have to play and put the ball in the hoop.

Glad that we will get the youngsters some post-season play. Allows for extra practice time, which is as critical as the actual games. Win a couple and try to win a tourney.

BTW, our opponents have been doing well in tourneys -- Mercer wins A-Sun and ETSU was in semis, Murray State lost in OVC semis was 13-3 in conf.  SLU will be in tourney. Ohio 22 wins.

[crusaderjoe]

We're hosting a first round game?  How much did that cost?

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/26120974-556/valparaiso-makes-4th-straight-cit.html

[VULB#62]

First off, Bryce is anything but an inexperienced kid learning on the job.  [AGREED - but even Coach K, Petino, and Roy Williams learn and apply new things each season -- that's what makes them great] Before taking his first head coaching position he was a collegiate star, a 6-year NBA veteran, and served as the top asst. coach for 5 years.  We won a HL regular season championship in his first year as head coach, after which he was named coach of the year.  In his 2nd year we won HL regular season and tournament championships. After losing nearly our entire team from a year ago, he brought in a bumper crop of talented freshmen and we finished 4th after being picked 6th [Like you, I'm sure, I smiled at the end of the season knowing that this team outperformed the prognosticators].  Next year should be better than this and the next year better yet. [AGREED - can't wait to see the jump in on-court maturity from our freshmen - should be  great to watch.]

Is Bryce perfect, of course not  [Please see below].  But I'll take him over any other coach in the Horizon League - hands down.  [AGREED - I'm with ya on that -- great leader and example for young men who has a wealth of coaching tools]  Some guys in this league can recruit but can't coach, others are good with x's and o's, but are lousy recruiters.  Yet a couple of others seem to be able to recruit and coach but they are bullies, or lack discipline, or recruit bad actors, etc.  Bryce is the complete package - an excellent coach, an excellent recruiter, and a great mentor and role model for impressionable young men at a crucial time in their development.  That's why I support Bryce Drew and always will.  [AGREED - Me too, but that doesn't mean I must refrain from expressing a concern and a hope that an area in need of improvement is addressed going forward]  It has nothing to do with him being "a legend" or any other superficial reason.

No, he is not perfect -- is anyone?  But he's still pretty darned good, and I worry we will eventually lose him.  My post came down to adding to his bag of coaching tricks (his coaching tool box, if you will) to deal with what many posters, not just a few, have stated numerous times:  We start off slow and sometimes can't recover.  I believe he will find a way (or ways) to adjust that team mindset and the players, as well as the staff, will be the stronger for it.  But, IMO, it does need to be addressed.

[historyman]

[AGREED - Me too, but that doesn't mean I must refrain from expressing a concern and a hope that an area in need of improvement is addressed going forward]

Great point, 62! Just because we criticize Valpo doesn't mean we're not included in Valpo fanatics.

[valpo84]

Forgot that maybe Bryce needs to work on his "game face" for '62....

http://youtu.be/LqKTKUvbVsA

[classof2014]

At one point in history Chicago was in the west...

[milanmiracle]

I hope they use this tournament (or game) to get some feel for next year. This is a glorified scrimmage, so I hope they treat it as such. Of course play to win, but that doesn't mean you can't work on some things for next year.

[talksalot]

A Google search has found these participants:

Nebraska-Omaha has confirmed they will host a first round game (16-14, 5-9) summit
Brown University has confirmed they will host a game in the Pizzitola Sports Center (15-13, 7-7) Ivy
San Diego Toreros confirmed they will host a game at Jenny Craig arena (16-16, 7-11) West Coast Conference
Murray State confirmed they have accepted the bid to the CIT, but will probably decline hosting a 1st round game since it's spring break (18-11, 13-3)

Northern Iowa has DECLINED CIT and CBI bids... they are done.


Looking at the standings of the "local" conferences...

So Dakota State 19-12 - Summit
Morehead State 20-13 OVC
SE Missouri 18-14 OVC
Indiana State 23-10 (probably NIT bound)
Missouri State 20-12 (MVC)
Wagner 19-12 (Northeast)
Bryant 18-14 (Northeast)
Quinnipiac (20-11) Metro Atl
Canisius  (21-12) Metro Atl
SC-Upstate (19-14) A-Sun

MAC Tournament starts tomorrow:
Akron 20-11
Buffalo 19-9
W Mich 21-9
E Mich 19-13
(Toledo is probably a lock for NIT)
(Belmont looks like lock for CBI/NIT)

[mvandersee]

(Belmont looks like lock for CBI/NIT)

Belmont will be in the NIT. Since they won their conference's regular season they get an auto-bid to that.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

San Diego Toreros confirmed they will host a game at Jenny Craig arena

what time's the weigh-in?

At one point in history Chicago was in the west

Hail!  Hail to Michigan, the Champions of the West!

[HC]

Hello IPFW? After losing to ND State they could be our opponent.

[valpotx]

We could win a tournament like this, if our players take it seriously.  Mercer won it 2 years ago, and are now in their first NCAA tournament since 1985

[usc4valpo]

In reality, it will take a huge attitude adjustment  to win this tournament.  The beloved Crusader have been very sluggish the past month, and looked below par in their games against UIC and UWM.  It's good that they are in this tournament to get more experience and to give the underclassmen some post season experience.


For an attitude adjustment, maybe Carlson needs to make a suprise return and provide some Joel Osteen quotes...

[LaPorteAveApostle]

For an attitude adjustment, maybe Carlson needs to make a suprise return and provide some Joel Osteen quotes...

[historyman]

Here's a quote from Joel Osteen that both the seniors on the basketball team and football team could take to heart:

"You must make a decision that you are going to move on. It won't happen automatically. You will have to rise up and say, 'I don't care how hard this is, I don't care how disappointed I am, I'm not going to let this get the best of me. I'm moving on with my life."
― Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

[VULB#62]

Thanks, Dale.

[Kyle321n]

Do we have to wait until Selection Sunday to find out when we play? It's certainly not helping ticket sales to not be able to sell tickets until we find out when we're playing. C'mon CIT, tell us at least when we play.

[vu72]

I don't remember that any of the non-Big Six conferences conclude their tournaments that late. It would be down to only a couple of teams that might make the NCAAs or NIT fields who wouldn't accept a CIT invite.  Still, unless the field is complete I doubt any decisions as to scheduling would be possible.  Last time we played in it we were matched with Iona.  Iona is located in New York and travel plans would need to be finalized etc, versus us matched up with say, IPFW.

[valpotx]

It would be great to play IPFW at home.  Maybe that would allow us to get more than 1,500 people at the game.  I don't see that large of a crowd showing up for CIT games, unfortunately. 

[vu72]

The CIT site says the first round games are March 18-19, which makes them Tuesday/Wednesday if I counted right!

[HC]

Are the students back from break? If so, maybe we get a few of them to show up at least.

[valpopal]

Are the students back from break? If so, maybe we get a few of them to show up at least.

Classes resume on Monday. Here is further info about tickets and a pep rally.

Faculty and staff get free admission to section E in the lower bleachers. All other tickets are reduced: $15 for chairbacks, $7.50 for bleachers. Game will begin at 7 pm Tuesday or Wednesday. There will be a pep rally at 5 pm in Hilltop. More info about that will be forthcoming.

[a3uge]

Wow they really don't want to have this thing turn into Ionagate.

[mvandersee]

Tues. 7:05PM vs Columbia

[vu72]

The game appears to be on the Horizon League Network