Buzz Williams leaving Marquette for VA Tech

[milanmiracle]

and some people also think that walmart and target are the same stores with different logos.

They pretty much are, minus some credit card security breaches. It's not like you're picking up Frette sheets at either one.

[VULB#62]

62 - you are my hero and I agree with your comments, but dude, you need to get off your beef on Mercer leaving the bogus Pioneer football conference.   Mercer used the Pioneer conference as a preparatory experience before moving to better competition.  They built wonderful facilities, have a great product going and moved on.  If football is important to their total portfolio, and they give football scholarship money, then who can blame them.  Remember, football in the Pioneer conference is lowest end of Div I-AA college football.


As for the facilities - is Valpo that strapped for cash?  It's been 30 years and it's time for an upgrade.  Clean up and expand the ARC to 7000.  If Butler, Drake and Evansville can do it, why can't Valpo? In the future, I would like to see Valpo move up to the Valley or a higher level conference.  We should always prepare for bigger opportunities and not think small all the time - when Valpo does this it drives me nuts. 


Also, if Bryce Drew leaves, Valpo is in big trouble.  In reality, this team met expectations - the Senior class was weak, and their best players will return.  Bryce learned a lot this year, which is not a bad thing.

USC -- I can't get over it,    but all you guys can just ignore my Mercer hangup.  But the damn Mercer bear still is on the Pioneer site!

But I disagree with you on one point.  We don't need a 7,000 seat facility -- just 5-6K really nice seats and the amenities (AKA adequate rest rooms and good concession stands for starters) that attract fans to come back over and over.  Once that goes in, the ancillary possibilities for mid-market concerts (e.g., George Winston, Jim Brickman, Norah Jones, etc.,) and other events multiply. The place could be a money maker (at least a break-even maker) that would help with the financing.  And isn't one of the missions of the university -- bringing culture and the arts to NW Indiana (if not it should be)?  Sorry, but there's a limit to what the chapel can provide to the outside community.  I've seen this evolve at Boston University with the beautiful, new Agganis Center.  It was built to showcase their hockey team with 8500 seats in downtown Boston (but still on campus).  It now is a cultural stop-off for numerous concerts and shows looking for a sellout in a smaller arena.  This exposes BU to the community in a number of vibrant ways.  Couldn't that be happening at Valpo for NW Indiana?  The key is not to overbuild -- just fit the niche.

But I do agree that VU can't wait much longer.  If they do wait too long, it's back to D-III.  Right, Setshot?

[LaPorteAveApostle]

They pretty much are, minus some credit card security breaches. It's not like you're picking up Frette sheets at either one.

it's also not like there's a peopleoftarget.com either


edit
...


er

well

http://peopleoftarget.wordpress.com/

erg

People in Target

[a3uge]

Let's join the Southland because someone in that league won a tourney game!

Seriously what the hell do you expect of Valpo? Magically join the A10? Join the Big East? The B1G 10? Since the Sweet 16 run they jumped up to a 1-2 bid geographically sane league with a much higher conference RPI. The only other option would be to be magically invited to the MVC, another 1-2 bid league. Except travel times would be longer and we'd have to upset Wichita State in the conference tournament to make the dance. Sounds fun!

Its absolutely ridiculous how people on here think we're somehow too good for this league and how terrible it is that the league consists of teams that were in the MidCon 20 years ago. Whats the alternative? We should've stayed in the Summit because North Dakota State won a tourney game? We should've jumped up to the A10 by now? Since the Sweet 16 year Valpo consistently won the league to jump up a conference. Before the Sweet 16 year, Wright State, CSU, UWM, UWGB, etc had already left, so if you're going to be disappointed at our conference situation, you might as well blame the guys from 20 years ago.

As for the facilities - I'd agree with wh, but I'm not 100% convinced the program is screwed forever, but in order to take this program to the next level, were going to have to invest some money in facilities upgrades. Unfortunately we might just need to hope that an alumni is actually a sports fan. The Christophers and the likes aren't the mid major basketball fans like us.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I think you missed my point. It's not that Valpo should have joined any particular league, but the fact that they're playing in basically the same league, with the same facilities, with the same general status quo approach. The brand didn't grow, nor is it going to grow either. The reality is Valpo is in the same spot they were in 1997, with less NCAA tournament exposure and Mr. Basketball isn't walking through that door anytime soon.

There was a lot of trashing of the Summit League and talk of how much better the Horizon League would be for Valpo and seeding in the NCAA's if they got in. Last year Valpo was a 14 seed out of the Horizon League vs. South Dakota State getting a 13 seed. This year it was  12 seed for North Dakota State. Valpo's Sweet 16 run was as a 13 seed. Point being, neither conference is that fantastic and the difference between the two is marginal at best. Mid Con, Summit League, Horizon League, OVC, ect...they're all pretty much the same thing with a different logo.

If all of these conferences are basically the same thing, what are you so pissed off about? That we're not in the Big East? What conference should we be in right now? Are you pissed we haven't jumped to the MVC? Seriously, where do you expect us to be right now? I guess the SWAC, Southland, SoCon, Sun Belt, A Sun, CUSA, same damn thing too, right? SFA got a 12 seed and Tulsa got a 13.

These were the teams in the MidCon in 1997-1998:

1   Valparaiso
2   Oral Roberts
3   Youngstown State
3   Western Illinois
5   Buffalo
6   Missouri-Kansas City
7   Southern Utah
8   Northeastern Illinois
9   Chicago State

It doesn't exactly look like the current Horizon League, but hey, let's keep pretending we're in the same exact spot we were in 1997. Trips to Detroit are basically the same as taking a trip to southern utah. Playing 2 games a year vs Chicago State where your RPI gets worse from a win is basically the same thing as what we have now. I guess going 18-0 in a conference and not even being remotely close to at-large talks if you lose your conference tourney is about what we have now, right?

Same conference different logo, lol, I thought people here would actually respect mid major basketball. Sounds like something that would come out of a Duke fan.

[wh]

Let's join the Southland because someone in that league won a tourney game!

Seriously what the hell do you expect of Valpo? Magically join the A10? Join the Big East? The B1G 10? Since the Sweet 16 run they jumped up to a 1-2 bid geographically sane league with a much higher conference RPI. The only other option would be to be magically invited to the MVC, another 1-2 bid league. Except travel times would be longer and we'd have to upset Wichita State in the conference tournament to make the dance. Sounds fun!

Its absolutely ridiculous how people on here think we're somehow too good for this league and how terrible it is that the league consists of teams that were in the MidCon 20 years ago. Whats the alternative? We should've stayed in the Summit because North Dakota State won a tourney game? We should've jumped up to the A10 by now? Since the Sweet 16 year Valpo consistently won the league to jump up a conference. Before the Sweet 16 year, Wright State, CSU, UWM, UWGB, etc had already left, so if you're going to be disappointed at our conference situation, you might as well blame the guys from 20 years ago.

As for the facilities - I'd agree with wh, but I'm not 100% convinced the program is screwed forever, but in order to take this program to the next level, were going to have to invest some money in facilities upgrades. Unfortunately we might just need to hope that an alumni is actually a sports fan. The Christophers and the likes aren't the mid major basketball fans like us.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I think you missed my point. It's not that Valpo should have joined any particular league, but the fact that they're playing in basically the same league, with the same facilities, with the same general status quo approach. The brand didn't grow, nor is it going to grow either. The reality is Valpo is in the same spot they were in 1997, with less NCAA tournament exposure and Mr. Basketball isn't walking through that door anytime soon.

There was a lot of trashing of the Summit League and talk of how much better the Horizon League would be for Valpo and seeding in the NCAA's if they got in. Last year Valpo was a 14 seed out of the Horizon League vs. South Dakota State getting a 13 seed. This year it was  12 seed for North Dakota State. Valpo's Sweet 16 run was as a 13 seed. Point being, neither conference is that fantastic and the difference between the two is marginal at best. Mid Con, Summit League, Horizon League, OVC, ect...they're all pretty much the same thing with a different logo.

If all of these conferences are basically the same thing, what are you so pissed off about? That we're not in the Big East? What conference should we be in right now? Are you pissed we haven't jumped to the MVC? Seriously, where do you expect us to be right now? I guess the SWAC, Southland, SoCon, Sun Belt, A Sun, CUSA, same damn thing too, right? SFA got a 12 seed and Tulsa got a 13.

These were the teams in the MidCon in 1997-1998:

1   Valparaiso
2   Oral Roberts
3   Youngstown State
3   Western Illinois
5   Buffalo
6   Missouri-Kansas City
7   Southern Utah
8   Northeastern Illinois
9   Chicago State

It doesn't exactly look like the current Horizon League, but hey, let's keep pretending we're in the same exact spot we were in 1997. Trips to Detroit are basically the same as taking a trip to southern utah. Playing 2 games a year vs Chicago State where your RPI gets worse from a win is basically the same thing as what we have now. I guess going 18-0 in a conference and not even being remotely close to at-large talks if you lose your conference tourney is about what we have now, right?

Same conference different logo, lol, I thought people here would actually respect mid major basketball. Sounds like something that would come out of a Duke fan.

and some people also think that walmart and target Dollar General and Family Dollar are the same stores with different logos.

There, I fixed it for you. Walmart/Target analogies are exclusive to Power 5 conferences. 

[valpotx]

I know that Baylor was in a different situation, but what in the world had Scott done to be considered for the Baylor job?  And if anybody says he was a great recruiter that will really be funny.  Bryce's resume blows Scott's away if you compare them at the same time in their lives, as first year head coaches.

Not many prominent coaches would have taken a chance on the Baylor program, even BEFORE the tragic situation that unfolded.  Baylor basketball was just like Baylor football back then, an absolute joke in the conference.  Throw in the fact that they were going to be losing scholarships, unable to play in postseason tournaments, etc, and there really weren't a lot of coaches wanting that job.  Here comes Scott Drew backed by Tim Floyd (as someone mentioned), and it made sense for them to bridge the gap for a few years to stem the suspensions, and if he over performed, fantastic.  You don't think he was a great recruiter?  He was consistently voted one of the top 25 college basketball recruiters in the late 90s and early 2000s...and it shows at Baylor.  Scott's problem is in-game coaching.  He can sell ice to an eskimo, if you just look at the talent he has brought to Baylor in the last decade.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

There, I fixed it for you. Walmart/Target analogies are exclusive to Power 5 conferences.

I love how no matter what the stated topic title is, we always (d)evolve to either "conference affiliation", "facilities", or "because we turn the ball over".  Because this one involves a favorite phobia, "bryce leaving", it gets to include two of the three.

[milanmiracle]

If all of these conferences are basically the same thing, what are you so pissed off about? That we're not in the Big East? What conference should we be in right now? Are you pissed we haven't jumped to the MVC? Seriously, where do you expect us to be right now? I guess the SWAC, Southland, SoCon, Sun Belt, A Sun, CUSA, same damn thing too, right? SFA got a 12 seed and Tulsa got a 13.

These were the teams in the MidCon in 1997-1998:

1   Valparaiso
2   Oral Roberts
3   Youngstown State
3   Western Illinois
5   Buffalo
6   Missouri-Kansas City
7   Southern Utah
8   Northeastern Illinois
9   Chicago State

It doesn't exactly look like the current Horizon League, but hey, let's keep pretending we're in the same exact spot we were in 1997. Trips to Detroit are basically the same as taking a trip to southern utah. Playing 2 games a year vs Chicago State where your RPI gets worse from a win is basically the same thing as what we have now. I guess going 18-0 in a conference and not even being remotely close to at-large talks if you lose your conference tourney is about what we have now, right?

Same conference different logo, lol, I thought people here would actually respect mid major basketball. Sounds like something that would come out of a Duke fan.

First off there are things to be pissed off about, and this isn't one of them. Disappointed, sure, pissed off, not so much. As for where Valpo should be now, who knows because there was no effort to change anything or to increase the strength of the program. Valpo is clearly okay with that so it is what it is. Butler parlayed 2 incredible tournament runs into a Big East Invite. Horizon to A10 to Big East. That's amazing, but they're in a different world than VU. Butler is in Indianapolis vs. Valparaiso, IN. BIG Difference. That being said, with what Valpo has done to enhance the program it would be ridiculous to even attempt to join those ranks.

As for respecting the over used term "Mid Major" basketball, I certainly do, however...there's a difference between Mid Major and non BCS teams. Wichita State, Gonzaga, and VCU are Mid Majors. Butler and Xavier used to be Mid Majors before they joined the Big East. The term Major is overused in my opinion.

[historyman]

I love how no matter what the stated topic title is, we always (d)evolve to either "facilities", or "because we turn the ball over".

I wish we could combine these two topics and turn the facilities over more often. 

[a3uge]

If all of these conferences are basically the same thing, what are you so pissed off about? That we're not in the Big East? What conference should we be in right now? Are you pissed we haven't jumped to the MVC? Seriously, where do you expect us to be right now? I guess the SWAC, Southland, SoCon, Sun Belt, A Sun, CUSA, same damn thing too, right? SFA got a 12 seed and Tulsa got a 13.

These were the teams in the MidCon in 1997-1998:

1   Valparaiso
2   Oral Roberts
3   Youngstown State
3   Western Illinois
5   Buffalo
6   Missouri-Kansas City
7   Southern Utah
8   Northeastern Illinois
9   Chicago State

It doesn't exactly look like the current Horizon League, but hey, let's keep pretending we're in the same exact spot we were in 1997. Trips to Detroit are basically the same as taking a trip to southern utah. Playing 2 games a year vs Chicago State where your RPI gets worse from a win is basically the same thing as what we have now. I guess going 18-0 in a conference and not even being remotely close to at-large talks if you lose your conference tourney is about what we have now, right?

Same conference different logo, lol, I thought people here would actually respect mid major basketball. Sounds like something that would come out of a Duke fan.

First off there are things to be pissed off about, and this isn't one of them. Disappointed, sure, pissed off, not so much. As for where Valpo should be now, who knows because there was no effort to change anything or to increase the strength of the program. Valpo is clearly okay with that so it is what it is. Butler parlayed 2 incredible tournament runs into a Big East Invite. Horizon to A10 to Big East. That's amazing, but they're in a different world than VU. Butler is in Indianapolis vs. Valparaiso, IN. BIG Difference. That being said, with what Valpo has done to enhance the program it would be ridiculous to even attempt to join those ranks.

As for respecting the over used term "Mid Major" basketball, I certainly do, however...there's a difference between Mid Major and non BCS teams. Wichita State, Gonzaga, and VCU are Mid Majors. Butler and Xavier used to be Mid Majors before they joined the Big East. The term Major is overused in my opinion.

"I'm disappointed..."

"Well where do you think Valpo should be right now, as opposed to where it was in 1997 when they were playing conference games in Southern Utah and vs Chicago State?"

"Who knows..."

Seriously, last year we had the highest RPI in the history of the program, higher than even the Sweet 16 year, and are currently playing conference games in Chicago and Milwaukee instead of Utah and Connecticut. If you rewound 15 years and asked where you'd expect Valpo to be, I'm pretty sure if you explained a scenario where we'd be playing conference games in Cleveland, Detroit, and Green Bay against future NBA players (Cole, McCallum, and Brown), we'd be in a much better spot.

This conversation is going nowhere if you think that moving to the Horizon did nothing to advance the strength of the program. It means your expectations were to jump from the Horizon to another league by now, which would mean advancing to the Elite 8 or something like that to jump up to the A10 or Big East.

Seriously, we're a small private Lutheran school with 2,800 undergrads in a small city. 15 years ago expecting Valpo would be in a 4-5 bid league or playing conference games against 1 seeds by now would have been ludicrous.

[vu72]

As for respecting the over used term "Mid Major" basketball, I certainly do, however...there's a difference between Mid Major and non BCS teams. Wichita State, Gonzaga, and VCU are Mid Majors. Butler and Xavier used to be Mid Majors before they joined the Big East. The term Major is overused in my opinion.

I think I agree   The use of "major" is very overused.  Butler and Xavier are now majors because of their conference?  That make DePaul a major, Houston, UCF and Temple, all majors. Is the A-10 a major?  If so then Fordham just got moved into the major category, after all, Dayton is playing in the Sweet sixteen.  No one from the Big East made it that far.

My point is simply that the press, and fans, are anxious to categorize teams.  It helps with the David/Goliath thing.  Much has been written this year about parity and how teams with lots of seniors who are part of "mid-major" or "low-major" conferences can and have won games against "high major" teams.  Mercer, Harvard, Steven F. Austin come to mind.  So the description of a team should follow their play and results.  Butler has played at a "high-major" level while being part of a "mid-major" conference.  This year Butler and DePaul were a combined 0-17 against top 50 teams an finished a combined 25-38.  They weren't "high-major" teams--this year.  In the same way is TCU a "High-major" because of their Big 12 conference membership? They finished 8-22 and 0-17 against the top 50.  How about Houston, UCF or Temple?

To my way of thinking a team is playing at a "High-Major" LEVELor it isn't.  Wichita State was a "High-Major" team this year if they played in the Big 10 or the Valley. No need to further try to pigeon hole teams.

[oklahomamick]

I want the team to be successful and in a successful conference.  What determines succesfful conference?  1-2 bids where the conference winner doesn't always receive a 15-16.  A win in a the NCAA tournament from time to time. 

I also want the conference to have mostly private schools, good fan base, higher academic repuatation, and larger endowments. 

I don't like playing schools with state money, huge student population where most don't live on campus, lower academic rankings and small endowments. 

Besides location, what do we have in common with our conference foes? 

[a3uge]

As for respecting the over used term "Mid Major" basketball, I certainly do, however...there's a difference between Mid Major and non BCS teams. Wichita State, Gonzaga, and VCU are Mid Majors. Butler and Xavier used to be Mid Majors before they joined the Big East. The term Major is overused in my opinion.

I think I agree   The use of "major" is very overused.  Butler and Xavier are now majors because of their conference?  That make DePaul a major, Houston, UCF and Temple, all majors. Is the A-10 a major?  If so then Fordham just got moved into the major category, after all, Dayton is playing in the Sweet sixteen.  No one from the Big East made it that far.

My point is simply that the press, and fans, are anxious to categorize teams.  It helps with the David/Goliath thing.  Much has been written this year about parity and how teams with lots of seniors who are part of "mid-major" or "low-major" conferences can and have won games against "high major" teams.  Mercer, Harvard, Steven F. Austin come to mind.  So the description of a team should follow their play and results.  Butler has played at a "high-major" level while being part of a "mid-major" conference.  This year Butler and DePaul were a combined 0-17 against top 50 teams an finished a combined 25-38.  They weren't "high-major" teams--this year.  In the same way is TCU a "High-major" because of their Big 12 conference membership? They finished 8-22 and 0-17 against the top 50.  How about Houston, UCF or Temple?

To my way of thinking a team is playing at a "High-Major" LEVELor it isn't.  Wichita State was a "High-Major" team this year if they played in the Big 10 or the Valley. No need to further try to pigeon hole teams.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/ncaa-tournament-proving-that-midmajor-semiupperlow,17154/

But to seriously address the labeling, typically CUSA/A10/MWC waffle in between "mid-major" and "high-major" along with Gonzaga, and now maybe VCU, which many consider a major school playing in a mid-major conference. The leading mid-major site midmajority (which is going away) coined the "Red Line" designation which bases mid major status on athletic budgets. While TCU sucks at basketball, they still spend $6.2 a year on it and are playing against Andrew Wiggins, not Nick Wiggins, so typically they wouldn't be called a mid major by anyone. CollegeInsider created a tournament and some awards based on their definition if mid major as anyone outside the typical power conferences, A10, MWC, and CUSA. Whatever the designation, there's a group of teams out there like North Dakota State, Valpo, South Dakota State, SFA, etc that don't have the budgets that the main conferences do, don't have the TV packages and don't have the recruiting advantages (seriously, 4 star recruits are more likely to go to TCU/Depaul than SFA/Valpo).   Just because Valpo isn't at the level of top tier MVC/A10 team, doesn't mean we should be disappointed in where we are right now, which is playing in a league that doesn't have a trip each year to Fargo or Southern Utah.

[a3uge]

I want the team to be successful and in a successful conference.  What determines succesfful conference?  1-2 bids where the conference winner doesn't always receive a 15-16.  A win in a the NCAA tournament from time to time. 

I also want the conference to have mostly private schools, good fan base, higher academic repuatation, and larger endowments. 

I don't like playing schools with state money, huge student population where most don't live on campus, lower academic rankings and small endowments. 

Besides location, what do we have in common with our conference foes? 

What's the alternative? This conference you describe doesn't exist.

Also, we're currently not in a conference where that always receives a 15-16 seed. The Horizon has never received a 16 seed. We received a 14 seed last year because it we were conveniently close to a host site. Had the field been the same as this year where all the top conference teams lost, we would've been a 12 seed. This year had Green Bay won, they would have been a 12 seed. Had Sykes now gotten injured in the semi-final game, they'd be an at-large right now. The reason why we've wound up with 15 seeds in 2 of the last 3 years is because our best teams aren't being sent. The Summit, Southland, etc sent their best teams. We didn't. The league has sent a 15 seed only 3 time in its history. The Summit (MidCon) sent 5 16 seeds alone in that period.

[Kyle321n]

I want the team to be successful and in a successful conference.  What determines succesfful conference?  1-2 bids where the conference winner doesn't always receive a 15-16.  A win in a the NCAA tournament from time to time. 

I also want the conference to have mostly private schools, good fan base, higher academic repuatation, and larger endowments. 

I don't like playing schools with state money, huge student population where most don't live on campus, lower academic rankings and small endowments. 

Besides location, what do we have in common with our conference foes? 

What's the alternative? This conference you describe doesn't exist.

He just described the Ivies to a T.  Well minus the multiple bids and tourney wins.

[FWalum]

Mid-Major, High-Major, Low-Major blah,blah,blah blahhhhhhhhhhh.  We keep hearing that it is hard to determine what these "labels" actually mean and that "Mid-Majors" are performing better in the tournament.  If this is the case then why does the committee keep acting like "Mid-Majors" only deserve the leftovers from the power conferences.  It is blatantly obvious this year that many of the teams seeded 8 - 16 were not seeded correctly. Either the RPI needs to be re-evaluated with more emphasis placed on conference standing or I suggest that each of the top 16 or so conferences get at least 2 teams in the tournament. 

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I wish we could combine these two topics and turn the facilities over more often.

you are today's big winner.

a3, I don't think milan's a VU fan as much as a butler fan, so you're kind of tilting at windmills there.

[a3uge]

Mid-Major, High-Major, Low-Major blah,blah,blah blahhhhhhhhhhh.  We keep hearing that it is hard to determine what these "labels" actually mean and that "Mid-Majors" are performing better in the tournament.  If this is the case then why does the committee keep acting like "Mid-Majors" only deserve the leftovers from the power conferences.  It is blatantly obvious this year that many of the teams seeded 8 - 16 were not seeded correctly. Either the RPI needs to be re-evaluated with more emphasis placed on conference standing or I suggest that each of the top 16 or so conferences get at least 2 teams in the tournament.

I don't know how this would be fixed, but something's wrong when Villanova gets a 2 seed after losing to Seton Hall, a monumental screwup, in their conf tourney, while Green Bay, a team projected as a 12 seed doesn't even get in because they had a screwup to a similar RPI team. I'm not sure why conference tourneys seem to have no weight the bigger the conference gets (Louisville a 4, Mich St a 4 while Mich a 2) but for lower conferences, there's absolutely no forgiveness for having a bad game in your conference tournament.

But then again Green Bays RPI this year was worse than what we ended up with last year.

I'm not saying there should be forgiveness for Green Bay losing the conf tourneys, but that the power conferences should be punished brutally for performing terribly in their conference tourneys.

Something seems wrong when Green Bay, Toledo, Belmont, and Georgia St, LA Tech, Boston U, UC Irvine, Vermont, and Davidson were all left out this year, while considerably worse teams are dancing in their place. There's a reason why there's only 1 A10 team in the Sweet 16, while every conference behind the A10 is absent. I'm not sure if how this problem would ever be solved, but we ended up with a watered down tournament on the bottom end in a year where the top seeds were obviously vulnerable.

[a3uge]

I wish we could combine these two topics and turn the facilities over more often.

you are today's big winner.

a3, I don't think milan's a VU fan as much as a butler fan, so you're kind of tilting at windmills there.

So that explains why he has no desire to look up whom was actually in the conference in 1997?

[LaPorteAveApostle]

So that explains why he has no desire to look up whom was actually in the conference in 1997?

probably, and also why he doesn't really care about the subject in the first place, except as semi-innocent bystander

[a3uge]

There's some grumbling about Shaka Smart being hired at Marquette. Seems like a guy that's buddies with PantherU is reporting it as a done deal. This can only end well.

[usc4valpo]

62 - good comments and I agree with what you said. They need a cleaner, cozy and great arena we can be proud of. The 5 to 6K seating capacity makes sense.


Is Valpo strapped for cash?  We need to go into debt like the rest of America!

[usc4valpo]

"Seriously, we're a small private Lutheran school with 2,800 undergrads in a small city. 15 years ago expecting Valpo would be in a 4-5 bid league or playing conference games against 1 seeds by now would have been ludicrous."

I thought Valpo was getting closer to 4500 students.  I must be wrong on that.  I must be reading too much Valpo propaganda.

[Dave_2010]

I thought Valpo was getting closer to 4500 students.  I must be wrong on that.  I must be reading too much Valpo propaganda.

I think the total number is approaching that level, but a good deal of it is coming via the law and MBA programs. Similar to the strategy that Concordia-WI has used to either jumped or at least come close to us for #2 largest Lutheran school nationally.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oklahomamick]

All this frustration comes from the HL not being what it was when we joined 7 years ago.

From 1995 to 2011, the Horizon League has produced 22 wins including five "Sweet 16" appearances, making the Horizon League the only non-BCS conference with Sweet 16 participants in at least five of the last nine tournaments (2003, 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2011).  The Horizon League has compiled a 15-8 record in the past five years in the NCAA tournament, ranking tops among all NCAA Division I conferences for winning percentage in that span.

Prior to our inaugural year in 2007, the conference we were joining was producing 2 bids on a regular basis.  One of the two bids won a tourney game each of the double bid years.

"Valpo bloggers don't think we are too good for the HL"  We just know the league has changed since we joined, thus the frustration.  If the stats I just mentioned were happening today, bloggers wouldn't be disgruntled with the HL. 

Heck, if those stats were happening today, I wouldn't care if the conference was dominated by commuter state system schools.