Valpo in the National Rankings

[talksalot]

bracketology has us against Maryland in Pittsburg. 

Actually, Pittsburgh.   I don't think the venue at Pittsburg State in Kansas is big enough to host the first round....

http://www.pittstategorillas.com/sports/2012/7/13/MBB_0713122633.aspx?path=mbball

[valporun]

Valpo played Michigan St. in 2000. The game was in Cleveland. 2001 was the only year of my five years at VU that the men's team was home after the conference tournament. The year that Southern Utah was the conference auto-bid.

[valpo04]

Maryland only played 1 out of conference road game...  They can go F*** themselves.   

Sanity Lost, indeed. 

[agibson]

Twitter reports 10 AP points, and 16 in the coaches' poll - both increases.

But, I'm not sure what their source is.

The information has been flowing rather chaotically this morning.

The AP released first a few of the spots (top few, newcomers at 24 and 25), then the top 10.  Then the top 25.  I still haven't seen a definitive list of the also-rans.

http://collegepolltracker.com/basketball/
had some of the details up early, but they've been shifting... very strange.

[talksalot]

http://sportspolls.usatoday.com/ncaa/basketball-men/polls/coaches-poll/

Coaches Poll:   Good for #29

Others Receiving Votes
Georgetown 31; Providence 28; Murray State 23; Valparaiso 16; Ohio State 10; Oklahoma State 10; Stephen F. Austin 9; Texas A&M 6; Oregon 4; Purdue 4; Davidson 4; Mississippi 3; Colorado State 2; Boise State 2.

[talksalot]

and if you're curious:

List of Voters
The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 32 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The board for the 2014-15 season: Tommy Amaker, Harvard; Randy Bennett, Saint Mary?s; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; Todd Bozeman, Morgan State; Glenn Braica, St. Francis Brooklyn; Rick Byrd, Belmont; Scott Cherry, High Point; Tim Cluess, Iona; Ed Conroy, Tulane; Keith Dambrot, Akron; Scott Drew, Baylor; Matt Driscoll, North Florida Steve Fisher, San Diego State; Bruiser Flint, Drexel; Mark Fox, Georgia; John Gallagher, Hartford; Ray Harper, Western Kentucky; Dick Hunsaker, Utah Valley; George Ivory, Arkansas-Pine Bluff; Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa; Rob Jeter, Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Danny Kaspar, Texas State; Mike McConathy, Northwestern State; Greg McDermott, Creighton; Matt Painter, Purdue; Dave Paulsen, Bucknell; Randy Rahe, Weber State; Joe Scott, Denver; Herb Sendek, Arizona State; Shaka Smart, Virginia Commonwealth; Bob Williams, UC-Santa Barbara; Mike Young, Wofford.

[agibson]

The details that are leaking out sound encouraging, at least!

[tweet]569920843586912258[/tweet]

[agibson]

and if you're curious:

List of Voters
The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 32 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The board for the 2014-15 season: Tommy Amaker, Harvard; Randy Bennett, Saint Mary?s; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; Todd Bozeman, Morgan State; Glenn Braica, St. Francis Brooklyn; Rick Byrd, Belmont; Scott Cherry, High Point; Tim Cluess, Iona; Ed Conroy, Tulane; Keith Dambrot, Akron; Scott Drew, Baylor; Matt Driscoll, North Florida Steve Fisher, San Diego State; Bruiser Flint, Drexel; Mark Fox, Georgia; John Gallagher, Hartford; Ray Harper, Western Kentucky; Dick Hunsaker, Utah Valley; George Ivory, Arkansas-Pine Bluff; Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa; Rob Jeter, Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Danny Kaspar, Texas State; Mike McConathy, Northwestern State; Greg McDermott, Creighton; Matt Painter, Purdue; Dave Paulsen, Bucknell; Randy Rahe, Weber State; Joe Scott, Denver; Herb Sendek, Arizona State; Shaka Smart, Virginia Commonwealth; Bob Williams, UC-Santa Barbara; Mike Young, Wofford.

Maybe we've covered this, but, remind me, what's Ivory's connection?

[valporun]

Played Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Nashville, didn't we?

[talksalot]

Yup... we are 3-0 against coaches in the coaches poll. 

[talksalot]

and the AP Top 25 ....   t-34 with the Aggies... BUT still ahead of Indiana.

Others receiving votes: Texas 70, San Diego St 64, Providence 44, Murray St 38, Temple 28, Georgetown 23, Michigan St 17, Dayton 10, Texas A&M 8, Valparaiso 8, Indiana 7

[agibson]

Nice. 

Looks like all of the details are _available_ on the AP's site
http://collegebasketball.ap.org/poll/2015/16
but not (yet?) as well presented as usual.

Probably what's now up at
http://collegepolltracker.com/basketball/2014/week-16
is accurate.

Doughty from Roanoke brings us back down to Earth, from #20 to #23.

And, we're getting a nicely widened base of support at #25: Christian Caple, Elton Alexander, Fletcher Mackel, Scott Mansch, and Steve Wiseman.  With Seth Davis and John Feinestein still in the fold.

And with some encouraging mentions elsewhere, e.g. Chris Lang from Lynchburg
http://www.newsadvance.com/sports/liberty_university/chris_lang_blog/top-ballot-breakdown/article_47248980-bb70-11e4-8e37-177cd27ccc85.html
who lists us maybe around #29, but sounds like Murray State takes up his #25 slot (and probably keeps out any other "weak schedule good record mid-major"?) unless they lose.

[agibson]

and the AP Top 25 ....   t-34 with the Aggies... BUT still ahead of Indiana.

Others receiving votes: Texas 70, San Diego St 64, Providence 44, Murray St 38, Temple 28, Georgetown 23, Michigan St 17, Dayton 10, Texas A&M 8, Valparaiso 8, Indiana 7

That's probably last week?

[talksalot]

Quote from: talksalot on Today at 12:17:28 PM
and the AP Top 25 ....   t-34 with the Aggies... BUT still ahead of Indiana.

Others receiving votes: Texas 70, San Diego St 64, Providence 44, Murray St 38, Temple 28, Georgetown 23, Michigan St 17, Dayton 10, Texas A&M 8, Valparaiso 8, Indiana 7

That's probably last week?

CARAP... you're right... the headline was the same week #... but the details say 2/16... sorry...

[a3uge]

Indiana - 0 votes XD

[agibson]

Here we go.  From ESPN.

The AP:

Others receiving votes: Georgetown 58, Michigan St 56, Murray St 42, Oklahoma St 25, Ohio State 12, Valparaiso 10, Texas A&M 8, Rhode Island 3, Stephen F. Austin 2, Texas 1, Oregon 1

The coaches:

Others receiving votes: Georgetown 31, Providence 28, Murray St 23, Valparaiso 16, Ohio State 10, Oklahoma St 10, Stephen F. Austin 9, Texas A&M 6, Davidson 4, Oregon 4, Purdue 4, Ole Miss 3, Boise State 2, Colorado St 2

RIP Indiana.  Welcome Purdue!

[vu84v2]

If Valpo can come through with two more wins this week, I will need to write to Tom Keegan again. He did not come through (admittedely, he did not respond to my email). From looking at his voting, he seems to have a strong big conference bias with only votes for Northern Iowa and Wichita State and those votes much lower than most others.

[truth219]

Let's play what if. What if valpo wins these final two games and gets in at least one of the top 25. Do you think that would affect ticket sales to the horizon league tournament?

[classof2014]

Let's play what if. What if valpo wins these final two games and gets in at least one of the top 25. Do you think that would affect ticket sales to the horizon league tournament?

No. The Valpo games at the ARC would be sellouts regardless if they are ranked top 25.

[truth219]

We're the sellouts last time we hosted?

[classof2014]

Based on the attendance of our last 3 home games

v. Oakland 4258

v. Green Bay 4920

v. Wright State 5050

I would say there's a good chance that no matter what they'll be sellouts. I don't think being a top 25 will effect that. If you're not a Valpo fan, or an opposing fan, you really don't care who wins.

[Kyle321n]

We're the sellouts last time we hosted?

Last time we hosted here are the listed attendances from ESPN.  I'm not sure why but the attendance of the Wright State-Detroit game was listed as N/A. There was a solid 2k fans there for that and most of the Valpo fans in attendance were actively rooting for WSU.
vs. Green Bay: Attendance: 3,285
vs. Wright St.: Attendance: 4,457

[truth219]

I didn't think they were sellouts

[classof2014]

Having the championship game on a Tuesday night does hurt the attendance, it is done because it is on ESPN but as an avid Valpo fan I wish it was on Saturday. I can't go on a Tuesday night living 5 hours away, I would have to take off two days of work the Tuesday and the Wednesday after due to travel time.

However it does seem there is more excitement around this team than the 11/12 or the 12/13 team. Drawing 5,050 people for measly Wright State is very impressive. So perhaps if we host they will draw better. Just sucks its always over Spring Break and many students travel home and have difficulty attending these games.

[Kyle321n]

I didn't think they were sellouts

Getting 4400 people to the ARC on a Tuesday night is pretty outstanding though. The GB attendance seems really low, the lower bowl was full and the Detroit-WSU spectators stuck around for the epic game. I don't remember what the upper section looked like but I'm pretty sure valpopal has a picture or two of the crowd.