All Decade Team

sectionee · July 10, 2011, 07:04:15 PM

I brought on a new writer. My hopes for a current VU student have been put on hold. But I brought in a guy who got both his undergrad and grad degree from Valpo. Some of you might know him, Brent Gilles. His first contribution to SectionEE is his pick for an All Decade team. Take a look. If nothing else it should be good discussion/arguing!

http://sectionee.blogspot.com/2011/07/valpo-all-decade-team-2000-2010.html

chairback · July 10, 2011, 09:00:26 PM

6th Man take out Diebler and put in Milo Stovall. Deibler was a great team leader but an AVERAGE player for Vu. Struggled offensively all four years. I would rank Greg Tonagel much higher than Diebler. If you ever saw Milo play you'd take him over Deibler any day.

Take out Brandon and put in Jared Nunness. Played up to 2002 and was good even hurt.

Honorable Mention to:
Shawn Huff
Stalin Ortiz
Roberto Nieves
Kikas Gomes

How a tourney game wasn't won early on in that decade has always baffled me. We were loaded with talent but never won the games we should have. While Homer was an excellent coach he should have won with some of those teams.....

wh · July 10, 2011, 10:36:01 PM

Quote from: chairback on July 10, 2011, 09:00:26 PM
6th Man take out Diebler and put in Milo Stovall. Deibler was a great team leader but an AVERAGE player for Vu. Struggled offensively all four years. I would rank Greg Tonagel much higher than Diebler. If you ever saw Milo play you'd take him over Deibler any day.

Take out Brandon and put in Jared Nunness. Played up to 2002 and was good even hurt.

Honorable Mention to:
Shawn Huff
Stalin Ortiz
Roberto Nieves
Kikas Gomes

How a tourney game wasn't won early on in that decade has always baffled me. We were loaded with talent but never won the games we should have. While Homer was an excellent coach he should have won with some of those teams.....

I would also place Urule Igbavboa on the Honorable Mention list - above Nieves and on a par with the other 3.

vu84v2 · July 12, 2011, 01:23:48 PM

Lubos Barton
Raitis Grafs
Dan Oppland
Milo Stovall
Brandon McPherson

Sixth Man: Stalin Ortiz

milanmiracle · July 12, 2011, 05:20:36 PM

Quote from: chairback on July 10, 2011, 09:00:26 PM
6th Man take out Diebler and put in Milo Stovall. Deibler was a great team leader but an AVERAGE player for Vu. Struggled offensively all four years. I would rank Greg Tonagel much higher than Diebler. If you ever saw Milo play you'd take him over Deibler any day.

Take out Brandon and put in Jared Nunness. Played up to 2002 and was good even hurt.

Honorable Mention to:
Shawn Huff
Stalin Ortiz
Roberto Nieves
Kikas Gomes

How a tourney game wasn't won early on in that decade has always baffled me. We were loaded with talent but never won the games we should have. While Homer was an excellent coach he should have won with some of those teams.....

I'd take Tonagel vs. Jake Diebler any day. Heck, I wouldn't put Jake in the top 20, yet alone the top 6. While he was a plucky defender and a great hustle guy, his offense actually hurt the team and allowed the game to be 4 on 5 on the offensive end. While you don't need to score 20 a game, you do need to occupy a defender, and Jake didn't do that most of the time. Too many times help was available and it's was Jakes man who was the help. There was no consequence to leaving Jake, so you might as well help off him. Again, he was a good hustle guy and decent defender, but to put him in the top 6 seems like a bit of a stretch to me.

IndyValpo · July 12, 2011, 09:57:29 PM

How Tonagel gets mentioned in these discussions always amazes me. He was a fine, smart player but he has no stats to even be in the discussion.

To me Grafs, Oppland and Barton on the front line is a no brainer...3rd, 4th and 5th in all time points..2nd, 3rd and 4th in rebounds...

Guards are tougher..I would go with Milo Stovall, 14th in points, 12th in assists, 5th in steals, 7th in 3 pointers as the shooting guard.

PG, I would take McPherson over Loyd or Berdiel.

My sixth man would be Urule.

chairback · July 12, 2011, 10:23:10 PM

My point was Greg is better than Jake. I did not say put him in the top whatever. When Greg came back his last year the team was exponentially better. I only wish Greg hit the 3 against ND....

Urule played out of position his whole career. I feel bad for him as he probably could have put up even better numbers if he was in the right position.

One interesting "list" would be who would be the most underutilized player in Vu history. My vote, Antti Nikkila. Homer once told me it was a huge mistake that he did not redshirt him his freshman year.

chef · July 13, 2011, 12:49:37 AM

Stalin Ortiz is often overlooked, perhaps because he only played two years. I have no argument with Stovall at the shooting guard, as he had a great four-year career. However, I think Ortiz was actually a slightly better player. I think Brandon Wood is being overlooked as well for the two all-conference seasons he had in a Valpo uniform. McPherson at the point and a front line of Barton, Oppland, and Grafs seem like a clear consensus. My 6th man over the past decade would be Shawn Huff.

PatVU07 · July 13, 2011, 07:05:16 AM

I'm not sure how the stats stack up to some of the others, but in the last decade my favorite guard to watch was Ron Howard.

wh · July 13, 2011, 08:17:40 AM

Quote from: chef on July 13, 2011, 12:49:37 AM
I think Brandon Wood is being overlooked as well for the two all-conference seasons he had in a Valpo uniform.

BWood is not eligible, according to sectionee's ground rules. If he were, he would be hands down above any guard we've talked about.

sectionee · July 13, 2011, 09:12:57 AM

Correct WH, according to the writer's ground rules the players had to play at least 2 years between the '00-'01 and '09-'10 seasons. Wood only played in one of those seasons.

chef · July 14, 2011, 01:48:15 AM

My Bad!

sliman · July 14, 2011, 10:29:33 AM

In the past couple of decades I don't think anyone has filled the sixth man role better than Stalin Ortiz. Jared Loyd comes close, but Ortiz had more size and could defend a taller player and was a better shooter. Huff would be a good sixth man, but probably didn't bring the defense or energy off the bench that the other two provided when they had that role. I think we have pretty wide spread agreement on the front line. Lots of guards in play.