NIT

crusadermoe · March 13, 2016, 03:17:16 PM

Dittos on that, Joe. I just had to add some "moe-joe".

agibson · March 13, 2016, 03:18:53 PM

I don't know all of the history, but the Lurheran Junior High basketball tournament seems to be a big deal for the LCMS and a reasonably big deal for Valpo. It's history likely predates Valpo being D1. It brings hundreds of junior high schoolers and their coaches and some parents from across the country. They'll have made travel iteneraries and likely many of them won't easily be able to extend their stays by a day.

I suspect that many of the coaches would be very sympathetic to Valpo, surely the flagship of Lutheran basketball, hosting a post-season game. Maybe they'd be open to moving to high schools, middle schools, etc. but it's a lot of logistics to organize. (We may be talking about several games simultaneously for most of the day.)

I don't know how much court time Valpo and the visiting team need, for practice, for setup, for the game, etc.

I have some hope that the problems would be eased I'd Valpo could host the game on what looks like the last day of the second round window, the day after the JH tournament, but there would still be some conflict.

I suspect Valpo would be lucky to get 3,000 on a weeknight even for Ohio State.

I wouldn't love it, but there may be a hard decision made that seeding home team advantage is better than alienating a long-term VU constituency. I would, of course, hope that they talk it over with that constituency first. Maybe Valpo would even prefer the road game to the short turnaround that would come from playing on the last day of the second round window. *shrug*

I don't know how regular this conflict is, and I'm a little surprised it hasn't come up before. Is it maybe linked to Easter, not to the solar calendar? And is Easter awkwardly placed this year?

talksalot · March 13, 2016, 03:22:25 PM

LBAA IS a big deal to the participants. I officiated in that tournament for almost 30 years. It is also a big deal to the area economy. They block out almost every hotel room in Lake Porter and LaPorte county.... for 4 days. It starts with a tremendous church service in the Chapel for all of the participants on Thursday night.

http://lbaa.org/lbaa-history/

atkins · March 13, 2016, 04:22:56 PM

Let's hope the scheduling issue is actually just a hypothetical. If Valpo does receive a high seed that necessitates a home game, I would hope that everyone will work together to minimize disruptions to all involved teams. I suspect the NIT's flexibility is restricted because of television commitments, but maybe not.

In the end, Valparaiso University is a D-1 UNIVERSITY. As such, university athletics -- especially a postseason invitational tournament -- must have priority. Valpo should have known the general NIT time window years in advance and anticipated the possibility that Valpo could host a tournament as a high seed in the NIT. I suspect something will be worked out to accommodate everyone. It might be a tight-squeeze, but such is life.

agibson · March 13, 2016, 06:35:13 PM

They titled it strangely ("Close but NIT") on the selection show, but it seems likely Valpo and Monmouth were "Last Four Out" and thus #1 NIT seeds.

Here's John Templon's take on the bracket, after that news.

[tweet]709156678722314240[/tweet]

But he admits it's tricky to figure out the geography for Valpo, making some attempt to avoid the IPFW and Belmont rematches, but favoring geography. Maybe IPFW anyway? (His pick.) Maybe Bucknell? Maybe Akron?

LSU has announced they won't be participating in the post-season.

oklahomamick · March 13, 2016, 06:37:35 PM

Hope not IPFW. They always play us close regardless.

agibson · March 13, 2016, 06:45:20 PM

Quote from: oklahomamick on March 13, 2016, 06:37:35 PM
Hope not IPFW. They always play us close regardless.

You're not wrong. Losing as a #1 seed would be a pretty horrible way to end what should have been (still could be, a little?) an epic season. I imagine it's happened before, unlike the NCAA...

justducky · March 13, 2016, 06:49:23 PM

Quote from: agibson on March 13, 2016, 06:45:20 PM
Quote from: oklahomamick on March 13, 2016, 06:37:35 PM
Hope not IPFW. They always play us close regardless.

You're not wrong. Losing as a #1 seed would be a pretty horrible way to end what should have been (still could be, a little?) an epic season. I imagine it's happened before, unlike the NCAA...

Not sure IPFW should drop that low but they should work to avoid regular season rematches anyway.

talksalot · March 13, 2016, 06:51:29 PM

If they see that we've already played them...probably not going to happen... I'm guessing Texas Southern

justducky · March 13, 2016, 07:34:00 PM

Lost in all this is the obvious question. Can Tevonn play?

oklahomamick · March 13, 2016, 07:37:25 PM

Quote from: justducky on March 13, 2016, 07:34:00 PMLost in all this is the obvious question. Can Tevonn play?

Yes, it was said that all players were prepared and ready to play post season (NCAA or NIT).

talksalot · March 13, 2016, 07:39:01 PM

Quote from: talksalot on March 13, 2016, 06:51:29 PM
If they see that we've already played them...probably not going to happen... I'm guessing Texas Southern

damn what a good guess... winner to get Florida State / Davidson... all right... I'll be the first to say it... Fla State falls after we win the first one!

agibson · March 13, 2016, 07:39:52 PM

Valpo leaked it on twitter. Texas Southern. Well done, talksalot.

[tweet]709175585495490560[/tweet]

A couple of minutes before the selection show said it.

But, man, late tip. 8:15 PM central.

agibson · March 13, 2016, 07:41:40 PM

Quote from: oklahomamick on March 13, 2016, 07:37:25 PM
Quote from: justducky on March 13, 2016, 07:34:00 PMLost in all this is the obvious question. Can Tevonn play?

Yes, it was said that all players were prepared and ready to play post season (NCAA or NIT).

That was part of a full-court press lobbying effort. I expect them to dress, but it'll be interesting to see what the roster is.

Bryce talking about it now on ESPNU.

Tevonn expected to play - didn't give more specifics. Nothing about the Jr. High basketball tournament yet.

agibson · March 13, 2016, 07:45:21 PM

[tweet]709177236155453441[/tweet]

Belmont rematch in third round? Third times the charm? Would be (back?) at Valpo, unless we can find another conflict.

agibson · March 13, 2016, 07:54:06 PM

LSU apparently notified the NIT committee they weren't going to play, not vice versa. They were definitely under consideration.

vu84v2 · March 13, 2016, 08:20:26 PM

If Valpo had to play the second game on the road instead of at home, this would be a major failure of leadership in two ways. First, there was no contingency in the contract with the Boys' basketball tournament to protect the flagship athletic program at Valpo. Second, that leadership was not able to find a solution that allowed both events to go on in Valparaiso when other options would seem to be available (obviously at a cost).

vu84v2 · March 13, 2016, 08:23:45 PM

For those of you that hadn't noticed this yet, Texas Southern won at Michigan State and Kansas State last year.

talksalot · March 13, 2016, 08:27:53 PM

Quote from: vu84v2 on March 13, 2016, 08:23:45 PM
For those of you that hadn't noticed this yet, Texas Southern won at Michigan State and Kansas State last year.

and they lost 11 of their 12 OOC games this year... then practically swept all of the 200+Rpi teams in their conference.... including losses to RPI 334 and 333... they did not play a home game until January 2nd!

Valpo2010 · March 13, 2016, 08:28:01 PM

Just give free upper level tickets to any participant in the LBA tourney...it'll put butts in the seats and keep them happy about having to rearrange their schedule.

oklahomamick · March 13, 2016, 08:29:56 PM

Months before the season started it was said we couldn't get a home game in the league tournament. Now we have a chance to host 3 NIT games?

NIT has home games in the tournament? Can we join that conference?

justducky · March 13, 2016, 08:44:10 PM

It appears that the NIT may have scheduled by true seeding order? Sliding the seeding to avoid travel does not appear to have been their major objective. How does St Mary's get bracketed with us unless we were considered the 4th best and they were the 5th? Also the Florida St - Davidson winner might play here while Akron-Ohio St winner would go elsewhere?

agibson · March 13, 2016, 09:03:37 PM

I notice already in the first round there's a top-4 seed on the road:

#2 Florida will play at #7 North Florida due to O'Connell Center renovations.

agibson · March 13, 2016, 09:10:00 PM

Quote from: justducky on March 13, 2016, 08:44:10 PMSliding the seeding to avoid travel does not appear to have been their major objective. How does St Mary's get bracketed with us unless we were considered the 4th best and they were the 5th? Also the Florida St - Davidson winner might play here while Akron-Ohio St winner would go elsewhere?

The language in their guidelines includes, "The priority for the committee will be to achieve the best-possible competitive balance in each region, while placing teams as close to their areas of natural interest as possible."

A lot of the first round match-ups are reasonable (and then there's IPFW to San Diego State). But, after that... I'm not sure how much it feels like a "Valparaiso regional" (and I think that's more or less the term they'd use). IPFW probably belonged in our region, playing at St. Mary's.

vu72 · March 13, 2016, 09:10:37 PM

Can anybody post the full NIT bracket? This could be exciting if we get two or three Big 5 teams at the ARC. We would end up getting more publicity and local acknowledgement if we win those games and get to NYC then playing and winning one game in the NCAAs. The NIT games will be played during the week, not in competition with the NCAA tourney. We might just end up better off. I know, that blasphemy, just my feeling, but first we need to live up to our expectation and get the NYC.

NIT

atkins