LeCrone "spins" Detroit as success

[a3uge]

I'm surprised nobody has ripped this comment yet:

"We wanted everyone to feel like a champion," LeCrone said. "That was really year one what we wanted to accomplish.

[classof2014]

Probably impossible under the Olympia contract, unless maybe you left the other six teams slog it out for a consolation prize.

What would be the point of the consolation prize? Congrats you stink so here's trophy showing that you are the best of the worst?

Is the 4 team or 6 team tournament idea a good one? Yes. Makes sense. Will it happen? No.

[covufan]

The Ivy going to a 4 team tourney?  That brings up an interesting point.  Why do we have to have all teams participate?  Why not just the top 8 or even the top 6 (like soccer)? Wouldn't that be an incentive to the weaker teams to upgrade so as not to be left out ( a form of relegation, no?)  Right now the bottom feeders are not penalized, other than seeding, for poor in-season performance.   This also guarantees that the participating RPIs are more top end.

I believe that there are conferences that have played with this in the past.  Since we are on the hook for four days in Detroit, I'm guessing that one option would be for the bottom four teams to play Saturday, all remaining teams play Sunday, two games Monday and the final on Tuesday.

The HL needs to take a long look at what makes a team top 100 - facilities, $$ for recruiting trips, $$ for Coaching Staff, AD staff alignment, etc.  Then the HL needs to assess all teams for potential improvements that would help improve each team, and thusly, the HL. 

[agibson]

Probably impossible under the Olympia contract, unless maybe you left the other six teams slog it out for a consolation prize.

What would be the point of the consolation prize? Congrats you stink so here's trophy showing that you are the best of the worst?

It'd clearly be a bobby prize. But, it seems like they should play for _something_ if they're coming to Detroit to play in a tournament setting, "feel like champions", etc.

[VULB#62]

Probably impossible under the Olympia contract, unless maybe you left the other six teams slog it out for a consolation prize.

What would be the point of the consolation prize? Congrats you stink so here's trophy showing that you are the best of the worst?

It'd clearly be a bobby prize. But, it seems like they should play for _something_ if they're coming to Detroit to play in a tournament setting, "feel like champions", etc.

Nah, why make the losers feel like champions in any way?  Get the tournament done in 3 days (¼ finals, semis and final) and get the heck out of there.  Olympia should jump at not having the fourth day of overhead costs associated with lousy attendance.

[usc4valpo]

plastic participation trophies for everyone including the restroom attendants!

[VULB#62]

.... and bigger than the winner's trophies to help heal the deep wounds associated being offended by losing.

[wh]

.... and bigger than the winner's trophies to help heal the deep wounds associated being offended by losing.

LOL! 

[crusaderjoe]

You guys should be careful of what you wish for.  Valpo has already been a part of a conference that didn't send every team to the post season conference tourney--the old Mid-Con.  Someone tell me, how did that work out for us? I'll wait...

[mgovalpo]

Wouldn't a 1 day break before the final be better for the  finalists?

The break is for the women's quarterfinal games. The men play their four games one day, the women the next, then both sets of semis and finals are the same day.

I think the WCC break on Sunday (which was for both men and women) was because of BYU not playing on Sundays.

It would make sense to have 7-10 and 8-9 play a few days before getting to Detroit and then slotting those winners in against 1 and 2 and go to the Summit format (the MAAC does it too), where No. 1 and No. 2 play on the first day (men and women), then No. 3 and No. 4 play the next day with all four semis and the two finals in the two days following.

[ValpoHoops]

I think the WCC break on Sunday (which was for both men and women) was because of BYU not playing on Sundays.

I do believe you are correct. I can't read a bracket. I swear I saw that right this morning   

[oklahomamick]

Should have kept everything the exact same.  byes and location the same.  Worked fine.

[StlVUFan]

Kampe and Bryce compared their stats Monday and both shot 38% from the field and 30% from behind the arc (so Kampe said).  Uncanny.  They're both thinking -- of course -- we should get rid of the double bye.

I still feel like we really don't know what to expect for the double-bye in this new format (assuming it remains).  We have 1 data point.  Kinda hard to extrapolate accurately from that.  We have 10 or so data points the previous format, and Jimmy Lemke did a what-if analysis that suggested that Butler doesn't even make the tourney in 2011 without the double-bye (I guess, they had 0 home tourney games that year).  I'm still not sure that's enough, but it is more data.

If they are going to have both tournaments next year over the same weekend so I get 18 games instead of 9, I love that idea.

[justducky]

Kampe and Bryce compared their stats Monday and both shot 38% from the field and 30% from behind the arc (so Kampe said).  Uncanny.  They're both thinking -- of course -- we should get rid of the double bye.

I still feel like we really don't know what to expect for the double-bye in this new format (assuming it remains).  We have 1 data point.  Kinda hard to extrapolate accurately from that.

Keep in mind that I have never liked the double-bye concept or trusted in its abilities to help select the best team for that moment in time. With that in mind lets focus on the tradeoff between the 1 and 2 seeds and the 3, 4 and lower teams. If the 3 and 4 are late season developing teams who suffer no additional injuries in their first 2 games (a very big if) then there is little question they would enjoy a first half rust free, adrenalin driven advantage. That was the case this year in both games and that was enough.

I think most of you will agree that Wright State and Green Bay were 2 of our biggest disappointments for non conference performance but this year the double bye was exactly what they needed.


 

[Pgmado]

I notice by its absence in the commissioner's comments the need to develop and enforce OCSOS scheduling guidelines.  The league could be proactive in this by working as hard as possible to initiate an early season "Challenge" series with a similar Mid-major conference.

As far as I know the Horizon League is working on this and has been working on this. LeCrone did in fact talk about it, it just didn't make the story. I'd have to dig up my notes which are among the many boxes in my house as I've just moved.

[VULB#62]

Thanks, Paul. Well, at least that's a step in the right direction.  Something like a 4 game series for all HL clubs with, like, the MVC or OVC or the Summit (?) would bolster both conferences' SOS a bit if done right and do the one thing that mid majors have the hardest time doing -- finding qualified opponents to schedule.  And if that is coupled with stronger OOC scheduling requirements as a part of league membership, it would be a positive.

[talksalot]

Maybe we can get some major sports network to sanction a weekend of games for the top 32 Mid-Majors to be seeded and play each other; with the promise for a return game the following season....   gee... that might bust some brackets....

[VULB#62]

Yeah.... they could hold it at the Joe Louis Arena! 

[agibson]

Kampe and Bryce compared their stats Monday and both shot 38% from the field and 30% from behind the arc (so Kampe said).  Uncanny.  They're both thinking -- of course -- we should get rid of the double bye.

I still feel like we really don't know what to expect for the double-bye in this new format (assuming it remains).  We have 1 data point.  Kinda hard to extrapolate accurately from that. 

2 or 3 games from one year, and a lot of folk wisdom, common sense, and aphorisms.

What ever happened to "tired legs"? That's the story Donlon was still telling in his famous presser. And that everyone told in past campus-sites tournaments. It seemed plausible enough then.

[StlVUFan]

Oh yeah, all of these are plausible.  That's what makes them such compelling conclusions to jump to

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

[bbtds]

"You're about to award a contract extension to a women's basketball coach who's 32-90 in four years. How does that help the conference? What did playing you twice do to our RPI and seeding?"

That extension of Dorow's contract is in no way guaranteed. It will be a tough decision for our AD but I think he will need to be consistent. If Freeman was fired for his record why would you not replace Dorow for a similar record. It is a very tough decision and one that I'm sure no AD likes to make when people's careers are on the line.

[VULB#62]

"You're about to award a contract extension to a women's basketball coach who's 32-90 in four years. How does that help the conference? What did playing you twice do to our RPI and seeding?"

That extension of Dorow's contract is in no way guaranteed. It will be a tough decision for our AD but I think he will need to be consistent. If Freeman was fired for his record why would you not replace Dorow for a similar record. It is a very tough decision and one that I'm sure no AD likes to make when people's careers are on the line.

Freeman had some good teams, right?  Mostly in the Mid-Con I think.  His record over the final few years of his contract spiraled downward for some reason (I wasn't that familiar with the WBB program at the time), those last 5 were as a new-comer in the HL.  Dorrow's record started poorly, recruiting of D-I talent from the outset was an issue, tactically and fundamentally she and her staff appeared to be over their heads and were learning D-I on the job.  While there has been a little improvement, WBB still haven't turned the performance corner where we are at least in the middle of the pack after 4 seasons.  Comments like "We're starting to put the building blocks in place"  (after 4 seasons) makes me wonder if we are really headed in the right direction and if we are actually becoming at all consistently competitive. 

In Horizon competition seasons:

Freeman
5 seasons
All games (152) 56-96 36%
HL games (91) 34-57 37%

Dorrow
4 seasons
All games (123) 33-90 26%
HL games (66) 15-51 25%
In their 5th season WBB would need to go 23-8 to get the overall 5 year record to just 36.3% and 16-2 in the HL to reach 35.7% (or what got Freeman fired).

I think ML is doing the right thing in giving her the 5th year, but I think it's a futile effort in the long run.

[vu72]

"You're about to award a contract extension to a women's basketball coach who's 32-90 in four years. How does that help the conference? What did playing you twice do to our RPI and seeding?"

That extension of Dorow's contract is in no way guaranteed. It will be a tough decision for our AD but I think he will need to be consistent. If Freeman was fired for his record why would you not replace Dorow for a similar record. It is a very tough decision and one that I'm sure no AD likes to make when people's careers are on the line.

I think she deserves another year or two.  We only lose two people from the rotation and are adding some very nice size coming in.  When you look at our regular rotation this year, of the top five scorers, two were freshman, two were sophomores and one was a senior. On rebounding, our top five included two freshman, two sophomores and a junior.  That should bode well for next year.  If it doesn't turnaround then decisions need to be made.

[VULB#62]

Stony Brook (Long Island, NY), a predicted 12 seed, takes the America East. So what,  you say. Check out the USAToday article below and just look at the the second photo of a jammed SBSU arena for the final and compare it to the almost empty JLA cavern when GB won.

Although I step aside in deference to the BB expertise that is resident on this board, I do have an emotional hook into college basketball ( as well as college FB  ). The spectacle that is college basketball, with the emotion and the spirit, makes it a unique phenom. We captured that at the ARC last year and I would suggest that it would be damn close this year even with a GB-WSU final ( but we all know that wouldn't be the case  ). Contrast that to the JLA and compare that to the picture at the Stony Brook arena. What a bummer. LeCrone and his LeCronies have sucked the emotion out of the HL tournament. Major step backward.



http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/ameast/2016/03/12/stony-brook-jameel-warney-march-madness-cinderella/81690044/

[justducky]

Is it true that LeCrone holds an honorary degree from Trump University?