Game #20- UIC Sunday January 22 2pm ARC

[Valpo89]

There were some great games between Valpo and UIC back then. At the time, UIC seemed SOOO much better than Valpo.
My, have the tables turned since then.

[valpo84]

That was an amazing game.  It was a rare game that was on TV around the Midwest, including where we were living.  We had a function that evening that we had to get to and I couldn't tear myself away from the TV to go.  That was a 3-point shooting team!!  There were a lot of OT games that year 7 or 8 and that game and season contributed to a pivotal season for Coach Drew and Valpo in basketball.  Sometimes I believe that game itself could be pointed at when team, coaches, fans believed that the corner had been turned.  It preceded the greatest incoming classes to that point and led to the 1998 successes and the mid-major power we know and love that has continued.

1992-93 -- the first AMCU-8 tourney win since Homer's first year, a 7-5 finish to the season with that UIC win; and they really should have won the game against WSU in the semis at the Nutter Center.  They were clearly "homered" in that game.  It was held at WSU that year as part of a rigged deal to get WSU in the AMCU-8 after the bolting if certain schools to the "Horizon." Billy Edwards was a player though.  They were demolished by IU at the Hoosier Dome in the first round. Valpo89 and FW have the way back machine working OT in my brain this morning.

[VU2014]

There were some great games between Valpo and UIC back then. At the time, UIC seemed SOOO much better than Valpo.
My, have the tables turned since then.

I think so far we can tell Valpo is in good hands with Coach Lottich and this coaching staff. There was that small stretch of games where the team looked flat/tired but that is the nature of college basketball. Those things happen. We've seen development  from the young players. Micah is coming around and looked better the last few games.

As for UIC, I think that team is going to be very tough the next few years. Steve McClain can recruit the hell out of players but he's still shown to lack in the coaching department on the X's & O's and managing the game on the court. I really think the Horizon League is on the up swing as a Mid-Major conference.

[crusaderjoe]

There were some great games between Valpo and UIC back then. At the time, UIC seemed SOOO much better than Valpo.
My, have the tables turned since then.

Sherell Ford?  Man, I haven't heard/read that name in years.  That guy used to shred Valpo. 

Ah yes, the early 90's...when a 12-16 record was something to celebrate, and a win against UIC or Cleveland State was a pretty big deal.

Just to put this in perspective, Valpo hasn't lost to UIC in eight years. Eight years. UIC still leads the overall series by three games.

[Valpo89]

1992-93 -- the first AMCU-8 tourney win since Homer's first year, a 7-5 finish to the season with that UIC win; and they really should have won the game against WSU in the semis at the Nutter Center.  They were clearly "homered" in that game.  It was held at WSU that year as part of a rigged deal to get WSU in the AMCU-8 after the bolting if certain schools to the "Horizon." Billy Edwards was a player though.  They were demolished by IU at the Hoosier Dome in the first round. Valpo89 and FW have the way back machine working OT in my brain this morning.

That season was definitely a turning point, to put it simply, from Valpo being bad to Valpo being good. David Redmon and Casey Schmidt transferring "home" to play for Homer is what put VU on the map. It enabled Scott to bring in quality players down the road, not to mention Bryce deciding to stay home.
That tournament at Wright State was fun. Valpo, as No. 7 seed, beat No. 2 Northern Illinois in the first round. It was great because NIU was coming off an NCAA appearance, I believe, and they had players who thought they were all that and there was no way they could lose to lowly Valpo. Well, when David Redmon bounced an inbounds pass off the ass of an NIU player, retrieved it and scored - game over.
The next game against Wright State was tough. Not only did they have Billy Edwards, they had a 7-2 player named Mike Nahar who was pretty decent. Their coach was Ralph Underhill, who would eventually be arrested for stealing vitamins from a Walmart or something like that.
Now those were the days.
The next season started Valpo's string of 20-win seasons.

[crusaderjoe]

I enjoy reading all of this history.  Hell, now that I think about it, here we are talking about a conference tournament win against Northern Illinois, but just having Valpo make the post season Mid-Con tournament was even huge back then.  Only the top eight teams made the conference tournament IIRC, and I'm sure you can guess who last place team #9 was on more than one occasion.   That season was a definite turning point for sure.

[Valpo89]

It's crazy crusaderjoe. When the mass exodus happened in the old Mid-Con, Valpo and Western Illinois were left hanging. Jon Steinbrecher did a heck of a job patching together enough schools to keep the Mid-Con's automatic bid. The schools who left the old Mid-Con - in part because they didn't want to be in the same league as Valpo - were UIC, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Wright State and Cleveland State. They went to the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, which then changed its name to the Horizon League. The Horizon adds Valpo, Butler and Loyola leave, and what do we have now? Basically a version of the old Mid-Con plus Northern Kentucky and Oakland. I'm not sure, but I think even Detroit at one time may have been a member of the Mid-Con - which, for you youngsters out there, is now the Summit League.

[valpo84]

Detroit was not a member of the Mid-Con, but Chicago State, Central Connecticut, Akron, Buffalo, Troy and Centenary were at some point or another.

[valpo84]

And yes, 89, Nahar was a good post player.  At some point, they had another good Center that went to the NBA, Vitaly Potapenko who was with the Cavs somewhere in the 1990s.

[crusaderjoe]

Still a little salty about that loss to UIC in the Mid-Con tourney in '94.  Everyone knew that the conference was breaking up and Valpo (as well as a couple of other schools) was going to be left to twist in the wind. I was hoping we would win it that year just as a big "eff you" to the league but UIC ended that possibility.  UIC had our number that year.

That '95 team deserves some credit too IMO, as far as setting this whole thing off as far as VU basketball is concerned. We'd been used to seeing 20+ losses a year regularly, and then Valpo gets a 20 win season in '94, and in '95 that team put together a nice season for the fans and alumni to keep it going.  Valpo wins the conference tournament, and what do they get to show for it?  Nothing.  No automatic NCAA bid because the Mid-Con had been gutted because of the exodus.  No NIT either.  Nothing.

Not to rip the scab off the wound, and as RLH would say, this is all water under the bridge now, and it really is, but since we've gone all nostalgic, did we ever come to a consensus on this board as to who or which entity was responsible for the Mid-Con exodus of 1994?  Wasn't it Wright State that led the deflection or is my memory off?

[Valpo89]

I was always led to believe that Wright State led the charge, and the others followed. They thought they were "too good." Plus, they were a relatively new Mid-Con school at the time, moving around to different leagues and always looking for the next best thing.
Look how well that turned out for them. Oops.

[sliman]

Good story about UIC in today's Chicago Tribune.  Includes some positive comments about Peters.

[covufan]

Detroit was not a member of the Mid-Con, but Chicago State, Central Connecticut, Akron, Buffalo, Troy and Centenary were at some point or another.

While Valpo was a member of the Mid-Con, these other teams (non-Horizon) were also a part: (SW) Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Eastern Illinois, Northern Illinois, Northeastern Illinois, UMKC, Southern Utah, Oral Roberts, and IUPUI. 

[agibson]

Good story about UIC in today's Chicago Tribune.  Includes some positive comments about Peters.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-uic-injuries-depth-around-city-spt-0120-20170119-story.html

A little about Alec. A lot about their injury situation, including dressing a manager last game so they'd have eight in uniform.

A related question, which came up in a discussion of the Jubril situation, are student managers paid? Sometimes? Usually? Never? Sort of an internship deal? I suppose if you're paying them you couldn't put them in a uniform. But, student athletes certainly work campus jobs, including at other sporting events: baseball players working concessions, soccer players checking tickets, track athletes acting as ball boys at soccer games.

[valpo4life]

Good story about UIC in today's Chicago Tribune.  Includes some positive comments about Peters.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-uic-injuries-depth-around-city-spt-0120-20170119-story.html

A little about Alec. A lot about their injury situation, including dressing a manager last game so they'd have eight in uniform.

A related question, which came up in a discussion of the Jubril situation, are student managers paid? Sometimes? Usually? Never? Sort of an internship deal? I suppose if you're paying them you couldn't put them in a uniform. But, student athletes certainly work campus jobs, including at other sporting events: baseball players working concessions, soccer players checking tickets, track athletes acting as ball boys at soccer games.

I feel pretty confident in saying that our student managers are not paid. But I have spoke with someone who was a manager at Purdue a couple years ago and he said they received a stipend. It's not surprising if all the bigger schools did pay their managers since they a big part of practices, game day preparations, etc.

[VU2014]

I feel pretty confident in saying that our student managers are not paid. But I have spoke with someone who was a manager at Purdue a couple years ago and he said they received a stipend. It's not surprising if all the bigger schools did pay their managers since they a big part of practices, game day preparations, etc.

One of my friends was a student manager on the basketball team his freshman/sophomore year and he wasn't paid. Those student managers put in a lot of time and work for the team with out getting paid and are definitely under-appreciated from an outsiders perspective. I think a lot of student managers are future coaching hopefuls. I know Alec's brother Austin is a manager and I've talked to a few people who say he's going to be a head coach one day.

[talksalot]

I started this thread by calling us the First Place Crusaders... now we are ALONE in first place thanks to the Penguins win last night at the Resch Center.


1.  Valpo 5-1
2.  Oakland 5-2
2.  GreenBay 5-2
4.  UIC 4-2
5.  Wright State 4-3
6.  Northern KY 3-4
7.  Youngstown St 3-5
8.  Milwaukee 2-5
8.  Detroit 2-5
10.Cleveland State 2-6

No Let Down !  Lets start the separation process tomorrow... and keep it rolling !

[oklahomamick]

I started this thread by calling us the First Place Crusaders... now we are ALONE in first place thanks to the Penguins win last night at the Resch Center. 1.  Valpo 5-1 2.  Oakland 5-2 2.  GreenBay 5-2 4.  UIC 4-2 5.  Wright State 4-3 6.  Northern KY 3-4 7.  Youngstown St 3-5 8.  Milwaukee 2-5 8.  Detroit 2-5 10.Cleveland State 2-6 No Let Down !  Lets start the separation process tomorrow... and keep it rolling !

NKU had a halftime lead on Oakland.  Would have given a little more cushion had NKU kept it up in the second half.  The big question is, what is considered to be the toughest road trip?  We have yet to do any of the proposed three most difficult road trips.

Oakland/Detroit
Green Bay/Milwaukee
NKU/WSU

[Valpo89]

The toughest road trip? This year, it's Valpo/UIC.

[agibson]

We have yet to do any of the proposed three most difficult road trips.

Oakland/Detroit
Green Bay/Milwaukee
NKU/WSU

Most difficult after Valpo/UIC, naturally.

But no question we've got a lot of work left to do, particularly on the road. Oakland will of course be tough and very important, and NKU/WSU will almost certainly seem important because it's last.

When you're on top, every game is important.

[VU2624]

Good story about UIC in today's Chicago Tribune.  Includes some positive comments about Peters.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-uic-injuries-depth-around-city-spt-0120-20170119-story.html A little about Alec. A lot about their injury situation, including dressing a manager last game so they'd have eight in uniform. A related question, which came up in a discussion of the Jubril situation, are student managers paid? Sometimes? Usually? Never? Sort of an internship deal? I suppose if you're paying them you couldn't put them in a uniform. But, student athletes certainly work campus jobs, including at other sporting events: baseball players working concessions, soccer players checking tickets, track athletes acting as ball boys at soccer games.

Aren't those positions work study?

[valpo64]

In the Oakland/NKU game, NKU was terrible in free throw shooting, particularly late in the game.  I think they missed 5 consecutive free throws, including two occasions when they were fouled while shooting.  They really choked at crunch time.

[FieldGoodie05]

In the Oakland/NKU game, NKU was terrible in free throw shooting, particularly late in the game.  I think they missed 5 consecutive free throws, including two occasions when they were fouled while shooting.  They really choked at crunch time.

OU has some continuity issues and has to get better playing as a TEAM.  They are launching early shot clock and getting poor efficiency shots leading to poor outside shooting %.  It's quite sad, because an inside out game with Jalen Hayes would be deadly.  He has some very decent post moves and finishes well.

Keep in mind the OU "criminal" PG Stevie Wonder wasn't playing for some reason.  And Isaiah Brock is hobbled with a hip injury, his hops aren't there at the moment.

They destroyed us, so they have high upside and will come around.  Of course we were playing against ourselves too that night vs OU (was there).  Shell shocked is not a good look.

[M]

Clarke had a thumb injury.

[justducky]

Seems like a lot of HL road wins so far in conference play. I hope that will not continue for the UIC visit.