Dan Champaign's side of the Phil Willie story

[StlVUFan]

http://wdfn.iheart.com/media/play/27628066/

It's actually about the top 10 players in OU's 50 years, but part-way in he talks about that game from his perspective.

[oklahomamick]

I've only read about this.  Is there any video?

[Valpo89]

That is an awesome story as told by Champagne. He thought Phil Wille was a foreign player who would back down? Just think if he had gone after Vilcinckas!

As for video, I doubt if that game was televised. I'm pretty sure it was a Saturday afternoon and it was the day that Homer missed the game because he had some heart pains and his doctor made him go to the hospital. So it was the first time that Scott was the head coach for a game and they hammered Oakland. I remember Lubos Barton saying, maybe off the record at the time, "See how we play for Scott?"

[Valpo89]

Here's the game story by Paul Jankowski from The Times.

Sending a message
Without Homer Drew, Crusaders dominate last year's Mid-Con champs
Jan 28, 2001
VALPARAISO -- Take a breath. Exhale. Relax. Sorting through the details of this one will take awhile.
All the subplots of Saturday's Mid-Continent Conference bout featuring Valparaiso and Oakland will overshadow the Crusaders' best overall performance in a few years.
When the smoke cleared, Valpo sent the Golden Grizzlies back to Rochester, Mich., with a 89-57 defeat. The loss most likely knocked Oakland (9-12, 6-4) out of contention from defending its Mid-Continent Conference regular-season title.

That's just the bottom line. We're just getting started here.
The day began with news that Valparaiso coach Homer Drew was admitted to Porter Memorial Hospital on Friday night after experiencing chest pains. He was released Saturday morning after an angiogram was performed and no blockage was found in his arteries. Assistant coach Scott Drew, Homer's son, shared the news with the team just 45 minutes prior to the game. And an announcement was made to the Athletics-Recreation Center crowd of 4,539 just before tipoff.

"When I first found out about Coach, my first emotion is for my dad," said Scott, who took over as head coach for the game. "After that, the second thing that hits your mind is, we're playing Oakland.
"I just wanted to make sure I didn't do anything to hinder our game plan."
He didn't. The Crusaders (14-6, 5-2) won their third straight by stifling Oakland defensively and sharing the wealth at the other end.
Six Crusaders finished in double figures, led by Kikas Gomes with 15 off the bench. Raitis Grafs dominated inside against his smaller opponents with 13 points and seven rebounds; Lubos Barton had 12 points and eight assists, while guards Jared Nuness, Dwayne Toatley and Milo Stovall combined for 33 points.
Valpo, which led 53-29 at halftime, shot 58 percent for the game, hit 10 of 26 3-pointers and committed just 11 turnovers while handing out 24 assists. Oakland shot 33 percent overall and was led by Brad Buddenborg with 12 points.
"I think Valpo beat the crap out of us," said Oakland coach Greg Kampe, never one to mince words. "They weren't just better than us. They were way better."
Now, fast forward to the end of the game, when garbage time was redefined.
Valparaiso was clinging to a 32-point lead with 1:08 remaining when reserve Phil Wille got tangled up with Oakland's Jon Champagne following a Crusader basket.
The two ended up on top of each other, and several punches were thrown. Members of both teams stepped in, primarily to break up the melee.
"It was real physical under the basket, and it just escalated," Wille said. "I didn't want it to come to that.

"There were guys all around me. I covered my face and tried to get out of there."
Cooler heads prevailed on both coaching staffs. For the most part, they prevented the bench players from joining the fracas, and order was restored after a tense 30 seconds or so.
The officials reviewed replays of the incident. Wille and Champagne each received technicals, were ejected from the game and face two-game suspensions.
Gomes, who left the bench area, was also ejected from the game. He wasn't involved in the fight directly, and most likely will not face further suspension.
"The coaches will take responsibility for this," Scott Drew said. "We know what the rule is, and we've told our players about it, but we haven't talked about it enough."
The final minute was played without incident. Kampe sent all but the five players on the floor to the locker room, and he had his team hold the ball for the final 37 seconds.
"I'm embarrassed that it happened," Kampe said. "It's bad for the league; it's bad for Valpo, and it's bad for Oakland."

[vu72]

Here's the game story by Paul Jankowski from The Times.

Sending a message
Without Homer Drew, Crusaders dominate last year's Mid-Con champs
Jan 28, 2001
VALPARAISO -- Take a breath. Exhale. Relax. Sorting through the details of this one will take awhile.
All the subplots of Saturday's Mid-Continent Conference bout featuring Valparaiso and Oakland will overshadow the Crusaders' best overall performance in a few years.
When the smoke cleared, Valpo sent the Golden Grizzlies back to Rochester, Mich., with a 89-57 defeat. The loss most likely knocked Oakland (9-12, 6-4) out of contention from defending its Mid-Continent Conference regular-season title.

That's just the bottom line. We're just getting started here.
The day began with news that Valparaiso coach Homer Drew was admitted to Porter Memorial Hospital on Friday night after experiencing chest pains. He was released Saturday morning after an angiogram was performed and no blockage was found in his arteries. Assistant coach Scott Drew, Homer's son, shared the news with the team just 45 minutes prior to the game. And an announcement was made to the Athletics-Recreation Center crowd of 4,539 just before tipoff.

"When I first found out about Coach, my first emotion is for my dad," said Scott, who took over as head coach for the game. "After that, the second thing that hits your mind is, we're playing Oakland.
"I just wanted to make sure I didn't do anything to hinder our game plan."
He didn't. The Crusaders (14-6, 5-2) won their third straight by stifling Oakland defensively and sharing the wealth at the other end.
Six Crusaders finished in double figures, led by Kikas Gomes with 15 off the bench. Raitis Grafs dominated inside against his smaller opponents with 13 points and seven rebounds; Lubos Barton had 12 points and eight assists, while guards Jared Nuness, Dwayne Toatley and Milo Stovall combined for 33 points.
Valpo, which led 53-29 at halftime, shot 58 percent for the game, hit 10 of 26 3-pointers and committed just 11 turnovers while handing out 24 assists. Oakland shot 33 percent overall and was led by Brad Buddenborg with 12 points.
"I think Valpo beat the crap out of us," said Oakland coach Greg Kampe, never one to mince words. "They weren't just better than us. They were way better."
Now, fast forward to the end of the game, when garbage time was redefined.
Valparaiso was clinging to a 32-point lead with 1:08 remaining when reserve Phil Wille got tangled up with Oakland's Jon Champagne following a Crusader basket.
The two ended up on top of each other, and several punches were thrown. Members of both teams stepped in, primarily to break up the melee.
"It was real physical under the basket, and it just escalated," Wille said. "I didn't want it to come to that.

"There were guys all around me. I covered my face and tried to get out of there."
Cooler heads prevailed on both coaching staffs. For the most part, they prevented the bench players from joining the fracas, and order was restored after a tense 30 seconds or so.
The officials reviewed replays of the incident. Wille and Champagne each received technicals, were ejected from the game and face two-game suspensions.
Gomes, who left the bench area, was also ejected from the game. He wasn't involved in the fight directly, and most likely will not face further suspension.
"The coaches will take responsibility for this," Scott Drew said. "We know what the rule is, and we've told our players about it, but we haven't talked about it enough."
The final minute was played without incident. Kampe sent all but the five players on the floor to the locker room, and he had his team hold the ball for the final 37 seconds.
"I'm embarrassed that it happened," Kampe said. "It's bad for the league; it's bad for Valpo, and it's bad for Oakland."

Wow! 89!  You sure were able to find that story quickly!! 

[Pgmado]

Couple things...

1) It was Jon Champagne who gave the interview, not Dan Champagne. Jon was the Mike Oppland to Dan's Dan Oppland.

2) The game was most definitely televised and I have it somewhere. That's what made the game so great. It was like an 11a start because it was on Fox Sports Detroit or something. It was the first televised game that aired at the ARC during my time as a student.

3) He mentions a back door alley-oop. I believe that is revisionist history. My recollection is that Marko Punda took a 3-pointer from the top of the arc that bounced off the rim. Phil went up for the rebound along with Jon and the scrum ensued. I'm going to look for the copy I have and hope to get Jon on Union Street Hoops this year.

[wh]

A great job of capturing some of Phil's thoughts right after the incident. Fun reading. Enjoyed the Champaign interview, as well. One thing -I seriously doubt that neither Scott or Kampe was nearly as bothered by their guy's involvement as they let on publicly. 

[bbtds]

Here's the game story by Paul Jankowski from The Times.

Sending a message
Without Homer Drew, Crusaders dominate last year's Mid-Con champs
Jan 28, 2001
VALPARAISO -- Take a breath. Exhale. Relax. Sorting through the details of this one will take awhile.
All the subplots of Saturday's Mid-Continent Conference bout featuring Valparaiso and Oakland will overshadow the Crusaders' best overall performance in a few years.
When the smoke cleared, Valpo sent the Golden Grizzlies back to Rochester, Mich., with a 89-57 defeat. The loss most likely knocked Oakland (9-12, 6-4) out of contention from defending its Mid-Continent Conference regular-season title.

That's just the bottom line. We're just getting started here.
The day began with news that Valparaiso coach Homer Drew was admitted to Porter Memorial Hospital on Friday night after experiencing chest pains. He was released Saturday morning after an angiogram was performed and no blockage was found in his arteries. Assistant coach Scott Drew, Homer's son, shared the news with the team just 45 minutes prior to the game. And an announcement was made to the Athletics-Recreation Center crowd of 4,539 just before tipoff.

"When I first found out about Coach, my first emotion is for my dad," said Scott, who took over as head coach for the game. "After that, the second thing that hits your mind is, we're playing Oakland.
"I just wanted to make sure I didn't do anything to hinder our game plan."
He didn't. The Crusaders (14-6, 5-2) won their third straight by stifling Oakland defensively and sharing the wealth at the other end.
Six Crusaders finished in double figures, led by Kikas Gomes with 15 off the bench. Raitis Grafs dominated inside against his smaller opponents with 13 points and seven rebounds; Lubos Barton had 12 points and eight assists, while guards Jared Nuness, Dwayne Toatley and Milo Stovall combined for 33 points.
Valpo, which led 53-29 at halftime, shot 58 percent for the game, hit 10 of 26 3-pointers and committed just 11 turnovers while handing out 24 assists. Oakland shot 33 percent overall and was led by Brad Buddenborg with 12 points.
"I think Valpo beat the crap out of us," said Oakland coach Greg Kampe, never one to mince words. "They weren't just better than us. They were way better."
Now, fast forward to the end of the game, when garbage time was redefined.
Valparaiso was clinging to a 32-point lead with 1:08 remaining when reserve Phil Wille got tangled up with Oakland's Jon Champagne following a Crusader basket.
The two ended up on top of each other, and several punches were thrown. Members of both teams stepped in, primarily to break up the melee.
"It was real physical under the basket, and it just escalated," Wille said. "I didn't want it to come to that.

"There were guys all around me. I covered my face and tried to get out of there."
Cooler heads prevailed on both coaching staffs. For the most part, they prevented the bench players from joining the fracas, and order was restored after a tense 30 seconds or so.
The officials reviewed replays of the incident. Wille and Champagne each received technicals, were ejected from the game and face two-game suspensions.
Gomes, who left the bench area, was also ejected from the game. He wasn't involved in the fight directly, and most likely will not face further suspension.
"The coaches will take responsibility for this," Scott Drew said. "We know what the rule is, and we've told our players about it, but we haven't talked about it enough."
The final minute was played without incident. Kampe sent all but the five players on the floor to the locker room, and he had his team hold the ball for the final 37 seconds.
"I'm embarrassed that it happened," Kampe said. "It's bad for the league; it's bad for Valpo, and it's bad for Oakland."

That Jankowski guy is some old dude?

[bigmosmithfan1]

I seriously doubt that neither Scott or Kampe was nearly as bothered by their guy's involvement as they let on publicly.

Agreed. I remember sitting courtside for the VU-Buffalo game in '98 (when Tony V. got into a fight with the center from Buffalo). There was no shortage of bad blood between those teams, but I remember the ref coming over for a conference with Homer and the Buffalo coach at the next TV timeout. Ref smoothed things over by saying something to the effect of "hey, one guy's Lithuanian, the other guy's Russian. This goes way beyond basketball. What're ya gonna do, amirite?" Both coaches laughed and nodded. But of course after the game, both coaches were like "this was SHAMEFUL, we're so disappointed, etc., etc."

[StlVUFan]

That is an awesome story as told by Champagne. He thought Phil Wille was a foreign player who would back down? Just think if he had gone after Vilcinckas!

As for video, I doubt if that game was televised. I'm pretty sure it was a Saturday afternoon and it was the day that Homer missed the game because he had some heart pains and his doctor made him go to the hospital. So it was the first time that Scott was the head coach for a game and they hammered Oakland. I remember Lubos Barton saying, maybe off the record at the time, "See how we play for Scott?"

I remember watching it on TV, so I do think it was televised.  It might have even been the FSN Mid-Con game of the week, though maybe not.