Valpo First HL Tournament Game Saturday

[VULB#62]

OK.  Lets forget about all the other BS and let's start talking specifics.  We will see one of two opponents.  What are the thoughts out there???

[HailVU2014]

Was told this evening by a current senior that there is no support in sending students to Detroit for the HL tournament. VU ticket office told him to buy $15 GA ticket online and there are no plans for a bus or anything. (Note: There is an alumni bus, but are students aware/allowed on/able to finance that?) I understand it is Spring Break and that many are upset that the tourney is in Detroit, but come on. Oakland announced earlier this month at the Valpo home game that they bought 200 tickets for the students and are providing transportation. Can we not even do 25% of that and get 50 tickets and a bus for even some of the students??

Folks complain on the board of student attendance, students standing or sitting during games, etc., but why should students be excited when we cannot even put together the resources getting even some of the diehard students to go the conference championship? I'm very disappointed to say the least. Why would any conference want us when last year as a bubble team, we only had Jubril's Dad, Cameron, 4-5 students, and the band in the student section and we aren't trying to improve upon that this year? It's hard to prove to the MVC that we would send more folks to St. Louis or the A-10 that bus loads are coming to Pittsburgh when it seems that we are stuck in the mud complaining about the "joke" of Motor City Madness. Some food for thought...


As for this first game, I pray that Peters is available just so that we know that he isn't out for the tourney/rest of the year. If he is available, I say use him sparingly and enough to maintain some rest while knocking some rust off and letting the rest of the team continue to build their confidence off of their great efforts at WSU and NKU. If Peters is out, I still like our chances, but certainly would be guarded enough to be concerned on that "3rd time's a charm" theory that seems to occur in basketball.

[VUBBFan]

Was told this evening by a current senior that there is no support in sending students to Detroit for the HL tournament. VU ticket office told him to buy $15 GA ticket online and there are no plans for a bus or anything. (Note: There is an alumni bus, but are students aware/allowed on/able to finance that?) I understand it is Spring Break and that many are upset that the tourney is in Detroit, but come on. Oakland announced earlier this month at the Valpo home game that they bought 200 tickets for the students and are providing transportation. Can we not even do 25% of that and get 50 tickets and a bus for even some of the students??

A little bit different situation there. Oakland being only 35 miles away by bus means shuttling back and forth each day. I don't believe Valpo would make daily trips for the students. So the big rub for the students is the $125 - $200 a day Hotel room. Provided we play more than one game. Not the $15 - $75 ticket or free transportation

[HailVU2014]

Was told this evening by a current senior that there is no support in sending students to Detroit for the HL tournament. VU ticket office told him to buy $15 GA ticket online and there are no plans for a bus or anything. (Note: There is an alumni bus, but are students aware/allowed on/able to finance that?) I understand it is Spring Break and that many are upset that the tourney is in Detroit, but come on. Oakland announced earlier this month at the Valpo home game that they bought 200 tickets for the students and are providing transportation. Can we not even do 25% of that and get 50 tickets and a bus for even some of the students??

A little bit different situation there. Oakland being only 35 miles away by bus means shuttling back and forth each day. I don't believe Valpo would make daily trips for the students. So the big rub for the students is the $125 - $200 a day Hotel room. Provided we play more than one game. Not the $15 - $75 ticket or free transportation

It is a different situation. I'm not asking the athletic office to subsidize all costs like OU is doing, but we can't throw in a couple free tickets for those that make the journey to Detroit? Or organize a bus for say $20 a person and reserve a block of rooms for the students at a reduced rate? For the 2011 HL tournament in Milwaukee, the pep band went back and forth to U.S. Cellular Arena for the Detroit game and Milwaukee games...

[agibson]

. VU ticket office told him to buy $15 GA ticket online

Really? The Motor City Madness ticket page has student tickets at $10. Available at the Joe.

[valpotx]

You mentioned that we complain about student attendance.  We are speaking about HOME games that are FREE to the students!!  There is no excuse for that, unless the majority of students are taking night classes, which I highly doubt is the case.  You do have a point in that the school should really have a bus or several busses lined up for students to attend the conference championship.  I am not saying that the school should pay for it, but they could at least organize such a thing, and have the students cover the cost.

[crusadermoe]

Yeah, I shed no tears for the students.   They had very weak attendance to the free games. 

I hate to admit this, but I don't really know or care who we play in the first game.  The bottom feeders are pretty much the same team.  All that matters is Alex recovering.  Rest him unless he has to enter the game to bail it out.

[VU2624]

Spring Break. Campus is mostly resident free. Students are scattered. Not a good situation for anyone organizing a mass movement anywhere.

[M]

Students had their chance to show they supported this team and failed miserably. 

Valpo should not have much difficulty that first round regardless of who plays or does not play.  If both teams get lucky enough to make the finals I think there are several ways Valpo can about beating Oakland.  Either go with two bigs, play Alec at the 3, go zone and force Oakland to hit their 3 pointers and gobble up every rebound...or do the opposite and go small with Alec at the 5 and play man to man forcing turnovers and dribble drive attacks.

[SanityLost17]

Students had their chance to show they supported this team and failed miserably. 

Valpo should not have much difficulty that first round regardless of who plays or does not play.  If both teams get lucky enough to make the finals I think there are several ways Valpo can about beating Oakland.  Either go with two bigs, play Alec at the 3, go zone and force Oakland to hit their 3 pointers and gobble up every rebound...or do the opposite and go small with Alec at the 5 and play man to man forcing turnovers and dribble drive attacks.

I say play Alec at the 5 (if he can play).   That gives us a stretch 5 and a stretch 4 in Hammink.   With Tevonn at the 3 we ware still a good rebounding team.  Obviously you can't have that rotation the entire game, but 7 minutes a half we could really do some damage with that and it would be unexpected. 

IF we can get to the championship game, that is a lineup that can beat Oakland. 

[VU2014]

Really? The Motor City Madness ticket page has student tickets at $10. Available at the Joe.

$10 for Student Tickets?

Valpo gave a decent amount of FREE tickets to students for the Horizon League Tournament when I was a student. Bummer.

Poor college kids have to pay for Tickets, Pay for Hotel (airbnb) and the transportation. Gets a little pricy for them... (especially when add in all that beer & some food).

[FieldGoodie05]

Students had their chance to show they supported this team and failed miserably. 

Valpo should not have much difficulty that first round regardless of who plays or does not play.  If both teams get lucky enough to make the finals I think there are several ways Valpo can about beating Oakland.  Either go with two bigs, play Alec at the 3, go zone and force Oakland to hit their 3 pointers and gobble up every rebound...or do the opposite and go small with Alec at the 5 and play man to man forcing turnovers and dribble drive attacks.

I say play Alec at the 5 (if he can play).   That gives us a stretch 5 and a stretch 4 in Hammink.   With Tevonn at the 3 we ware still a good rebounding team.  Obviously you can't have that rotation the entire game, but 7 minutes a half we could really do some damage with that and it would be unexpected. 

IF we can get to the championship game, that is a lineup that can beat Oakland.

Interesting, I'd enjoy seeing that non crunch time.  But if Jaume doesnt get back to 8 pts 8 rebounds then it's a clear option.

[FieldGoodie05]

Really? The Motor City Madness ticket page has student tickets at $10. Available at the Joe.

$10 for Student Tickets?

Valpo gave a decent amount of FREE tickets to students for the Horizon League Tournament. Bummer.

Poor college kids have to pay for Tickets, Pay for Hotel (AB&B) and the transportation. Gets a little pricy for them... (especially when add in all that beer & some food).

Anyone ride or know about the bus to Milwaukee game earlier this year.  Any takers from the students?  This is a wild idea, but couldn't the university bill the students as a company Bills its customers?  When you can pay with 20 year terms, all of the sudden this trip becomes "affordable".  Wild idea, absolutely.  But we do this type of inventive in the business world all the time, with great success.  We call it "extended dating" (i.e. 120 day terms OR 4 equal payments 30-60-90-120 days).

Some may make fun, but as a business we have leverage (manufacturer to our distribution) that if they stop paying we stop shipping product.  This is similar, a degree turns out to be highly lucrative item to focus repayment.

[valpotx]

Detroit does scare me a bit.  Jenkins is not a good matchup for us, so if we let them stay close, he could be the key player in the final minutes.

[bbtds]

All that matters is Alex recovering.

Really? 

[VU2014]

Do you know what I just realized? We basically have only 9 playable players... and 4 of them are freshman (1 walk-on).

Everything is just starting to hit me. But oddly enough after all the tough breaks we've experienced this season (last offseason) we are still a real competitor to challenge for the HL Tournament.

Roster:
Sarters:

-Lexus Williams (PG)
-Tevonn Walker (SG)
-Nick Davidson (SF) - but he's really a SG
-Shane Hammink (SF) - We don't have a real PF on the roster the Alec Injury
-Jay Sorolla (C)

Backups:
-Max Joseph (PG/SG)
-John Kiser (SG/SF)
-Micah Bradford (PG)
-Derrik Smits (C)

For some reason I still have faith. We're well coached and if Shane, Tevonn are on, Lexus is playing a solid PG and Sorolla is getting the job done defensively and rebounding then I think we can still win. #Believe

It's going be a dog fight but this is still doable. And if by chance we do win the HL Conference Tournament then someone should rip the Coach of the Year trophy out of Brannen's hands and hand it to Coach Lottich.

[M]

Time to see what Chandler can really do!

[bbtds]

It's going be a dog fight but this is still doable. And if by chance we do win the HL Conference Tournament then someone should rip the Coach of the Year trophy out of Brannen's hands and hand it to Coach Lottich.

I very much agree with this.

I will be in Detroit cheering this Valpo team on to compete to the best of their ability. They are still stronger than a majority of the HL. I would hope you will cheer for the players that will be on the floor.

Coach Norman Dale:

If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don't care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we're gonna be winners.

There's a, um tradition in tournament play- not talk about the next step until you've climbed the one in front of you. I'm sure going to the state finals is beyond your wildest dreams, so let's just keep it right there.

Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, team, team - no one more important that the other.

It can be a lot more satisfying cheering for the underdog that accomplishes the goals that no one dreamed they would be competing for.

[jsher3141]

Interesting note that Kenpom still has Valpo winning the HL Tournament, even factoring in the AP injury.

                               Qtrs Semis Final Champ
2 Valparaiso              100  84.5  62.2  36.0
1 Oakland                 100  82.9  54.5  32.3
4 Northern Kentucky   100  52.2  21.3   9.6
3 Green Bay              100  67.8  25.0   9.6
5 Wright St.              100  47.8  18.6   8.1
6 Illinois Chicago       100  32.2   7.6    1.8
8 Cleveland St.         65.9  14.1   4.9   1.5
7 Detroit                  56.4   8.8   3.1   0.7
10 Milwaukee            43.6    6.7   2.0   0.4
9 Youngstown St.      34.1    3.1   0.6   0.1

[ValpoHoops]

Interesting note that Kenpom still has Valpo winning the HL Tournament, even factoring in the AP injury.

                               Qtrs Semis Final Champ
2 Valparaiso              100  84.5  62.2  36.0
1 Oakland                 100  82.9  54.5  32.3
4 Northern Kentucky   100  52.2  21.3   9.6
3 Green Bay              100  67.8  25.0   9.6
5 Wright St.              100  47.8  18.6   8.1
6 Illinois Chicago       100  32.2   7.6    1.8
8 Cleveland St.         65.9  14.1   4.9   1.5
7 Detroit                  56.4   8.8   3.1   0.7
10 Milwaukee            43.6    6.7   2.0   0.4
9 Youngstown St.      34.1    3.1   0.6   0.1

If you read the piece, these numbers do not have the injury factored in.

[jsher3141]

Interesting note that Kenpom still has Valpo winning the HL Tournament, even factoring in the AP injury.

                               Qtrs Semis Final Champ
2 Valparaiso              100  84.5  62.2  36.0
1 Oakland                 100  82.9  54.5  32.3
4 Northern Kentucky   100  52.2  21.3   9.6
3 Green Bay              100  67.8  25.0   9.6
5 Wright St.              100  47.8  18.6   8.1
6 Illinois Chicago       100  32.2   7.6    1.8
8 Cleveland St.         65.9  14.1   4.9   1.5
7 Detroit                  56.4   8.8   3.1   0.7
10 Milwaukee            43.6    6.7   2.0   0.4
9 Youngstown St.      34.1    3.1   0.6   0.1

If you read the piece, these numbers do not have the injury factored in.

Apologies.  After reading 3 paragraphs talking about the injury and pretty much praising the team as a whole for how they have played the last few games, I skipped over that line. 

Still, they say that although Oakland may now be the favorite, Valpo is no worse than a close second.  Nice to see someone who hasn't written Valpo off without Peters.

[VU2014]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdaMvy5OBbQ

[VULB#62]

Was this recorded before the ANNOUNCEMENT or was the subject just avoided? 

I'm sure the whole board in in the dumps over the ANNOUNCEMENT cuz it is quite evident no one is interested in the lead up game twixt UWM and UDM that feeds into our Saturday night game.

[valpocleveland]

Let's win this thing and get the 16 seed we deserve, you know because Alec is out. NCAA institution is great! (heavy sarcasm)

[VU2014]

Was this recorded before the ANNOUNCEMENT or was the subject just avoided? 

I'm sure the whole board in in the dumps over the ANNOUNCEMENT cuz it is quite evident no one is interested in the lead up game twixt UWM and UDM that feeds into our Saturday night game.

I believe this was taped the day before the Alec being out for the season announcement.