Valparaiso has ACCEPTED* the Invite to become the 10th Member of the MVC!!!!

[underdawg]

Don't know if Valpo will get some of the NCAA  money WSU won't get. But what is more interesting for you guys is that when the new NCAA grades=money thing goes into effect in a few years--the NCAA will pay teams in each league by how their graduation rate is---and in a few years that amount may be nearly as much as going to the NCAA's a bunch--imagine that: money earned for use in your sports department that has to do with great academics! America , what a country!

[VULB#62]

Don't know if Valpo will get some of the NCAA  money WSU won't get. But what is more interesting for you guys is that when the new NCAA grades=money thing goes into effect in a few years--the NCAA will pay teams in each league by how their graduation rate is---and in a few years that amount may be nearly as much as going to the NCAA's a bunch--imagine that: money earned for use in your sports department that has to do with great academics! America , what a country!

Not to throw a wet blanket on your very positive spin (which I applaud), but my pessimistiic side tells me the Power 5+1 will eventually do everything they can to subvert anything that rewards academic leadersip as it relates to NCAA $$$$ payouts.

[NativeCheesehead]

Actually, I think the big boys will let us have the academic money. It likely pales in comparison to what their donors provide anyway. As long as Oregon has Phil Knight and Louisville has its hookers, they'll be fine.

[bbtds]

Don't know if Valpo will get some of the NCAA  money WSU won't get. But what is more interesting for you guys is that when the new NCAA grades=money thing goes into effect in a few years--the NCAA will pay teams in each league by how their graduation rate is---and in a few years that amount may be nearly as much as going to the NCAA's a bunch--imagine that: money earned for use in your sports department that has to do with great academics! America , what a country!

Not to throw a wet blanket on your very positive spin (which I applaud), but my pessimistiic side tells me the Power 5+1 will eventually do everything they can to subvert anything that rewards academic leadersip as it relates to NCAA $$$$ payouts.

I think there will be a middle ground here somewhere. The Power 5 benefit greatly from the idea of making academics have a bigger impact but are very guarded about giving up large amounts of $$$$. They will sacrifice enough money to get the publicity benefit from the academic impact. Remember many of the mid-majors have also done poorly on academic ratings and the payouts will be to a lower percentage of schools than what Power 5 schools would give away if they suddenly had to schedule equally on mid-major home courts.

[crusadermoe]

Good question on whether Valpo gets any funds that Wichita forfeited?   Hope we negotiated that on the way in. That did not occur to me.  It could be a decent amount of money.

[IrishDawg]

Good question on whether Valpo gets any funds that Wichita forfeited?   Hope we negotiated that on the way in. That did not occur to me.  It could be a decent amount of money.

Unless the MVC has Gar Foreman and John Paxson negotiating for them, there's very little chance that Valpo would receive tournament payouts for years in which they weren't a part of the league, just like it would have been foolish for the Horizon League to give Oakland and NKU any of Butler's money.  The MVC would likely pay the exit fees for the Horizon and may have worked something out with Valpo on the entrance fees to the conference.

As for the academic units themselves, the NCAA estimates those will be about $56,000 per unit initially (it will likely grow to over $500,000 by the end of the new TV deal), so the power leagues likely won't worry about it at first.  The concern for all schools should be that by the end of the deal, schools will be steering their players into easy majors to ensure they are getting the money once it grows to what they're projecting.  Meanwhile, the actual units themselves for tourney games this season was $1.7 million.

[Valpower]

Good question on whether Valpo gets any funds that Wichita forfeited?   Hope we negotiated that on the way in. That did not occur to me.  It could be a decent amount of money.

Unless the MVC has Gar Foreman and John Paxson negotiating for them, there's very little chance that Valpo would receive tournament payouts for years in which they weren't a part of the league, just like it would have been foolish for the Horizon League to give Oakland and NKU any of Butler's money.  The MVC would likely pay the exit fees for the Horizon and may have worked something out with Valpo on the entrance fees to the conference.

As for the academic units themselves, the NCAA estimates those will be about $56,000 per unit initially (it will likely grow to over $500,000 by the end of the new TV deal), so the power leagues likely won't worry about it at first.  The concern for all schools should be that by the end of the deal, schools will be steering their players into easy majors to ensure they are getting the money once it grows to what they're projecting.  Meanwhile, the actual units themselves for tourney games this season was $1.7 million.

They will not only steer them to easy majors, they will probably make them easier and create new ones. "Bracketology" has made it into the dictionaries, could it become an academic field of study, too?

[FWalum]

Good question on whether Valpo gets any funds that Wichita forfeited?   Hope we negotiated that on the way in. That did not occur to me.  It could be a decent amount of money.

Unless the MVC has Gar Foreman and John Paxson negotiating for them, there's very little chance that Valpo would receive tournament payouts for years in which they weren't a part of the league, just like it would have been foolish for the Horizon League to give Oakland and NKU any of Butler's money.  The MVC would likely pay the exit fees for the Horizon and may have worked something out with Valpo on the entrance fees to the conference.

As for the academic units themselves, the NCAA estimates those will be about $56,000 per unit initially (it will likely grow to over $500,000 by the end of the new TV deal), so the power leagues likely won't worry about it at first.  The concern for all schools should be that by the end of the deal, schools will be steering their players into easy majors to ensure they are getting the money once it grows to what they're projecting.  Meanwhile, the actual units themselves for tourney games this season was $1.7 million.

They will not only steer them to easy majors, they will probably make them easier and create new ones. "Bracketology" has made it into the dictionaries, could it become an academic field of study, too?

I think North Carolina tried to get a 15 year jump on this... and it is probably the excuse they will use to get off scot-free from their current academic investigation.   

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/HoopvilleAdam/status/880100846989701121

http://www.hoopville.com/2017/06/27/2016-17-mvc-post-mortem/

2016-17 MVC Post-Mortem
June 27, 2017
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
Email: hoopvilleadam@yahoo.com

[Valpo29]

The Valley next season is there for the taking.

With Wichita State gone there is no dominant team left in the League. I'm not going to pick us to win it because all of the roster turnover but by the end of the season we should be very competitive with any other fellow Valley team. Will most likely be some bumps in the road next season.

[VU2014]

Tweet at Paul
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/887348733331025920

[valpo64]

Did the MVC put any kind of pressure on VU for improved facilities and/or did VU
people indicate that some improvements were in the works and will be made in the near future?

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/ValpoU/status/952636471583879168

https://www.valpo.edu/valpomag/2017/12/19/valpo-in-the-valley/

[valpopal]

Our game against Drake was the first MVC home contest with students on campus, and the attendance was listed as 2710. I checked our attendance figures for last year's Horizon League home games held while students were on campus, and the average for seven games was 3620. The expectations were for higher attendance figures with the move to a higher-level conference and the excitement that should be generated. Some could argue last year's team was better, but the novelty and enthusiasm for playing new and better teams in the MVC should balance that out, especially with focused and smart marketing.


I mentioned in a message after the acceptance of the MVC invite that Valpo had a limited window of time to initiate increased excitement for the basketball program, and the true test of the success in Valpo's promotion and publicity would come during the conference home schedule. However, I was concerned there would be almost no change in the level of promotion and the quality of experience in attending games would not be elevated. I fear that the attendance numbers prove my worries were warranted, and just as we saw in the year after the Sweet-16 season, another opportunity to raise the profile of the program is being squandered.

[vu84v2]

My guess is that complete drubbings at the hands of Purdue and Northwestern, an embarrassing loss to Cal-Riverside, and losing the first three conference games had as much, or more, to do with lower attendance than any issues with promotion and experience.

[valpopal]

My guess is that complete drubbings at the hands of Purdue and Northwestern, an embarrassing loss to Cal-Riverside, and losing the first three conference games had as much, or more, to do with lower attendance than any issues with promotion and experience.

However, the average attendance for D-1 home games while students were on campus in the fall averaged only 2620. (Actually, for non-D-1 games the attendance average was no different: 2614.)  The team was undefeated at the time and turnout was no better; the best attendance was only 2949 for Utah State. An undefeated team that was celebrating a new era in an advanced conference should have accumulated greater numbers with better promotion and game experiences for fans. If we couldn't get 3000 for an undefeated 8-0 team, I think the won-lost record is not the main factor.

[VU2014]

Attendance has probably been a combination of things:
-The struggles of this team since Utah State game
-In the non-conference it's just been uninteresting opponents other then maybe Utah State.
-Rotten weather since around Christmas time
-Lack of students during Winter Break
-Promotion may have something to do with it. I still think we should be more targeted with promotions to local schools/churches/groups/etc.
-The ultimate advertisement is winning and that's been something we've struggled to do since the Utah State game

I don't want to beat a dead horse but the Valpo Gameday experience could use a revamp. I'd love to see better student turn out because the more energized the student section is the better the gameday experience, imo.

[valporun]

Wednesday's game may also have lost some students due to the first night of any night classes held on Wednesdays, and professors that do a bit more than just go over the expectations and the syllabus in the first class. Also, not sure if VU's top audition band does still, but they used to rehearse on Wednesday evenings, which can effect some of the pep band numbers too. I'd rather have some students not there because of Wednesday evening classes, as an excuse, over Sorority/Fraternity recruitment is now underway.

Hopefully the attendance does start to pick up, and our numbers push way over 3500 for all remaining conference games at the ARC.

[oklahomamick]

VU is around 4K students.  Half of the student body shows and we have 2k in the stands.  How many schools consistently get 50% of the student body at games? 

We are a small school in a small community. 

[elephtheria47]

It's a better conference but there still hasn't been anyone with name recognition that played at the ARC. (Despite Missouri State having some expectations this year. Drake hasn't been good in forever). OOC home schedule was brutal.

I think the higher attendance will come with the Indiana State,  loyola, Evansville games just like attendance was higher for the butler games while in the HL. Need to put a few W together and build some excitement back up.

[crusadermoe]

Hope springs eternal!    And I will be absolutely the first person to congratulate the students on a strong turnout when it happens for those games!

[VULB#62]

First, forget about all (everything in the past)  of what was done previously. That was fine, it got us into the MVC and that is great. Now we are in real time.   Going forward: It might take more than just a revamped video system.

Invest > $2+ million into the ARC and MBB in 2018 and get on with it. And more in 2019. Or bail out.

Re:
INCREASE Recruiting budget
IMPLEMENT ANY fan-visible additional ARC improvements - to attract  new butts.
INTRODUCE Intense LOCAL marketing - to get new butts in the seats.
BUILD Close-by parking - to get those butts impressed with the convenience  and get them to come back.

Hey, we wanted to move up. That comes at a cost. We need to INVEST our $$$$$ where our aspirations are. To play where we want we need to spend where they (the other MVC schools) have already or are currently spending. We have committed to a MAJOR step forward.

Do it or stop the charade and get off the pot.

[JD24]

The change in conference isn't going to mean much to most students. To a college basketball fan it means something. I'd guess most students aren't dedicated fans of the sport. The name recognition of the opponents isn't there....hopefully as a yet.

[VULB#62]

The change in conference isn't going to mean much to most students. To a college basketball fan it means something. I'd guess most students aren't dedicated fans of the sport. The name recognition of the opponents isn't there....hopefully as a yet.

Yep. And that is part of  the current problem. Not enough is being done to invigorate the resident student body. It has slid into apathy (with a small exceptional core).  That has got to be reversed.

I am sorry, but if I get admitted to the  school of my choice I am (1) gonna be excited  to be a part of my new community, and  (2) that excitement should translate into involvement in the big events on campus.

[JD24]

The change in conference isn't going to mean much to most students. To a college basketball fan it means something. I'd guess most students aren't dedicated fans of the sport. The name recognition of the opponents isn't there....hopefully as a yet.

Yep. And that is part of  the current problem. Not enough is being done to invigorate the resident student body. It has slid into apathy (with a small exceptional core).  That has got to be reversed. I am sorry, but if I get admitted to the  school of my choice I am (1) gonna be excited  to be a part of my new community, and  (2) that excitement should translate into involvement in the big events on campus.

Problem is that it is not the big event. This indoctrination needs to be done at freshman orientation. "We go to the basketball games".