Myrtle Beach Invitational

[VU2014]

Venue: HTC Arena on the campus of Coastal Carolina
Location: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Date: Nov. 15,16 & 18
Teams: West Virginia, Cal State Fullerton, Western Kentucky, Monmouth, Saint Joseph's, UCF, Valparaiso, Wake Forest
Broadcast on ESPN family of Networks

Bracket:
https://twitter.com/Valpo_Hoops/status/1017118021683425280

https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/1017116370616676354

Valpo to Open Myrtle Beach Invitational Against Western Kentucky
WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2018

The Valparaiso University men's basketball team learned today it will open the inaugural Myrtle Beach Invitational against Western Kentucky at 4 p.m. CT on Thursday, Nov. 15, live on ESPNU.

Making its first appearance in an ESPN multi-team event, Valpo will face a Western Kentucky squad which is coming off of a 27-win season and advanced to the semifinals of the NIT last season. The Crusaders and Hilltoppers are on the same side of the tournament bracket as West Virginia, which has reached the Sweet 16 each of the last two seasons, and Monmouth. Saint Joseph's, Wake Forest, UCF and Cal State Fullerton comprise the opposite side of the eight-team bracket.

Semifinal and consolation bracket games will be played on Friday, Nov. 16, while all eight teams will conclude play in Myrtle Beach on Sunday, Nov. 18, culminating with the championship game at 5:30 p.m. CT. All 12 games will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, including nine linear broadcasts.

Travel packages for the Myrtle Beach Invitational are available now. Packages include discounted hotel rates and the opportunity to purchase all-session game tickets prior to the public on-sale. To purchase a travel package through Anthony Travel, visit https://www.anthonytravel.com/myrtle-beach/ or call 888-632-6951. All-session tickets will go on-sale to the public on August 15.

[mjg100]

How is your recruiting class and what are you guys expecting for a starting five? My guess for starters for us:

Lamonte Bearden 4* Point guard with great handles and passing ability. Last year he needed to improve his 3 pt shooting and mid range game.
Taveion Hollingsworth (broke freshman scoring record last year, held by Courtney Lee)
Josh Anderson 4* sophomore. Very quick at getting to the basket and very athletic. Explosive athleticism.
Charles Bassey 5* freshman. Should be a blast to watch.
Desean Murray (Auburn grad transfer that averaged 10.1 points & 6.7 rebounds last year in the SEC)

Guys I expect to get a lot of minutes.
Dalano Banton 4* freshman guard
Moustapha Diagne 4* JR. He was a little lost last season, coming in, middle of the season. Looking much better this year.
Galen Smith 3* I think this kid is going to surprise people. Actually dominated in the pickup games, until he got tired. He needs conditioning.
Jared Savage SR. Good outside shooter.
Trevelin Queen JUCO player with very good numbers.

I think we will be able to go 9 deep without much drop off.

[vu72]

How is your recruiting class and what are you guys expecting for a starting five? My guess for starters for us:

Lamonte Bearden 4* Point guard with great handles and passing ability. Last year he needed to improve his 3 pt shooting and mid range game.
Taveion Hollingsworth (broke freshman scoring record last year, held by Courtney Lee)
Josh Anderson 4* sophomore. Very quick at getting to the basket and very athletic. Explosive athleticism.
Charles Bassey 5* freshman. Should be a blast to watch.
Desean Murray (Auburn grad transfer that averaged 10.1 points & 6.7 rebounds last year in the SEC)

Guys I expect to get a lot of minutes.
Dalano Banton 4* freshman guard
Moustapha Diagne 4* JR. He was a little lost last season, coming in, middle of the season. Looking much better this year.
Galen Smith 3* I think this kid is going to surprise people. Actually dominated in the pickup games, until he got tired. He needs conditioning.
Jared Savage SR. Good outside shooter.
Trevelin Queen JUCO player with very good numbers.

I think we will be able to go 9 deep without much drop off.

How big are you guys?  We will start a 7' or a 7'2" at the 5, a 6'8" 4* at the 4 and be very athlete and deep from there on out.  i would expect that if you go small we will match with 6'6", 6'5" and three other  in the 6'3" category.  Should be a great match-up! We could also go 9 or 10 deep.

[VUBBFan]

How many are planning to go down from Valpo to see us play? Hope we have some representation at the games.

[mjg100]

That is the enigma with our team. We will probably be starting a 6'-3" power forward. But Desean Murray is already a proven performer with 10.1 points and 6.7 rebounds a game in the SEC. 6'-11" Charles Bassey at center. A three guard line up of 6'-6" Josh Anderson at small forward. 6'-3" Lamonte Bearde point guard and 6'-2" Taveion Hollingsworth SG. Not a lot of height, but a ton of athletic ability and speed. If we need height we can bring in 6'-9" Moustapha Diange forward, 6'-10" Galen Smith forward. 6'-7"Dalano Blanton guard/forward. Banton played point guard in high school. 6'-5" Jared Savage guard/forward. 6'-6" Trevelin Queen  guard.

I have just made a guess on our starters. Only three that I feel pretty sure on are Charles Bassey, Lamonte Bearde[size=78%][/size] and [size=78%][/size]Taveion Hollingsworth. Many of the others are interchangeable. I just don't see how we can keep Josh Anderson and Desean Murray out of the starting line up.

[mjg100]

I have just made a guess on our starters. Only three that I feel pretty sure on are Bassey, Bearden and Hollingsworth. The rest are interchangeable, but I just do not see how we can keep Anderson and Murray out of the starting line up.

[VUGrad1314]

Isn't Bassey in the midst of some potentially  serious eligibility issues?

[mjg100]

WKU disrupted the status quo of the P5 by recruiting a 5* player and the P5 media shills came out of the woodwork. The kid had a 3.9 GPA, so don't know why anyone would be shocked that he was able to graduate a year early. Kids do it all the time. Heck my son graduated from high school with enough credits to enter college as a JR. Dalano Banton also reclassified and not a word is said about him.


As far as his guardian, same guardian for Diange. So since Diange cleared NCAA clearinghouse, I fully expect Bassey to do so. The P5 schools don't like it when mid majors start pulling in 5* and 4* players on a regular basis. As for how we got Bassey, our coach was on him very early and has put in three years of work to get him.

Added
I think all the crap from the media last year about why Mitchell Robison would go to WKU rather than a P5 school is what put doubt into his mind and made him second guess his decision. The kid came to WKU, then left. Then he came back and then left again. We won 27 games last year. Villanova only beat us by 8. Would have loved to have had Mitchell Robinson on the team last year. He certainly would have made a difference. Mitchell Robinson would have been a lottery pick, rather than such an unknown in the draft, going second round. Mitchel Robinson is doing fantastic in the G League and will not be there long. Already has a 6.5 mil contract. He was the steal of the draft. Like Bassey, Mitchell Robinson was a kid that coach was onto very early and had built a good relationship with him over several years.

[IrishDawg]

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/kentuckiana/2018/07/05/wku-pay-charles-basseys-guardian-200-k-assistant/759579002/

FWIW, I found this on the Murray State message board.

[mjg100]

And? Nothing illegal or against NCAA rules. Most of the P5 schools have done this over the years. Off the top of my head, UK, KU, UL, Memphis, Ole Miss, Missouri and many others. Missouri did it just last year.

[IrishDawg]

And? Nothing illegal or against NCAA rules. Most of the P5 schools have done this over the years. Off the top of my head, UK, KU, UL, Memphis, Ole Miss, Missouri and many others. Missouri did it just last year.

Nope, nothing illegal or against NCAA rules at all.  Doesn't seem to just simply be "3 years of work to get him" though.  For certain players, it's just the cost of doing business.  Some coaches are willing to do so, others aren't.  My post was to show that it's not just "jealous P5" schools and their media who are a little skeptical of WKU's recruiting success over the past 2 years.

Has nothing to do with the game though.  WKU's going to be favored going into this one, and rightfully so given the collection of talent at each program.  Valpo's best chance at a win means they're going to have to be able to defend w/o fouling.  WKU was very good at getting to the line last season, while Valpo struggled mightily in this area defensively.  Fazekas and Golder are going to have to be able to shoot over Murray and Anderson too, as they are physically going to be at a disadvantage.

[mjg100]

Yes, but it is the P5 talking heads that seem to start all of this talk. Look at Robinson last year. There were a lot of tweets and articles talking about Robinson making a mistake going to WKU. I just don't see it that way. Is a 5* better off going to a program like Duke or UK when those programs will have six or seven 5* players already on their roster? At those schools they will be spending a lot more time on the bench, than they would at any mid major. If you are good, the pros will find you. They do every year.


Then to counter that argument P5 supporters say a good player will not play against good competition at a mid major. Well our strength of schedule last year would have been middle of the pack for a lot of P5 schools. Out of conference we played Villanova, Purdue, SMU (before SMU lost two starter to injury), Oklahoma State, USC, Utah, Wisconsin and Boston College. In conference we had MTSU (made top 25 ranking), ODU, Marshal and UAB. All four were top 100 schools.

I am looking forward to this tournament. It will show us where we are and if our expectations are in line or not.

[VUGrad1314]

VU's Myrtle Beach Invitational Opening round opponent, WKU, checks in at #97 in these rankings with a projected finish of 3rd in CUSA. Personally I think they're being badly underrated here. I think it will be a good game but make no mistake about it  it will be tough.

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/16459

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/Collegehoopsguy/status/1027285580340781062

NCAA Basketball: An early look at the 2018 Myrtle Beach Invitational
by Jason Burgess
5 days ago

https://bustingbrackets.com/2018/08/07/ncaa-basketball-early-look-2018-myrtle-beach-invitational/

[VULB#62]

Nice Valpo writeup. In essence, we actually have a pretty experienced squad — in practice that is. Wake is much greener. We could pull this one out. But I have always believed that the 8' radius around the basket has to be protected by a guy with fire in his belly and our bigs have yet to demonstrate that. Our season, IMO, will rest on the amount of progress achieved by our two bigs.

[VUGrad1314]

Myrtle Beach Invitational participant Wake Forest checks in at 85 in College Sports Madness rankings

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/16502

For the record fellow participant Cal St Fullerton also made the list at #110 two spots ahead of Valpo.

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/16417

[VUGrad1314]

The more I think about it, the more I think that the shift away from RPI, the Myrtle Beach Invitational as well as the upcoming Vanderbilt series could be our springboard to the kind of nonconference schedules we've always wanted. Let me explain:

1. With RPI being phased out and safeguards built into the new system to disincentivize beating the stuffing out of bad teams as well as a greater emphasis on SOS, the impetus for P5s to schedule a bunch of bad teams and for mids to schedule non-D1s drops to basically nil. All teams will try to schedule better at all times.

2. The Vanderbilt series opens a host of potential  doors for us. Knowing we'll be heading back to Nashville, now is the time to talk to Belmont, Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee State, Lipscomb, Western Kentucky, Murray State or see if Coach Townsend can work something out with Tom Crean. A buy game at Tennessee is also a good option to prepare us for MVC play.

3. The Myrtle Beach Invitational could open a host of opportunities. Imagine going to California and playing an always solid Fullerton team knowing we've got another quality game out there lined up BOTH with return games. Or going to Florida to start a series with UCF and say FGCU or even a P5 school down there. Imagine WKU and\or St Joseph's to the ARC since both will be in the area next year anyway and the opportunities it opens for the return trip. Or tacking on a date with Wake Forest to our return game with High Point if there is one. Played correctly this can set our nonconference schedule up for years to come. I hope MLB treats this as the critical networking opportunity it is.

[IrishDawg]

1. With RPI being phased out and safeguards built into the new system to disincentivize beating the stuffing out of bad teams as well as a greater emphasis on SOS, the impetus for P5s to schedule a bunch of bad teams and for mids to schedule non-D1s drops to basically nil. All teams will try to schedule better at all times.

I'm going to have to see this NET rating in action before I get on board with the above (It'd be nice if they published it, but again, wait and see).  The RPI didn't take into account margin of victory.  The NET rating capping the ratings boost you get from margin of victory to 10 points makes me think this isn't completely dropping RPI.  If they'd capped it at 20 points then okay, I get it, you don't want them running up the score, but beating a team by 15 points or even 20 points.  My guess is Non-D1s still won't count towards ratings as this wasn't specifically addressed, but given that none of the analytical ratings systems nor the predictive systems include Non-D1s in their rating calculation, this won't either..

2. The Vanderbilt series opens a host of potential  doors for us. Knowing we'll be heading back to Nashville, now is the time to talk to Belmont, Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee State, Lipscomb, Western Kentucky, Murray State or see if Coach Townsend can work something out with Tom Crean. A buy game at Tennessee is also a good option to prepare us for MVC play.

Maybe, but I'm not sure how games against all the teams you mentioned aren't an option already.

3. The Myrtle Beach Invitational could open a host of opportunities. Imagine going to California and playing an always solid Fullerton team knowing we've got another quality game out there lined up BOTH with return games. Or going to Florida to start a series with UCF and say FGCU or even a P5 school down there. Imagine WKU and\or St Joseph's to the ARC since both will be in the area next year anyway and the opportunities it opens for the return trip. Or tacking on a date with Wake Forest to our return game with High Point if there is one. Played correctly this can set our nonconference schedule up for years to come. I hope MLB treats this as the critical networking opportunity it is.

Maybe Valpo does their scheduling differently, but why do you think the AD has anything to do with it?  MLB can network his tail off, and the ADs of those other schools might love him, but at the end of the day, it's the coaching staffs that have to agree to the games.  How Valpo performs at Myrtle Beach, in the MVC and the NCAAs is going to open up far more doors on the schedule than how well their AD can schmooze other administrators.  Fullerton, FGCU and High Point should all be options already for Valpo, in my opinion.  St. Joe's really could be too.  UCF and WKU are more iffy.

[valpo64]

We need to give the MVC effect some time just as we adjust our recruiting, etc.  The schedule should, in time, take care of itself, with alot of effort from the Coaches and AD.  As far as current scheduling, for cryin' out loud Indiana is playing Chicago State!!!  We first need to get established in the MVC.

[FieldGoodie05]

We need to give the MVC effect some time just as we adjust our recruiting, etc.  The schedule should, in time, take care of itself, with alot of effort from the Coaches and AD.  As far as current scheduling, for cryin' out loud Indiana is playing Chicago State!!!  We first need to get established in the MVC.

I would agree here.  Starting to get excited for the 2018/19 season.  There are some solid points about how quality our OOC road/neutral site games are for this coming season.  Hopefully we put on a better showing against the P6 this year.

My biggest question remains, who are our leaders on this team?  I am not talking about statistical categories as much as floor generals / bench generals / practice etc.  That was noticeably lacking last season.  Do we have to wait until the conference part of the schedule to see who takes the leadership role with this team?  Because if so, we will still have a rough go against the P6.

Bakari and Golder seemed the most vocal leaders last year, but their emotions on the court were sometimes detrimental.  Interested to hear others' thoughts on the vocal leaders we can expect for this year.

[elephtheria47]

Give it some time? Let's grab the bull by the horn and let's go. Hell, 2 years after butler left the horizon they were in the big east. Yeah, they had some struggles initially and they got some incredible luck getting there. But, I'm not asking to join the big east. Im super stoked about the mvc . But we're still justifying why it's okay to be scheduling d2 teams after 2 years. I thought we were the region's team because we are the division 1 school in the region, not because we play all of the universities in the region. Time to make things happen.

[VU2014]

The WKU game just got a little tougher.

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1034912699476594694

[VUGrad1314]

Myrtle Beach Invitational participant (and future Loyola opponent St Joseph's checks in at #63 in the College Sports Madness rankings. I really hope we can start a home and home with them next year  at the ARC (they'll be @Loyola next year anyway.) What is surprising is that they're projected 4th in the A10 and came in ahead of the #3 in the MWC and the #2 in the MVC. The perception of the A10 is really strong.

[VUBBFan]

News about Western Kentucky

https://twitter.com/CBB_Central/status/1040655090757955584

[FieldGoodie05]

News about Western Kentucky

https://twitter.com/CBB_Central/status/1040655090757955584

I'd cast the first stone at WKU but we had a similar issue back with Vashil I believe.