Non-Conference games 2019-2020 season

[bbtds]

Perhaps we can get a home and home with 'Worried'

I'd be a little wofforded to play the Worried Terriers too. Look how mean their mascot appears!   

[VALPO LI]

Wagner College....
As a substitute for a Concordia Chicago/Non D1 game. 
Here is why.  Yes Wagner is in a lower conference and their NET is not great but I would want to play them any day over a non D1 school.  Wagner is the only Lutheran D1 basketball program out there now.  I hear to much about catholic institutions wanting to play other catholic universities.  Play Wagner the first game of the year at home instead of a non D1 and promote our Lutheran heritage through the game!

[VULB#62]

Wagner is a kind of funny situation. We had them scheduled in football but they backed out. We also had a young man transfer out of our program to Wagnerand that would have been an entre to a. Game or two, but that never happened. The natural affinity is there but something just does not allow it to click.  Being a former easterner, I would love to see how we would match up with more eastern schools like Wagner, UVM, Northeastern, Harvard, URI, UMass.  Forget about UConn, Providence or BC. They'd never give us the time of day.

Ideally, in my mind, I would like Valpo to have a geographic scheduling rotation:  one year in the Northeast, then South East, SW,  and NW. Through out we schedule similar schools in the heartland.

Easier said than done.

Oh, BTW, isn't being able to schedule based on long term relationships in coaching one of the pluses of having an experienced HC. ML, unfortunately, is not yet in a position to leverage that.

[oklahomamick]

Butler
Depaul
St. Louis
Tulsa (selfish reasons)
Portland
Oregon St.

[vu84v2]

Marquette (selfish reasons, but a good and close opponent)
Butler
Dayton
Saint Louis
Murray State
Belmont
Buffalo
Bowling Green
Miami (Ohio)
Toledo
Northwestern

Here is my somewhat cynical guess on next year's non-conference schedule. The objective of not traveling so much will turn into a justification for a weaker non-conference schedule. We're more likely to see PFW, IUPUI and low D1 teams traveling to Valpo than good quality non-conference opponents. There will be a conscious effort to 'boost' the W-L record and not worry about SOS.

[usc4valpo]

USC, Iowa State, Arkansas, SFA

[justducky]

Stanford, Baylor

[tiny707]

Hopefully UMKC November 23rd or 24th or 25th 2019.

[vu84v2]

Hopefully UMKC November 23rd or 24th or 25th 2019.

Hopefully NEVER UMKC. They are nearly as bad as Chicago State.

[tiny707]

Just want UMKC in November for Homer Drew HOF induction.

[VUBBFan]

Hopefully UMKC November 23rd or 24th or 25th 2019.

It'll have to be a different date, because Valpo will be in The Virgin Islands during those days. The Paradise Jam.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/andywittry/status/1123001346838421504?s=21

[EddieCabot]

So, has anyone heard whether the Vandy game is still on?  My guess is that with Bryce gone, Vandy will just buy their way out and move on.

Assuming @Ball State, GW, @High Point and the Paradise Jam games are locked in, that leaves 6 non-conference games that we don't currently know about.  With only one home game (GW) locked in, I would hope that 3 or 4 of the remaining 6 non-con games are at home. 

Lastly, the Paradise Jam bracket was released in early May last year, so we might have more information soon.  I'll take a stab and say the brackets look like:

Left side              Right side
GCU                    Nevada
Ill St                    Valpo

Cincinnati             BGSU
Fordham               WKU

[vu72]

So, has anyone heard whether the Vandy game is still on?  My guess is that with Bryce gone, Vandy will just buy their way out and move on.

Assuming @Ball State, GW, @High Point and the Paradise Jam games are locked in, that leaves 6 non-conference games that we don't currently know about.  With only one home game (GW) locked in, I would hope that 3 or 4 of the remaining 6 non-con games are at home. 

Lastly, the Paradise Jam bracket was released in early May last year, so we might have more information soon.  I'll take a stab and say the brackets look like:

Left side              Right side
GCU                    Nevada
Ill St                    Valpo

Cincinnati             BGSU
Fordham               WKU

If folks thought we had transfer problem check out Nevada!  8 seniors graduated plus 6 in the transfer portal.  That leaves walk-ons.

[EddieCabot]

If folks thought we had transfer problem check out Nevada!  8 seniors graduated plus 6 in the transfer portal.  That leaves walk-ons.

Musselman graduated 8 seniors and then bolted out of town.  Alford will have a major rebuild on his hands, but he's also got a nice 10 year contract.

[justducky]

So, has anyone heard whether the Vandy game is still on?  My guess is that with Bryce gone, Vandy will just buy their way out and move on.

If the first game had already been played at Vandy then that is what they would want to do. Because they were to come here first a little creative thinking might be used. Maybe they will look at our mass defections, chaos and inexperience and decide to come anyway because their chances for a loss have been greatly reduced. In exchange maybe they negotiate for a 2 games at Vandy outcome with the dollar amounts being the deciding factor? However it is decided it appears we hold the stronger poker hand. Did Todd help negotiate this contract?   

[bigmosmithfan1]

I still think Vandy will just buy out of the contract now, but good to see I'm not the only one with the counterintuitive take that Bryce's departure makes that series more likely to happen, not less. It was no secret that Bryce would never want to play that game (there's a reason we haven't played Baylor since Scott took over there -- the Drew family hates playing against teams where they have family or close friends). Now, in our current weakened state and a new coach hungry for wins at Vandy and any likely awkwardness gone, Vandy may just decide to save the money and go through with it and get two easy W's.

[vuny98]

I still think Vandy will just buy out of the contract now, but good to see I'm not the only one with the counterintuitive take that Bryce's departure makes that series more likely to happen, not less. It was no secret that Bryce would never want to play that game (there's a reason we haven't played Baylor since Scott took over there -- the Drew family hates playing against teams where they have family or close friends). Now, in our current weakened state and a new coach hungry for wins at Vandy and any likely awkwardness gone, Vandy may just decide to save the money and go through with it and get two easy W's.

Agree. Bryce gone means this is more likely to happen. I would be all in for converting this to a 2 for 1 situation as long as the 1 at home is guaranteed with no buy out clause. Valpo needs a marquee home game. Its been far too long. A buy out would need to be HUGE for the AD to consider. After the last few years of bad OOC home games, the program owes it to the fans.

[NativeCheesehead]

It's obvious they fired Bryce just so they wouldn't have to play us. They're playing 4D chess down there in Nashville.

[VU2014]

Could a Valpo vs Belmont series be in the works?

https://twitter.com/caseyalexander_/status/1123758156037881857?s=21

[EddieCabot]

Could a Valpo vs Belmont series be in the works?

https://twitter.com/caseyalexander_/status/1123758156037881857?s=21

Nice job, 2014!  Keep tweeting at coaches and we might have a decent schedule!

[VUGrad1314]

That should already be an annual series. AS CONFERENCE GAMES Man up Belmont! As it stands ML and MLB need to do this. Belmont is a really good program.

[bbtds]

I just drove by Trinity International University in a pouring rain. They said they would be glad to play any team anywhere. And they'll start out playing at The ARC. How about that?

[jtm]

Valpo heading to Charlotte (don't call them UNC-Charlotte) on December 16

https://charlotte49ers.com/documents/2019/7/17//2019_20_Charlotte_49ers_mbb_schedule.pdf

[justducky]

Valpo heading to Charlotte (don't call them UNC-Charlotte) on December 16

https://charlotte49ers.com/documents/2019/7/17//2019_20_Charlotte_49ers_mbb_schedule.pdf

Interesting! 

We are 4-2 all time and have won all 3 at Charlotte. We last met in 2006 (Honolulu) and lost.