Valpo @ Indiana State 2/29 1:00PM ESPN3 WVUR 95.1

valpotx · March 01, 2020, 05:03:46 PM

Quote from: oklahomamick on March 01, 2020, 04:11:06 PM
Not even a fan of ok thunder but cool. Not even a fan of the nba.

Only thing we agree on is how bad oklahoma is, and I'm talking about the state not university's football team or the nba team.

Don't see how it relates to any of this.

Maybe you can compare it to when you were a big D1 athlete. I always enjoyed those post. Miss them dearly. Maybe 10k a year scholarship, if that? Doesn't matter, not relevant.

Let's keep to the facts and the argument at topic.

Coming into the valley we had 8 years of success and returning several from a HL league title.

Loyola came into the valley with 8 years of bottom feeding. Also at that time loyola's budget isn't what it is now.

Of course it's expected valpo should have quicker success.

What's impressive is our women's program. They came into the valley with similar 8 year of bottom feeding just Loyola. However they are going a two bid league. The girls have over achieved.

My answers to your comments are in bold above.

Actually, I never said I was a big time D-1 athlete, but good try. I've fully mentioned several times that I gained limited run with the varsity, and was mainly on the JV. My scholarship was academic, not athletic, and it paid off

. However, that does not change the fact that I was a D-1 athlete, when many folks never get to be. Layup...missed.

truth219 · March 01, 2020, 05:08:09 PM

If we make it to Saturday next weekend I'd consider this season a mild success. If we lose on thursday...kind of a disaster. Regardless of illness, because we can't be a one man show. Then we wait for the roster turnover...if any

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oklahomamick · March 01, 2020, 05:38:53 PM

No worries there. I'm confident in winning Thursday. Thursday again.

I was one of those d1 athletes. Even coached at the d1 level. A little surprised you were just JV, I mean with all the war stories and all. You have also mentioned how many people work for you and how many your hire. And Im willing to guess they all know you were d1 too. 😊

FieldGoodie05 · March 01, 2020, 06:11:00 PM

Quote from: oklahomamick on March 01, 2020, 05:38:53 PM
No worries there. I'm confident in winning Thursday. Thursday again.

I was one of those d1 athletes. Even coached at the d1 level. A little surprised you were just JV, I mean with all the war stories and all. You have also mentioned how many people work for you and how many your hire. And Im willing to guess they all know you were d1 too. 😊

Nobody wins this measuring contest gents. Might be time to redirect! Just an opinion...

valpotx · March 01, 2020, 06:17:56 PM

There you go again with misinterpreting what I say/have said in the past

. If you play & practice 4 years of a traveling college sport, you end up with a ton of 'war stories,' as you call them, and honestly, I've barely given any that relate directly to baseball games. Whether I was practicing/playing with the JV or the varsity, depending on the week, we had practices almost daily, so yeah, that was a good chunk of my college experience. From the 4 am running drills, to normal practice, you are going to have stories to impart when similar topics come up.

Also, I don't talk about the amount of people that work for me, and the only reason that I talk about the folks that I hire, is because that is my occupation. I am a Senior Manager, Technical Recruiting for my company, so all I do is hire Engineers day-in and day-out. Maybe instead of taking it as gloating, you ask a question in why someone says such a thing? As far as them knowing about my college baseball career, they only know that I played baseball, and nothing special past that fact

. Thanks for playing, though!

oklahomamick · March 01, 2020, 06:19:46 PM

I wouldn't get butt hurt about it.... $:-\$ I got sidetracked and need to stick to my own advice by keeping to the topic at hand as I originally was doing. We are probably pretty similar (except you were lucky enough to be born in a lot better place than me) in the fact that we really care about our young kids, our wife, our job and Valpo hoops. We just differ in where we think the current status of the program is. That shouldn't lead to knocks on Oklahoma (although I agree with all of them and could probably add some). Nor should it lead to me trying to make fun of you.

I used to fly out to 4-6 games a year. I really enjoyed watching my alma matter. Very proud of the basketball team who represents the university. Also proud of the academics at our school.

I saw us beat BYU at MGM for a tournament championship in Vegas. A couple weeks later I witnessed us beat a nationally ranked team. I think where the program is currently, we are really far from that.

Lottich inherited a good team and a good program ready to compete in the MVC right away. (middle of the pack, not dead last and second to last and then once again playing on Thursday). We have had a lot of departures from the storied and proud program. Both players and coaches. Coupled with losing a lot of non conference and conference games, those facts are disturbing and frustrating.

This thread is becoming 5 pages and very little to do with Valpo hoops. Don't know how we got to everything else. Standing in at a generous 5'8, I sometimes think I'm 6'7 when I get behind a keyboard.....my bad. End of the day, we both want Valpo to do better, I think. My fault.

valpotx · March 01, 2020, 06:50:18 PM

No problem, Mick. I just found you on LI (it is my job to be able to find people

), and you were actually on campus for much of the same time as me. I didn't know you, but knew a few of your teammates. Older Flugstad was sometimes a part of our self-titled 'Brandt Hall Gangstaz' crew, but none of the overtly negative stuff that some of my friends got into.

Either way, I agree that both of us are very prideful people, and just have different visions on the current stance of Valpo basketball.

VALPO LI · March 01, 2020, 09:33:44 PM

Oklahomamick vs. Valpotx

NativeCheesehead · March 01, 2020, 09:48:27 PM

Imagine how powerful they'd be if they joined forces.

valpo64 · March 02, 2020, 11:13:26 AM

Maybe that could happen after the egos go away.

VUGrad1314 · March 02, 2020, 01:51:13 PM

The saddest aspect of all of this is that we are a made Donovan Clay 3 pointer or a better final possession in Gentile Arena away from feeling so much better about ourselves and our direction and not even having most of the conversation that is happening right now... It's sad how close we were and amazing how close we are to being really good and I just hope the players see that and stay...

wh · March 02, 2020, 03:06:43 PM

Well, I see the sky is falling once again on the old Valpo board after our loss to Indiana State, at their place where they've proven to be nearly impossible to beat and where we were absent 2 starters, including our MVP and likely 1st team all-conference player. So now we play on Thursday, the season is a complete failure, and "Matt the much improved X's and O's coach" has once again become "Lottich the coach that shouldn't get a contract extension." We are officially mired in mediocrity and may never recover, and we are the MVC's mistake addition because the mighty Racers and Bruins went 15-3 in their equivalent of the old Mid Con Conference. Who knew that after winning 4 of our last 5 after getting Ryan back that 1 road game where we were severely shorthanded would have so much meaning.

In case someone is still interested in a bit of optimism, here it is. Assuming that JFL is back full strength, there is no one in this league that we can't beat on a neutral court. If we have the good fortune to get past Evansville, our toughest matchup will be the quarterfinal game because of tired legs against a fresh opponent. After that, everyone will be tired. Let's see what happens.

VUGrad1314 · March 02, 2020, 03:12:58 PM

I wonder if they'll try to sneak some rest for JFL and not announce his return until right before the Loyola game. If we can sneak that extra rest for our best player it could make the difference. Would you take that risk of resting JFL (assuming he is okay and cleared to play) against Evansville to set up a surprise return to the lineup against Loyola and mitigate the tired legs factor and give the entire team an extra boost with him coming back? It's a tough decision considering we had trouble with them in both games WITH JFL. If we had blown them out in both games I think this would definitely be worth doing but since both games were battles the risk might be too great. Furthermore it would be a pretty arrogant gesture to play a team at less than full strength and intentionally tie your own hands in a game and arrogance tends to get punished severely. The basketball gods don't like that at all.

truth219 · March 02, 2020, 03:14:36 PM

You could say we're a few shots away from being great and you could say we're 1 injury away from being terrible.

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VUGrad1314 · March 02, 2020, 03:18:10 PM

Quote from: truth219 on March 02, 2020, 03:14:36 PMYou could say we're a few shots away from being great and you could say we're 1 injury away from being terrible. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

Welcome to the razor's edge AKA the life of the mid major.

truth219 · March 02, 2020, 03:21:22 PM

We can not lose on Thursday. That would be hard to get past.

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VUBBFan · March 02, 2020, 04:38:41 PM

Quote from: VUGrad1314 on March 02, 2020, 01:51:13 PMThe saddest aspect of all of this is that we are a made Donovan Clay 3 pointer or a better final possession in Gentile Arena away from feeling so much better about ourselves and our direction and not even having most of the conversation that is happening right now... It's sad how close we were and amazing how close we are to being really good and I just hope the players see that and stay...

I hope Mileek is right. The only players I see as possibly thinking of transferring right now are Siggy or Eron, but I have no idea. I think it's a good chance they all stay.
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/1234583239177756677

JD24 · March 02, 2020, 04:57:24 PM

Quote from: VUGrad1314 on March 02, 2020, 03:12:58 PMI wonder if they'll try to sneak some rest for JFL and not announce his return until right before the Loyola game.

Assuming he's capable of playing, this would be a fireable offense for the coach and possibly even after a victory. No way any Valpo team should be even remotely considering playing a game vs any team without the team's best player and a player in the conversation for the conference player of the year.

Edit: My reference is to a Conference Playoff game.

FieldGoodie05 · March 02, 2020, 06:17:27 PM

Quote from: JD24 on March 02, 2020, 04:57:24 PM
Quote from: VUGrad1314 on March 02, 2020, 03:12:58 PMI wonder if they'll try to sneak some rest for JFL and not announce his return until right before the Loyola game.
Assuming he's capable of playing, this would be a fireable offense for the coach and possibly even after a victory. No way any Valpo team should be even remotely considering playing a game vs any team without the team's best player and a player in the conversation for the conference player of the year.

I think that would be short sighted beyond compare.

valpo84 · March 03, 2020, 08:21:31 AM

You play and win the game in front of you Period Full Stop. There is only 1 game -- Evansville. Win and you can worry about Friday.