Battle in the Basement - Ill St. @ Valpo 2/11/23

[VALPO LI]

Greetings Beacon Nation!!!!
The sun is bright over Northwest Indiana this brisk and sunny morning! The Birds from the West are in town and we have ourselves a Battle in the Basement this evening at the ARC at 6pm.
Much like the Alamo there is no basement at the ARC that I am aware of, but there is a men's basketball game for 9th place in Valley Play.  Both teams are 10-16 while Illinois State is a game up in the Valley standings at 5-10 while Valpo sits at 4-11.  Both teams are struggling in the month of February, Valpo went 0-3 and Ill St. 1-2.
Todd Ickow and Jamie Stangel will call the game on ESPN 3.  Here is hoping for a good crowd, energetic student section, full band, an entertaining game and a win for the Beacons!

[VALPO LI]

https://twitter.com/valpoathletics/status/1624127176680390663

[usc4valpo]

Good to know that Pee Wee Herman is still in our life. I wonder what the secret word at the ARC will be and that crowd will scream!

[AB]

Quentin Green! Have yourself a game!!!!!
Palm plays.....instant results!

[VALPO LI]

Krikke is a STUD!!!!

[historyman]

A win is a win is a win is a win. We are solidly tied for 9th place. Whooo Hoooo!

[VULB#62]

Don't we also have the ISUr/VU tie breaker?

[wh]

Quentin Green! Have yourself a game!!!!!
Palm plays.....instant results!

Another in a long line of players throughout the Matt Lottich regime that get relegated to the bench in favor of less talented and/or selfish players and end up transferring at year's end.
• Lexus Williams behind Micah Bradford (are you kidding me?)
• Sorolla behind Smits, possibly the laziest, most selfish, most overrated player in the past 25 years.
• JO behind the rotund, out of shape, terrible shooting Mileek - BTW JO is averaging 17 PPG and  61% FG (21st in D-1) at Lipsconb
• Zion Morgan behind Daniel Sackey
• Several lousy players before Keyondre Young

[Dr. T]

What a remarkable young man Ben is - personally and athletically. ML owes Ben a decent chunk of his salary. If not for Ben, how many wins would this Beacon team have right now? Serious question. If nothing else, Ben deserves to be driving a nice ride and staying in a decent place. And, he shouldn't be buying many meals.

[VUGrad1314]

Quentin Green! Have yourself a game!!!!! Palm plays.....instant results!

Another in a long line of players throughout the Matt Lottich regime that get relegated to the bench in favor of less talented and/or selfish players and end up transferring at year's end. • Lexus Williams behind Micah Bradford (are you kidding me?) • Sorolla behind Smits, possibly the laziest, most selfish, most overrated player in the past 25 years. • JO behind the rotund, out of shape, terrible shooting Mileek - BTW JO is averaging 17 PPG and  61% FG (21st in D-1) at Lipsconb • Zion Morgan behind Daniel Sackey • Several lousy players before Keyondre Young

So he CAN recruit (as we all suspected and knew) but can't actually coach the talent he gets because he has no idea what he has while he has it and can't put together a rotation to save his life. OR he is too stubborn and proud to admit mistakes even when they become obvious which is also the mark of a bad coach. It's a shame. If he just played the best players regardless of his stubbornness and ego, we might have put together some really solid teams and wouldn't be talking about who the next coach should be right now. As this evidence shows Matt Lottich has no one to blame for his situation but himself.

[VUGrad1314]

Don't we also have the ISUr/VU tie breaker?

We swept them this year so yes. We seem to own Illinois State for some reason. Hopefully that continues.

[nkvu]

Nice to watch a win tonight. We now have a solid (maybe) ninth place team. Our point guards can't shoot anything but a layup. We have no rim protector. We have 6'11 - 7' guys who contribute nothing other than taking up space on the bench and when they play either turning the ball over or fouling.  Our bench is worth maybe 10- 15 points a game max. I thought that when we moved up to the MVC we would start recruiting a higher level of player. Does anyone think that has happened?  Other than Krikke and maybe King and on occasion Green could any of the current players get playing time on the Drew, Brokoff, or Peter's teams?  I watch this team struggle to make any in bounds play, often turning the ball over because there is obviously no play called and everyone is just standing around. And don't get me started on times when they hold the ball to wind down the shot clock.  Do they ever get a shot off, let alone a decent one?  It's just painful to watch, even when they somehow come out on top.  So if Krikke doesn't come back next year will we ever score more than 50 points a game? 

I need to go back to not watching these games, because if I feel this way after a win, imagine how I'd feel after watching a loss.

[wh]

Unless the university is selling artwork to buy Matt out of his contract (hint: it isn't), next season will be year-8 of the Matt Lottich/Luke Gore regime. With that, I think I'm going to focus on other things for awhile. It was fun checking in. Go Valpo!

[historyman]

Unless the university is selling artwork to buy Matt out of his contract (hint: it isn't), next season will be year-8 of the Matt Lottich/Luke Gore regime. With that, I think I'm going to focus on other things for awhile. It was fun checking in. Go Valpo!

I wonder if I could get more money contributed to a "Buyout Lottich fund" or an "AC for the new dorms fund"?

[usc4valpo]

If Valpo is so strapped for cash and going to start a art collection fire sale, what purpose did the $250M fundraiser have? I heard the donations or pledges are for cash that will be there.

Glad to see Valpo win, Krikke is a stud and we should be thankful for his contributions.

However but the commitment to mediocrity continues. At least we have dumb cuddly mascots.

[David81]

His play during this challenging season has been nothing short of heroic. Krikke is a testament to how a mid major can be the right home for a talented guy who stays, works on his game relentlessly, and goes from promising freshman to All Conference 1st team caliber.

[AB]

Krikke has been consistently productive. Too bad he's had less help. Palm should be playing 20 minutes a game. loose balls, energy hustle. Joe H, Villen....busts. They move like robots.  Green needs to be taking it too the hoop and slashing more, He's good in the open court,  since his 3 point shot is either feast or famine. Wait, maybe he only shoots well against ISU. Schedule them every week. Not going out on a limb here but It's Bradley, Trees or Belmont cutting down the Nets in Arch madness. Drake....over achieves, same with NIU & SIU. Murray State and Evansville have mailed it it. MSU has Dana Ford. They ain't ever going anywhere. Had Prim and Mosley. Blew it. Valpo not mailed it in. Not capable of playing defense for the whole game. Should have won by 20 points last night
Wednesday.... Valpo will have to win the game in the 50's unless they can speed up the Dogs. Unlikely. Domask and Jones will have a field day against our guards.

[valpotx]

Yay, we won't go 4-16 in the MVC! 

In all fairness, thanks to the team for fighting, and keeping our homecourt winning season streak going.  On to 31 seasons!

[crusadermoe]

Hey Usc4valpo,

I am not sure who told you the $250m+ raised for Forever Valpo has a lot of spendable cash still in it.  They called it an endowment drive, focused on locking away money and drawing 5% per year to pay out into their budgets. A lot of the money "raised" and counted in that total is just promises from donor estates that only pays on the death of the donors.  I think the usable cash raised is already spent.

[FWalum]

If Valpo is so strapped for cash and going to start a art collection fire sale, what purpose did the $250M fundraiser have? I heard the donations or pledges are for cash that will be there.

Glad to see Valpo win, Krikke is a stud and we should be thankful for his contributions.

However but the commitment to mediocrity continues. At least we have dumb cuddly mascots.

At the end of the campaign the endowment stood at approx $350M in hard dollars (This has probably decreased because of declines in the markets). Money given to VU's general endowment is restricted by the terms of that endowment which may include some general operating funds for deparments and asset maintenance, other money given by individuals or families to their named endowments have their own restrictions on usage. Use of endowment money is further restricted by the rules of UPMIFA. There is approximately $150M that is yet to come to VU in the form of bequest gifts. This means that VU can currently most likely use about 17.5M a year, and the use of that money is restricted by the terms of the endowments and UPMIFA. In the case of my institution the majority of the funds produced by our endowments is required to go to student aid. I would supspect that this is also the case at VU.

[vu72]

If Valpo is so strapped for cash and going to start a art collection fire sale, what purpose did the $250M fundraiser have? I heard the donations or pledges are for cash that will be there.

Glad to see Valpo win, Krikke is a stud and we should be thankful for his contributions.

However but the commitment to mediocrity continues. At least we have dumb cuddly mascots.

There certainly were funds included in the final count that were available for immediate us, most notably the annual Day of Giving.  Last year the amount raised was in excess of #1 million so over the years of the campaign perhaps $5 million came from this source.  There were other gifts with direct consequences like the money given from the estate of Dale Kempf, which was used to renovate the Hilltop practice facility.  Also included was the $15 million given by the Helge's for the now complete Chapel renovation and addition.  If FWalum's $150 million yet to be received number is correct, that means that about $155 million has been received (announced total was $305 million), most of which will be added to the restricted endowment.

At the end of the campaign the endowment stood at approx $350M in hard dollars (This has probably decreased because of declines in the markets). Money given to VU's general endowment is restricted by the terms of that endowment which may include some general operating funds for deparments and asset maintenance, other money given by individuals or families to their named endowments have their own restrictions on usage. Use of endowment money is further restricted by the rules of UPMIFA. There is approximately $150M that is yet to come to VU in the form of bequest gifts. This means that VU can currently most likely use about 17.5M a year, and the use of that money is restricted by the terms of the endowments and UPMIFA. In the case of my institution the majority of the funds produced by our endowments is required to go to student aid. I would supspect that this is also the case at VU.

There certainly were funds included in the final count that were available for immediate us, most notably the annual Day of Giving.  Last year the amount raised was in excess of #1 million so over the years of the campaign perhaps $5 million came from this source.  There were other gifts with direct consequences like the money given from the estate of Dale Kempf, which was used to renovate the Hilltop practice facility.  Also included was the $15 million given by the Helge's for the now complete Chapel renovation and addition.  If FWalum's $150 million yet to be received number is correct, that means that about $155 million has been received (announced total was $305 million), some of which will be added to the restricted endowment.

[FWalum]

There certainly were funds included in the final count that were available for immediate us, most notably the annual Day of Giving.  Last year the amount raised was in excess of #1 million so over the years of the campaign perhaps $5 million came from this source.  There were other gifts with direct consequences like the money given from the estate of Dale Kempf, which was used to renovate the Hilltop practice facility.  Also included was the $15 million given by the Helge's for the now complete Chapel renovation and addition.  If FWalum's $150 million yet to be received number is correct, that means that about $155 million has been received (announced total was $305 million), most of which will be added to the restricted endowment.

Monies given as cash means nothing, it needs to be looked at as restricted or unrestricted funds. Most of the funds from the annual Day of Giving are restricted. Kempf estate gift was restricted, Helge gift was restricted. Only funds specifically given to General Ops can be used "where most needed". Schools can appear to be swimming in dough, but if it is mostly restricted money they may struggle to perform day to day operations.

[vu72]

There certainly were funds included in the final count that were available for immediate us, most notably the annual Day of Giving.  Last year the amount raised was in excess of #1 million so over the years of the campaign perhaps $5 million came from this source.  There were other gifts with direct consequences like the money given from the estate of Dale Kempf, which was used to renovate the Hilltop practice facility.  Also included was the $15 million given by the Helge's for the now complete Chapel renovation and addition.  If FWalum's $150 million yet to be received number is correct, that means that about $155 million has been received (announced total was $305 million), most of which will be added to the restricted endowment.

Monies given as cash means nothing, it needs to be looked at as restricted or unrestricted funds. Most of the funds from the annual Day of Giving are restricted. Kempf estate gift was restricted, Helge gift was restricted. Only funds specifically given to General Ops can be used "where most needed". Schools can appear to be swimming in dough, but if it is mostly restricted money they may struggle to perform day to day operations.

I should have clarified by writing that funds were given that were available for immediate use (by the department, college or specific purpose so designated)

[FWalum]

There certainly were funds included in the final count that were available for immediate us, most notably the annual Day of Giving.  Last year the amount raised was in excess of #1 million so over the years of the campaign perhaps $5 million came from this source.  There were other gifts with direct consequences like the money given from the estate of Dale Kempf, which was used to renovate the Hilltop practice facility.  Also included was the $15 million given by the Helge's for the now complete Chapel renovation and addition.  If FWalum's $150 million yet to be received number is correct, that means that about $155 million has been received (announced total was $305 million), most of which will be added to the restricted endowment.

Monies given as cash means nothing, it needs to be looked at as restricted or unrestricted funds. Most of the funds from the annual Day of Giving are restricted. Kempf estate gift was restricted, Helge gift was restricted. Only funds specifically given to General Ops can be used "where most needed". Schools can appear to be swimming in dough, but if it is mostly restricted money they may struggle to perform day to day operations.

I should have clarified by writing that funds were given that were available for immediate use (by the department, college or specific purpose so designated)

So in case you haven't caught the drift of my theme here... if you are concerned about your non-profits cash on hand then give your money to General Operations!!! Gen Ops money can be used for ANYTHING including scholarships. I know that appeals go out from the departments, the arts, athletics (yes I have given to my department and athletics) and many other specific places that will restrict the funds for that use, but if you literally want to help keep the lights on then give to Gen Ops = where most needed.

[historyman]

Gen Ops money can be used for ANYTHING including scholarships. I know that appeals go out from the departments, the arts, athletics (yes I have given to my department and athletics)

So it was Gen Ops money that helped us beat Illinois State? I'm not quite following this thread.