Detroit @ Valpo 3/6/12 8PM CST Game Thread

[vuweathernerd]

this one's for all the marbles. and unfortunately, it's against a team that's given us fits in the conference tourney over our 4 years in the hl. luckily, we're going for the third win of the year against detroit, and in the last 20 years, valpo's 17-2 in these games.

just saw on twitter that there were over 50 students in line for the free tickets when they started handing them out at 11am. this is a good sign. hopefully, those tickets are gone by the end of the day, and tons of local students/recent alumni with their ids can get into the student section and raise some hell.

edit: the line went through the double doors by the elevators in the union. definitely a good start. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=313805975341793&set=a.167497749972617.58630.113914928664233&type=1&theater

[Valpo10]

this one's for all the marbles. and unfortunately, it's against a team that's given us fits in the conference tourney over our 4 years in the hl. luckily, we're going for the third win of the year against detroit, and in the last 20 years, valpo's 17-2 in these games.

just saw on twitter that there were over 50 students in line for the free tickets when they started handing them out at 11am. this is a good sign. hopefully, those tickets are gone by the end of the day, and tons of local students/recent alumni with their ids can get into the student section and raise some hell.

edit: the line went through the double doors by the elevators in the union. definitely a good start. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=313805975341793&set=a.167497749972617.58630.113914928664233&type=1&theater

Probably around 100ish tickets given away.  You could pick up multiple tickets for friends if you had their ID.  When I was in line everybody had multiple IDs, including me.

[vuweathernerd]

this one's for all the marbles. and unfortunately, it's against a team that's given us fits in the conference tourney over our 4 years in the hl. luckily, we're going for the third win of the year against detroit, and in the last 20 years, valpo's 17-2 in these games.

just saw on twitter that there were over 50 students in line for the free tickets when they started handing them out at 11am. this is a good sign. hopefully, those tickets are gone by the end of the day, and tons of local students/recent alumni with their ids can get into the student section and raise some hell.

edit: the line went through the double doors by the elevators in the union. definitely a good start. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=313805975341793&set=a.167497749972617.58630.113914928664233&type=1&theater

Probably around 100ish tickets given away.  You could pick up multiple tickets for friends if you had their ID.  When I was in line everybody had multiple IDs, including me.

makes sense. that's how they've done things in the past as well. and as of about 5 minutes ago, valparaizone tweeted that there were less than 30 free tickets left.

[bbtds]

I'm very proud of the Valpo student crowd these last few weeks and most of the season. That is dedication!

[vufan75]

Could not agree more with you, bbtds. The student turn out has been great, and they certainly create a great atmosphere in the ARC for the games!!   

[okinawatyphoon]

I'm excited that we're on ESPN again. Does anyone know the last time we had a game on the ESPN flagship network? I can't remember any over the past 5 years.

[valpotx]

Valpo 72
Detroit 63

I think Detroit comes out of the gate with the lead, with us leading by 3-4 at halftime, and McCallum's coaching adjustments at halftime benefit us greatly for a 9 point win  .

[valpopal]

Vegas has Valpo favored by 2 points. That is good enough for me:

Detroit   67
Valpo     69

[wh]

IMO the Achilles heal for Detroit is their unwillingness to commit to hard-nosed, team defense for 35 seconds, possession after possession for an entire game.  I noticed it in both games we played them and again the other night against CSU.  Different guys take defensive possessions off at different times - especially when they start to tire.  They've been able to get away with it against some of the more offensively challenged teams in the league, but not the teams with more offensive weapons like us (0-2) and CSU (0-2), until the other night.  Even then, I think their win over CSU was an anomaly.  CSU has not been the same team since Brown got hurt.  The Titans will simply try to outscore us like they always do, show a lot of flash, maybe throw down a few dunks, but in the end I have no reason to think they will be any more successful in this game than in the first two. 

[KL31NY]

I'm excited that we're on ESPN again. Does anyone know the last time we had a game on the ESPN flagship network? I can't remember any over the past 5 years.

Went through the archives on valpoathletics.com. Tomorrow will be our 2nd ever appearance on "the mothership." Our only other ESPN appearance was the loss to Iowa in the 2003 NIT under Scott. Also found this gem about our first ESPN showing

Monday's Valpo-Iowa NIT game, which was televised on ESPN, received an "above-average" television rating. The game drew a .94 rating, an improvement over ESPN's average of .90 for 2002-03 men's college basketball games. Approximately 818,415 televisions were tuned into the 8 p.m. CST game.

[valpotx]

A game in which we should have won near the end, barring Antti's big hands pushing the easy putback out of bounds...

[Crusader03]

A game in which we should have won near the end, barring Antti's big hands pushing the easy putback out of bounds...

Yep, a moment that will live in infamy...disappointing end to that game.

Tommy, just wanted to congratulate you on being named POTW!  I'm sure Bill Madlock is pretty proud!!

[covufan]

Another good game by the Crusaders:

Valpo   74
Detroit  65

[drewsaders11]

I was also wondering how often we have been on ESPN.  Thanks for the info.  This will be the first time the ARC is featured on the station.  Also, its in a much more important capacity than, say, us hosting Miami (OH) in a mediocre bracketbuster, or us hosting Purdue in a nonconference game.  This game has meaning, and people will tune in and say "oh, so this is the team that beat Butler", and be drawn in by the Drew family story, and most importantly, the unselfishness and character that our team shows on the basketball court. I think the team's confidence has to be through the roof at this point, and wish it was Tuesday already.

[vuweathernerd]

I was also wondering how often we have been on ESPN.  Thanks for the info.  This will be the first time the ARC is featured on the station.  Also, its in a much more important capacity than, say, us hosting Miami (OH) in a mediocre bracketbuster, or us hosting Purdue in a nonconference game.  This game has meaning, and people will tune in and say "oh, so this is the team that beat Butler", and be drawn in by the Drew family story, and most importantly, the unselfishness and character that our team shows on the basketball court. I think the team's confidence has to be through the roof at this point, and wish it was Tuesday already.

hey now, you can rip on that "mediocre bracketbuster" but that remains the single greatest college basketball game i have ever had the luck of being at.

[wh]

I picked up my 4 pre-paid tickets early this afternoon at the ARC ticket office.  I also bought 2 more for friends who jumped on the bandwagon late.  I asked for best available and they gave me Section CC, Row WW.  Reportedly, there are still a lot of seats left along the top few rows of the mezzanine. 

[sectionee]

Haven't looked back on this topic but I heard the free 200 student tickets were claimed within 19 minutes this morning!!

[okinawatyphoon]

500 tickets still available.

[valpotx]

It at least sounds like close to a sell-out, and should be a majority of VU fans again.  If it is anything like the atmosphere on Saturday, our team really responded to that energy...

[sectionee]

I heard early yesterday there were only 200 available...I wonder if Detroit returned a bunch of theirs?   

[elephtheria47]

I just got 2 tickets section CC row AA   


does anyone know who the announcers are for the game tonight?

[valpo04]

I just got 2 tickets section CC row AA   


does anyone know who the announcers are for the game tonight?

http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2012/03/05/men%E2%80%99s-college-basketball-championship-week-continues/

Mark Jones & Stephen Bardo

[valporun]

I just got 2 tickets section CC row AA   


does anyone know who the announcers are for the game tonight?

http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2012/03/05/men%E2%80%99s-college-basketball-championship-week-continues/

Mark Jones & Stephen Bardo

The same guys who worked the semifinals. I sure hope they do their homework about the game they are watching tonight, not a game that doesn't exist, or one of the Big 6 conferences they wish they were working instead. They had a lot of mistakes during Saturday's game.

[agibson]

I wonder if they had some returns?  Or some blocks that were freed up recently?

There are much better seats available now, compared to last night.  Looking for two together, right now you can get sections BB or CC row BB.  Section EE row AA.  But, in section DD you're all the way up in row MM.

Not easy from the web interface to figure out how many total seats are available... Last night it looked pretty full (e.g. row ZZ in sections BB or CC, but row EE in section EE).

[agibson]

The vegas line seems to be Valpo by two, with an over/under of 138.  Closer than I might have expected, actually!

Realtimerpi.com hasn't bothered to add the game, so no prediction from them.

Sportsnetwork.com has it Valpo 71, Detroit 63, which I don't think is an unreasonable prediction.  We'll see!