Well, women’s hoops keeps moving on in ineptitude, losing big to PFW. Shot well - 47%. What happened? 26 turnovers! Why?
Paul has the story on the Victory Bell...just sayin.
I feel good for our women’s team today with their win this morning. It was non-DI but a win nevertheless.
Related to that, I was struck by Paul’s video posted on X of the team ringing the bell and all the joyfulness and sharing of the experience that transpired. Here’s why.
Back in the dark ages when I played (60s for those who are curious), the bell was located next to the old union near the chapel - well away from any athletic event. After a win, “someone” would ring the bell - not the athletes who earned the win. There was also a smaller (I think) bell on a trailer that got hauled around the campus by a car with “someone” pulling on a rope to ring it as it drove around.
To be honest, relocating the bell to Hilltop, made so much sense and was the best move evah (can you tell I’m from Boston?). It changed the whole dynamic for the better. So glad they did it.
I feel good for our women’s team today with their win this morning. It was non-DI but a win nevertheless.
Related to that, I was struck by Paul’s video posted on X of the team ringing the bell and all the joyfulness and sharing of the experience that transpired. Here’s why.
Back in the dark ages when I played (60s for those who are curious), the bell was located next to the old union near the chapel - well away from any athletic event. After a win, “someone” would ring the bell - not the athletes who earned the win. There was also a smaller (I think) bell on a trailer that got hauled around the campus by a car with “someone” pulling on a rope to ring it as it drove around.
To be honest, relocating the bell to Hilltop, made so much sense and was the best move evah (can you tell I’m from Boston?). It changed the whole dynamic for the better. So glad they did it.
Not really shown in the video, but will be told in the story...once I write it...is that the team stayed out by the Bell for 20 minutes as middle school kids kept streaming out of the ARC. They all came and celebrated with the team at the bell before getting on the bus and heading back to school. It was awesome.
Well thats how you build a fan base back for a team that doesnt have one anymore. Reach out to different orgs and make a fun day out of a game. IU Indy has their Readers are Leaders event at the Coliseum and it was cool. Events like these remind me of the days when Lorrie Woycik would get PCSO a ton of tickets to various events in the ARC.
I do like how its now more common to make a show out of "The Bell". Reminiscent of the Kings lighting "The Beam", the Magic "Playing the Song", or even the Cubs "Flying the W". Maybe if plans are still in the air about building "Victory Village" you can move the bell to a sort of shrine behind the west end zone to keep it centralized within the athletic campus.
We should make all mezz tickets half off or severely reduced in price. As an AD, I get needing to make some money, but having more supporters across sports can't hurt.
just for posterity... the relocation of the Bell was mandated by the new union's location.. BUT there was a small legacy fund left by the estate of Bill Domke (the director of physical plant for umpteen years) and those funds were used to build the new foundation for the bell. I rang it once. One the date I retired after 30 years. I was thrilled to share that moment with other retirees. The sound that bell makes has a deeper meaning to those who 've had the chance to ring it.
Huge Valley-opening win for the women, beating Southern Illinois 69-51. Finished non-conference play with a couple of tough losses, unable to close out what would have been impressive wins against reigning WNIT champs Saint Louis and a much improved Detroit Mercy. Leah Earnest continues to be one of the best players in the Valley, and the sophomores as well as senior Katie Beyer have taken huge steps of improvement so far. Unfortunately the team may struggle still in Valley play despite being clearly better than last year now that starting point guard Raeven Raye-Redmond has joined Saniya Jackson on the list of injuries. Only 11 healthy players on the roster now as they enter a ridiculously difficult stretch of four road games all against teams in the top 100 of the NET.
They do seem to be performing well over the last few games, and it does appear that in this hot seat season, that we have given up the "live by the 3, die by the 3" approach that caused us so many issues over the last few seasons. In each of the games I have watched this season, it appears that we have more of a focus on playing defense than we did prior, and try to move the ball around a bit more, unless you get the wide open 3. All good signs.
Beyer does look to be stepping up this season, as well. When thinking of her, it is natural to think of Molly Sheehan, since they both enrolled early at Valpo, rather than playing their final HS seasons, I believe. Sheehan has had a solid career at SIU-E, after not getting playing time during her first 2 seasons at Valpo.
https://siuecougars.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/molly-sheehan/12112
The Valley has good teams and some really pathetic teams, and IMO Valpo is bad but not in the really pathetic category. That being said, is Evans going to be sacked?
The Valley has good teams and some really pathetic teams, and IMO Valpo is bad but not in the really pathetic category. That being said, is Evans going to be sacked?
This is a pretty good take on where we are, better than last year. We won 5 games last year and have won 5 so far. If Fox gets let go I see no way Evans keeps her job. The question is how many wins does she need to survive.
@azvalpo agreed. Glad to be done with this really difficult four game road stretch where the gap between the top part of the conference and us was very clear (although to be fair, the last 30 minutes of today’s game at a really good Belmont team was probably the best we’ve played this year). The upcoming home weekend against Illinois State and Bradley should show whether we have a chance to finish anywhere above the bottom 4 since those two teams are playing well and seem to be middle of the conference.
In terms of Evans, it is not looking good. I’m sure Hosmer will consider the fact that we had two starters have season ending injuries but I think it would have to be a dramatic turnaround or impressive MVC tournament run for her to keep her job.
Women’s sports and specifically basketball, soccer and softball (we’ve got VB locked) can be an avenue for a great profile in the MVC. We are wasting that opportunity. No one is really talking about NIL in women’s sports. Valpo has two great things going for it in this era. One: The campus, community and the academics and…. Two: We are DI and compete in the MVC.
Aside from MBB, is it too much to wonder why we can’t leverage these women’s programs to lift up the entire department?
Soccer is almost there and a credit to the university. SB might be turning the corner, but the jury is still out. The drag is WBB.
At the risk of sounding sexist, few women entertain visions of a professional sport career in today’s sports world. Female athletes, like most athletes aspire to play at the highest level they can achieve. But women look at more than the raw aspects [I have a daughter and three grand daughters who are athletes] and they value more than, and see though, the glitz.
Valpo for many great female athletes is the perfect place to compete at the highest level and meet other aspirations in a warm and welcoming environment
Where am I going? Simple. Give WBB, VB, SB, WSO a greater share of the athletic budget to ensure we have the best coaches and enable those coaches to optimize what I believe is a way to raise Valpo’s profile
