Messages

Watching on the Sun Belt Network. Would move Valpo up to a 13 in most projections in FIU hangs on.

For any interested:

http://www.sunbeltondemand.com/#!/view/video/ca403fbd-cc02-4620-97d6-709c7f38bc50/Middle-Tennessee-vs-FIU

Big one giong on in the Sun Belt...six minutes left and Middle Tennessee State is down nine! They are RPI #21 (probably an at-large), but if they lose, that will shift us up a spot on the S-Curve....GO FIU!

(Edit: Sorry bbtds...didn't see your edit first...)

Heard around the gym on Saturday that the HL contract with ESPN is up after this year as well. (This could be true, could be totally wrong).

Losing Butler will hurt, obviously, but I think we are probably in for a "better" deal...maybe not more money, but hopefully more games on TV. I know this is a different topic/thread, but this could have a significant impact on expansion as well.

As far as Valpo...keep putting on a good show and having good crowds (forget attendance...just atmosphere) and the networks will keep coming back.

The temporary bleachers on the side opposite of the student section would add to the total since it's not already included in the total capacity of the ARC (as far as I know). So maybe 100-200 there?

There actualy aren't quite 5000 "seats" in the arena. We counted a number of years ago (before the easy way with the online/electronic ticketing and such) and it was in the 4850 range. 5000 is just an easier number....and with using that, it's probably about even.

Math time!!

ARC Total		5000
AA/EE were down 300+ each		-600
BB/DD were down 150+each		-300
Student Sec. was down 300+		-300
F/J down 50+ each		-100
A/E down 50+ each		-100
H was down 100 for media		-100

That brings us down to 3500 right there, and these are conservative numbers. Tickets for AA/EE weren't for sale, so some folks moved to there from way up in the other sections.

Personally, I don't care if there were 500 or 5000, the crowd got into the game when they needed and the atmosphere was great from courtside.

[As a former assistant to Keith, this is an easy choice. He broke down film for the women's program. I think it may have just been a volunteer slot, but it still stands.]

Assistant Coach- ValpoHoops- As a former assistant to Keith, this is an easy choice.  He broke down film for the women's program.  I think it may have just been a volunteer slot, but it still stands.  Is he a guy you want taking over for VU72 if the need arose?  Not likely.  But he is still a guy you want on your staff to do the little things.

Once again, incorrect. You can keep believing it, but you're wrong. How shall I say....I have NEVER been employed (paid, unpaid, volunteer, servant, etc.) by the basketball program at Valpo. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Ooooookay.  Not sure why you were breaking down IUN film for Keith, but that is besides the point.  You are a good man and if you say it isn't true, your word shall be taken.

I still think you are the best fit for the assistant coach/Kirby role on this squad.  Do you at least graciously receive that recognition?

If you look back, I didn't break it down for KF. I said, quite clearly, I was coaching another of IUN's opponents...so yes, I do have college basketball coaching experience.

And sure, I'll take it. Not sure how I feel about...

Is he a guy you want taking over for VU72 if the need arose?  Not likely.

[As a former assistant to Keith, this is an easy choice. He broke down film for the women's program. I think it may have just been a volunteer slot, but it still stands.]

Assistant Coach- ValpoHoops- As a former assistant to Keith, this is an easy choice.  He broke down film for the women's program.  I think it may have just been a volunteer slot, but it still stands.  Is he a guy you want taking over for VU72 if the need arose?  Not likely.  But he is still a guy you want on your staff to do the little things.

Once again, incorrect. You can keep believing it, but you're wrong. How shall I say....I have NEVER been employed (paid, unpaid, volunteer, servant, etc.) by the basketball program at Valpo. Sorry to burst your bubble.

[currently 15 teams]

Just trying to pull this all together in one place...I will update as the week goes on (I'll try to update as games end, as well as after ALL games are done for the day to get an accurate "end of day" RPI). Records are D1 games only.

I included the "majors" in here on the off chance that an awful team makes a crazy run.


Updated through all games on 3/16

Based strictly on RPI, there are currently 15 teams with "locked in" bids sitting below Valpo (Currently RPI #58) on the S-Curve, though several are very close. Remember, only auto bid teams will affect this number, all at-large teams will fall ahead of Valpo on the S-Curve. All teams remaining to play their championship games (4 conferences) would fall ahead of Valpo on the S-Curve.

There MAY still be a chance that we move up or down a slot as there are four teams between 56-62.

PREDICTION: 13 SEED


To earn a 12: Need to be ahead of 18 teams
To earn a 13: Need to be ahead of 14 teams
To earn a 14: Need to be ahead of 10 teams
To earn a 15: Need to be ahead of 6 teams

Conference	Championship Date	Auto Bid	RPI Rank
Mountain West	March 16	New Mexico (29-5)	2
Big East	March 16	Louisville	3
Big 12	March 16	Kansas (29-5)	5
West Coast	March 11	Gonzaga (30-2)	7
Conference USA	March 16	Memphis (30-4)	12
Ohio Valley	March 10	Belmont (24-6)	17
Missouri Valley	March 10	Creighton (27-7)	25
MAC	March 16	Akron (25-6)	43
Pac 12	March 16	Oregon (26-8)	47
Patriot	March 13	Bucknell (27-5)	51
WAC	March 16	New Mexico State (23-10)	56
Horizon	March 12	Valparaiso (25-7)	58
Southern	March 11	Davidson (25-7)	61
Summit	March 12	South Dakota State	62
Big Sky	March 16	Montana (22-6)	66
Southland	March 16	Northwestern State (19-8)	79
Ivy League	N/A	Harvard (18-9)	93
Atlantic Sun	March 9	Florida Gulf Coast (22-10)	94
MAAC	March 11	Iona (20-13)	97
Big West	March 16	Pacific (20-12)	100
America East	March 16	Albany (24-10)	130
Sun Belt	March 11	Western Kentucky (19-15)	150
Northeast	March 12	LIU-Brooklyn	179
SWAC	March 16	Southern (20-9)	180
Colonial	March 11	James Madison (20-14)	182
MEAC	March 16	North Carolina A&T (18-16)	213
Big South	March 10	Liberty (12-20)	288
---------------	---------------	-----------------------------	-------
ACC	March 17 (ESPN/12:00 PM)	Miami (FL)/North Carolina	4/16
Atlantic 10	March 17 (CBS/12:00 PM)	St. Louis/VCU	21/24
SEC	March 17 (ABC/12:00 PM)	Florida/Mississippi	6/50
Big Ten	March 17 (CBS/2:30 PM)	Ohio State/Wisconsin	11/28

Hey LaPorte...I know we could find it elsewhere, but since you have everything set up already...and chance you could include the #1 spot in each of these categories...just for perspective?

Quote (selected)WSU will have a hard time without the Darling boy tomorrow, as much as I'd like for them to give Detroit the hard time!What's his diagnosis?  Only his junior year, but if you're ever going to let it all hang out...

He was on the bench last night in a boot. That's usually a pretty good sign its not real good at this point.

An amazing 2nd half.  Is the box score correct?  We win by 20 and don't play one of our seniors...on senior day..

She was not dressed. Nor did she practice yesterday. Not sure what it is, but I'm pretty sure she has an injury that kept her out.

This is the easiest way to follow. Root against, Akron, Belmont, Bucknell, Davidson, La Tech, Middle Tennessee St, and SF Austin. Look for these teams each day in opponent's schedule (Apostle can you get these teams listed in there)? Thanks awesome. Remember root for the Crusaders and root against these other aforementioned squads.

Yessir. When in doubt, root for the worse team. GO PENN STATE!

Because Santa Clara is absolutely behind us too, and they match up better with Gonzaga!

I know what you're saying (and I had the idea that's what you meant all along, just had to say it )....personally, I think they can go ahead and engrave the trophy for Gonzaga. I don't see either of those teams beating Gonzaga (they beat Santa Clara by 43 two weeks ago...I sense a theme there)


All I really want...

re LMU: yeah and we didn't really want them too :/

Why??? They are the worst team left in the WCC and would probably absolutely slot in behind us on the S-Curve, moving us up a spot. Also in the WCC right now, San Diego is up on BYU. They are 13-17 with an RPI of 178 and would finish behind us.

We want one of these two teams to somehow win that tournament.

In fact, we just want carnage in every conference tournament. The more bad teams that secure auto-bids, the more teams would slot in below us and bump us up seed lines. (I think that might have been mentioned...not sure  ...and I'm too damn lazy to look )

let's not forget though that this only works with the one-bid conferences. if it happens in a multi-bid league, it throws all kinds of wrenches into things.

Again, Why?

The more bad auto-bid teams there are, the more we move up. An "extra" team from the WCC would knock out a bubble team, and have ZERO effect on us.

Someone used an example earlier:

These five teams are ranked in this order:
1. Michigan
2. North Carolina
3. Colorado
4. Valpo
5. Manhattan
6. Loyola Marymount


There are four bids available.

In option 1, Valpo wins their conference tournament and the top three teams are at-larges. Hence, Valpo would be the #4

In option 2, Loyola Marymount ALSO wins their conference tournament. This means Colorado doesn't have a spot as an at large, AND Valpo would be #3.


We need as many BAD teams to occupy the #16/15/14 lines as possible. It doesn't matter how many teams from that league might end up getting in...a bad team getting in simply knocks out an at-large bid (if that league was a multi bid, at least)...knock out an at large with a 4-26 team and everyone else slides up a line.

Seriously, we should be rooting for the worst teams to win every league.

re LMU: yeah and we didn't really want them too :/

Why??? They are the worst team left in the WCC and would probably absolutely slot in behind us on the S-Curve, moving us up a spot. Also in the WCC right now, San Diego is up on BYU. They are 13-17 with an RPI of 178 and would finish behind us.

We want one of these two teams to somehow win that tournament.

In fact, we just want carnage in every conference tournament. The more bad teams that secure auto-bids, the more teams would slot in below us and bump us up seed lines. (I think that might have been mentioned...not sure  ...and I'm too damn lazy to look )

Should have had the Chef do the new voiceover (VO) instead of Lundquist.

That was Kevin Harlan. He is the son of a former Packers exec, does their preseason games, as well as NCAA Tournament games and NBA games for CBS/TNT.

I do agree that having Todd on te call would have been neat, though....but we wouldn't want a national commercial to go to his head.... 

[If you are interested, please send me a PM with your contact info and I will pass it along to him, and let the two of you work it out!]

A friend of mine purchased a pair of Saturday tickets and unfortunately will not be able to come down for the games.

The tickets are in Section G, Row C (almost courtside).

Face value is $30 each, and he will eat the service fee for the online purchase.

If you are interested, please send me a PM with your contact info and I will pass it along to him, and let the two of you work it out!

These are GREAT seats!!!

[LAST]

COY is always the hardest one to choose in my opinion.

[The following are general statements that could be applied to just about any conference, any sport, any year]

On one hand, a coach overachieved with what he had, while on the other, a coach took everyone's best shot every night with a team that was supposed to win...and did. Is it harder to win games when you're the team with the target on your back as opposed to the team that everyone thinks they're just going to walk over? Maybe. I do know that winning with the best team, getting the most out of them, etc. isn't as easy as it seems.


That said, if I had a vote, Donlon would have gotten it, with not even a hint of a hesitation. To be picked LAST and earn a bye gets that award.

Now, had Valpo gone 16-0, we might have a different story.

So, you're willing to take a school that may be BAD for some/most sports (notably, men's basketball, given that it would be considered our "flagship" without football) to preserve an autobid...that we don't lose for two more years?

Not long enough for Post Hall, but if I start a VUFZ Forum "Sentence Hall of Fame" I will induct this first.

Yes, this will DQ me for "self-promotion", but I didn't see a "length rule" in your Hall of Fame post... 

With that part of the block clear now, it's the perfect place for some redevelopment. I'm hoping for a downtown hotel personally. 

If they touch Jimmy's, I'm going on a hunger strike.   

For the sake of an auto-bid, YES! Oakland might be bad in so many sports, but what sports are we traditionally great at in the HL, or any HL team for that matter?

The question is, why do you feel we have to move so fast? If we can get an "average" school now, we could get one two years from now. We have plenty of time...swing for the fence now, get someone to fill the gap later.

We're going to agree to disagree here, but protect the autobid in baseball. Oakland would be the fit there, even if their basketball RPI isn't dreamy. They don't hurt travel budget or travel time. If we wait for the best RPI team, we could be waiting even longer than the next two years.

So, you're willing to take a school that may be BAD for some/most sports (notably, men's basketball, given that it would be considered our "flagship" without football) to preserve an autobid...that we don't lose for two more years??? Patience is key...we will get a good, quality school (or three) to replace Butler...but jumping into it just to protect something we don't need to necessarily protect for two years would be a big mistake...do we really need a team that's like Providence to the Big East (formerly...currently???) just to secure something we don't lose for two years?

The last four 16's (auto bids) are play ins. The opposite is true for the other two...they are the last four at large teams in. So, no, Valpo wouldn't be there.

So that I understand this, the last SIX rated team will make up the 16's with the worst four playing for two spots?  This certainly will effect my projections!

Yes...there are SIX #16 seeds, four play in two play-in games.

Then, the last four at-large teams in get to play in the other two play-in games for a spot in the "main" bracket (usually a 12 or 13 seed).

The last four 16's (auto bids) are play ins. The opposite is true for the other two...they are the last four at large teams in. So, no, Valpo wouldn't be there.

Was actually a clear shot clock violation. Love deflected the ball into the back court, then the shot clock went off about a full second before he picked it up. The officials clearly let it go because there was one second remaining in a 21 point game.

Yep...and at that point, a good decision by the zebras to just let it end.