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I brought over some of the posts from the "Predicting November" thread on Murray State to this game thread.

Not only did they lose a lot of talent, but they also lost their starting point guard and arguably best player. With their recent run, their name carries of weight, but they are in a very similar reloading/rebuilding situation as us. I am excited to see how we match up against a team very similar, but one we should beat at home.

Can't post a link, but here is the quote from a story on ESPN. "Murray State point guard Zay Jackson, who was expected to be the Racers top player this season, is out for the year after suffering a knee injury in practice on Saturday."

That being said we should win all our games at home, but I predict loses to Illinois, Ohio, and then against any random team just because we are not on our game.

Here's what Murray State has


NEWCOMERS

Cameron Payne
6-2 freshman guard
Luasanne Collegiate School Memphis, TN
Mr. Basketball in Tennessee
HS team won 2A Tenn State Championship
20 points per game
10 assists per game

Jonathon Fairell
6-7 junior forward
River State College Ft Pierce, FL
17.7 points per game
11.8 rebounds per game

Jarvis Williams
6-8 junior forward
Gordon State College Barnesville, GA
19 points per game
10 rebounds per game
HS team won State Championship in GA

Jeff Martin
5-11 freshman guard
Seven Lakes HS Katy, TX
13 points per game
5 assists and 3 steals per game

T.J. Sapp (won't play against Valpo)
6-3 junior guard
transfer from Clemson but just like Keith Carter
won't play until 2nd semester


RETURNING:

Dexter Fields
6-2 senior guard
transfer from UAB two years ago
scored 12 against Valpo
had 8 double digit scoring games
6.5 points per game

Jeffery Moss
6-4 sophomore forward
21.4 minutes per game
4 double digit scoring games
4.4 points per game

There are other returnees but none with significant minutes.

The loss of Zay Jackson is really going to hurt them. He red-shirted last year and looked to have a lot of talent.

http://www.midmajormadness.com/ohio-valley-conference/2013/10/7/4814030/murray-state-guard-zay-jackson-tears-acl-out-for-season

Quote (selected)
With a tough schedule, and little in the way of experience, the Racers outlook wasn't great with a fully healthy Jackson, with most, including us (Foreshadowing!), picking the Racers in the middle of the OVC West Division. Now, the Racers have an even steeper climb to stay with the top of the conference, and possibly even to keep their impressive streak of 26-straight winning seasons intact.

If ever there was a time for a loud, student led, ARC crowd it's against this newbie Racers team.

I think we should be able to handle Murray State. I think they're in a similar boat as we are, a lot of unknowns and their first game being on the road and especially losing their PG for the season will definitely hurt them quite a bit.

I just looked and they lost quite a bit from last season. In that game they only had 17 points coming from players who are on this roster as well and 12 of them from one player (Dexter Fields). While we return 25 points of scoring from that game. I know we lost a lot of talent but I think they lost more than we did and now without them having a starting PG, I think it makes a Valpo win that much more likely on opening night.

Not gonna guarantee a win, especially with a boatload of newcomers on the team but I give us at least a 75% chance of winning this game.

http://murrayledger.com/sports/murray_state/msu-tabbed-as-co-favorite/article_5b819626-3ba0-11e3-9447-0019bb2963f4.html

"Jeffery Moss and Dexter Fields are our only two returners, so it's not a surprise," Prohm said. "Our best player returning (Zay Jackson) didn't play last year, and now he's not playing again this year (out for the season with a torn ACL). We were picked first in our division (by the OVC coaches),

And even with depleted numbers entering the season (the Racers will open the year with just nine scholarship players) Prohm said the expectations in Racer Country are the same.

"Our goal never changes," he said. "You win as many conference games as you can, win your side of the league and win a double-bye in Nashville in the OVC Tournament. Once you are there, you're expected to win, and that will be what we work for everyday and push toward.

"Our goal is not going to change, because it can't change."

The Racers will open the season at Valparaiso Friday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

We have to remember that the OVC as a conference is a decent amount worse than the HL, and especially the division Murray State is in.  I believe just about everyone in their division had a 200+ RPI last year.

Edit: Confirmed - http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2013/conference/Ohio%20Valley

Well, if we renew our series with Murray State after this year, Zay Jackson won't be in a Racer uniform:

http://ovcball.net/2013/10/zay-jackson-to-transfer/

[Valpo]

I'm planning on doing only the Division I opponents this year. All times are Eastern Standard Time.


11/8/2013 Friday

Detroit at South Alabama  2:00 p.m.
James Madison at Virginia  7:00 p.m.
Youngstown State at Kennesaw State  7:30 p.m.
Grand Canyon vs Loyola Marymount  7:30 p.m.
East Tennessee State at Charlotte  7:30 p.m.
Mercer at Texas  8:00 p.m.
Milwaukee at Loyola (IL)  8:00 p.m.
Alabama at Illinois  8:00 p.m.
S.E. Missouri State at Saint Louis  8:30 p.m.
Murray State at Valpo  8:30 p.m.
Oakland at North Carolina  9:00 p.m.


11/9/2013 Saturday

Ball State at Indiana State  1:05 p.m.
Northern Iowa at Ohio  2:00 p.m.
Iona at Cleveland State  2:00 p.m.
Youngstown State  vs Florida International  3:00 p.m.
South Dakota State vs Loyola Marymount  6:30 p.m.
Drake at Illinois-Chicago  8:00 p.m.


11/10/2013 Sunday

Eastern Kentucky vs Youngstown State  1:00 p.m.
Jacksonville State at Illinois  6:00 p.m.


11/11/2013 Monday

Milwaukee at Davidson  7:00 p.m.


11/12/2013 Tuesday

Morehead State at East Tennessee State  7:00 p.m.
Evansville at IUPUI  7:00 p.m.
Ohio at Ohio State  8:00 p.m.
Oakland at UCLA  9:00 p.m.


11/13/2013 Wednesday

Florida State at Central Florida  7:00 p.m.
Wright State at Georgetown  7:00 p.m.
Valpo at Illinois  7:30 p.m.
Saint Louis at Southern Illinois-Edw  8:00 p.m.
Cleveland State at San Francisco  11:00 p.m.


11/14/2013 Thursday

Detroit at Connecticut  7:00 p.m.
Loyola Marymount at Long Beach State  10:00 p.m.

U Indy                  14
Drake                   31

Davidson               22
Johnson Smith        35

Harvard                  42
San Diego               20

Warner Southern      16
Jacksonville             69

Birmingham Southern  49
Stetson                   34

Eastern KY               56
Morehead St             24

Dartmouth                30
Butler                      23

Berry                        0
Mercer                     43

http://news.butler.edu/blog/2013/09/mascot-blue-ii-dies/

In case you missed it, Butler's Blue II passed away a few days ago.

"Blue epitomized The Butler Way," University President James M. Danko said. "Without saying a word, Blue demonstrated perfect loyalty, team spirit, and steadfast pride in representing the University to the world.

"And he always made people smile," Danko said. "We will miss him very much."

I thought some of you might enjoy this. A live eagle mascot was brought into a chapel service at ORU for what I assume was an after service pep rally. It seems the eagle had an accidental crash landing.

Eagle CRASH at ORU Chapel

Expect to see Calbert Cheaney at the ARC this December. He was hired as an assistant coach by Jim Crews at Saint Louis. Calbert was the DOB at Bloomington under Crean up till his hiring at SLU on Wed., August 21st.

Cheaney played on Bob Knight's 1992-93 Indiana team that was #1 most of the year and lost to Kansas in the Elite Eight. The previous year, 1991-92, Cheaney and the Hoosiers lost to Duke in Minneapolis in the Final Four.

Cheaney went on to a good NBA career finishing with the Golden State Warriors in 2006. Calbert started with the Washington Bullets (now Wizards) in 1993 and also played for the Celtics, Nuggets and Utah Jazz.

The new asst coach at SLU was also in the movie Blue Chips in 1994.

Cheaney is taking over the position Jim Whitesell vacated at SLU when he took an assistant coach position at St. John's under Steve Lavin. After Whitesell was named the Associate Head coach at SLU but was passed over for head coach by Jim Crews when Rick Majerus became ill it was evident Whitesell's future at SLU was limited.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calbert_Cheaney

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9587194/calbert-cheaney-leaves-indiana-hoosiers-job-saint-louis-billikens

It's obvious that the Pacers 2nd round pick should be Brandon Paul of Gurnee, IL and U of Illinois in Chambana.

George Hill
Paul George
Solomon Hill
Brandon Paul

EDIT: Colton Iverson, will he go to practice? Practice--we're talking about practice. I hope they trade him to Boston--they suck right now.


Oladipo #2 and Zeller #4, you have to believe the Harbaugh family is very excited tonight.

Mike Shannon, the part-time (this year at least if not further into the future) radio broadcaster of the Cardinals, was describing a game that Jeff Samardzija was pitching in St Louis last night. Since Mike is what some observers would call not as well educated as other baseball broadcasters he tried to pronounce the birthplace and home town of the starting Cubs pitcher in last night's game.

By the way, Jeff pitched a beauty for the Cubs for 8 1/3 innings. And the Cubs knocked off the Cards 4-2.

When Moon man Shannon pronounced the names it came out Mar-i-ville and Val-par-I-si-o. I couldn't believe how bad it came out and you knew by the way he paused Shannon had no idea how to pronounce it. Maybe it's finally time to retire, Mike. I believe Shannon has been broadcasting for the Cardinals for about 50 years and spent about 35 to 40 with Jack Buck.

I wonder what was going through the mind of former White Sox broadcaster and current Shannon partner, John Rooney, when Shannon paused before naming Samardzija's birthplace and hometown.

http://www.valpoathletics.com/msoccer/schedule/

I noticed that we play Oakland at Rochester, MI in a tournament called the Grizzly/Spartan Crossover Tournament in Sept. Valpo plays at Michigan State in this tournament two days later. The game at Oakland is also now a conference game because OU joined the Horizon League while a game in Chicago against Loyola in October will still be played but not counted, obviously, as a conference game. Why not let Loyola schedule their Missouri Valley games in October and find a new opponent such as Northern Kentucky or Murray State?

[Lecrone spelled backwards is Enorcel]

"I'm seeing this (2013-2014) as another transitional year," LeCrone said. "There's going to be a lot of movement, especially in the Midwest. I think there's going to be a lot of change between now and the Final Four, or now and summertime."

"Our baseball A.Q. is intact this year and next," he said. "In '14-'15 our five baseball teams are going to have automatic access to the NCAA Tournament. That's just all there is to it."

"Everybody's thinking about membership," he said. "Everybody's got lust. Everybody's talking to everybody."

"We want it to be thoughtful and we want it to be strategic," LeCrone said. "It's the landscape right now. You just have to stay alert."

"I can't believe I'm saying this but good thing Valpo left that ring around their football field and couldn't find enough money to build a new building for athletics or we'd be down to 7 members."

"'Facility Apologism' that's a good one. I wonder if I can work that into my 'league member loss apologism' speech."

"And now we have to deal with this Wardle thing. G*d d*mn it all! That [bleep] [bleep]ing coach better get his [bleep] together. [Bleep]! I have a mind to go up there and show him something to cry about."


http://www.name-list.net/facebook/surname/Lecrone

Lecrone spelled backwards is Enorcel





(And I didn't even include the one where he said it was highly likely the 9 HL schools would stay intact)

I noticed that when I clicked on the "new" button on the end of a thread topic title that I'm taken to the newest post but then it immediately jumps to the top of the page. Is this something that was changed when that slowness hit the website server? Was that one of the things that was done to help the website be quicker during this period? Or is this something that is only happening on my computer?

It makes the "new" button obsolete if it doesn't take you to the newest post.

http://www.detroittitans.com/news/2013/2/26/GEN_0226134604.aspx

DETROIT (2/26/13) -- Junior guard Jason Calliste's layup in the closing seconds gave Detroit a 76-75 victory over Loyola Tuesday on Senior Night at Calihan Hall. The win clinched the No. 2 seed for the Titans in the upcoming Horizon League championship and a double-bye into the semifinals.

Detroit (19-10, 11-4 Horizon) can still win a share of the HL regular season with a win in its final conference game at UIC and a Valparaiso loss at Green Bay on Saturday.

Detroit was down by one, 75-74, with only nine ticks left when head coach Ray McCallum called a timeout. UDM inbounded the ball to Calliste and the junior was primed to take the game-winning shot, getting down the court and in the paint, where he made a layup with less than one second to go.

Loyola.........fought back and had a four-point lead, 69-65, with 4:14 left. A jumper by Minnerath and two free throws from Calliste tied it, but the Ramblers jumped ahead again by three, 72-69, with 2:18 remaining.

The two seniors Anderson and Minnerath led the charge back as Minnerath found Anderson streaking to the basket for a layup to cut the deficit to one and then after a Loyola miss, Calliste found Minnerath wide open for a triple, igniting the Calihan Hall crowd and giving Detroit a 74-73 lead with 1:18 left.

The game was back and forth early on, but the visiting Ramblers opened a three-point lead, 28-25, at the 7:32 mark in the first half. That is when the Titans came together with a 14-0 run over the next three minutes to take an 11-point advantage, 39-28, eventually taking a 42-33 lead at the break.

UDM......was ahead by nine, 56-47, with 12:22 remaining when the Ramblers went on a 12-2 spurt to take a 59-58 lead. Detroit would take a three-point lead on two occasions in the next two minutes before Loyola reclaimed the lead and pushed it to four, 69-65.

I've attended many Valpo at IUPUI live games from the Jungle (IUPUI's gym) when we were in the Mid-Con and knew the place was small when all the seats are pulled out from the wall but this is the first time I have seen TV/video coverage from the Jungle and it looks very small. I never have watched a Summit League TV/video from the Jungle because, well, it cost money I don't want to spend.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/60457950?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0"

This is for you, valpotx. I thought you would enjoy it.

http://www.orugoldeneagles.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=17000&SPID=10337&SPSID=87156

Fri, Feb 15     Saint Louis    J.L. Johnson Stadium      3 p.m.    2 - 4 (L)
  Sat, Feb 16     Saint Louis    J.L. Johnson Stadium      2 p.m.    4 - 11 (L)
  Sun, Feb 17     Saint Louis    J.L. Johnson Stadium      1 p.m.   


   

http://www.indystar.com/viewart/20130214/NEWS02/302140018/Lawyer-Larry-Bird-s-son-faces-reduced-charges

I'm sure Larry was thrilled to send his Indy lawyer down to Bloomington to have to deal with the IU police dept.

"Oh, no! Not this Bird family from French Lick again."

Next Thanksgiving at the Harbaugh House, if I was Tom Crean, I would rig the electricity to go out in the neighborhood and call it Super Bowl XLVII part 2. Could you imagine the look on his brother-in-laws' faces.  Not again!

Then I would look Jim straight in the eye and say "I'll turn on the lights again if you shut up about the holding call."

I heard this on a clip from a British radio station that made up this term because they wanted to play songs from 2000 to 2009.  The Nullies.

What do you guys think of this term for the years 2000 to 2009?

I'm just hearing rumblings coming out of downtown Indy that come Monday there will be some major restructuring within the NCAA Investigations Area announced. This thing with the Miami(FL) investigation being put on hold due to improprieties within the investigative staff at the NCAA is being viewed as extremely major and very hypocritical.

The SLU fans are debating whether they should storm the court if they beat conference rival, Butler, in their game at Chaifetz Arena Thursday night.

Since Valpo did it against Butler last year, did you agree with the "storming?"

http://www.billikens.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=23410

Actually when Butler beat Gonzaga this year on a last second win it or lose it shot the Dawgpound stormed the court.

With Valpo not playing this weekend which of the three HL games mean the most to Valpo? 

Detroit at Loyola, UIC at Wright St or Cleveland St at Youngstown St? Or was it the Green Bay win over Milwaukee last night?

http://player.vimeo.com/video/58018284?title

After watching the Wright State at YSU game highlights it's evident that the Raiders didn't play a bad game at all and stayed fairly close (within 3 to 5 points) in the early going. Youngstown got great games from Kendrick Perry and Damian Eargle and a lot of the supporting team members. It wasn't until the last few minutes of the game that YSU got up by 13 at one point and then managed to with stand a WSU push and pulled out the 7 point win.

Valpo will have to be playing at the top of their game again with few turnovers and hitting the threes in order to knock off the Penguins. YSU has a home game against Cleveland State on Saturday that is on ESPN 3 before they play Valpo.

Since Big D brought it up I would like to see how many posters think there are 3 better possibilities than Evansville for HL expansion. The results of the poll will not be revealed for 2 weeks from now/Wednesday 1/30/13.

I thought I would start this thread because this game comes up 2 days after the Valpo/Detroit game this Thursday. I just got done watching the Wright State at Loyola game played in Chicago that the Raiders barely pulled out at the end of the game by one point. The key for Valpo seems to be is to shut down the Raiders' point guard Reggie Arceneaux. He hit several big three pointers at the end of the game. Also Wright State played much tougher defense then Valpo did down the stretch against Loyola. So Valpo's offense will need to meet the challenge that Wright State presents on the defensive end.

The president of Wright State University was interviewed at halftime of the Milwaukee at Wright State game yesterday/Saturday, 1/5/13, and he stated that the Horizon League would be expanding, that it would be announced in March and that all the fans would be pleasantly surprised by the new universities coming into the league. That game was televised on the CW channel in Dayton.

Park Tudor High School on the northside of Indy lost their first game since last January, tonight/Friday. The HS of current Indiana freshman, Yogi Ferrell, won the class 2A state championship in March. The PT Panthers lost to Pike Twp (northwest corner of Marion Co.) on 1/11/12 by a score of 79-67. Currently Pike is the #1 basketball team in the state of Indiana and knocked off East St Louis HS 78-67.

Tonight/Friday Park Tudor lost to North Central 73-68. North Central was the HS of 1 year IU player and current NBA star, Eric Gordon.

Many in the state thought that Park Tudor could have won a one class state tournament last season if Indiana still ran the tournament that way.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/recruit-got-auburn-tattoo-decommits-auburn-175112247--ncaaf.html

This athlete could end up really regretting his decision.

You have to wonder if Kentucky will ever play in Indiana again. This goes all the way to the Indy Star Indiana/Kentucky high school challenges.

I have to hand it to the Irish. They are hotter than ever in athletics. A positive mind set has tons to do with winning.

What has happened to basketball fans in Tulsa?

I'm watching the Oklahoma at ORU game from the Mabee Center Wed night and the bottom section of the MC was half filled. Didn't the Valpo at ORU games fill up the bottom bowl? That must have all been due to our rivalry. But you would think ORU would pack them in for the home state team.

You think Valpo has some troubles shooting under the basket sometimes--the ORU big men are shooting 37% and 43%. Most big men are over 50%.

Very exciting finish. Oklahoma wins 63-62 with ORU having the ball for about 18 seconds before missing a shot and fouling the Sooners. ORU threw up a desperation three from 3/4 court that would have counted and rolled off the rim. But those 3/4 court shots have to swish or hit perfectly on the backboard or they don't go in.

College of Charleston, who just beat Baylor in Waco, is playing the Buccaneers of Charleston Southern in what is affectionately called the "Buc Dome." It's an 900 seat on campus facility. The game is on ESPN 3 and I swear I don't know how they got the TV cameras in there. It's much smaller than Hilltop Gym.

I wonder if they asked the end of the bench guys to buy tickets.

A cheerleader just bumped her head on the ceiling when she was lifted on a male cheerleader's hands.

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/_/source/espn3/id/685889/size/condensed/

I don't know why College of Charleston would agree to play in that "box of light attire." There must be high schools gyms with more space then that in Charleston. That's the kind of gym we played at in elementary school.

[Valpo]

St. Joe (IN)62
Valpo        90
St. Joe (IN)  54
Hillsdale (MI) 69
Lake Superior State  82
St. Joe (IN)             65
St. Joe (IN)   65
Univ of Mary  64
St. Joe (IN)       52
St. Cloud State  71
Southern (New Orleans)  94
Robert Morris (Chi)         92
Evangel                95
Robert Morris (Chi)  99 OT
Robert Morris (Chi)  64
Valpo                    92
Robert Morris (Chi)  75
CSU-San Marcos     91
Robert Morris (Chi)  92
Vanguard              97  OT
Langston              64
Robert Morris (Chi)  73
Robert Morris (Chi)  85
Huntington             89
Robert Morris (Chi)  89
Grace College         93
Robert Morris (Chi)    90
Trinity International   76
IU-SE-New Albany    93
Robert Morris (Chi)   85
Georgia Southern  54
Valpo                  85
Georgia Southern  56
Charlotte             66
Webber International   64
Georgia Southern        87
Georgia Southern   62
Kennesaw State    46
Georgia Southern   53
Maryland              70

Since results effect RPI so much I thought using a Butler board idea would be smart, posting opponents scores. I included St. Joe and Robert Morris just for comparison sake.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/high-school/boys-basketball/article_5a4823de-0d44-11e0-b9a4-0017a4a78c22.html

If someone had to pick the perfect kind of student athlete for Valpo, besides Angie Doerffler, this is the guy.

Virdure's dad is the girl's basketball coach at Lutheran North. He's averaging nearly 18 points a game at North. 22 of 28 FT's, shot 62%. (this was his sophomore year)

"All the way up, he's been going to Lutheran schools. With my coaching at Lutheran North and having played there, I wanted him to continue with the Lutheran school. I think at first he wanted to go to Hazelwood Central and be with his friends. But we just thought it was just better overall for him to stay in the Lutheran schools."

Crusaders' fans are no doubt cheering that choice as well.

He's already a Crusader.

Current notes on Virdure from SLU message board:
Anthony Virdure 5'10 Lutheran North '13 - No SLU offer though they have watched him, he may have a big ten offer.  I don't know if he has any interest in SLU or not but IMO he's small but the best lead guard in the area.

[Lady Leathernecks]

Okay 'saders. What do the Lady Crusaders have to do to beat the Lady Leathernecks. Check out their tough looking team picture. http://www.goleathernecks.com/SplashPage.dbml?SPLASH_AD_ID=671042 especially the 6th one from the left. She looks like the Ayres type. A true Lady Leatherneck.


EDIT: I just realized that Western Illinois women's teams used to be known as the Westerwinds. When did they go with the tougher sounding Lady Leathernecks?

They even play on Waste Management Court!

A week from today the Crusaders take on the Billikens. Don't be surprised or get too angry if Valpo plays sloppy and has multiple turnovers, misses a bunch of under the basket bunny shots, the Billikens have better big men than Nebraska (although Nebraska has the better coach since the departure of Rick Majerus), and the Crusaders face a much tougher defense to shoot the three against (Majerus was a master of in game adjustments and defense--Crews, the interim SLU coach, is improving but not up to where Majerus had the Billikens) and Valpo loses this game. The handwriting has been written all over the walls on how to beat Valpo. It's up to Valpo's coaching staff to find a way to surprise SLU with some unseen plays to overcome these problems.

Not real good news for the Drew family.

College of Charleston 63
Baylor                    59

in Waco

As the ESPN colorman said near the end of the broadcast "It's not one of the things Scott Drew had high on his happiness list."

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/daniels-eyes-locations-graduation-rates-of-region-s-purdue-campuses/article_1679d6bd-c9b3-5c4a-a045-b24b0f481168.html

Of course the first thing Mitch is going to do as Purdue president is sell off more northern Indiana assets.

By the way, who is Mark Read?

NEW TOPIC         NEW POLL          NOTIFY         MARK READ


Now it says his name is Mark Unread. I'm so confused!!

REPLY        ADD POLL       NOTIFY        MARK UNREAD      SEND THIS TOPIC       PRINT

[Valpo]

I read a very interesting explanation of a scheduling decision on the Saint Louis University message board:

-The Stanford series cancellation came down to a couple of things. Stanford couldn't do a Saturday game and wanted to do it on a Sunday instead. At the same time, we had an offer from Valpo for a home and home. As the Stanford series wasn't actually signed, they decided to go with Valpo and start it at the 'Fetz (SLU's bb arena is Chaifetz). From an RPI standpoint, both teams were nearly identical last year. In the end, instead of staying on the West Coast a little longer to do the Stanford series, they decided to just go with an extra OOC home game this season and start a series with Valpo. Our only road games in the OOC schedule will be Washington and the pre-season tourney (which are technically 'neutral' games.)

According to an ESPN writer Saint Louis U backed out of a game with Stanford in Palo Alto which they had been in discussions with Stanford over. The Billiken fans wanted to know why. This explanation came at a season ticket holders' luncheon yesterday, 8/16/12.

http://www.billikens.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=22855&st=0

[20 stories per 30 days on IndyStar.com]

As the Post Tribune has done previously the Indianapolis Star is going to a 20 stories per 30 days access plan.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120729/NEWS/120729002/Indianapolis-Star-updates-business-model-times

Full Access digital-only subscriptions are available for $12 a month, only 40 cents a day. Beginning Sept. 1, we will limit access to news and information content consumed through our website, smartphones and tablets. Nonsubscribers still will be able to read up to 20 stories per 30 days on IndyStar.com before needing to subscribe.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120721/LOCAL/207210339/Drought-unearths-formerly-submerged-Indiana-town?odyssey=mod|mostview

The lost city of Monument City, Indiana. Maybe thay can put Paterno's statue there.   

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/uk-oly-bask-aus-travel-adv-idUSLNE86J00J20120720

I'm sure Rowdy would take a slow boat to London if he got to play for the Boomers and as long as the boat got there before the Boomers' first game.

Of course the Aussie women's team would be rowing that boat for Rowdy. 

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120718/NEWS05/207180332/Judge-rules-Indiana-owes-IBM-12M-over-botched-welfare-program?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|IndyStar.com

It's a good thing the state of Indiana was over $2 billion on budget surplus. This IBM thing and the Indiana Welfare Modernization are going to cost the state. Proving not all government downsizing, cost cutting and privatizing leads to savings. 

I bet a lot of you are glad I'm getting off the Penn State tragedy........and moving on to Butler basketball..............   

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/19594991/butlers-duo-of-clarke-dunham-solve-bulldogs-shooting-woes

Now that CBS Sports has declared that Butler has solved any and every problem they had last season with the additions of Rotnei Clarke and Kellen Dunham the NCAA should just hand the Bulldogs the national championship now. What else do they have to prove?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/michael-jordan-younger-son-arrested-incident-omaha-hotel-135221373--ncaab.html

Wasn't Marcus the son of Michael Jordan who considered going to Valpo before deciding to walk-on at Illinois?

For a guy who was just arrested he seems really happy. No Nick Nolte in that guy.

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/basketball/professional/purdue-s-hummel-drafted-by-timberwolves-with-th-pick/article_028a0b77-39aa-5b33-9ce0-9c9e420f3fcd.html

Robbie Hummel gets picked 2 spots before the draft ends by the Minnesota Timberwolves as the 58th pick in the NBA draft. Congrats to the Valpo High and Purdue grad.

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2012/06/kent_state_eliminated_from_col.html

After winning the Gary Regional at the US Steel Yard, including a 21 inning win over Kentucky, the Golden Flashes lost a 4-1 decision to South Carolina, last year's CWS champion, to knock them out of the 8 team CWS in Omaha. Kent State did upset Florida 5-4 for their only win at Omaha. One of their players lost his mother during the championship round and it turned into a somber win over Florida for the Golden Flashes. Kent State gave up their only home run of the tournament to South Carolina but the 3 run homer did the damage that knocked KSU out of the tournament.

It wasn't quite confirmed but very reliable sources are saying that Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana will become the next president at Purdue University.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120619/NEWS05/120619027/Gov-Mitch-Daniels-pick-called-coup-Purdue-qualifications-questioned?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

The Butler fans are wondering if the governor will still be attending Butler basketball games......duh!


Also former Butler and Iowa basketball coach, Todd Lickliter, has taken the head coaching job at the Marian University Knights in Indianapolis.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120603/SPORTS0605/206030388/Ex-Butler-coach-Todd-Lickliter-headed-Marian-U-

Since this story Lickliter was officially named the head mens basketball coach at Marian University.

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/sports/college/butlers-blue-ii-deals-with-pneumonia

It might be a little A-10 sickness creeping in also. With all the bragging about winning in the A-10 Blue II has found himself way too deep in all the "you're-in."

Purdue has 5 Region players, 5 Chicago area players and 8 Indy area players. A nice mix.

The new Alexander Field looks almost done to me. This video was shot the day after I saw it (Mother's Day) from a car on the street the field sits on. It was the parking lot that wasn't finished. Obviously from the video the light poles weren't up yet 2 weeks ago. I also see now that some very important interior construction behind home plate was not nearly finished 2 weeks ago.

Alexander Field Update, May 14

Valpo should feel very fortunate that the construction crew is slower than anticipated at Alexander Field and Victory Field was not available for whatever reason. No matter if the games were being played in Indy, W.Lafayette, Valpo or Gary I will be there Friday & Saturday for sure. How about some of you other Valpo baseball fans?

Game time is 7:00 p.m. CDT (Gary & Valpo time) per Purdue's website.

http://www.purduesports.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/052812aaa.html

While the scores were going across the screen last night on ESPN as I watched a recording of the Pacers/Heat game, I realized that Tanner Vavra's dad, Twins hitting coach, Joe Vavra, was doing his job just down the interstate at 35th & the Dan Ryan at U.S. Cellular Field. Hopefully Joe had some time during the day to spend with his son, Tanner, and get details of the Valpo victory before the Twins flew back to Minneapolis to take on the Tigers tonight. Who knows maybe Joe Vavra even got out his laptop and watched his son go 2 for 3 with a double, walk, hit by pitch, sac fly, pop up & single all while scoring twice and recording 2 RBIs.

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/team/coaches.jsp?c_id=min

http://www.valpoathletics.com/baseball/roster/2011-12/5451/tanner-vavra/