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I would say any of those schools are above us in term of basketball schools. In terms of academics yeah....  Columbia and Brown are big time if he wants to get a degree from there, but something to keep in mind is that ivy league schools don't give athletic scholarships and those schools are +$50K a year for tuition. Ball State, Indiana State and Evansville aren't exactly destination basketball schools in my mind. Now if Michigan, Northwestern or Xavier offer game over if you think you'll get playing time eventually.

Do you have a link on for the coaches ranking?

But I think Hollywood would be a pretty solid signing if the coaches like him. Maybe he could develop in the same way Peters did with his inside post skills with also have and outside game with a jumpshot. From the vids of I've seen him play he didn't have the smooth jumpshot that Peters has (most college player don't), but if were him I'd look at how Gore/Lottich helped developed Peters overall game and I'd be chomping to come here from a player development standpoint and you get to play with your high school buddy/teammate.

If I'm Lottich I would take a visit to the Hanzen home and try make a strong pitch the Branchen Hazen. It's a long shot but he talked to the News Sentinel and he said he's not reaching out schools, he's only considering schools that reach out to him. Also playing time was mentioned as a big factor. Might be a issue his freshman season with Peters/Jubril in their senior year but if he's ready I could see him getting 10-15 min a game by the end the season. His sophomore season you tell him that you will give him the keys to the car.

Pretty pumped about our new big guy. Just from the clips it looks like has some pretty good touch with the ball around the hoop. Not the greatest hops but when your a legit 6'11 you don't need them, plus thats not his game. Curious as to how his defensive skills are. Not expecting a Vashil defensive skill set (Vashil was a defensive stud).

As for the conversations about Nick Robinson. He's been holding out for high major offers and I'll almost positive he's going to Cal. He took a visit there in the past month.

As for Zion Morgan who was originally a Valpo commit but decommitted because was pretty annoyed once we offered to Micah Bradford (rumor-mill). He wanted to play the point and develop there. I actually think he's pretty underrated as a recruit by the recruiting sites. He's pretty athletic, long arms, solid ball handling, has an ok but not great outside shot. I think develop into a pretty good defensive specialist combo guard and if he can develop a consistent perimeter outside shot he'll end up being a pretty good college player. I know the former UIC coach Howard Moore who is now back on the Wisconsin staff as an assistant again is interested in him and there is rumors that they might offer. They've been looking hard at him in spring ball. If he gets an offer he's gone to Wisconsin, but I think they only offer if they lose out on a couple recruits they like more. I could see him being a walk on there though. Or I think he goes to Ball State if he doesn't end up getting an offer from Wisconsin. I don't think he comes to Valpo. He's a pretty smooth athlete.

https://vimeo.com/161416743

Wow!! I along with a few other people commented on the Tom Davis article online on the News Sentinel and the comments got deleted by the website!! The comments were critical but completely respectful. That is ridiculous! A very thin skinned publication who doesn't want to get feed back on the article.

I encourage everyone to comment on the News Sentinel article.

Branchen Hazen reopened his recruitment but sounds like a slim chance he comes to Valpo with the coaching turnover. We were a strong consideration before he committed to UCF. But with bryce leaving it loos doubtful.

"Some of the bigger suitors in the original play for Hazen's services are no longer currently in play, according to the former Indiana Junior All-Star. Schools like Maryland, Clemson and Creighton have not made contact since his services became available again. Valparaiso, another early candidate, is losing their coach Bryce Drew to Vanderbilt and also isn't expected to be an option. Hazen instead says he will focus on the schools who are contacting him or his AAU coach and he will not be reaching out to schools himself.
According the Hazen, the players in his recruitment now focus on Ball State, Bradley, Bowling Green, Richmond and Dayton. Ball State is the only school who has contacted Hazen since his decommitment that originally offered him a scholarship. The Cardinals bring some familiarity in bringing in former Hazen opponent and longtime acquaintance Kyle Mallers of Carroll in their freshman class."

http://www.news-sentinel.com/sports/Hazen-reopens-recruiting-options

My guess if he has a strong a look for playing a key role on Dayton's team in the future he'll go there. But Archie Miller (their HC) is as good as gone when he finds a job he likes. I can't see Archie staying at Dayton for longer then a year or two longer. Hazen should know that. Bradley? No way. Ball State? I'd rather go to Valpo. Bowling Green? Hasn't been good since the early Dan Dakich days. Richmond? I have no clue.

One of the first things I'd do if I were Coach L is reach out to Hazen and say your a good enough talent to play 20 minutes on our club and play a huge role after Alec graduates. And close to home.

Ron Howard has the record for most points in D-League history (career): 4,325. Still playing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HwR3BxnXd0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hz8SEJC0eI

[Shengzhe Li]

Went looking deep into the internet to find Spanish big men at the Canarias Basketball Academy. Found three players:
-Ivan Aurrecoechea Age: 20 Height: 6'7 Listed as a F/C http://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Ivan-Aurrecoechea/Spain/Canarias-Basketball-Academy/314919
-Marinus N'Guessan Age: 18 Height: 6'11 Listed as a C http://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Marinus-NGuessan/Spain/Canarias-Basketball-Academy/367588
-Shengzhe Li Age: 17 Height: 6'10 Listed as a C http://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Shengzhe-Li/Spain/Canarias-Basketball-Academy/386486

Valpotx: I think you're on to a good idea there that its a Canarias player because they gave an offer to Jordan Blount who was a Canarias product who signed with UIC a couple months ago. So they are clearly still recruiting here. Also a little bummed Blount decided to sign with UIC over us. He's going to be a good player.

http://www.maxpreps.com/news/wmJrb0XYckavllm7VfVrTQ/meet-canarias-basketball-academy--the-team-that-traveled-nearly-10,000-miles-to-play-in-a-tournament-this-week.htm

"With seven players on the roster over 6-foot-6 — including a 7-foot Bosnian and a 6-10 hulk from China — the team passes the eye test in a big way."
"Ivan Aurrecoechea, a 6-7 forward from Madrid, Spain, who knows how to operate around the bucket."
"Dimitrije Nikola, a 6-10 forward Serbia."
"Li Shengzhe, a 6-10, 255-pound specimen from China. He's a work in progress but looks the part in a big way and is fairly mobile for his size and age."
Project sound familiar?.... Vashil (not saying he'll be the defensive product Vashil was but a project)
http://hoopreview.net/index.php/component/k2/item/297-report-on-2015-the-big-one-tournament/297-report-on-2015-the-big-one-tournament

https://twitter.com/barrybradford3/status/718548765074804736

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3oz45U-GOk

Rumor is that Detroit is making a push for Bacari Alexander (michigan assistant). Todd Ickow said it would be a homerun hire. Fingers crossed they don't get him. I really go back and forth as to when I hear other schools in our conference land a great recruit or coach. On one hand I don't want the other schools to catch up to Valpo for the best team in the conference but on the other hand you want them to be respectable so the conference looks better on paper. 4-5 years ago the HL was one of the best mid-major conferences and then once we lost Butler and with 3-4 programs have just really have fallen. Detroit was a good team when they Ray McCallum Jr., Cleveland State was a pretty good team at one time but seems like their kids want out of there and transfer, Youngstown State has absolutely fallen off the map.

I know Valpo has excelled the last 4-5 seasons in the HL but conference just to mediocre. It could just be a cyclical, but with all the Power 5 conferences growing and stealing teams from one another the last few years it, has sort of hurt some of the premier mid-major conferences. Butler was stolen by the A10 and then immediately swiped away by the Big East. Creighton was the creme of the crop in the MVC for years and now they got stolen by the Big East. Wichita State has been under consideration by the Big East as well (I don't see it because its not a private school). I know a lot of what conferences look for in inviting schools to conferences has to do first and foremost with $ with the TV contracts and trying to tap into the regions market, then they look at the quality of the athletic program as a whole, athletics facility quality, then they look at the size of the University in terms of enrollment, tapping into the region for recruiting purposes. I guess there are a ton of factors that go into getting an invite to a bigger/better conference and I feel like we are a huge disadvantage because we don't check off many of the boxes other then good academics and a good basketball program for a mid major.

I'm feeling good today with the Lottich hire and Presser, and the new Star Wars Rogue One Trailer came out today!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wji-BZ0oCwg

https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/718186117175123968

https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/718186117175123968

I'd give him an offer. If Jubril leaves that means we'll have 4 scholarships open.

Hollywood is unranked by Scouts, Rivals, and ESPN. But Futures150 ranked him 3 stars (breaks down his strengths/weakness: https://future150.com/hs/basketball-profiles/zach-hollywood-sf-bourbonnais-il-2016 ). He made CSN Chicago's Top 50 players to watch for http://www.csnchicago.com/preps/top-50-high-school-basketball-players-watch-illinois .

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2360352/zach-hollywood

http://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/zach-hollywood/xp9vEilSEeS00gAmVebEWg/videos.htm

ValpoDad89: Thank you for sharing.

But I'm really hoping Jubril & T Walker change their minds and stay or it's just speculation. I don't see why T Walker would want to sit out a whole year and only have one season of eligibility and why Jubril would want to leave because he is going to play an even bigger role with the team next season now that Fernandez is graduated and we'll definitely need him to a big and he has familiarity with all his teammates on the court. Also it seemed he and his family were pretty close to the program. I think Jubril's dad was at every home game.

I think if everyone comes back next season we'll have a really good shot of competing for the HL title again and winning the conference tourney.   

Micah Bradford's other star teammate Zach Hollywood just officially got his release from his commitment from James Madison after they fired their HC Matt Brady. Maybe a possible addition to the roster? He's a 6'9 SF. With an outside shot. According to verbal commits he had only one other offer from Youngstwon State. His Dad played for Youngstown State and they have 3 open scholarships. (don't want him to go there). We have 3 open scholarships and he could come over to play with hi teammate Micah. (side note: Anyone see Paul Oren's tweet last week about a mystery Spanish big man that might come to Valpo? Anyone hear anything? This was before Bryce left, so who knows where that stands but Gore is the coach who works with the big men the most so maybe they have a connection)

https://twitter.com/ExampleSports3/status/718150096282587137

https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/715724541172035584

Hollywood is unranked by Scouts, Rivals, and ESPN. But Futures150 ranked him 3 stars (breaks down his strengths/weakness: https://future150.com/hs/basketball-profiles/zach-hollywood-sf-bourbonnais-il-2016 ). He made CSN Chicago's Top 50 players to watch for http://www.csnchicago.com/preps/top-50-high-school-basketball-players-watch-illinois .

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2360352/zach-hollywood
http://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/zach-hollywood/xp9vEilSEeS00gAmVebEWg/videos.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWuCs83lsxc

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/zach-hollywood

My guess is they are putting the streaming on Facebook to grab more traffic to the facebook page and hopefully get people to like the page.

Micah Bradford's dad just posted 40 min ago. This could be a positive sign of Micah staying with the team. https://twitter.com/barrybradford3/status/718161128099094528

The purchase of the Hospital property was huge. I've seen the plans for area of the campus. Still... the administration (past admin) still deserves to get an ear full for the lack of investment for decades. We're on the right path though (I hope). I would love to be a fly on the wall hear the Board of Directors meetings pertaining to the 20 year plan and financing and actually taking a peak at the books.


but, Crusader05: I was not aware of the heavy amount of debt load that recently took on. I knew the 'Arts & Sciences' building was financed with bonds, but I assumed that most of the recent additions were donations. The addition to Chapel (donated), Engineering addition 'Fites Center'. I hear we're building a new science building and i'm not sure how that will be funded. I'm told science buildings are extremely expensive on college campuses.

What happened between Chris Sparks and the University? I know he sort of left abruptly but never really knew why. Sparks could flat out recruit and worked his tail off on the recruiting trail. He's the one who discovered Ryan Broekhoff and Vashil I believe. I would hope the next coach would reach out to him and make him the lead international recruiter again because he truly did a great job in that category. But what happened with Sparks?

...

I am a recent Valpo Alum and I remember when they came out with this new strategic plan about 3-4 years ago. I remember going to one of the presentations on campus they were giving to students/alum/community members in the Library and they showed models and the rendering of potential future buildings and all. I was getting pretty excited and one of the alumni there whispered to me, "Don't get too excited kid. They come out with strategic plans every 10-15 years to get alum excited and donating." He said it sarcastically but somewhat serious too. Any alums know if his statement is true or not?

It seems like Valpo for about 2 decades or so decided to not invest too much into the campus, buildings, etc. and just in the last 8-10years we've slowly been getting the new union and the Library (loved the library at VU), visitors center, etc. We finally got a real track for the track team, so our athletes didn't have to run on asfalt track and get injured anymore. Correct me if I'm wrong but all the buildings other then the 'College of Arts & Sciences' building(fund with bonds), were donated by some extreme generous alumni? I know Valpo has been extremely conservative with the endowment and taking on debt. It just blows my mind that a Basketball program like Valpo is still playing in the ARC! I love the ARC because its a great place to watch a game and has a ton of character, it is a not D1 arena or a big selling point to recruits. The players locker rooms look a like a glorified custodians office with make due lockers in it compare to most D1 school locker rooms. It is truly amazing what Homer, Scott, and Bryce were able to all these years with a tight budget, and not great administrative financial support. For the sake of being able to raise donations from alum they really need to build upon what the Drews built and actually invest in the program with resources. The ARC was built in 1939. (( http://www.valpo.edu/150/timeline.php ) skip to 1939). Academics always comes first but the athletic programs, specifically Basketball (the Breadwinner) needs to become a priority.

http://aroundthesec.libsyn.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-bryce-drew

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