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Hard to believe but our old friend Coach Hunter is heading to Georgia State. Not sure about that move. He might have had other better opportunities over the years, and even in the next few weeks, especially with all the changes that will start with big openings at NC State, Ga Tech and Tenn. Maybe though he needed to move out of the shadow of Butler, and the CAA seems to be the place to be, but the competition will be really tough there. At least in the Summit it was IUPUI, Oral and Oakland. I personally wish him the best of luck.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/14841560/iupuis-hunter-resigns-to-take-georgia-st-coach-job

Sounds like another Howard Little, which is a good thing. Plus, he comes in with a year older body. Could be a good get. Still need a good big/power forward to go with this group and it would be high + recruiting class.

+1

Before I bruise the horse, we aren't the only team that has this issue. I mentioned Cunningham in my last post. A quick google found out Wright State had recruited him and offered. I'm sure it's a long story, but they have resurrected the topic this week with Cunningham's NCAA appearance for UNCA. The specific criticisms could have been cut and pasted to the post above and they had me chuckling. And, I swear I wrote the above post before googling. By the way, Brownell is doing a good job building a program down at Clemson. Although they lost yesterday, they won the first game and are starting to show some toughness that prior Clemson teams lacked, especially in the tourney.

http://raiderroundball.yuku.com/topic/2557

We need to cut loose the projects and the raw players.  Valpo is simply not a place that develops raw talent.  They leave as they come in.  Grabbing the tallest flagpole we can find and trying to develop him is a waste of a scholarship.  I am sure Vucic is a nice kid, but he is not a basketball player and never will be.

Guess I missed the point of your post when you say "simply not a place that develops raw talent. They leave as they come in." And, as to Ensminger, there probably would have been a post that read like this when he was signed "Why are we signing a 6'10" flagpole who shoots from the outside. Sure he scored a bunch his senior year of HS, but he's a project and will never be an impact player." Or from his freshman year, "man, Ensminger is gauky and has no post presence. Somebody put him on the Steak n Shake diet. He needs to find the weight room. Will he ever contribute more than a couple boards and points a game." Or finally senior year, "Chris is not quick enough for the teams we're playing. 15 points and 11 rebounds a game are nice, but there's nights he needs to dominate more." Sorry, had to have a little fun there. And I think there was a Board or chat room during Gomes' years and it was not pretty, but he learned his body and listened to coaching. Zoran and Raitis were more skilled coming in and no one had heard of Latvia and Eastern Europe yet. But Grafs was not filled out and probably was described as Euro-soft his ffirst couple years.

We are always going to struggle to get the prized big man. The best big men are now 1 and done at the top schools (think the line of bigs at Ohio State the past few years -- Greg Oden, Koufos, Sullinger) or 2 and out at the next tier (maybe Perry Jones although more 1 and done). Hence the big schools need to stock pile and replenish every year. And, the mid-majors will fight over the scraps. UNC-A had a nice center the other night, DJ Cunningham, how did he get out of SE Ohio with 10 D1 schools in the state? Maybe he likes the mountains? It's not because no one had seen him. I don't disagree with you if the premise is it's tough to find and get bigs. And, I think next year Vucic will be much better and be a serviceable back up center his senior year. We'll go nose to tail on that pig if he is.

For rlh, the note on sarcasm was to help you know that my comment about the coaches and players was not to be taken at face value. There tends to be some confusion on this board from time to time about whether people are using sarcasm and whether it is properly recognized. In this case, it was to to designate that I (not you or STL) was not saying that the players couldn't play or the coaches couldn't coach and to avoid going down a rabbit hole on that topic (as you pointed out - "not sure what else is to be said." To be clear, I have generally agreed with your assessment of this year's team.

On bigs, it is a weak argument to say we haven't developed bigs. Chris Ensminger was a rail thin freshman who became a double-double machine, Joachim Gomes was terribly raw when he started at Valpo and left a hugely improved and stronger power forward and is an Olympic player today. Bouchie had huge upside had he stayed. Grafs and Viscovic and Tony V all became power bigs. Kenny Harris was improving and getting stronger. Our big issues started with the unfortunate health issues of Kenny, Bouchie would have solved that but left early. You don't just find 6'8" power guys in abundance. And, we recruit bigs all the time. We have had decent 7 footers come in for visits, but they pick other schools. We had a nice power guy potential transfer look seriously at us, but he picked elsewhere a couple years ago. We also had the big last year who bolted (good bad or indifferent). Biefeldt would really be a good get, so there's another power guy who we are recruiting. But suddenly Beilein sees who we are recruiting and now Michigan is recruiting him plus the Illinois situation so blame that on our coaches too. And Vucic will be better next year.

Second, this team didn't quit. They hustled and played hard the end of the season just like the first 26 games. They were gassed mentally and physically and were a step slow. Not from effort but because the step wasn't there. (I'm surprised we haven't discussed whether the early trip ultimately was good or a detriment later in the season). Harris hit the freshman wall but actually looked like the freshest v Iona. Little also looked fresher and was beating people to the hole. This team relied on being quicker. When Kenney went down again after the 2d Butler game, minutes piled up on a thin guard group, and Kenney wasn't as aggressive when he came back. He looked healthier but still not quite there. It is disappointing because of what might have been, but saying this team quit or wasn't playing hard are weak arguments. Putting yourself in holes early in games was a huge problem. That also takes its toll. This team still scrambled back to within 8 at the end against Iona after being down 17. That's not quitting. We've gone from 8 wins to 23 in 2 years, yeah these guys can't play or coach. (For rlh and stl, sarcasm clearly intended).

I'm disappointed about the season, but those players and coaches are also disappointed much more than you can imagine and much more so than some of the more biting critics on here. And look, criticism and analysis is fine and a spirited debate is great, and there is some tough analysis that can be brought to some games. But bring facts, examples and data too. Maybe all the situations around the world have made the commentary on here and other teams' boards and media sites more acerbic. But you know what, Valpo also teaches us and Homer is really good at teaching this too that Basketball or your job is not the most important thing in life -- your relationship with Christ is. And whether you win or lose a game, a promotion, a job, Christ is there always and forever. And, we should be very proud of this group for on and off the court behavior. There's no issues in the locker room. This was a great "team" and family. This past week's events in Japan and the other crises around the world bring that home. Not to get all preachy (it is a Lutheran school first and foremost), there is a bigger picture and our STUDENT-athletes get it, our coaches get it. Read the article about Cory again, read quotes from Jake or talk to him. Sparks is another example or Tonagel or JHawk. Talk to former players. Listen to Arden's music.

Appears it's been decided we get a bye if we win.....

http://www.collegeinsider.com/tournament/results.html

Brandon had a good season in developing his game for the NBA. He is not there yet. He improved his passing and his defense. He has not shown NBA range consistently yet in games. He showed some to the hoop moves but needs more. He is small for a 2 and not a true point. He is not overly fast. He does not leap out of the gym. He is a tweener. A bit like Ben Gordon, but Gordon was wider and stronger. Having discussed potential players in the past with NBA evaluators and scouts, the hardest thing is hearing you have deficiencies that need to be worked on to play in the Show. All of the above does not diminish in any respect that BWood is a great college player, but it is important to have an honest discussion about his skills set. Hence, the best option is not to hire an agent, go to the NBA predraft evaluations and hear what they have to say. They will pick out areas for improvement. Shelvin Mack did this last year as an example. This means he does have to declare (which will sound like he is leaving), but it also means he has to renounce that declaration by a certain date. The best thing to remember in this discussion is we are talking about his pro prospects, it has nothing to do with his college play.

Maybe not new but plans are to revamp Gentile Center to 7500 seats.

http://www.sportsplanstudio.com/projectdetail.php?pID=61

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2011/03/loyola-fires-basketball-coach-whitesell.html

New arena coming right? Need to attract interest and attention? Pat Knight is available.

We are garnering some good lead articles at espn.com's college hoops page.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6214404

Ring the Victory Bell for 3

From the Chapel for 3

Petula Clark Special by Broekoff (for the younguns -- she did a song called "Downtown" in the 60s)

Looking at the field for the CIT, we have a great chance to win the whole thing, and be a possible home site all the way through. I'm guessing that was part of the thinking on the part of the AD and coaches. Think about this, as long as we are winning, we are practicing. If we keep winning, we likely do not travel. Good for the student-athletes and the fans. It's a nice going away party for the seniors and invaluable experience for the younger guys. This is mid-major tourney and we should make the Horizon proud. Based on the field for the CBI at that link, there is only one BCS conference. We'll save for a later date the fact that the NCAA Tourney took way too many BCS teams and scheduled the better mid-majors either against each other or in difficult matchups (our buddies Oakland we're hosed and Butler v ODU is just not fair to eliminate one of those team).

What's the computer availability for this?

"Who am I and why am I here."