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I do wish Paul and Todd had talked about the cross country and track programs both going through a significant coaching change in the same year, as an alum of those teams myself, but then how many people here would have skipped over that portion of the pod, which might have included swimming, women's bowling, and golf? All programs that I'd like to see get some attention in podcasts, just as much as football, basketball, soccer, softball, baseball, and volleyball do.

It helps when you have a University President and Athletic Director that are working on the same page for plans to improve, rather than working against each other. Yes, many parts of campus needed drastic improvement during the Heckler years, but not at the cost of "closing" campus to the general public with the closure of Chapel Dr. The VU Campus was already very walkable, even with the number of cars that might pass through during the day, but to close it off with no access to replace it, cut off too many people in the elderly portion of the VU community that called The Chapel their church home.

The ARC needed these upgrades, but again, Heckler wanted to keep focused on increasing population, so that he could generate the money for campus improvements to dorms and academics. Now, I see President Padilla wanting to improve everything that needs to be done, even if some of his means might be a little more controversial. Now that we have some ideas of what is going to happen athletically, maybe we'll see more athletics alums donating at levels that push the need for better athletic facilities coming faster, so once the ground is broken, they can start the next campaign to improve other campus buildings and access needs for the university to feel open to the community again.

I'll be honest...when it comes to Day of Giving, I can't donate a lot, but when I do, I split my small donation between the Cross Country and Track teams. I do that because I was a part of those programs when the track was unusable at Eastgate, we were still in the Mid-Con, and the coaching staff could only do so much to build the program. Now that we have a track again, and a new coach, it's time to support it as I can. The Day of Giving would have been a great time to come out with a Facilities announcement about what the new athletics/fitness center would look like, include, and be for the University and Community. Hopefully Day of Giving 2024 will bring that sort of announcement.

I would think that, given Coach Powell's connections, Gonzaga, Kansas and Illinois are all possibilities for future buy games. I do not think a home-home with UW-Milwaukee is likely (they fired Pat Baldwin), but I think that Marquette is another possible buy game for sometime in the next few years.

Maybe a game against Michigan State before Izzo calls it a career? Swing a second game with Oakland before Kampe hangs up his whistle too?

It looks like Powell and crew are building for the next 4 years, not the next tomorrows. He's looking along the same path of recruiting that Gonzaga has always taken. Recruiting players that will work together and build each other, not just a kid with numbers that forgets there are 5 guys on the floor that can do something with the ball, instead of just him needing his numbers for draft status a year from now. Powell isn't going to recruit for today or tomorrow, he's recruiting for kids that are coachable, will learn more, and will also graduate knowing they were the epitome of "student athlete". I'm not going to sit here and gloat about the recruiting class on a daily basis. I'm going to wait until this team is on the court playing games in November and December, developing themselves into the roster for the first 4 years of the Roger Powell Experience.

Entering the NBA Draft isn't the same as the transfer portal. The NBA Draft allows for return to school, if you're not going to get the draft hope you thought you had, or like Alec, it gave you a chance to get an idea of what skill sets for the NBA an individual needs to potentially get drafted. That's not the same as entering the transfer portal. With the transfer portal, that's essentially the same as telling the school "I'm NOT coming back to this institution". Just because the two players from Gonzaga declared for the NBA Draft doesn't mean they are in the transfer portal, and potentially looking at Valpo because of Coach Powell, or that we should be looking at them for our team.

PO mentioned that Ali Saunders might/was transferring. Is this true. If so that is a major loss

https://listentotheref.com/2023/05/05/ali-saunders-signs-with-usi-womens-basketball/

She officially signed with Southern Indiana. Announced yesterday.

.  Even Brad Daugherty commented on his soft touch during one of the televised games.

Yeah but what would a NASCAR guy know about NCAA basketball?

Check out some 1990s Cleveland Cavaliers rosters, and you'll see what we're talking about...

Good gracious. Facetiousness not part of your game?

I haven't posted in awhile, so I'm a tad off my game here.

.  Even Brad Daugherty commented on his soft touch during one of the televised games.

Yeah but what would a NASCAR guy know about NCAA basketball?

Check out some 1990s Cleveland Cavaliers rosters, and you'll see what we're talking about...

Watched the video of Nebraska's practice facility...while all fine and dandy...I hope none of the guys were watching either upset game while sitting in the bathroom in that locker room...the #2s might have had a bit more than expected. To be honest though, do all of these fancy things help them win basketball games like making their shots and playing defense does? Nebraska goes through football and basketball coaches like crazy these days. Thankfully, they have all of the B1G money from television contracts and the NCAA tournament coming in, along with all the money from taxpayers. That's where their ability to have such fancy digs is coming from. Do we have enough donors that could put together the money for a new basketball facility that matches what would make Valpo Basketball a winning program, or do we just have people with a lot of money?

GCU is dancing again.

Dan Majerle in the seven years prior to Bryce taking over did not make the dance one time while coaching GCU. Bryce has taken his team to the dance twice in four years.

Dan Majerle was at GCU during the transition to D-I, and since Jerry Colangelo was invested in the athletic side of the university, he was there because he was a Phoenix guy that knew Arizona from his Suns playing days. That was the main reason Thunder Dan was in Lopes Country.

Tom Kleinschmidt from De Paul College Prep.

Maybe an explanation on why Kleinschmidt would be a good fit at Valpo would be in order here.

Kleinschmidt is way too Catholic! Other than Padilla being at Valpo, there is nothing at Valpo for Kleinschmidt to leave DePaul College Prep for. Kleinschmidt maybe be in consideration down the road as an assistant on the DePaul staff, depending on what happens with the current head coach.

Bryce going to the dance again.

Was talking to a buddy who coached soccer at Grand Canyon
During Bryce's first year.  He told me that Grand Canyon budget is 4x larger than the next school in the WAC and that he should go to the tourney every year (though he was a 5 seed in the WAC). 

So the opposite of his time at valpo. 

When Bryce started at GCU, the WAC was a mere skeleton. It was on the verge of non-existence. After they gobbled up a large portion of the Texas part of the Southland Conference...they'll be challenged now.

Drake (MVC) and VCU (A10) get the same seed and both leagues only one team. A10 has fallen. Wonder if Loyola has buyer's remorse.

Horizon League = 16 seed. Woof.

Nice for the Drews to both be in Denver.

The things that happen when the regular season conference champion DOESN'T win the conference tournament. Bradley may have drawn a higher seed, if they won. The Horizon League was taken by the 3rd place team. It's why conferences have the tournaments, otherwise the NCAA would just take the regular season conference champions, and their select 36 other teams to fill the bracket.

The regular season would be rather boring if we saw the same teams always winning, and getting in, instead of having the opportunity for a darkhorse to make a run at the right time, like NKU, when the rest of the league beats itself up regularly.

Still no action from the AD. 

May be no word because the Conference doesn't want attention taken away from the Tournament... sit on your hands until tomorrow, when the tournament is over, and Dr. Small can make the information known to us.

Don't forget, since the NCAA changed the transfer rules, coaches have been practically on eggshells about what they can do because kids are transferring out, without penalty, at any given moment. Lottich has even referred to this as a learning curve that coaches can't look to a reference book about how to handle constant change of roster, even when that change is during the season. This transfer portal, while fans think it is great, it is driving coaches insane because they don't know how to recruit for their programs in the same manner we all knew for years.

I completely agree, but every other coach in America is dealing with the same thing. It shouldn't be a reason why Lottich gets a pass.

Prior to the pandemic, if you transferred you had to sit out ONE season. NOW, you can transfer and play immediately. Pay to play with NIL and the transfer portal has made it damn near impossible to recruit character kids because of the schools that can offer so much money compared to the programs that only have the local hot dog joints that could offer a couple hundred bucks to say "I love the Bacon wrapped 4-cheese chili dog before a game".

Wasn't able to see the game live. For those who watched...did the team finally get tired of fighting wave the white flag or was it more the coaching adjustments of Prohm? Does anyone think Murray has 25 pts better talent? Asking a fair question.

We were missing shots all over, no rebounding, and just looked like most of the depth chart didn't give a fightin' poop what happened. Murray was hitting shots, getting inside, and looking like the veteran ballclub of the two transfer fancy teams on the court.

Don't forget, since the NCAA changed the transfer rules, coaches have been practically on eggshells about what they can do because kids are transferring out, without penalty, at any given moment. Lottich has even referred to this as a learning curve that coaches can't look to a reference book about how to handle constant change of roster, even when that change is during the season. This transfer portal, while fans think it is great, it is driving coaches insane because they don't know how to recruit for their programs in the same manner we all knew for years.

We were the better team this game. The clincher for Murray St. was an "all-ball" foul called on Ben in the closing seconds, when the game was tied at 76. Even Luke Gore couldn't understand the blatant foul discrepancy in this game. It's not like Murray was doing anything specific to earn these fouls, or we were doing more to commit them. Felt like Murray St. was this year's Evansville road game...we got screwed when it mattered most.

I guess the only successful thing, in some of your eyes...we didn't have to end the season with a revolving door of Hedstrom, Palm, and Bayu starting at the 5, since Ben didn't have the injury issues that we had at the point guard position. I just wish we didn't have to rely on the transfer portal so much this year. The portal is so much worse than one and done. The portal is a chance from someone who didn't cut it at a high major to get playing time, just wants to finish out his career somewhere, or changed from D-II to D-I because a team in the mid-major ranks had an opening they couldn't fill.

In all honesty, as a professor at the University, and an independent sports writer, I would hope Pgmado plays the ethics card, and leaves this question unasked, if no one else asks it first...

Barry Hinson is a name that would be perfect to replace one of our assistant coaches, honestly. Maybe it isn't Lottich so much as Gore, Bowen or Holloway that are holding things back? Loyalty to assistant coaches can only go so far. Gore has been at Valpo since he was a GA back in 2002. Bowen is on his second go around at VU, and he wasn't a great D2 head coach at Bemidji St. I don't know enough about Holloway. In terms of these three, maybe it's time to cut one of them, and bring in a Barry Hinson-type who has coaching pedigree at the MVC/D-I level to be a stronger mentor to Lottich? Yes, I know...most of you want to cut Lottich because you don't like he's not a Drew, but some coaches realize their strengths are within, instead of access to longtime assistant coaches. I mean look at a lot of the Power 5s. Sure, some assistants stay around because they are good at a specific thing, like recruiting or coaching a specific part of the offense or defensive. At Valpo, I don't see that from our assistants. I just see three guys on the bench holding clipboards, or Bowen kicking back like he's the coaching guru that had 500 wins somewhere else, but doesn't show it in his demeanor.

She was winning games in the 4 years prior to this year. She had some success during those years. This year, with the transfer portal running rampant, and not recruiting any height, you take the bad year, and hope for the 6th year bringing some better recruits and talent inside. Keith Freeman had how many bad years before he was finally let go? His successor was just a bad hire altogether. This is the first year Evans had a really bad situation. Not every coach is going to be the most successful when the environment of college athletics is more hostile than US Congress.

They won't fire Lottich because look at how Gore, Bowen, and Townsend are looking like puppets waiting for the strings to be pulled. Gore would be MORE OF THE SAME...might as well ride it out for 8 more weeks. The team quit on themselves.

We're playing like trash, and that's the players' fault for not playing anything resembling NCAA basketball. I feel like I'm watching the gym class heroes of high school yore in the gold unis here. "Lowtich" isn't coaching, and the announcers are so boring. At least Todd still gives hope of a quality reason to listen to the game. We don't even attack the basketball like we used to. It's more that the Valpo Men's Basketball team quit on themselves when they saw that there was nothing exciting about their lack of basketball sense.