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[The commission also approved Valparaiso University's plan to subdivide 13 lots near the Athletics-Recreation Center into two lots. The university plans to transfer those properties to two of its fraternities. Those fraternities would then transfer its current properties to the university, allowing for VU to demolish the dilapidated buildings on them. VU officials said it would both beautify the campus and provide safer housing.]

Saw this as part of an article about Valpo City zoning:

The commission also approved Valparaiso University's plan to subdivide 13 lots near the Athletics-Recreation Center into two lots. The university plans to transfer those properties to two of its fraternities. Those fraternities would then transfer its current properties to the university, allowing for VU to demolish the dilapidated buildings on them. VU officials said it would both beautify the campus and provide safer housing.

City Engineer Tim Burkman said it's a great project.

"It really cleans up a lot of odd, miscellaneous random property lines," he said.

I'm not sure what properties they have in mind but think it may be the Sig Tau house and the next door property??

[Green Bay]

Thought I'd start this one.  If we are hoping to schedule better teams, we certainly could be helped by our own conference scheduling stronger competition and winning some of those game.

I took a look at the rosters of the Horizon League teams and found the following teams and their senior losses:

Green Bay

Greg Mays
Keifer Sykes
Alfonso McKennie

Cleveland State

Charlie Lee
Marlon Mason

Oakland

Dante Williams
Corey Petros

Wright State

Reggie Arceneaux
Chrichawn Hopkins
Kendall Griffin

Detroit

Juwan Howard Jr.
Brandan Kearney

Milwaukee

Steve McWhorter

UIC

Jay Harris
Marc Brown
Ahman Fells

YSU

Shawn Amiker
DJ Cole
Keene
Vaughn

Valpo

Vashil

I obviously only included players who made a significant impact this last year.  Would love to hear from fans from other teams as to who they think will have a significant impact either from new freshman or transfers.  At the moment I don't see anyone other than Valpo who won't be hit hard by departures.  I think overall that the Horizon will be a weaker conference next year.

Thoughts?

Just finished watching Xavier bear BU in the quarter finals of their tourney.  BU is a weird bunch.  I would take Barlow (who started as a walk-on) in a heartbeat.  Then you have the shooter, like Dunham, who I would also take, but looks like he just walked off the set of "The Children of the Corn". Then you have Roosevelt Jones, who is 6'4" and plays like a bull in a china shop.

An interesting group who I would love to play.  I doubt they will make it to a 5 however.

A Nebraska high school duplicates the play!

http://yahoo.thepostgame.com/blog/clip-board/201501/bryce-drew-shot-valpo-upsets-ole-miss-bruning-davenport-shickley

 I originally posted something not terribly flattering about a recent 7-0 loss to Western Michigan.  Apparently I can't remove a topic which I started so I just deleted the message.

These young ladies, no doubt are trying very hard to win.  I certainly would never demean their efforts and if anyone read the message I apologize.   

Some fine young men in the Horizon League.  Witness this interview with Tre Lewis of CSU.  Sounds to me like a fine young man.

http://www.horizonleague.org/video.html?id=13095

[OHIO!!!!!!!]

With the big game coming up on Monday, I thought I'd take the opportunity to find out where these kids come from and perhaps indicate which states are putting out the best football talent. (Pay attention Valpo football staff!!)

Oregon, as you might expect, has a limited number of players from Oregon.  Most of their players come from California.

They have:  21 players from Oregon
                  47 players from California
                    6 players from Texas
                    3 players from Florida
                    3 players from Ohio

Ohio State has:

                   65 players from Ohio
                     3 players from Texas
                     3 players from Florida
                     1 player from California
                     0 players from Oregon

So there you have it.  The best football state, as witnessed by the number of players in the National Football Title Game is:  (drum roll please) .........OHIO!!!!!!!        GO BUCKEYES!!!!!!!

Do all Horizon League games now go through ESPN3?  And if so, is the Horizon League being paid for this by ESPN?  We have always thought of Horizon League broadcasts as "free", but some TV packages do not automatically include ESPN, thus requiring subscription and cost.

Just so this article which discloses private university president's salary levels in Indiana.

Presient Heckler ranks 4th in the state behind DePauw, Butler and Notre Dame.  Oh, for those who think our coaches aren't paid enough, check out who made considerably more than Mark Heckler!

http://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2014/12/09/private-college-presidential-pay-disclosed/20174271/

I understand the season is very young, but the performance of David Skara has been pretty impressive.  I looked at Alec's first three games versus David's first three.  Although Alec was a starter, his minutes on the floor aren't significantly bigger then what David has had to date.

For three games, David has played an average of 19.3 minutes.  Last year, over the first three games, Alec played 26.6.  David is shooting 61.1% overall and 66.7% from the 3.  He is also shooting 87.5 from the line and has 8 assts to 2 TOs.  Alec averaged 12 ppg last year while David is averaging 11.0.  Alec shot 55.6% overall and 44.4% from the 3.

The comparison in obvious and I don't see how Bryce can keep David off the floor for too many minutes.  I like the idea of playing them both together.  I also very much liked the idea of playing Max at the point and Keith at the 2.  It seemed to take the load off of Keith and allowed him to relax and just shoot it.

This could be a brutally long year for our ladies and the end?? for our coach.

Exhibition result from today:  UW Parkside (D2 picked fifth in their conference) 69  Valpo 52   

I just watched the Valpo news conference from the Horizon media day and two things stood out.  First, when asked about who would back up Keith Carter, Bryce mentioned Max Joseph, expecting him to see plenty of court time.  The second thing was very interesting.  When asked which teammate had made the most improvement over the summer, both Alec and Vashil said Nick Davidson.  Alec said he expected Nick to make a good contribution to this year's team.

Nick is one name we have talked about very little.  Sure hope he has a good year.

I'm watching Texas State play LA Lafayette on ESPN 2 .  A great stadium seating 30,000.  The field is named "Jim Wacker" in honor of one of Valpo's best.  Proud to be Valpo!!

Sporting News projection is out and they have us second to CSU.  Not hard to imagine as the article was written by a guy from the Plain Dealer.  Hard to say how much research he did but he ended up pointing to Peters, Adakoya and...E. Victor as our key players.  I suspect he had some conversations with our staff before writing this.  Could E. Victor be the key to a big season??

As we approach the beginning of another Valpo sports year I thought it would be interesting to check the rosters to see where our players come from.

I was amazed to find out that our football team has players from 21 different states!  In total, our sports teams have athletes from 27 states and 10 foreign countries.

All in all that tells me that our coaches have good recruiting budgets but more importantly, that Valpo has the academic reputation to attracts kids from far and wide.  I doubt very seriously that many colleges Valpo's size can compare to this wide a reach.

For example, Butler's roster comes from 12 states with 22 players coming from states other than Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.  Valpo, as mentioned earlier, has players from 21 states with 56 coming from other than the adjacent states.

Something to be proud of in my opinion.

Well, it's over.  The athletic year that is.  We've been spoiled the last couple of years, or have we grown used to what should happen for Valpo teams?  Last year we had four championships, and in spite of being picked to finish first in a couple of sports, we came up empty.  This is after the departure of Butler and Loyola.  Not a very good result. 

For the first time we fans can watch these awards live on sunday night.  It should be a great opportunity to see these kids--in all sports--in an entirely different situation.  Congrats to the AD for getting this on line.

http://valpoathletics.com/news/archives/2013-14/13703/watch-the-arc-awards-live-sunday-night/

Congrats to all the organizers and Valpo staff for once again putting on the this incredible tourney over the last several days.  More than 2500 folks descended on Valpo using thousands of room nights and eating lots of food around the area.  Every game was able to be viewed on line!

What this does for the University is beyond measure.  Kids from 15 states (and their parents)including Texas, California, Florida and Nevada, have been exposed to Valpo, the campus and much more.  The Chapel was packed with the beginning ceremony which included a speech from Valpo asst coach Matt Lottich.,

I know Rod Moore was on their Board and may still be.  This must prove invaluable when recruiting future Lutheran students among may other valuable items.     

[Gonzalo Castro Diaz (Mexico City, Mexico) is the new record holder in the 200 yard butterfly with a 1:53.32 finish. The sophomore claimed 15th place with the record-setting time.]

I was looking at some of the results from the Horizon League Championships and saw how far we are behind the other teams.

In the Track and Field Championships we did not finish last and posted a few championship performances.  With the addition of the new track this should only improve.

The swim teams are a different matter.  Our school records aren't even close to where they need to be to compete in the Horizon.

Here is an example (picked arbitrarily with no intent to single out this athlete):

Gonzalo Castro Diaz (Mexico City, Mexico) is the new record holder in the 200 yard butterfly with a 1:53.32 finish. The sophomore claimed 15th place with the record-setting time.

So this school record was good for 15th place??  Should we drop swimming?  The cost of replacing a very old pool will no doubt be substantial and unlikely to happen in our lifetimes.  What to do??

Saw this news report and thought you all might enjoy it.

http://www.kwtx.com/sports/headlines/Behind-The-Green-and-Gold-Drew-Nearing-History-247706801.html?ref=801

So our pals near Detroit take another heartbreaker, losing to WSU at home, 72-71, after blowing a 10 point lead with 2:13 to go.  BTW, Wright State held Bader to one basket and it wasn't a 3.  I think that was only thw second game all year where he didn't make a 3 (Michigan State).
so now Oakland has  a 5-8 in conference but, of those 13 games, 5 have been decided by a combined 18 points.  Who wants to play these guys in the tourney??

Not sure where to post this but I'm sure apostle will find the right spot!

Just listened to Adam do the call of the ND/Virginia game in the presence of Digger Phelps and Bobby Knight.  Adam is a true pro with nothing but national exposure ahead.  Heck, I was impressed with his coverage of Valpo Volleyball!!  I would suggest that he will replace Jim Nance when he's ready!!  Go Adam!!

This is a heads up that my aunt is being honored at today's game.  Don't know if it will be before or during half time, just that she is being honored.  Don't know what the honor will be either!  I presume it is something like "Oldest Fan" or" Longest Season Ticket Holder" or maybe just for being a wonderful person. I doubt I'll be able to see the award as I'll be watching on the net from Dallas and doubt it will be covered by the Horizon League.

So, for those of you who don't know her, she is Connie Felten Bretcher.  She just turned 93 and hasn't missed a home game in Lord knows when.  She and my uncle Arnie Felten, graduated from Valpo and other than being away at the "big war" lived and worked in Valpo all their lives.  Arnie passed away many years ago and she remarried to Paul Bretcher (age 92?) about 12 or so years ago.  Paul is a former prof at Valpo as well as being the former pastor at Immanuel, and has a few kids in Valpo's Athletic Hall of Fame.

I wouldn't suggest you challenge her to a race as she might just beat you!  She is in great shape physically and mentally and was photographed by The Time on her 90th birthday, standing on her head!!

She, Paul and her son Michael and daughter in law Lois are always at games, sitting in the top row of the reserved section mid court.  She's about 5' and has a full head of white hair. 

So, if you see her congratulate her and wish her well from her nephew, vu72!!!!

I'm wondering if you could tell us what type of candidates you saw in the last search and whether or not you expect similar candidates.

More specifically, did you see a good cross section of D1 asst. coaches, D2 head or asst coaches, D3 head coaches, others?  Were the candidates primarily from the midwest or were they coming from across the country? Finally, how many applications came in?

Thank you and good luck and blessings to you and the committee.

Hats off to the athletic marketing group for a very creative idea to help build student interest in the upcoming season.  Check out this video!  Looks like a lot of fun.  Hopefully it will lead to big student turnouts for both teams!!   

http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/news/2013-14/13035/preseason-activities-preview-basketball-season/

http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/roster/

[3-40 and 1]

While listening to Mike and Mike on the way to work, I had to laugh.  They are broadcasting from Northwestern a day before a big showdown with Ohio State.  I think Northwestern is a top 25 team and the Bucks are a top 5.  A big deal particularly for Mike Greenberg who is a Northwestern grad.

So Greenberg starts talking about how bad their team was when he was in school in the late 80's.  He says "really bad".  He goes on to say that during his four years they were 3-40 and 1, then with emphasis "3-40 and 1  They had an NCAA record for most loses in a row until Columbia beat the record.  So I checked on our last four years--for any folks on the board who might have graduated last year.  If they run into Greenberg they can "one up him" as Valpo was 3-41 and 0 over the last four!   

I'm sure all you football experts will have a thing or two to say about this video from the Valpo Athletics site:

http://www.valpoathletics.com/football/news/2013-14/12976/quarterback-eric-hoffman-joins-valpo-all-access/

Our own Jon Kedrowski is being featured as part of a story on Mt. Everest--right now! (8:20 Central Friday Sept 6)

Just found out they have lost Roosevelt Jones (leading returning scorer and rebounder) for the entire year.  So much for pre-season travel!

I suspect their fourth place finish in the A-10 and previously in the Horizon, will look pretty good this coming year.  Tough way to take over as coach as well.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/bigeast/2013/08/16/roosevelt-jones-butler-wrist-injury-torn-ligaments-out-for-season/2665077/

For the first time, maybe ever (I can remember maybe two total games broadcast) Valpo will be broadcasting football games as well as softball and a bunch of other games and added video features and reports.  The AD is listening and this is a HUGE improvement!

http://www.valpoathletics.com/news/archives/2013-14/12837/valparaiso-announces-video-offerings-for-2013-14-season/

Found this site with 2012 and 2011 endowment figures.  Interestingly enough, Valpo was virtually unchanged from 2011 and stood at $163,530,000 in 2012. This ranked 302nd.

Against what could be considered our competition we continue to do well.

We were ranked ahead of schools like Xavier, Drake, Butler and Evansville. 

I couldn't even find some of the Horizon League schools but did notice Oakland was ranked 547th at $54,980,000.

Here is the site:

http://www.nacubo.org/Documents/research/2012NCSEPublicTablesEndowmentMarketValuesRevisedFebruary42013.pdf

Just received word that at the moment there are 1084 new students who have made deposits for this fall.  Of those, 899 are freshman.  New deposits trickle in every day so admissions expects the freshman class to slightly exceed 900, with total new students of about 1100. The freshman class will be about 100 larger than the previous record class.  The new dorm is needed quickly!

http://valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/news/2013-14/12794/diebler-departs-crusader-coaching-staff/

Let's hope this isn't the beginning of the end for our staff.

Valpo had more student-athletes make the Academic Honor Role then any other school!

Congrats to all!

Total Honorees by School Honorees by Sport
Valparaiso......................210 
Milwaukee.....................175 
Youngstown State..........168 
Loyola............................162 
Detroit............................157

Green Bay.....................153 
Wright State...................138 
Cleveland State.............132 
UIC................................109
TOTAL .......................1,404

Just saw this on the Valpo athletic site.  They've hired a new assistant head coach which means Bob Muckian is out.  Muchian was asst. head coach and offensive coardinator and is also a Valpo grad. Coaching duties have shifted slightly.

Here's the story:

http://valpoathletics.com/football/news/2012-13/12787/gravier-joins-crusader-football-coaching-staff/

Out of 12 that is.  Sounds like improvement but...two of the three teams picked behind us are brand new to football. The other is Campbell.  If we don't beat these teams then the handwriting will be more then "on the wall".

I don't have a site to post, I read it on the newsstand!

http://www.wacotrib.com/sports/baylor/for-drew-brothers-it-s-sibling-revelry-not-rivalry/article_8b91eb14-166c-5c05-963b-5039de9af1d0.html

As another year comes to a close my feeling is that Valpo has made great progress in several areas and that needs to be acknowledged.

Football?  Well, that is still a work in progress.

Volleyball?  A second place finish, still working to adjust to the Horizon League level of play, but on the way...

Men's and Women's soccer?  A rebuilding year but lots of great prospects.

Women's Basketball?  Wow, what can we say...A opening season win against the Big12 was encouraging but, much work to be done.

Men's Basketball?  A return to the Dance for the first time in this conference and as exciting a recruiting class as perhaps we have ever seen.

Softball?  Our return to the NCAAs and, a first EVER win.  More to come...

Baseball?  A return to the NCAAs and our first win in 47 years.

Our coaching is top notch, our players are an ever improving level of player and they still bring all the qualities we hold dear for Valpo athletes.

We won't hear anything about the success from people like setshot but nonetheless, there has been a bunch...Keep it up and GO VALPO!!

About as good a draw as possible.  A definite chance for a win or two and, if we do somehow win in Bloomington the next round is also as good as possible versus a 7 seed or worse.  I love the draw!

on yet another outstanding year! Mark LaBarbera and all the coaches and athletes represented Valpo in the finest way and, in the process, again won more titles in revenue sports than any other school.

By "revenue" sports I mean sports where there is an admission cost to see games. I may be wrong but I doubt there is a cost to watch a swim or track meet for example.  Another way to see it would be just the "major" sports.  These sports include Volleyball, Men's and Women's soccer, Men's and Women's basketball, Softball and Baseball.

In all, counting regular season and championship titles, there are a total of 14 in play.  Valpo has won 4 this past year, including two in men's basketball and one each in softball and baseball. CSU and Milwaukee each won 3 and Green Bay 2. None of the other schools had more than 1.

Valpo has now won 10 of 28 over the last 2 years which is far more than anyone else. Throw in an elite 8 performance in bowling last year and a title this year in Men's Golf and by an count it is just outstanding.

Congrats again to all  and let's get some wins in the NCAA baseball tourney!  GO VALPO!!

I apologize in advance if this has surfaced in other posts (I'm sure I'll hear about it!) but I came across this article on the Horizon League site concerning the newly placed AD who is replacing Andy Geiger.

For a state school, they need a bunch of stuff so we aren't alone in this.  They apparently will be back at US Cellular after experimenting with playing back on campus at the Kolache (sp?)

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/panthers/braun-will-build-carefully-at-uwm-kf9ui2d-207641181.html

Breaking News!

http://valpoathletics.com/football/news/2012-13/12701/valpo-football-announces-2013-recruiting-class/

Thirty six (if I didn't miscount!) including kids from 11 states with California and Michigan leading the way with seven each.

Size and speed, we'll see...

Michigan just made a run to the national championship game with several kids from the region. They weren't the only team with region impact.  So, Valpo is getting the Times Player of the Year in Nick Davidson...

Makes you want to say hmmmm...

Per this article, a new dorm will be started August/September on the site of the Health Center, South West of University and LaPorte.  The plan is to have it available in 2014.

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/porter/19230324-418/vus-confucius-institute-to-move-for-new-dorm.html

If you think the Horizon League Tournament brought economic value to Valpo, imagine what the LBAA annual tournament does for the city!  There are great pictures on Valpo main site here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/valparaiso_university/8592231647/#in/photostream

As you can see from the photos, the Chapel was absolutely packed for what appeared to be the opening gathering.  The logistics for running the tourney must be mind blowing.  There were teams from 13 states as far away as Texas, Florida and Nevada.

Looked like at least 2500 people in the Chapel.  Imagine the economic impact!  Obviously, this is also a great recruiting advantage for Valpo as you provide a chance for parents and kids to see the campus well before they make a college decision.

Nicely done to all involved, including Rod Moore, who is on the National Board.

I was looking through about 100 pictures posted on Valpo's Flickr page and wondered about how the City of Valparaiso welcomed the fans from other places and what that experience might have been for outsiders?  Thoughts?

Here's the connection to the flickr site--GREAT photos!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/valparaiso_university/

Great story about the Drews.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/lopresti/2013/03/13/valparaiso-wright-state-horizon-league-championship/1983265/

around the conference.  Somehow the interest on campus' in the Horizon League is really piss poor.  Tonight, while hosting the best team in the conference, a school with 16,000 kids draws 1985? Huh?  Valpo, with a student body of 4000 draws 5000 for the Detroit game.

When we played at Detroit, with the two best teams playing, they drew 3418 (not bad!) At Cleveland State they drew 2403.  If, you can believe the box scores.

Here's my point:  These are major cities with absolutely no interest in the Horizon League.  We should hope for an eventual departure to the Valley where folks in smaller towns seem to really back their teams.  1985? A third full for a league leader? Sad.

http://www.valpo.edu/law/valparaiso-university-law-school-international-moot-court-society-takes-first-place-at-the-14th-annual-d-m-harish-memorial-government-law-competition-in-mumbai-india