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A Vashil highlight reel will always bring a smile to a Valpo fan. Oddly enough, this video emphasized that he was the Valpo career blocks leader, led the nation in blocks one year, and was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year while showing dozens of dunks and bunnies and showing exactly one block.

I can't speak for MLB, who has been here a long time, but before the Loyola game President Padilla literally said, "Valpo Athletics being mediocre is unacceptable".

Norris swishing one NBA 3 after another in the clutch was clearly the difference. It reminded me of A.J. Graves doing the same for Butler against us at home years ago. I normally don't like to call out teenagers/young adults playing a game on national TV in front of a lot of people. I'm sure most of us would not do nearly as well. That being said, Sheldon turns the ball over on a very nonchalant inbounds pass, throws two equally nonchalant passes at half court, incurs a lane violation with no one standing next to him, and waits at the sideline at half court dribbling out the clock with no intention of running a play, making a pass, or shooting a few seconds earlier so we could potentially get a rebound or put back. His last second heave was out of desperation instead of an advantage that the play started with. Please keep that play in the NBA with Curry and Jordan where it belongs. All of this within a few minutes at the end of the game. Sheldon should watch the film, listen to some coaching, swallow some pride, then be given a vote of confidence as a starter in the next game.

1314- I can't get too excited about UIC but I'm not opposed either. I'm just surprised that a UIC fan convinced you to take a holistic approach which included all sports since you usually only consider Men's Basketball for your conference additions. As far as UIC being the best potential Men's Soccer team in the MVC, I see them as possibly fourth best now. They were 9-8-2 this season, good enough for fourth place in the Horizon League. They are generally not the best team in Chicago (Loyola) and SIUE is a very solid program. That brings us to Missouri State who was 17-2 overall (most wins in the nation), 10-0 in the MVC, top 10 nationally ranked for much of the season, and a retiring head coach who had over 300 wins in a 30-year career leading the Bears. Some of the videos and news that you post, such as the D1 360 Candidate Comparison, are really interesting.  RacerJoeD- welcome to Valpo and the MVC.

vok22- Have you thought about the possibility that you haven't had the energy to post is because you were on your computer at 3:07 AM?

So sorry to hear this news, Paul. It's certainly our loss and the Times' loss. Did you check your University voicemail from yesterday?

In the late 90's and early 2000's, I subscribed (paid) to a newspaper that was mailed to me that had a hyper focus on VU athletics. From what I remember, it was written and published primarily by one guy, Dick Harlan. He was totally independent from the local media and the university, just a big Valpo booster. His son is still in the area and has been a high school volleyball coach since a short stint of writing about local athletics in the Times. Maybe Paul can do a hybrid approach for all Valpo Athletics with a focus on Men's Basketball? He could produce a weekly or monthly print newsletter, on-line daily articles, and his periodic podcast to cover all bases.  It could be paid for via subscriber payments and local businesses. He did say, "Covering college athletics is all I've ever wanted to do", so let's see how resourceful he is. Anybody here willing to provide some seed money?

Unfortunately, the better team did win tonight. Agree with both the bad throw call but also overall good refereeing for the tournament. What a heartbreaker for Rylee Cookerly. Maybe we could have an intern review every game over her career to see if she could pick up one or two more digs? Aside from the absolutely jam packed (what pandemic?) student section, there were indeed another 75-100 students standing the entire match on the west side of the bleacher section. A UNLV parent told me they watched the student section on TV against UCONN and were so happy to see that again in person.  They apparently don't draw very well themselves and the only other crowd that rivalled ours all season was BYU. President Padilla was at every game and has to be impressed with the potential for athletics. Congrats to the ladies!

It's one thing for the Times to not cover an afternoon non-conference game for a team that is struggling. If there is not a front-page article with photos for the Valpo Women's Volleyball team who is playing for a National Championship at home with a player who is likely to break the NCAA career record for digs, that is another discussion.  As far as student support goes, please see my volleyball thread post.

Without the band, or even cheerleaders, the student section was more packed and rowdier than any Men's basketball game in years, including the NIT run. Final exams start on Monday so let's see if they have one more night in them. High quality play for both teams. Men's basketball should note that winning contributes to increased student and community interest. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more fans than the announced 1,267, a Valpo volleyball record. The ticket scanners for athletic events are very fickle and if it doesn't read after a few attempts and there are people waiting behind you they waive you through. This has been going on all semester.

Valpo will host Butler in the NIVC on Thursday. Their RPI of 65 is by far the highest of the four team pod they host. Rylee Cookerly will now have a shot at breaking the NCAA all time digs record.

Certainly, one of the highlights of the season was playing competitive with Dartmouth.  And how about pasting Butler for three wins against them in the same calendar year?  The team played with enthusiasm and seemed to have fun.

Many M+W Tennis matches seen in person over the years with no MLB in sight. Many M+W soccer matches seen in person with only one sighting to memory. Numerous M+W Cross Country Crusader Opens, our only home meets of the year, with no sightings. Several Softball and Baseball games with no sightings. Occasional Swimming meets with no sightings in memory. Numerous Volleyball games with reasonably reliable sightings. And, I already mentioned he does go to pretty much all of the M+W Basketball and Football games. This a first hand account of facts, not anecdotal thoughts that just because he is AD he must go to events, or that you or others have seen him at something and then transfer that to other events.

One of the more entertaining parts of the game came when President Padilla enthusiastically ran around the court and carried the "V" flag for the Valpo fight song toward the end of the game.  He did graduate from the University of Toledo.

One of the best parts of the game was when President Padilla, pom poms in hand , led the Cheerleaders in a cheer. You'd never see MLB do that. In fact, our new leader will probably go to as many sporting events as MLB given that MLB rarely ever goes to sports that aren't football or basketball.

The baseball field got their makeover anyway through the generosity of two former players' families.  In regards to local beer being sold, nothing will happen without the local monopoly, Indiana Beverage, having a hand in it. A case study on unnecessary, archaic state alcohol laws can be found by checking out Indiana's current laws.  Very few industries in the country have such powerful monopolistic structures in place.

VUGrad1314 - Your devotion to Murray State is only matched by your disdain for commas.  (I always appreciate your passion and insight.)  As you sometimes acknowledge, your case is built exclusively on Men's Basketball.  There are so many factors to include with that obviously being a major one.  Just for fun, let's include a school that you have never mentioned but several national writers have included as an MVC possibility; the University of Denver.  On the plus side: DU has won the Directors Cup for 11 out of the last 12 years for non football schools and are most recently 41st of all sports programs in the country.  Stanford usually dominates the Cup for all programs, with Michigan winning last year. Pepperdine is the only program that comes close to DU with football out of the equation. They have a 96% graduation rate and over 3.5 GPA for the entire sports department. Their facilities are top notch and relatively new, the oldest being just over 20 years old. Their athletic budget is $35 million per year and their endowment is $775 million.  The school's enrollment has been stable/growing. DU is in a top 20 metropolitan area with 3 million people. They have a TV relationship that has a national reach. Academically, they are ranked higher than any MVC school. They have a beautiful brand new 750 acre Rocky Mountain Campus to complement their main city campus in Denver. This new campus was 100% paid for by private donors which means they can rally the troops around a focused mission. They are not particularly happy with the Summit League and are free to go wherever they are wanted because they tend to dominate Olympic sports in other athletic conferences.  On the negative side: DU is way out of the footprint for the MVC and too far for my liking, but this hasn't stopped people suggesting places like UT Arlington, UA Little Rock, Oral (B) Roberts, South Dakota State, etc... They are known to be exploring the West Coast Conference now that BYU is leaving and might be a better fit there.  And finally, the biggest non-starter for you personally, I'm sure, is that their Men's Basketball program is currently very poor. One could imagine, however, with a switch to a basketball centric conference they would have the institutional will and money to rise to the occasion. My Pioneers over Racers suggestion is only meant to balance your incorrigible support of Murray State for many years. Keep up your unwavering support for The MVC and Valpo!                                                                                                                 

It appears that Alec has a torn ACL. Wish him the best for a healthy return.

That article about Slu is almost a year and a half old and the predictions did not lead to a worst case scenario. In fact, they are no worse off than most schools in the same predicament from the last couple of years. 

Regarding McIntyre Court, I`m not sure what is so mystifying.  The University owns all but one parcel on the west side of the road and a little more than half on the east side.  Eventually, campus buildings will be built and the road might cease to exist as presently used. Why would they choose houses, therefore, that would disrupt this master plan?  Also, traditionalists such as 78crusader(Paul) will be surprised when they come back in another two years given that the new class of students is less than 20% Lutheran.  As valpotx has often noted, the percent of "unchurched", or agnostic continues to rise across society including college age youth.  Going after the dwindling supply of Lutherans certainly would be one approach.  Wait for an interesting cultural announcement in the next week or two to understand the alternative.

There are about 630 students ready to go for the Fall.  President Padilla is not happy with those numbers but he is very high on the VP for Enrollment.  He started at a strange time, less than two months ago, and won't move here till mid September so we won't know his true value until next school year.  Brian O'Rourke will have his work cut out for him but let's hope for the best.

vu84v2- There may be restrictions for Liberty but these only apply to the students.  The university president may operate with no restrictions and with impunity.  Except when the school's PR firm finally says to pull the plug.

An unintended casualty is Rylee Cookerly who had a chance to get close to the top ten all time in digs for NCAA history.

Roy Williams has indicated that part of his retirement decision is because of the transfer epidemic.  Now with Porter Moser "transferring" to Oklahoma, we see that it works both ways. Porter could have gone the Mark Few way and been happy to have respect in building and maintaining a solid mid-major program while being king of the campus.  However, the allure of even bigger money and power has proven to be too much once again.

Valpo is targeting 750 new students for next year.  They are nowhere close to that number yet so Ray Brown, VP for enrollment has been terminated.  With a new hire scheduled by Summer, let's hope the next person steps up.  President Padilla is doing what a new leader should do-taking charge.