Messages

Illinois is pulling away here, but that first half was the most fun I've had watching this program since 2020 Arch Madness. Better days are ahead!

Edwards - 15.5 points and rebounds - UNDER
Palm - 5.7 rebounds per game - UNDER
Barrett - 0.9 3ptrs per game played - UNDER
Weatherspoon - 41.6% from the floor - OVER
Ajiboye - 1.5 Blocks and Steals/game - OVER
DeAveiro -120.5 assists for year - OVER
Williamson - 1.5 assist / turnover ratio - UNDER
Schweiger - 11.25 points per game - OVER
Stafford - 16.5 points per game - OVER
Team Field Goals Attempted 60.5/gm - UNDER
All Newcomer Team for MVC - 0.5 - OVER
All League Team 1st, 2nd, 3rd - 0.5 - OVER
Valley Road Victories - 1.5 - UNDER
Final Standing in Valley - 10.5 - UNDER
Total Wins - 10.5 - OVER

Could we be done with undergrad transfers? We have three scholarships left, but at least one of them would have to be used by a player with only one year of eligibility left. Has anyone heard of any grad transfers coming to Valpo for a visit or that have been offered a scholarship?

Or could we be done? Start the rebuilding process in earnest now and just go with 10 scholarship players for next year. Add a couple more Walk ons for practice depth and focus on the 10, give them all meaningful minutes and see what develops.

Given Valpo's recent history with injuries, that would be a narrow rope to walk on.

Selfishly, I hope Roger gets at least one of the three D-I UWs (Madison, GB, Milwaukee) and/or Marquette on the 23-24 schedule. Madison or Marquette "buy" games would really help the bottom line.

Here's a really crazy thought - ya think the school down south would condescend to schedule Valpo ever again now that we've changed the AD and MBB coach?

Need Paul to chime in with how many days it's been since Butler beat Valpo in hoops. Lol.

Valpo needs bodies at this point. This early in Powell's tenure, it's absolutely worth it to take a flyer on a guy like Schweiger who isn't highly recruited. In the long run, though, acquiring talent to compete with the top schools in the Valley is going to be a "must"

Ibra Bayu transferring per PO's Twitter

I'm sorry but the APR thing is a huge indictment of Lottich. Not only were they not getting it done on the court they weren't getting it done in the classroom either and that is absolutely not acceptable at a school like Valpo. Hopefully Powell gets Valpo back up to the standards we are used to seeing both on the court and off.

I agree that it doesn't reflect well on Lottich, but it can't be easy to maintain a strong APR when your roster turns over as much as Valpo's did over the last few years. A big part of APR is progress towards a degree, and if not all credits transfer from previous institutions, then the APR will take a negative hit.

Four Big Ten offers, plus Arizona and Missouri? Valpo isn't going to get him.

I think it's going to be pretty difficult to call the first season a "failure." Valpo didn't fire Matt Lottich because the program was heading in a good direction. The transfer portal only exasperates this issue, as now he's left to fill the majority of a roster. To expect anything more than finishing towards the bottom of the league would be misguided, but we all can hope that at bare minimum, we see signs of really positive things to come.

[now the head coach at Western Michigan.]

Brandon's assistant coach at Purdue for one year is now the head coach at Western Michigan. Relationships.

Except he signed with Western Kentucky.

I believe he meant Western Kentucky. Steve Lutz is the head coach there now, and he was at Purdue for Brandon's redshirt and RS freshman seasons.

St. John's was 8-11 in 21-22 which is the season referred to. Their issue was not offense. It was defense. They led the Big East in scoring but were towards the bottom in points allowed.

It's clear that St. John's opponents would have had many more possessions per game than against teams who held the ball longer; therefore, it would be expected that their (St John's opponents') total would be higher.  The stat that is important isn't points per game; rather, it would be points per possession.  If the Beacons have a run and gun offense as seems to be the plan, we should keep that stat in mind.

Take us back to the run-and-gun days of Valpo basketball under Gene Bartow! Some really good players for VU back in the '60s.

[Very impressive video highlights]

Ashton Williamson
• 3-star
• 1st team all-area
• 17pt/10asst DD in a 32-min. game!
• 45% from 3
• FROM THE REGION

Very impressive video highlights :

https://www.moore-exposure.com/ashton

Can't have enough guys who can score at a high level, but, we already have a Williamson signed in Jahari, who is rated at one of the 15 best shooters in Canada regardless of class!  Also, with only a 3.0 GPA in high school, can he cut it academically at Valpo?

They'll make the grades work if he's good enough.

When is the "live" period for recruiting?

High school recruiting is in a live period right now. Grassroots events are going on, and coaches are out evaluating.

I still think Sasha may be in for a grad assistant. Just a hunch on my part.

I've heard he has other plans, but that could be wrong

https://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/news/2022-23/22060/powell-welcomes-trio-to-valpo-basketball-coaching-staff/

They're here!

Evansville gets a player rated 3 or 4 stars that turned down Kansas, Illinois among others??  Something doesn't sound right here.  There has got to be more on this story.

I am guessing that because Evansville is extremely isolated, local advertising opportunities are available in a town that is rabid about basketball. Consider that Evansville has been one of the least successful teams in the league since we have been a member, they still averaged over 4500 butts in the seats this last season.

It wouldn't surprise me if UE would lead the Valley in attendance next year with the addition of Cameron Haffner to the roster. His father Scott is one of the most decorated players in UE men's basketball history, a legend to the Aces faithful. He was the first real star in UE's Division I era and the first UE D1 player to have his jersey retired.  I think he may still hold the single game scoring record with 65 points in a game against Dayton. Cameron was the OVC freshman of the year this past season.

Cam Haffner can play. The Westfield teams with him and Braden Smith (Purdue) were a lot of fun to watch.

https://twitter.com/TVBOren/status/1648030109675188226?s=20

Coach Powell has some work ahead of him to put a team on the floor this winter.

As much as I hate to see Coach Gore go, I have to think that this would probably be the best thing for him.  He likely needs to be around other coaches and systems in order to grow. He has been an awesome ambassador, and I truly wish the best for him and his family.

As do I.

Having said that, there is usually a time to clean and start over and this is it from my vantage point for Valpo.

It didn't start this way, but by the end the only recruits I heard Luke's name connected to were Canadian. Bowen was the small town Wisconsin guy. Matt had an apparent connection to Europe that went back to his playing days. Basically, that's it.

The European and Canadian recruits were unknown, unrated quantities where evaluation was made primarily from watching game videos. Wisconsin? Nice idea, but it soon became painfully obvious why small town WI is not considered a recruiting hot bed in the MVC. The icing on the cake was the inability to land even 1 D-1 transfer from the portal last year. A total disaster.

I wish them all luck in their future pursuits, but I hope that someone close to them who truly cares has the courage to kindly suggest that they may want to consider a lower level of college bb, or even a complete career change. No one can pretend to be something they're not forever.

If this is accurate and two of the assistants were primarily focusing on Canada and Wisconsin, it's no wonder the last staff performed the way it did. That's inexcusable for a program trying to compete in the Missouri Valley.

I finally got the chance to watch the press conference last evening. Very impressed with Powell. It will not be an easy process to make Valpo competitive in the MVC, but I'm quite confident that if there's someone who can do it, Roger Powell fits a lot of what you'd like to see from that person.

Valpo posted a link to donate to an "ARC Enchancement Project" with a goal of 12,000 dollars.

https://bit.ly/3UnoSTh

It says the following:


GOAL
The ARC is our home and a place that is very important to the success of our program. Our goal is to continue to make improvements both big and small to the arena, to improve the student-athlete experience and to enhance the game day environment for our fans. This is important as we look to create a true home court advantage. This year, your support will go towards new branding and technology in the ARC.

This is great and all, but it's going to take a little bit more than $12,000 to get the ARC to respectability.

I believe Sasha has already signed a European contract to play if I'm not mistaken.

Sasha retired from basketball a couple of weeks ago. Not sure what his plans are, but I believe he finished with a bachelor's and master's degree from Purdue.

Very good hire by Small and company. Nothing is guaranteed, but this gives fans something to be excited about. Let's go!

And if it's Powell, might Krikke and even Doughty be looking at Valpo differently???

It's possible, but I'm not sure it's worth losing sleep over. Whether Krikke is on the team or not, it's a stretch to think that Valpo will be competitive next season. Doughty? Who knows, but he's not picked up a P6 offer or anything yet.

Newman is a very good player. Hustles like Jake, is athletic, and provides a spark plug for any team he's on. Painter underused him and when the freshman Smith got in trouble when the press was on, they almost lost several games from his turnovers. Newman should have replaced him in those situations.

Newman isn't a good ball handler. He can shoot it, but he's not capable of handling the ball much.

Have to see where head coaches end up to see where Lottich ends up. So maybe he ends up at a P5 assistant job at Northwestern, Gonzaga, Ohio State or Marquette depending on who we hire. Maybe goes into broadcasting like Bryce Drew, Robbie Hummel and Bruce Weber?

Not sure he's that big of a name to get a decent broadcasting gig, but maybe I'm wrong.