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I'm sorry to those folks, but is it supposed to be a production per minutes type of thing?  I don't see FOY going to someone that just averages 4 ppg and 4 rpg over 10 minutes (no specific examples), versus what Cooper is doing.  Also, they can get their comments in now, as they aren't running away with these victories against the 7th youngest team in D-1.  Their upperclassmen-laden teams should be killing us...

Drake 78
Valpo 60

Another big run and bad shooting caused this loss.  It amazes me how many wide open shots we miss.  These are D-1 players that should be able to make those FT line area jump shots with ease, when no one is contesting.  As I've said previously, Lubos Barton has to just roll his eyes when he sees some of the wide open looks that we miss.  Our streak of 30+ consecutive seasons with a .500 or above record at home, appears to be at an end now... 

I thought that last home game, as well, but it only ended up as 1,400.  The chairback side must have been pretty sparse.  I would guess 2,000 again today, but it will probably be around 1,500

I like Sepp, but you have to go up like a big man on that cut, and not how he went up, more like a small guard.  You are ahead of the defender and know that you have them coming behind you, and need to go up strong and high.

They keep saying that he is at a family funeral

The generational view has definitely changed, I will acknowledge that aspect.  The NIL stuff first surfaced when I was on campus, even though the actual case would not come until 10-11 years later.  We would talk about it in the baseball clubhouse quite often, and being at Valpo, didn't see how it was relevant to any of us, but we could see how someone would make the case that schools in the SEC/Big 12/Big 10/etc, could look around and see their universities making millions of dollars off their players and just continuing the cycle of facility upgrade > make more money > more upgrades.  However, we viewed the scholarship equivalent as the payoff, as every other student was unlikely to have substantial scholarship money to pay off their degrees.  Gen Z and after are much more about immediate gratification, and it really isn't their fault, as much as the times that they have grown up, as you can go 'viral' with a simple tweet and are immediately recognizable.  There are a lot of folks that have a goal to become YouTube/TikTok famous or a famous gamer, versus aspiring to be successful in a trade or business. 

Valpo 74
MoSt 69

We treat Donovan Clay respectfully throughout the game, and he chooses to glare at our bench over and over, as he did the last few times.

Since it is a fan board, we see how good he is and can be over time, and are worried that this new age of NIL won't ever let us keep someone like him

Yeah, I had hope over the next 5 games, but the first one was not good.

I never played football and have never discussed this with any football players, but how would the current football players view this question? Would they prefer playing more higher tier opponents or playing non-D1 opponents outside of conference? This should be considered in such decisions.

Having played and coached at the college level, I can provide a generalized opinion.

1 - Players always want to be challenged by whom they play.
2 - Players want to see how they fare against the next highest level of talent. 
3 - Players want to win

So it is never a black or white answer to your "either/or" question. Our kids relish being challenged in conference or out of conference, and they love seeing how they measure up against FCS scholarship programs, despite knowing that the odds are stacked against them. Occasionally, however, there are glimpses of what might've been (like at Montana or against Illinois State).

But they also need a "win fix."  Always playing over one's head and never winning wears you down, saps energy and plays with your mind. But easy wins without the challenge also is not rewarding.

The answer, 84,  is a proper balance between your two options. 

And generally, Coach Fox has followed that script —> One FCS scholarship "buy" game + one Ivy or lower tier FCS or NCAA DII game + one NAIA or NCAA DIII game (although some NAIA programs give NCAA DII a run for their money).

But this season the NCAA has allowed FCS schools to schedule a 12th game. We could have added a non-scholarship DIII, but Coach Fox instead chose to go in the opposite direction and scheduled Northern Iowa.  And that in a nutshell is the reason for this particular discussion.  Had we scheduled a DIII, IMO, it wouldn't have been an issue.

Agreed on my side, though I understand what valpofb16 is saying.  I do think that if you asked the current athletes themselves, as well as those on campus during my time 20 years ago, that they would want to play such programs at the FCS level.  The FBS level, probably not, due to the large size differences, though I understand that some of that exists with top FCS programs, as well

Wow, if I only had one offer out of HS, my personal loyalties would keep me at that program for 4 years.  Think of Alec Peters getting offers, but the biggest programs shying away from him in HS and saying he wasn't ready, and him carrying that chip with him over his entire time at Valpo.  I would think it pretty weak of someone to bolt for NIL money, after being spurned in such a way during HS.

Part of preventing transfers to scholarship FCS and FBS programs, is showing that you are willing to schedule such programs.  You may still lose some players to those schools, but it is immensely helpful to an athlete's psyche of playing the best at their level.  In baseball, we always schedule some tough opposition, including back in my playing days.  At that time, during my first baseball season, we played at Notre Dame, who was number 1 in the nation, led by an undefeated Aaron Heilman.  As part of the agreement for them to play us, Coach Twenge told us that we had to pitch our Freshmen.  Everyone was excited to just be playing against them, but when we ended up beating them, that type of stuff lives forever

That 7-8 minute stretch where we had 4 turnovers in a row and missed shots after that point, leading to a 23-3 run, was a killer.  I was surprised that we kept it close after experiencing such a thing, which shows a rare sign of maturity with our young team.

I agree with the worry on Cooper bolting after this season, but if he has the right folks around him, he would stay for at least one more season, before considering such a thing.  He would just be placed into a lower impact role at a P5, whereas if he left after his SO or JR seasons, he could make an immediate impact pretty much anywhere.  I want him to stay all 4 years, and may get pleasantly surprised if he does so, but he would be wise to stay a minimum of two seasons.

SIU 77
Valpo 62

No way is Hurley leaving ASU for DePaul.  I could see Bryce making that jump, but why leave a really safe situation at GCU, when they are willing to invest as much as they do into sports, and are likely to move up conferences in future realignments?  They also have tremendous fan and student support, which is tough to get nowadays. 

Wardle should throw his hat into the ring, and they would likely consider him.  Has success at two previously unsuccessful programs, and that is what you have at DePaul over the last 20 years.

Solid win against Bradley today, and we have favorable games over the next 5, so it will be interesting to see how they turn out.

I said at the beginning of the season, that Ola needed to put on some muscle, similar to Jubril's transformation over his Valpo career.  You can tell, based on the presser, that Ola has been hitting the gym and is well on the way to doing so!

3-4 with wins against MO State & Evansville, and a surprise versus either Belmont or UNI at home.

Agreed on the foul calling.  What a weird two halves with the same ref crew.  Hardly any contact was called in the first half, while all contact was called in the second half on both teams

It might not matter to other folks, but with the remaining home games, I do now see a path to keeping our streak of .500 and above record at home.  It is something like 30 seasons in a row, and not a small thing to boast about.  We are 5-6 at home now, and have some winnable/50-50 games for the rest of the season.  I would be ecstatic to keep this alive in a down year, just as we did in the 2008-2009 season.

To put things in perspective, things could be worse, and we could be Detroit.  Holy crap, I didn't realize that they were this bad nowadays at 0-20 (0-9), and just lost to Youngstown by 40!

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401587704

No announcer jinx!  I know that it is not a real thing, but it does seem to coincide quite often in games.  Good win, even though UIC isn't a good team.  We showed resilience, which is all I can ask for from a young team.

Let's see if Todd jinxed Darius, in talking about his FT shooting

Also have to credit Edwards, as I don't think that he is a good 3 point shooter, but he made it when it mattered, especially after getting posterized