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https://twitter.com/GaryParrishCBS/status/1460714826699841539

I'm with the Dayton fans on that one. They are a natural hand in glove fit for the BE. Great fan support great facilities great tradition institutional and geographic fit in a growing market (Cincinnati and Dayton is getting steadily bigger and possibly merging into one DMA soon in which case it would make a lot of sense to double up with the two teams being separated by an hour or so trip. Allowing Xavier to block Dayton would be more of a detriment to the league then I think many realize. The right play for the Big East is 14 teams with SLU Dayton and whatever they feel is better choice of Richmond and VCU. Balances east and west. Gives them two new markets and a second strong presence in another top 40 market and adds a LOT of basketball quality with institutional fits. That would be a huge win for the Big East.

Dayton might be a logical fit just based on the schools in the league (same for SLU), but unless either one of these schools suddenly moves the TV needle or raking in tourney shares, there's not really a need to add anyone outside of potentially Gonzaga (and I guess St. Mary's if Gonzaga wants to try and build a West division of the league), and really outside of basketball, those schools would be a logistical nightmare.  Teams really like the round robin aspect, so if the Big East is going to add anyone, it's going to REALLY need to be a home run.  Dayton and SLU are singles, IMO.  If it was solely about the Universities and their fit within the league, I'd be in complete agreement.  The Big East added UConn because while the University is a terrible fit in the league, they really help the league keep MSG for the BE Tourney, and they are a program with natural rivalries with the East Coast Catholic schools and have proven they can get it done on the biggest stage.

Valpo will be challenged against a Conference of Champions opponent.  The PAC 12, as shown in the tournament last year, was much better than forecasted.


I hope Pasch and Walton do the broadcast at the Farm.

I get that Walton is a treasure for some, but I would actively mute the broadcast if that were the case.  Good, solid game for Valpo to get though, and given the mascot situation for both schools now, entirely appropriate.

Confucius say: "Mind like parachute, only function when open."

Confucius should have provided a caveat: "Open mind too far, brains fall out."

Such is modern liberalism in universities and everywhere in the post-modern, woke's conformity to the winds and fads of the world in which we live.

Clever? advertising there by the Chicago Locksmiths, though I'd be interested to know what their reasoning is behind it.

According to my own recorded history, I have never been wrong, and am admired by all who are not inherently evil. 

No other sources should be examined, because they are so blinded by their own bias, they clearly are not able to document events truthfully.

Honestly the Beacon nickname isn't that bad, and I don't think a mascot is necessary, but the school does need to get a handle on the logo for branding.

Here's more logos

The lighthouse looks kind of like a chess piece, and while I don't love the bottom logo because it kind of reminds me of the exterior light of our house that comes on when it gets dark, these are improvements.

in Rokita's own words:

https://townhall.com/columnists/toddrokita/2021/08/12/shedding-light-on-chinese-communist-partys-domestic-propaganda-program-n2594045

Also, Mike Waltz from Florida:

https://waltz.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=355

These guys are right in line with other right wing nut jobs like Ken Paxton, trying to gain publicity from The Loser.  We should pretty much ignor it.  It doesn't have any roots.  He presumed that President Padilla was a liberal so time to attack.  Sad.  Another loser.

Rather than spew an ad hominem, why don't you respond to their arguments with a logical rebuttal?

The US has 14 Universities in mainland China that have at least partnered with Chinese Universities.  20,000 kids in mainland China are enrolled in UC-Berkeley.  Yes, the Chinese are using the Confucius Institutes to paint themselves in a positive light, just as we use educational opportunities in foreign countries to paint the US in a positive light.  South Korea exports its culture through K-Pop.  Europe broadcasts its soccer leagues here in the US.  Like it or not, we cannot pretend that we aren't a global community, and to do so makes us weaker as a people and a nation, not stronger.  This doesn't absolve China's government for the horrific things they are doing, but calligraphy, the Chinese language and Chinese music and learning about them are not inherently evil.

Rokita's entire "investigation" hinges on the possibility that the Confucius Institute need only to put in essentially the cost of a single professor into Valpo per year to completely flip the thinking of impressionable young adults or children into embracing Communism and hating America.  If that's the case our educational system truly is terrible, especially when some of these programs are taking place at Culver Academies, which is more expensive than most colleges.  His "investigation" also wasn't spurred on by any specific accusations made against the Institute at Valpo.  It's solely based on McCarthyism tactics, and unless there is specific evidence to point to that shows that writing classes or music classes are making explicit statements about geopolitical issues, it's not even provable.

I would also respond to Mr. Rokita that he is correct, money influences many ADULTS into capitulating or ignoring the awful things that are going on in China in the name of profit.  That's probably why his idol, Donald Trump, is far more willing to pay more in taxes to help fund the Chinese government than he is to the American government.

Rokita is a clown.  Much like him signing on to overturn the election, or trying to prevent the governor from being able to exercise basic executive functions during a health emergency, he doesn't really care what the law actually says and is just a performer on a stage trying to make certain people happy to try and parlay this role into a greater one at either the state or national level.

Valpo will be fine.  Sadly the people of the state will pay for this "investigation" that will turn up nothing, but Rokita got his headline, and that's all that really matters to him.

Why not change the color scheme too?  I know yellow and brown is unique, but with the lighthouse logo it just looks awful.  The "V" with the flame isn't bad, but if you're going to make changes, I would have started with getting rid of the brown and then moved onto the mascot.

Sad and puzzling to understand why they did this... They are in an academically prestigious conference with a pretty tight footprint and just made their first NCAA Tournament appearance. Interesting move. Probably won't help attract students but that's just my guess. Wonder who the AE will tab to replace Hartford.

Not super puzzling:

https://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-sp-university-of-hartford-goes-div-iii-20210507-jva2n5pi5nfvvnt2wyr2cz3jde-story.html

Thursday's vote came after a consulting firm's report, commissioned by UHart president Gregory Woodward and published publicly April 15, recommended the school transition to Division III to reduce aid to athletes, coaches' salaries and athletic department operating costs. The report said UHart's athletic department would save more than $9 million annually from such a move, though critics have argued the true savings would be more modest.

Other have pointed to UHart's declining enrollment and resulting financial troubles as justification for a potential shift to Division III. According to figures from the university, undergraduate enrollment at UHart dropped about 14% from the fall of 2015 to the fall of 2020, and total enrollment was down about 6.5% during that period.

This kind of thing honestly will likely start happening more and more, and smaller D3 schools will probably close shop completely.  It's unfortunate, but it's a financial reality in a lot of places.

Interviews like these are good.  Right or wrong, having your thoughts or preconceived notions challenged from a different perspective isn't a bad thing.  Hopefully he is able to be a positive influence for people no matter what he decides to do.

Valpo might of found a diamond in the rough, with keyondre Young

The problem isn't finding them, it's keeping them and developing them for 4 seasons.  Fingers crossed he is as good as hoped and sticks around (unless he is going pro early).

No, as 1314 pointed out, even the really good teams that Valpo had in the Horizon were going to get hosed by the NCAA (through seeding or no invite).  As shown this year, the MVC gets much more respect when it comes to selection and seeding for the tourney.

Sure about that?  Maybe slightly more respect, but much more?  Loyola, a top 10-15 team by the analytics was given an 8 seed this year AFTER they had already made a F4 run.  Illinois State in 2017 was rated exactly right around where the 2016 Valpo team was by the analytics (around 40) and didn't get in at all either.

Maybe the best example of the disrespect for mid-major leagues in general is that Wichita State had 3 top 10-20ish teams from 2015-2017 and the best seeding they got was a 7 (they were a 10 and an 11 the other 2 years).  Again, after they'd already made a F4.  They were rated about 50 spots lower in a better conference this year and also got an 11 seed.

This is why I've consistently advocated for using some combination of the advanced metrics (since they obviously wouldn't want to favor just one) and just be completely done with the committee.

Saw this video clip on another message board. What Jerry Seinfeld said regarding professional sports is becoming apropos of college basketball.

https://vimeo.com/47283296

I mean, it was true before this latest wave of transfers in college sports.  There is turnover in professional sports, but college sports, especially at places like Duke and Kentucky, half the team is turning over every year.  Heck, even at Butler, there were 7 new scholarship players (5 freshmen, 2 transfers) this past season.  College sports has always been about rooting for the name on the front of the jersey more than the names on the back.  You can get attached to guys when they're good players and good fits at your program, but the real attachment is to the school or the program itself.

I do find the discussion on recruiting in the era of transfers, especially at a mid-major level pretty fascinating.  It will be interesting to see how the programs that make it work are utilizing it.

It's getting lonely at DePaul as Charlie Moore their stud point guard is now in the portal.

Maybe he'd do better with better coaching, but he (and frankly a lot of the DePaul roster under Leitao) has had a lot of empty calorie production in his collegiate career.  With the talent they have on that roster, they certainly should have been better than they were, even with their Covid issues to start the year.

DePaul literally has 3 guys returning from last year and they're still waiting to hear if the 2 HS players that signed LOIs in the fall are still coming.  So there's always someone who's worse off.

[what the selection committee thinks of the OVC]

Maybe Belmont is finally receptive after seeing what the selection committee thinks of the OVC in having them miss even the NIT despite lading D1 in wins and watching two decent schools (with the possibility of a third by the end of next year) leave the OVC.

The MVC literally just got hosed on seeding for the 2nd time at least (1st time would have been WSU in 16-17) with Loyola getting an 8-seed despite being a top 10-15 team in the analytics, so I'm not sure that's the best argument for Belmont.  Also, Belmont was rated about 15 spots lower in those same analytics and the NIT cut its field in half this year, so I'm not sure that's a great argument either.

Also, while neither of the programs leaving the OVC are good losses on the basketball side of the conference, that's also 2 less mouths to feed for Belmont and Murray State, the former of whom got a bid in 2019 on the backs of their non-conference results, so it really depends on whether or not they're still able to get those games (and they're almost always on the road), because they'll have 2 more opportunities if the OVC now moves to an 18 game schedule with only 10 teams remaining.  Not saying the sell shouldn't be made to either or both Murray State or Belmont, but their shot at a multi-bid league would only be marginally better in the MVC compared to the OVC if one or both moved, and that kind of depends on how Loyola does moving forward.

I saw that one-time Valpo recruit Xavier Castaneda, has committed to Akron, after transferring from USF.  I wonder if we reached out to him again. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/4396641/xavier-castaneda

Didn't he have shooting issues last year? I have a feeling (I hope) Matt wants a PG who can shoot as well as distribute.

I would have taken his slash line of 36%/38%/88% any day of the week, from a PG.

Compared to Sackey, certainly, and it's not awful, but still isn't ideal considering he shot more 2's than 3's and didn't get to the foul line all that much.  He also shot 24% on shots at the rim, which is actually worse than Sackey (43%).  Also had a 20% turnover rate which is barely better than Sackey's.  Also not ideal is his defensive box plus minus which is near the worst on USF's team.  Really his biggest upside is his 3 point shooting, which was 7-8 percentage points better than his previous 2 seasons, so at least in my mind there would be some question as to whether he could maintain that.

There are certainly worse guys to take a chance on, just playing devil's advocate and pointing out where there may be some concerns.

Will The Shot, by Bryce Drew, be eclipsed by the 40' Final Four buzzer beater, by Jalen Suggs, during future NCAA Basketball Tournament telecasts?

On some level it will because it's a game winning shot to go to a national championship game vs. a shot to send a team to the Sweet Sixteen, but it's not like adding one more buzzer beater will mean The Shot is lost and forgotten to time, especially with Bryce and Scott still in coaching and making the NCAA tournament.

IrishDawg, I actually thought Gonzaga played great which made it such a phenomenal game.  UCLA gave it their all - and let's quit basing team quality on bogus seeding. They were Final Four worthy. Cronin has been outstanding in preparing his team for the journey, as compared to Sampson with Houston.

Who knows what will happen Monday night, but I'm leaning toward Gonzaga to win. The game last night may be a boost.

Gonzaga didn't play great.  This was a pretty average offensive performance by them in actuality, but it was their worst defensive performance by almost 10 points per 100 possessions over any other game this year, and it wasn't because their defense was bad.  Gonzaga had 15 more shots at the rim and shot a better % shooting at the rim than UCLA.  UCLA's game is in the mid-range, but their season average from there is around 43%, but last night against the 4th most efficient defense in the nation (adjusted for opponents), they shot 68% on mid and long range 2's (they shot 25 of them, Gonzaga shot 10, hitting 4), which I'd have to go back and check every game log, but UCLA didn't come close to that in their other most efficient offensive performances of the year.  Pair that with shooting just under 50% from 3, and you wind up with the game we got.  I don't base team performances on seed lines, it's purely based on how they've performed and who they've done it against.  I certainly hope that what Vegas thinks happens, but given the shorter rest and the higher pressure game they had, I think Gonzaga in the 2nd half against Baylor's defense is going to show some fatigue.

UCLA lost, but they sure played like a champion. Best Final Four game in awhile.

Mick Cronin must have made a deal with someone prior to the tournament. UCLA seemingly hit every tough shot, got every loose ball, etc that they needed to. Gonzaga didn't play their A game, but UCLA brought their A+++ game. Classic.

Now I fully expect Baylor to run Gonzaga out of the gym Monday. Houston definitely looked like a team that won a broken bracket and had only played double digit seeds to this point.

That was a terrific article that shed great light on the issue. I now see it as less of a Lottich issue than I did previously. I do wonder what programs like Purdue that have had comparatively fewer transfers are doing that other programs aren't and how we can possibly emulate that in order to keep our talent here so that we can build.

The simple answer IMO is culture and recruiting to it. Everyone knows what kind of guy fits in at Purdue and with few exceptions, those are the guys they get. Now that's a lot easier to do at a P5 because of obvious reasons, but that's essentially how they mostly avoid issues with transfers.

In Power 5 conferences, this might be an issue, but I don't see sponsors soliciting Valpo basketball players to endorse local products. The team is not successful on the court as a mid-pack or lower MVC squad. For national powerhouses, the kids should be able to profit as a 100% scholarship pales in comparison to the TV contact money that is passed down to universities. Quite an interesting discussion, as some of the Power 5 basketball and football money supports entire athletic departments at universities. A ruling in favor of the athletes could eliminate 100s of non-revenue college programs.

To be fair, the elimination of non-revenue programs has been happening more frequently without paying the athletes anything from the schools.  It may accelerate that happening, but as you stated, this is only going to impact the cream of the crop in football and basketball.  Most programs may offer a few more things "educationally", but it wouldn't be anything exorbitant at most schools.

1314 - you are puzzling me. If UCLA wins over Gonzaga, are you saying that they are not worthy to play in the championship game, or it would not be deserving for viewers? give me a break dude. If UCLA wins, it will be a tremendous upset. They would most certainly be deserving, and they are a great story.

Whoever beats Gonzaga will be deserving of whatever opportunity comes next, and with UCLA only being given a 10-15% chance of victory by the predictive metrics, it would be an incredible upset.  As for the great story, if you're in the Final 4 and the media isn't able to extract a "great story" out of you, there must really be something wrong.

Also, I really hope the games are enjoyable to watch.  Watching Houston as a casual fan is rough, and shooting in a massive arena like Lucas Oil is really difficult for any team (including Gonzaga).  I'm actually really glad I didn't see the UCLA-Michigan game, because unless you have a rooting interest, 51-49 is not a fun watch.

I'm hoping for a Gonzaga-Baylor final and a Zag national title just so we don't have to constantly hear about the 1976 Indiana team having been the last team to do it.  It's been long enough.

Since we have been speaking about tournament shares for the MVC (and Valpo) due to the games played by Loyola and Drake, I was wondering if anyone knows how much money Butler is getting from the NCAA for use of Hinkle Fieldhouse? This bonus must have been a pleasant surprise for them, not to mention all the tremendous free publicity they have received.

All of it, lol.

Actually probably not THAT much considering the City of Indianapolis is allowing the NCAA to use Lucas Oil Stadium rent free for the tournament and the convention center at a significantly reduced rate.  I'm sure for places like IUPUI, Butler, Purdue and Indiana, there's probably a fee, but given that those are member institutions of the organization putting on the event, it's probably much less than a separate facility would bring in.

Loyola picked an awful time to play one of its worst offensive games of the year.  Oh well, Beaver Fever rolls on.

The benefit of moving to the A-10 is nominal at best. The A-10 might be willing to add them, but outside of a potential fractional increase in tourney shares, which would be more than wiped out in travel costs, forget by the men's basketball team, there's women's basketball, volleyball, softball, soccer that all have increased travel costs. Unless the school is cool just eating those costs, they aren't moving anywhere.

Moser leaving should be the concern here.  No idea if he will, but there's at least a real chance that could happen.