Messages

I know that it would be a ridiculous concept for any player to leave Valpo with a grim prospect of playing time on the horizon.  Of course, I ask that you possibly open your eyes to see that a few players have gone down this route already.  Or should we just pretend that it hasn't?

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make.  Possibly a player or two will leave, as has happened in the past, and happens everywhere.  That's one reason coaches are always recruiting, because of that eventuallity.  What are you trying to say?

I think you know where this is going...maybe ever so gently nudge a player or two out the door in order to recruit a better player or free up a spot for a transfer

So what are the spots you want to free up? Vucic is a project but still has 3 years to develop.Kurth played 18 minutes per game as a freshman and will return much improved. That would leave Cameron Witt who is better than Vucic and as a senior might be able able to contribute. Thats not an easy choice for even an unprincipled coach. But I am willing to agree that unprincipled coaches are much easier to find than big time centers.

Let me sum up my position on all this.  I really don't care one iota about whether we are close to being competitive head to head with Butler.  If that is the small victory that some of our posters are looking for, then hooray for them.  I look at the bigger picture.  I want to see us move to the next level.  I don't expect back-to-back Final Fours.  I just want to see us knock off a legitimate BCS school or ranked opponent.  I want to see us get back to the NCAA Tournament.  At this point, making a run in the NCAA is not an expectation, just a happy bonus.  When I compare my goals to your goals, I see that we are having two completely different conversations.  I wish for more from this program and I discuss the ways to get there and the things that I perceive to be holding us back.  Others look for ways to pat our team on the back for doing next to nothing.  Like I said, two very different conversations.

AND two different perceptions.  We're not as far apart as you think, just our perception of what is and is not the most important might vary.  I prefer to look at where we've come in the four years in the conference and see where I think we're headed.  Giving credit for that growth seems not to be unreasonable to me.  As I said, two different perceptions  SDSs

The further we go with this the more adult the conversation has become. If you remember in mid January the words we were debating in reference to the VU-Butler gap were "not remotely close";which was a quote from some Butler fan or official.

Butler has today a far better program than Valpo. Few will argue. Most of the problem has been with the selection of words used to describe this gap. Proper wording is always important.

Most of us played a little basketball when we were younger and from that perspective our perceptions will often be quite similar. So just for the fun of it, I'd like for 4 or 5 of you to slip on your sneakers, your 18 or 19 year old bodies, grab a basketball and jump in the car. Its summer and we are headed across  town or to the next town over to find a little competition.

So lets says that we have pretty much battled our opponentes to a draw when at the end of game 2 their top gun states with an air of disdain that our team is not remotely close to being as good their bunch, that they are in fact "head and shoulders better" and that  the rubber match needs to have some money riding on it. Real quick there would be a war in progress that would be pretty much unemcumbered by rules. There would be holds,elbows, knees, trips, leaning and pushing, you know-"bad blood". And in that state of mind a guy would have to be crazy to stand in the lane to try to take a charge knowing that the intent of the man comeing towards him is to run right through him.

I think this kind of bad blood mentality is the reason why Butler was on the ropes in February. They took everyones best shot, and from the 2 seed won the tournement and have moved on again to the final 4. I think that the Butler level of success has challenged the league to step foreward with them, and the league has begun to respond. Part of Butlers improvement this year is also due to the leagues improvement. Go Butler! Maybe having a Horizon League national champion can help us find a fulltime center?

This is sto STUPID !!!!!

Calm down. This job is just too big for a couple of old guys like us. So where is 56 when we really need him?

With respect to vu72, some of the information in the first post about where we're getting our dough from is incorrect. I did some research and found the NCAA's Basketball Revenue Distribution Plan on ncaa.org to get what is hopefully a clear, straightforward explanation of the money distribution... Each conference gets a unit for every team that qualifies for the NCAA Tournament and every win those teams get except in the Final Four. Each unit is approximately $240,000, and the revenue is distributed after every tournament based on the number of units garnered in the previous six years.

For example, after this year's tournament, the Horizon League, which grabbed 19 units through the 2005-2010 Tournaments, will receive about $4.55 million. Split up equally, VU gets $455,000. Not bad. Right now, Butler has 2 wins in this year's tournament, meaning that the league has 3 units so far this season, matching the amount in 2005. So if Butler loses in the Sweet 16, the conference will again receive close to $4.55 million in 2012 for 19 units earned through the 2006-2011 Tournaments.

Here's a link to the NCAA's website's Finance page: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ncaahome?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/ncaa/NCAA/About+The+NCAA/Budget+and+Finances/index.html
I got most of my information from "Current Basketball Revenue Distribution Information" and "Current Revenue Distribution Plan." You can double check in case I messed up and wrongly accused vu72. However, I do share his feelings. As tough as it is, I'm too am rooting for Butler!

So if this is correct then each additional NCAA entrant and non final 4 win equates to adding $21,818 to every Horizon League school athletic budget for the next 6 years. Without dragging out the present value of an annuity tables that would roughly be equivalent to a one time current payment of about $110,000 per school. Not bad.

Why didn't somebody present this information when we were debating the pros and cons of the double bye? Somebody needed to point out to me that fairness had nothing to do with it. Fairness is not the issue, money is. Now I can at least understand the votes that make the double bye possible.

So for the good of the league lets take this one step further. If we ever have a  MacDonalds All-American knocking on our door then somebody needs todo the math and give it to Homer. It would go something like this. If the kid comes to Valpo it will result in maybe 500 additional tickets sold per game for 12 games at an average price of $11 or about $66,000 per year. But if you (Homer) can persuade the kid to attend Butler then the payout could be 2 or 4 or maybe 6 times bigger. Don't you just hate these moral dilemmas?

Let me refer you all back to the poll question " yes or no Butler is significantly better than Valpo?" Since significant is a definable word, maybe 90% or better have responded yes. The term "head and shoulders better" is different; it is a concept. Until we can define the concept, we can not address the issue. And so we babble on and on and on and on....

Sad.  Truely a sad end to the season.  Glad it wasn't in the NIT on National TV.  I think now we really overachieved during most of the season and only played to our true level at the end.  Iona has given the Horizon League a blueprint on how to play us next year.  Sag off ten feet on Buggs and make us play 4 on 5 on offense.  And unless we can dig up a true 5 with some skills, we will not be able to compete as we cannot shoot the 3 as a team consistantly enough to make up for it over the course of a season.

Sad thing is, it's no different if Kurth plays. Not being able to shoot and refusing to shoot are the same thing in my book. Let's hope Jay Harris has a breakout year and BWood stays.

I think some of you might be overlooking just how exceptional our guard play could be next year. I'm looking foreward to Kurth returning to play along with Boggs. Given that and Matt, Brandon and a larger, more mature Jay you are as guard rich as anybody. I beleive that Erik will be assigned a Jarryd Loyd role (come off the bench- create turnovers- drive the lane). Even in that role it is critical that Erik improve both his 3-point and free throw shooting. If he does not his minutes should drop dramatically.

I'm back- and I have no opinion, but I am glad all of my old goofy predictions are now lost to history.