Messages

Disrespecting/dismissing the only 1st round draft choice in the history of the Butler program: 

http://buhoops.yuku.com/topic/7394/Gordon-who

Just one of hundreds of examples from the Butler board that provide proof positive that trashing your own players and former players does not negatively affect recruiting.  Otherwise, Butler would have the worst program in college basketball. 

Brandon has represented VU basketball with great distinction for the past 2 seasons.  As a fan, obviously I want to see him return, but whatever the outcome I wish him the best as he pursues his dream.

The real lesson learned from 2002 is that you can be good (25-5), beat good teams (Purdue and eventual National Runner-up IU) and still be excluded from the NCAA tourney if you're from a mid-major conference and don't have a stellar RPI. 

Your echo of your former A.D.'s cry baby rant sounds exactly like fans from the D-1 Major world (and discussed this morning with Jay Bilas on Mike and Mike) calling to "blow up" the current NCAA tournament format and start over in the aftermath of 11th-seeded VCU's upset win over no.1 seeded Kansas.  The same lame logic is being used by people who just can't accept that their precious elitist team's season is over because of one bad game to a clearly inferior upstart opponent that no one has ever heard of and that they would beat 20 times out of the next 20 they play.  Hopefully in this case, these rants will be ignored and labeled for they are - sour grapes from highly immature people who think life revolves around them.  Exactly what should have been done in 2002.     

The most ridiculous spin I have ever heard in my life goes back to 2002.  It is one of the primary reasons given to legitimize the double bye tournament process (and disguise the real reason for the change).  It goes something like this: Double bye format = best team in the tournament @ the highest possible seed = more tournament wins = more recognition for the Horizon League = better recruiting opportunities for everyone.  I will repeat what I have said many times.  There are no crumbs from the Butler table for the rest of us.  All this format does is help the team on top stay on top.  In fact, it makes recruiting even more difficult.  We're now trying to attract players to come play in the league that Butler owns.     

Not to discount posts in the other thread, but personally I'm not all that interested in knowing whether we're 6 feet behind Butler or 6 miles.  Now that the season is over, I'm far more interested in assessing whether we're making the progress we need to make to close the gap with Butler and the rest of the league. 

My thoughts are this.  As much improvement as we made this year, we could have and IMO should have made much more.  We can spin our late season collapse any way we want, but the fact is that with 2 weeks to go we were in the most enviable position for winning the league and we blew it.  We still had a great chance to get the 2nd seed and we blew that too.  We could have gone to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2004 - threw it away.  We still could have gone to the NIT for the first time since 2003, but threw that away too.  We still could have salvaged something by winning the CIT, but threw that away as well (along with $60,000).  All the good stuff to convince the best potential recruits out there to come join a winning program on the rise, all the stuff to overcome the inferior facilities factor that we will apparently always be dealing with, all thrown out the window.

All the rhetoric aside, the reasons seem to be pretty simple - either we did not have enough physical talent to close the deal, or we did not have the resolve to overcome the myriad excuses provided by the coaching staff and others.  Lack of physical talent is easier to swallow than lack of mental toughness, but in either case it says we still have a long way to go - a lot longer than anyone could possibly have thought with 2 weeks to go in the regular season.  Add to that that we don't have a clue whether our top player is even going to be here next year, and it's impossible to know whether next year is going to be better - or worse.  IMO none of these things speak very well for the future and our journey to "close the gap."  JMO

It is the rhetoric that is bothersome to me.  A nonstop sense of finding something to hang around our neck.

I couldn't agree more.  It's like asking your kid after he just pulled his grades up to A's and B's if it bothers him that Little Johnny Butler always gets straight A's.  "Son, would you say Little Johnny Butler is just a little smarter than you, or heads above smarter than you?"    

We get a little less than 1/10 of the revenue...the HL takes a share as well, so there are actually 11 entities.

I believe Butler gets 2 shares for a total of 12.

I think it's clear now just how far we still have to climb on this particular mountain, but I see no reason to give up hope for the future.  It's still doable.

I have no plans of giving up hope for the future and hopefully no one else will either.  I'm going to spend the next 2 weeks relaxing in St. Thomas and put this season in my rear view mirror.  Talk to everyone soon.    

I don't know how much you could tell on the web, but trust me when I say this was a completely half-hearted effort.  The entire team looked disinterested, especially on the defensive end.   We were constantly beaten off the dribble.  Their players went around us like we had concrete in our shoes.  No one ever stepped over to take a charge.  Double teams came late.  No one blocked out.  Sloppy misses underneath the basket.  Fumble-itis the entire game.  Clutching up against the press.  Outhustled for loose balls.  They overplayed the passing lanes all game and we acted completely confused.  Our coaching staff looked like they took the week off too.  We looked totally unprepared for anything they did offensively or defensively.  Did anyone watch any tape?    Obviously Iona did.  They did the best job of not defending Eric that anyone has done all year.  What a wasted opportunity.  

Maybe we will get a new ARC...

When I picked up my tickets yesterday morning, I was told that ticket sales were pretty slow.  I'm going to guess a 1st round HL tournament game sized crowd - 1500 to 1800.

[Valpo opens CIT play tonight at home against Iona]

Valpo opens CIT play tonight at home against Iona

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/article_75a77ff8-bb10-5b3e-ac14-38ed94afb185.html

There were already screams being heard in New Rochelle, N.Y. (Iona's home)  

So is the Gaels biggest fan 55 year old Richard Rosebud Petrie? His father was from Danville, IL.
(I know some of the older posters will get this reference)

Richie went to Valpo and graduated in '77. Rob and Laura are Gael fans though. 

That line about "screams being heard in New Rochelle, NY" reminded me of the episode of the Dick Van Dyke Show where Richie goes screaming through the house because he was being chased by a big dog. (I know, I watched too much TV as a child)

Actually that was the only part that Larry Mathews, the child actor, ever played on TV. He did one episode of "The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited" in 2004 as an adult where Rob and Laura sold Richie the house in New Rochelle and moved to Manhattan.

Larry Mathews worked behind the scenes on the TV shows Soap and Benson and some other TV shows. He also does voiceover parts.

The Dick Van Dyke show was a great comedy, but Larry Matthews is the worst child actor in the history of television.

One reason for Brandon to consider staying through his senior season: With his great development as an all-around player this year, Brandon should get a lot more NBA attention next year, especially since Brandon was the only senior among the first team all-Horizon League selections, and he should be regarded as the favorite for preseason conference player of the year in the fall.

These are my thoughts as well.  Very few players (almost none) who still have college eligibility and also have aspirations to play in the NBA ever choose Europe over staying in college.  IMO staying at Valpo for another year provides the best opportunity for showcasing his skills while continuing to develop his game.  As has been mentioned, Brandon will probably be the pre-season POY and if he picks up where he left off in the HL tournament, he will get a lot of positive pub and many looks by NBA scouts.  He will definitely be the go-to guy at Valpo - no questions asked.  Playing in Europe is a real crap shoot.  He may get on a team where he can showcase his skills; he may not.  Europe is not developmental - it's all about playing games and performing now with a short learning curve or you can find yourself at the end of the bench forgotten about.  It is a good "fall-back" option for those who don't make the NBA, but why roll the dice on it when you have less risky options?  I just hope he isn't listening to the multiple sleazy handlers out there who will gladly sell him a bill of goods about some "can't miss" situation in Europe.         

When I "X out" after visiting another other HL forum linked on the new website, I lose the connection to the Valpo forum as well and have to re-connect.  The only way to keep that from happening is to page back over and over until I return to the Valpo forum.  Can you please fix this so it works like the old site? Thanks.  (I hope I am explaining the situation properly).

You mean, you'd like it so that when you open a link from the new website, it opens in a new tab or window?

That's another way of saying it, but I like my description much better...

When I "X out" after visiting another other HL forum linked on the new website, I lose the connection to the Valpo forum as well and have to re-connect.  The only way to keep that from happening is to page back over and over until I return to the Valpo forum.  Can you please fix this so it works like the old site? Thanks.  (I hope I am explaining the situation properly).

Hello Valpo Fans!
I am an alum/fan of the Iona Gaels.
I can see we are both somewhat disappointed that we ended here rather than in one
of the higher profile tourneys.
Coming from a 1 bid conference, we knew that we were not dancing when we stumbled
in our conference (MAAC) championship game a week ago. We did however have hopes
for the NIT.
It looks like both of our teams got caught in the perfect storm of season conference champs
falling in conference tourneys - our conference was one of them with our season champ (Fairfield)
losing in our tourney semis.
Since the new auto bid rule was adopted for the NIT, the highest number of autos had been 8 -
this year, I believe that jumped to 14.
Anyway, we are now here. I just wanted to stop by and say HI. Let's have a great game and show
everyone why we both deserved higher consideration.
Good luck to you guys and let's both have some fun!

When I first saw the name Mr. Doom, I assumed that milanmiracle or rink had changed their user name when they switched to the new board (inside joke).   

Personally, I take some consolation in the fact that about a third of the 100 teams in the NCAA and NIT have lower RPI's than either Valpo or Iona.  Also, either one of us is more than capable of running the table in the CIT.  That's more than enough to hold my excitement.  The fact that some BCS conference's 8th place team isn't in the tournament means nothing to me.  By the way, don't worry about about watching the game.  I'll be there in person and will be happy to report out after the game as to where your team went wrong.   

http://www.collegeinsider.com/tournament/results.html

Interesting format - all 24 teams play in Round 1.  Then 4 of the remaining 12 teams get a second round bye.

Personally, I see this as an excellent opportunity to extend the season and play in what should be a very competitive tournament.  Ok, it's not the NIT, but so what?  The NIT is so watered down this year with low RPI teams that lost their conf. tournaments, who cares?  Our A.D. deserves a lot of credit for stepping up and paying a large amount of money so we could host. I hope we have a big crowd on Wed.  Our team and our athletic department deserve our full support.