Messages

I'm pretty sure the winning shot in the game in which Lubos had the bad turnover came from Markius Barnes. Very sad memories are hard to get out of my head.

A couple questions about the HLN broadcast. Did the audio get better early in the first half? Or was there an echo the entire broadcast? If so, I have no idea what caused that. The audio that's fed back to me is the radio broadcast. Thus if there's anything wrong with the HLN broadcast, I would likely not be aware of that, and in most cases would not have any control over that issue. One factor last night was the regular HLN director at the arc had the night off. He usually will let me know if there's an audio issue on my end. Thanks to all for the kind comments last week.

Coach Sparks is not on staff anymore. I'm not sure he can take responsibility for anything that happened last night. I, however, do take responsibility for the echo at the start of the HLN broadcast last night. I didn't hear it on my end, but I'm sure it was there for the first five minutes of the game. I completely agree with the last second play call. Matt Kenney is not only the best player on the team beating his man off the dribble, but he's also the best decision maker on the team when he gets to the lane. Unfortunately, he did travel, otherwise Bogan would have had a wide open three in the corner.

I never have a problem with justified criticism of Valpo athletes and coaches on this forum. However, I found it strange to take a shot at Ryan Broekhoff. What more could you want from him? The comment that he's always overshooting and clanking it off the rim was just silly. Heck he led the league in 3-point shooting last year. Although he hasn't been shooting lights out from the perimeter this year, I can't remember him taking a single bad shot. Is there anybody that doesn't think it's only a matter of time before his three-point percentage goes up significantly?

I would hope everybody that regularly watches Valpo basketball understands that Ryan is clearly the best all-around player on the team. Thus he shoulders a big burden, and thus far, he's responded with outstanding play. I also think a month from now we'll see Ryan's 3-pt percentage most closer to 40 percent than 30 percent.

Mr Gillogly will be on hand.

The Srs that have played well over the past few years have played plenty this year. Carson, Heber, Bushong, Gokan, Treadaway, Blair, Grillo, Velez and McCarty have all started and played huge minutes all year. Hoffman and Ali-El play because the coaches and most everybody close to the program believe they give Valpo the best chance to win.

Broekhoff's most effective position in the HL is the four. The main reason why is he scores most of his baskets coming off screens, and it's much easier for a small player to chase around a screen than a big player. Additionally, most teams in the league play three guards. Ryan will get better looks when being guarded by a bigger, yet slower player. Also, on defense, Ryan is better guarding the bigs than he is guarding a smaller player that will take him off the dribble.

Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but i don't remember this guy coaching at Valpo.

YSU won three games last season, and they're picked 8th in their league this year. They may have been a 1AA powerhouse when Jim Tressel coached there, but they don't fit in that category anymore.

I liked the line about the best interest in the program. We're adults here. We understand what happened. The release wasn't a bunch of b.s. It nicely worded the truth, without slamming Cam. To me, it was refreshing. This wasn't a secret. It was speculated in this forum back in June. Many of us had "guessed" it was probable before then.

Outside of Ryan Broekhoff, the starting lineup is completely up for grabs. If I was a betting man, I'd make Matt Kenney the most likely to start among the remaining players.

My Bad!

Stalin Ortiz is often overlooked, perhaps because he only played two years. I have no argument with Stovall at the shooting guard, as he had a great four-year career. However, I think Ortiz was actually a slightly better player. I think Brandon Wood is being overlooked as well for the two all-conference seasons he had in a Valpo uniform. McPherson at the point and a front line of Barton, Oppland, and Grafs seem like a clear consensus. My 6th man over the past decade would be Shawn Huff.

GT was the most underrated player at Valpo over the last 20 years. He decision making was second to none. He did so many little things that went often overlooked.

In the Homer Drew era, I think DC is correct. The five best players were Drew, Barton, Schmidt, Oppland and Grafs.

Here's what I remember about Steve Bradley. He was a three-year starting QB at Indiana. He did spend one year at Valpo, but I don't think he played. He was a replacement player with the Bears in the 1987 strike season (spare Bears). As of about 10 years ago, he was a car salesman in his hometown of Knox, Indiana.

I haven't seen this mentioned, but for the second straight year, Butler has beaten three consecutive top four seeds to reach the final four. I would bet no team has ever done it in back to back seasons, and doubt it will ever happen back to back again in our lifetime. Another incredible stat: All four of their tournament wins this season have come against teams in the top 25 of the RPI, with the last three teams in the top 15. I'm one Valpoite that can't imagine saying anything that would remotely come across as negative toward Butler, after they've accomplished one of the most amazing college basketball accomplishments we may ever see.

There have been years when we've had 13 scholarship players. I'm sure if we can find two players that our coaches feel will help the program we'll have 13 next season.

DUH

We started this season with 12 scholarship players. Ben Botts became number 13. Three players are graduating from the program, which takes us down to 10. Richie Edwards becomes number 11, and that leaves two available spots for next year. Thus Bryce's comment of a "couple" would be correct.