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Thanks Apostle. I missed those two. Probably a product of staring at a computer screen for five hours. Yes, Homer did say "deceivious."

Just so long as he doesn't knock the ball out-of-bounds after a missed free throw.

I was not at the New Mexico game and the paper ran the wire copy. With the late start there was no way to get the story in the paper.

The game is on Fox Sports Central as part of the Sports Package on Comcast Xfinity in Valparaiso.

Elton Alexander was the one who voted Valparaiso 23rd in his preseason poll, giving the Crusaders three votes.

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/fernandez-embracing-college-experience-at-vu/article_e0bc4052-4b59-5078-8f59-d16b7b62cd71.html

WVUR webcast will be working for Robert Morris game. Karl Berner and I will be on the call.

Ouch.

Take this with a grain of salt if you don't like the commentary, but from what I understand, it's not easy for a white male who has just been fired to get hired in women's basketball. There were options for head jobs, but this appears to be a comfortable situation where he can get back to the basics with coaching in a place he is wanted, not having to deal certain individuals who would flinch at the first sign of adversity.

Playing (Big Ten) Nebraska this year on the road and then hosting a four-team tourney at home is similar to playing Arizona last year on the road and then hosting the round-robin on campus. That is what I mean and I instead typed Kansas. Valpo played Kansas and Ohio on the road two years ago as part of the Vegas tourney leadup and then played lesser teams in Vegas.

Schedules were mostly complete across the board and then Butler leaving changed everything. Each individual school has (for every sport) has one or two more games they can play and scheduling those takes a lot of time. Once they finalize the schedule with all the contracts (things that normally occur during the school year), then the schedule has to be approved by a board on campus. This is normal protocol at every D1 school. The problem could be that the committee doesn't meet much during the summer.

Looks like Eaglebackr deserves an apology from some people

Buggs could take it as a slap in the face, but there also hasn't been a player on Twitter in the last three days who has reacted more positively to the additions than Buggs.

Well, I guess if you can't make up any more lies, then it's time to leave.

Crusader03, what basis do you have for saying the athletic department made a last ditch effort to try to get him to stay?

I just couldn't believe the change of events when Edwards went for the dunk, missed it and Miami answered with two 3-pointers. I called the game at that point simply because if those types of plays are happening, it's not your night. Valiant effort. One more guard, either Kenney or Harris, and this game is different. If Bogan's 3-pointer goes down at 54-50, different outcome in my mind.

I believe I heard that the Valpo coaching staff offered a walk-on role to Brad Karp when he was coming out of high school. They definitely liked him.

Great work Jim. The math was more than I can handle. That said, it's difficult to figure a realistic situation that doesn't have Valpo in a double bye if it beats Youngstown.

Last year was tough Milwaukee game on the road on Wednesday, then Missouri State game on Saturday afternoon. The team left Sunday morning for Green Bay and drove 7+ hours through a blizzard. Team returned early Tuesday morning and then played at home two days later in blowout loss to Loyola. The only game that Valpo won of the four was the one that "didn't matter."

This year Valpo plays UIC at home on Tuesday, then will travel to LA on Thursday afternoon and come back presumably on Saturday morning. The next game isn't until Tuesday and it's also at home against Loyola. In theory these are two easier games sandwiching the BracketBuster, even if the LMU game is on the road and a flight trip. If I'm a player/coach, I'd much rather have this schedule breakdown than last season. Playing on Friday night is icing on the cake.

Much better travel than last season. Much Much better.

I'm watching the Milwaukee men's basketball team on the Horizon League Network right now and Youngstown State has tied the game at 64-64. Milwaukee coach Rob Jeter is just sitting on the bench. He isn't saying anything to his players. Wow, what a terrible coach. I can't believe how bad of a coach he is right now. I think he should be fired. I think all the Milwaukee players should be released from their scholarships. I think Milwaukee should no longer play in the U.S. Cellular Arena. I think all of this because Jeter is just sitting there.

That game was as impressive as it gets for Valpo. Not much more to say.

I touched on some of the concerns of Loyola knocking down 3-pointers in my postgame interview and what I got seemed to make sense. Freeman addressed that Loyola is a tricky team to guard because as much as you want to double their post players, that frees up the outside shot. When they weren't doubling the post, Loyola was scoring inside with 38 points in the paint. When they were doubling the post, the Ramblers were knocking down 3-pointers, scoring 27 points from long range. Obviously a very tough game last night where little went right, but I'm not sure what else could've been done. Skube was a force with her length and shooting ability and their other posts such as Law and Hambric were a wreck for Valpo to try and contain. The team dropped off considerably when Carr and Jansone went in the game defensively. Just a brutal game, especially after the quick start in the second half.

http://www.nwitimes.com/blogs/sports/valparaiso-university/what-s-up-with-ieva-jansone-and-the-crusaders/article_db621f20-38ad-11e1-b978-001871e3ce6c.html

A member of the women's team may have mono at the moment and she has gone home for testing and hasn't been with the team for the last two games.