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If Valpo can show that it has plans to renovate or build a new gym, the hospital site is perfect and even comes with a parking garage already attached! Valpo has shown that it can compete at all levels with all programs not just basketball. 4 or 5 teams have one the Horizon League, thus we are becoming the big fish in a small pond once again and I hope the MVC officials realize this and ask us to join the MVC. I'm fairly optimistic, as Valpo seemingly meets and exceeds in many of the major categories, with the only drawback being its gym and athletic facilities.

I think it could very well be that La Barbera realizes in order to keep Drew he needs to put him in the best atmosphere possible. Right now for Valpo that's the MVC. Drew looks like he could become a top level mid-major coach and a top level mid-major coach deserves a top level mid-major conference. Right now the Horizon League is looking to be a run-of-the-mill mid-major conference.

This is probably a crazy idea....but how about adding VU, Loyola, and Detroit (as previously recommended) and then having 2 divisions.  One would be the "Private Universities" with VU, LU, UDM, Bradley, Evansville, and Drake.  That works out pretty well geographically also.

Good idea but I have heard nothing about Detroit coming over. Like you said it is a crazy idea, sounds cool but crazy.

According to Michael Osipoff, Athletic Director Mark La Barbera neither confirmed nor denied that the MVC was visiting Valpo this week. Which typically means that the MVC is visiting Valpo this week and that La Barbera is interested in the move to the MVC.

I never said Detroit was going to get invited to the MVC, just remembered hearing some rumors in the past about them in the new Catholic league, maybe not this upcoming season but perhaps they're gone in another year or two. The only 3 from the Horizon might be Loyola, UIC, and Valpo. Valpo is the most likely but I can see them offering Loyola and UIC to get the Chicago market.

YSU did shock me but

I've heard YSU might be trying to get out of the HL, too, cuz they need an FBS football conf now that Big 10 won't play FCS anymore

according to Rob Demovsky. YSU wants to be in an FBS, conference. Not sure how true it is but it was something that I heard within the past 24 hours.

The most likely thing to happen is (a) Valpo to MVC, (b) everything stays the same, (c) Valpo, Loyola, and UIC to the MVC. All 3 are possibilities, I think the first two are more probable than the latter. I don't see right now Detroit or YSU leaving but they have shown interest in possibly leaving which only adds fuel to the current unstable state of the Horizon.

I agree. I think best case scenario is that UIC and Loyola tag along, I know that both basketball programs aren't too good but it would be nice to keep the Chicago teams close. Close drive from Valpo and makes travelling a little easier on the teams. Even though the only truly far places are Springfield and Wichita.


The perfect storm seems to be brewing to bring down the HL. If the three teams leave this will leave only 6, and no quality teams will no longer consider the Horizon. I could see the Horizon welcoming low-level teams. IUPUI, IPFW, UMKC, Chicago State, etc... could be looking at the possibility of becoming new members if that happens. The Horizon League could very well turn into the Summit League Jr.

I don't believe we should go to the MVC,

Starting to believe that the move to the MVC makes more sense. Doesn't seem like the Horizon will expand and the MVC might offer them a spot and I'd say Valpo should take it since I think other teams: Loyola, UIC, Youngstown, and possibly Detroit leaving this year. If offered I don't see how we can turn it down based on the state of the league.

The NWI area just doesn't have the population to support an MVC program long-term.

I don't see how NWI isn't large enough to support a MVC team. The NWI area has around 800,000 people (Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Newton, and Porter Counties). Which is much larger than Peoria, Cedar Falls, Evansville. So population of the area doesn't matter all that much to the MVC, in the Horizon we are the smallest in the MVC we would be average if not a bit above.

We also are similar size in enrollment to some of the MVC programs. Drake, Evansville, and Bradley all are around 5,000 students the first two closer to 3,000 which is the same with Valpo and Valpo is in a bigger population area. So, it doesn't effect whether or not the MVC will offer them a spot, in fact it might play a factor in helping Valpo get an offer for the MVC as they see the school is similar to many of their schools.

Agreed. Valpo really is the only basketball school left in the HL. Some teams have had some success but none sustained like Valpo did during the 90s and early 00s and I believe this incoming class can mark the beginning of the Valpo basketball tradition once again. The ARC was full for the most part this season but there were really no games (besides Detroit) that were marquis home games. If we did join the MVC: Wichita St, Indiana St, Evansville, Illinois State, and Northern Iowa, would be exciting games to watch as a fan and the intrastate teams definitely helps the case for the move to the MVC.

Immediately after Creighton announced it was leaving, their Conference office was all over it looking for replacements, with a goal of wrapping up their search by July 1st. The HL, on the other hand, loses Butler a year ago and our conference office is still fumbling around looking for a replacement or replacements. By waiting to act, it has created an elongated period of uncertainty, making the HL more vulnerable to other conferences picking off its best programs and less attractive to potential replacements.  It's the difference between being proactive and reactive.

You hit the nail on the head. I think the HL will begin to see the repercussions of doing nothing after Butler left, except say woe is me. The possibility of Valpo leaving along with the possibility of a few others, might be the demise of the HL. All in all, after long time tenant Butler, like wh said, the HL did absolutely jack, instead of going out trying to fill the vacancy.

I don't see how they could complain about Valpo going to the MVC. Two straight Horizon League regular season titles, including a bid in the tourney. I agree with them UMKC would be terrible. ORU, Belmont, and Murray State aren't bad, all similar schools to Valpo this season. Maybe Valpo was closer to the top of that list this year.

It's got to be close but the Butler/HL money maybe slightly more. Will the move to the MVC be worth the difference in money?

I think right now like you said it's close. In the future however, I see more money in the MVC with the possibility of being a multi-bid league year-in-year-out, whit the Horizon as of right now is not shaping into a multi-bid league.

I think Valpo might be able to get to that level. The past two seasons were great and a lot runs on this incoming class. But I don't know if the athletic directors can pass on this chance to get into a stronger league. I think the MVC is a great fit, geographically and athletically speaking.

The Horizon is a league that might be coming into some trouble. Losing Butler the previous year and with the possibility of losing Valpo threatens the stability of the league. I think Valpo might look at if Detroit leaves, then who else is there for them to play during league play? I know Wright State had a good season and is returning everybody but I don't see them much different than what they were this year, unless they get a scorer. While CSU and GB will be better but I don't see anybody else that is all too scary. The MVC is a stronger with league with better competition and I think is a little bit more stable than the Horizon.

Possibly if there was no talk of Detroit leaving Valpo would choose to stay but the possibility of losing another marquis matchup really hurts. While if they went to the MVC there would be multiple games I would circle on my schedule.

Found some rpi numbers of both conferences from this past year (minus Creighton):

MVC - 127                       Horizon - 166

Wichita St - 37                Valpo - 58
IN St - 72                       Detroit - 64
No IA - 83                      Wright St - 130
Evansville - 106               Green Bay - 160
IL St - 108                      UIC - 169
Drake -  144                    YSU - 188
Bradley - 191                   CSU - 199
So IL - 193                      Loyola - 222
MO St - 203                    Milwaukee - 307

The MVC is an obvious step up from the HL. League rpi (that is the rpi minus Creighton) is still 40 points higher, which means a nice jump for Valpo, who would've finished second, only by looking at rpi not actually if they played, in a Creightonless MVC. It obviously hurt our seeding this year too, Valpo was better than a 14 but the HL didn't support them being higher than a 14. If you combined the two leagues together to make an 18 team league, the HL would of had 6 out of the bottom 9 would have been HL teams and the worst HL team was in the 300s which is by far one of the worst teams in the country. Thus the move makes sense for Valpo on that standpoint.

I'm torn. If we get the offer, we probably have to take it -- but again, I see what's happened to Evansville and I wonder if we wouldn't be setting ourselves up for a situation where we struggle to go .500 in league play year in and year out and never get back to the NCAA Tournament. In the Horizon League, we're always going to have a credible shot to win the tournament and get the bid.

I don't see Valpo being a .500 team in league play. A majority of the time a move up is a good thing. Sometimes it doesn't seem to work out but I think it will help recruiting as players see it can be a multiple bid league and they have a team in the Final 4 this year, which most definitely will look good to see Wichita appear twice on our schedule next season and many seasons to come.

If Valpo does make the jump, I think this sadly spells the beginning of the end for the Horizon League. Losing two historically elite mid-majors in Butler and possibly VU, will be it's demise. Only being 8 teams strong and Detroit your best team, not good for the Horizon.

Out of all the conferences that Valpo can potentially move to, this is the best fit. I think the competition is a step up from the Horizon but not too big of a leap.. I think they would be in over their heads in the A-10 but the MVC would be nice, it would mean more travelling though, but the only schools that are quite the hike are Missouri State and Wichita State. It would be unfortunate to lose the Chicago teams because of the Chicago market, wouldn't miss the low-level competition between two struggling schools though.

Would love to see an intrastate rivalry start once again with Indiana State and Evansville!

It would be nice if VU could pick up a kid like Hawkins. The one thing that scares me with him is that he is deadset on going to Kentucky, and if he does get an offer from KY we have a ZERO percent chance we get him. Another thing that scares me if he does wind up at VU will he transfer after his first or second season if KY does show interest in him.


But if the reports are right and KY offered him a scholarship, chances are he will be a Wildcat.

Would be pretty cool if we could land one of them. Chances are slim but still would be pretty neat! Chances are they'd have to be redshirted for a year though due to the "beloved" ncaa transfer policy.

I wouldn't worry too much, at least right now, about the 2014-15 recruiting class. As of right now we will only be graduating 3 players in Coleman, Caps, and Dority, and at most 4 if the final scholarship spot is filled by a transfer who will be a senior and immediately eligible for play next season, which is highly unlikely. I think the coaching staff realized that this next recruiting class, with 6 potential spots to fill is much more important to the program than the 2014-15 one. So over the past 2 years I think the coaching staff put a large majority of their recruiting efforts into this class realizing that if Valpo wants to be an elite program it will start with this class, with basically the whole team graduating this past season. They knew if this recruiting class was subpar or if they started to look ahead to the future classes it might have hindered their ability to recruit the kids they have coming in now.

Agreed. I see Davidson more as a Matt Kenney type as a 2 guard. We already have 2 natural PGs in Carter and Williams. Davidson probably will only be used as an emergency PG. And with Dority back next season we have 3 different PGs ahead of Davidson. With Kenney obviously graduating Davidson was recruited to take over his role. Not the PG since we already have 3 PGs for next year.

I think we really have to look at poaching two of the upper level teams from the OVC and perhaps Evansville from the MVC.

Couldn't agree with you more on that fact. I don't believe we should go to the MVC, with them losing Creighton the league is similar to the Horizon, and geographically the nearest team I believe would be Bradley in Peoria, not the two Chicago teams. In the HL you also have a few large cities: Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland that all have a strong VU alumni presence in them, while the largest city in the MVC would be Des Moines. And travel is a lot easier in the HL for VU, Youngstown being the furthest they have to go compared to Wichita. Thus if the HL could poach a few to level teams from the OVC and the MVC instead of VU moving would be much more beneficial to the program.

My question is - what conference do you recommend if Valpo wants to move?  A-10?  That can make sense.

Personally I don't see Valpo leaving. I think the Horizon is a good fit in many ways. We're competitive in all sports but have yet to dominate anything. If Valpo wants to go to the A-10 the basketball team needs to do more than make it to one NCAA tourny and win 2 conference titles. If they're able to put together a string of 3 or 4 straight tournament births and win a game or two in the tournament then I can see us leaving for greener pastures.

Sadly, the 2012-13 season has ended, and so went it the careers of 6 seniors who led decorated careers here at VU. There have been many highs and lows throughout the season. So in your opinion.....

What were your best moments of this past season? Who was your biggest surprise? Who was your biggest disappointment? Who had the best single game performance? What was the most memorable play?

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As for me: My best moment of the season was by far the championship win against WSU but other than that the regular season. The 22 point comeback was something special. I remember screaming at the tv as I saw them getting embarrassed in front of a national audience. As for a home game, the regular season win against WSU, and Rowdy scoring 12 points in a row or at least 12 out of the last 14 was something to watch.

My biggest surprise to the season was probably Erik Buggs. His offense was greatly improved from last year, there were times when he would make the opposing team just look silly. And that behind the back pass against Eastern Kentucky was something special to watch. I think he also had by far the biggest performance of the season in the championship. Scoring a career high 22 point on 8 of 13? shooting and 4 of 6 from from the charity stripe. I have never seen Buggs completely take a game over like that and the one problem with that was that I was wondering where that has been all season.

On the other hand my biggest disappointments were probably early season Will Bogan and Matt Kenney. Both just seemed off and did not seem the same player from last year and it hurt us in many of those early games. Maybe with Bogan and Kenney playing better we could have beaten a New Mexico or a SLU, or at least the games would have been much closer.

As for a single game, the best performance was by far against Eastern Kentucky almost 70% from the field! Enough said! While the worst was the final ten minutes against Detroit. Just pitiful.

I think the OVC is a slight step up from the Horizon. Both conferences are very similar though. If the Horizon still had Butler they would be by far the better conference. It's close but they just have one or two more better teams than the Horizon does.

As it turns out, how blessed were we to have Kevin instead with his 63% on field goals and 75% on free throws, as well as his terrific character and personality?

Very! Goes to show just cause you're a seven footer doesn't mean you're going to be productive. Look at Vucic, 7'1" but barely played.

Sorry got my Valleys confused. Anyways I think the OVC is probably the best fit for Valpo. I think it's a step up from the Horizon but the MVC would be good too but much tougher, with Wichita State and Creighton both winning games in the tourney this year. While the OVC did have Belmont this year and a few more quality programs than the Horizon has in Murray State and Eastern Kentucky. The OVC would also be the better fit geographically speaking.