Your memories of VU matchups with MVC teams?

[bigmosmithfan1]

Figured a fun way to kick off our tenure in the Valley would be for all of us VU fans to look back and share any favorite memories of past matchups with MVC schools. Obviously, this will lean towards hoops, but it could be any sport, really.

I'll start with one from each MVC school:

-Indiana State: The recent victories have been a high point, especially 2015's gut-it-out win at the Hulman Center.

-Evansville: Seeing those short-sleeved purple jerseys for the first time at old Hilltop Gym and wondering why UE was playing the game with their warmup shirts on. (Also, the cool old riverboat gambler logo).

-Loyola: Attending a VU loss back in the early 80s at old Alumni Gym at LU, where a string of questionable foul calls late turned a tie game into a walk-away Rambler win, then listening to the postgame show on WGN on the way home (they broadcast LU games back then). I thought Tom Smith was going to blow a vein in his head...he was that angry. Also remember an odd quirk of their ancient scoreboards in that building - the clock didn't go up to 20:00, so each half started with 19:59 on the clock.

-Illinois State: Long time since our last meeting, but I remember a game vs. ISU at Hilltop years ago, where I as a young kid was enamored with their bright red uniforms that simply read: "STATE"

-Southern Illinois: Okay, I don't have any memories of VU games against SIU. Been too long, unfortunately. I'll go with their Sweet 16 berth at the United Center back in 2002, since I was at that game and it was pretty cool, especially since they beat Bobby Knight's Texas Tech team in the 1st round.

-Bradley: The VU home win in 1983 where we blew out Versace's Bradley team, and their whole team left grumbling and griping.

-UNI: Losing to them by three at home seemingly every year during our AMCU-8 tenure (not actual fact, it just felt that way). Also how Randy Kraayenbrink's last name wouldn't fit on the back of his jersey, so it just read "K'brink"

-Drake: No game memories, but I recall Homer turning down the Drake job after one of our earliest NCAA tourney appearances in the mid-90s.

-Missouri State: Obviously this past year's game was memorable, but I also remember a game at the ARC back when they were still SMSU. Winston Garland was on that conference championship squad as well as one other player from the Region (or close driving distance). Valpo was playing out the string of another lousy season, and the two local SMS players families and friends nearly outnumbered VU fans. The Bears won and it was not close. Also, Garland hurdled a ball boy who was standing near the basket to avoid running into him while chasing a loose ball out of bounds, which might still be one of the most athletic non-play plays I've ever seen. 

Any other memories that I forgot?

[VULB#62]

I can't add to your memories, but I can second the Evansville line. Beating the Jerry Sloan/Larry Humes EU team in Hilltop was (and continues to be) an indelible memory. 

[VU2624]

You guys have me beat if you recall Jerry Sloan and Larry Humes during their collegiate days.

[vu72]

All always remember the 68-69 season when we beat Evansville at their place 101-95.  On the return trip at Valpo, we had a 82-81 lead with about 2 seconds on the clock. They passed the ball in and their guy turns and heaves the ball from beyond the NBA line, -----swish. they beats us at home 83-82. 

[bbtds]

All always remember the 68-69 season when we beat Evansville at their place 101-95.  On the return trip at Valpo, we had a 82-81 lead with about 2 seconds on the clock. They passed the ball in and their guy turns and heaves the ball from beyond the NBA line, -----swish. they beats us at home 83-82. 

Yes, barely....that was when we had 24, no, the other 24, Bruce Lindner, and those purple robes with short sleeve purple Aces jerseys for E-ville. Those UE teams knew how to win in the college division (Div. II) back then. My parents said it was too long a drive down to Evansville back in the 70's especially because the games were played during harsh winters and so many thought it was unsafe. Then in the 70's UE lost their whole team one night in a plane crash when the Vietnamese pilot forgot to pull the blocks that kept the rudder and other parts from freezing shut in winter weather. The plane took off from Evansville Regional  Airport and immediately crashed into the hillside near the airport because the pilot could not control the rudder and other parts. Many will remember that the same company that had flown UE had been scheduled to fly Valpo to Columbia, MO and because of the bad weather Valpo's team went by bus. It was initially reported in the media (AP and UPI) that Valpo's team was the one on the doomed flight until Valpo, while playing Mizzou, was able to tell the AP and UPI that they were alive and well, but unfortunately not winning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Indiana_Flight_216

[swiftmutiny]

During my freshman year, Missouri State came into town for a bracket buster game on ESPN2, with Dick Vitale commentating. The ARC was full, the students were packed in like sardines (I got there when doors opened and was in the 2nd row), and the whole atmosphere was electric! We led pretty much the entire game, shooting 58% from the floor. That game, along with the home win against Butler that same season, cemented a love in my heart for Valpo and college basketball. I had never watched a full basketball game before stepping on campus. Now, I can't get enough!

I also distinctly remember being one of about eight students in the student section later in the year when we lost by 20 to Loyola. Looking back, that was really a season of ups and downs.

[usc4valpo]

Bigmosmithfan -

Excellent comment. Smith did go off the deep end in 1980 At Alumni Gym. We were in the game until the final 3 minutes until everything fell apart.

[usc4valpo]

Others:

Bradley in 1980 embarrassing us 100-47 at Robertson. They took no prisoners that night. Dick Versace, who had a Bobby Heenan look back then, was coach. Mitchell JJ Anderson and David the Sheriff Thirkill were on those teams.

SW Missouri St. with the great Charlie Spoonhauer as coach. He was a very nice man and a good coach.

Bob Donhauer At Illinois State was kind of a jerk. He thought he was elite status.

UNI had some big dudes and kicked our behinds regularly.

I always thought Evansville under Dick Walters had significantly better team an certainly better coached teams. They had Emir Tiram, a Turkish player who was uncoordinated but did his job.

we were obviously not at the Missouri Valley level back then.

[bigmosmithfan1]

Bradley in 1980 embarrassing us 100-47 at Robertson. They took no prisoners that night. Dick Versace, who had a Bobby Heenan look back then, was coach. Mitchell JJ Anderson and David the Sheriff Thirkill were on those teams.

This game had quite a bit to do with the bad blood surrounding the 1983 game at Hilltop, an 18-point Valpo win. Smith and a number of VU people were still frosty over what they perceived as Bradley going out of their way to run up the score in that 1980 game, so Smith took great pains to leave his starters in until the final 15 seconds or so of the Valpo victory, before pulling them and sending a long glance toward the Bradley bench. I remember some harsh words being exchanged in the handshake line, too. The two schools haven't played since.

On a related note, I've always wondered if there was some not-so-subtle jabs (or a snarky prank) being sent by VU's SID staff at the time. Normally, each year's media guide would have a page devoted to each opponent, including head shot photos of the coach and top two players. That season, instead of the standard posed studio head shot, the photo of Versace in the Valpo media guide was a close-cropped version of some AP file sideline photo of him red-faced and yelling at someone. It took me a while to get the joke at the time.

That said, I met Versace years later, in the late 90s at an event in Chicago, back when he was doing studio analysis for Bulls games on Channel 5. The guy had mellowed considerably and a great sense of humor about it when I asked him about that Valpo-Bradley game. (Contrasted to, say, Digger Phelps, who still will reportedly leave the room all these years later if you ask him about the Miracle on Union Street game in 1988).

[usc4valpo]

Both Dick Versace an Digger Phelps had some Bobby Heenan attitude in them. Digger was an vastly overrated coach, but Versacw was pretty good.

I think somewhere I have some of those old yearbooks too!

BTW, Mo Smith was a wonderful person and a battler out there on the boards. One of my alltime favorites as well as Al Hudson and Jeff Simmons.

[bigmosmithfan1]

He was my very first favorite player when I started attending VU games as a kid. My handle is an ode to that fact.

[usc4valpo]

It would be interesting to see how Valpo did against the MVC under the legendary Tom Smith. I still shake my head over the great 35-33 win over UWGB in 1984 to avoid the AMCU8 cellar.

[vu72]

It would be interesting to see how Valpo did against the MVC under the legendary Tom Smith. I still shake my head over the great 35-33 win over UWGB in 1984 to avoid the AMCU8 cellar.

So I checked and I'm reasonably sure I found all the games.  During Tom's 8 years as the head man, we, collectively got our A$$es handed to us by the Valley Teams.  It was interesting to see how frequently we played those teams. As an example, in 80-81 we played 8 games against current Valley teams.


Here's the record:

Bradley      1-2
Loyola        0-3
SIU            0-1
Illinois St    0-1
Evansville   0-7
Missouri St 2-7
No. Iowa    1-12

That's a combined  4-33 

It was interesting to see that Coach Smith's third from last game was a win against Marquette!

[usc4valpo]

Excellent analysis 72! Smith faced Illinois St. twice in 1980-81 and got blown out twice.

UNI went Div. 1 around the same time as Valpo. This shows lack of commitment to basketball at Valpo at that time as well as fairly inept coaching.

[vu72]

Excellent analysis 72! Smith faced Illinois St. twice in 1980-81 and got blown out twice.

UNI went Div. 1 around the same time as Valpo. This shows lack of commitment to basketball at Valpo at that time as well as fairly inept coaching.

Speaking of that, I'll always remember running in to Tom in Minneapolis at maybe the Final Four or some event.  While talking he said how the administration had no clue.  At one point Tom was speaking to Valpo's President (Schnabel) and was explaining how Cleveland State's success in the NCAA tournament had meant money for Valpo.  To which President Schnabel replied "well then, let's hope Cleveland State keeps playing well"---True Story!

[bigmosmithfan1]

UNI and MoState were conference mates for a good portion of Smith's tenure. The UNI thing was weird. We almost always played them close, and lost nearly every time.

I remember that win against Marquette. VU expected a huge crowd (and had a bigger crowd than normal, but the ARC probably wasn't much more than half full at a time when it only had 4,500 seats). Marquette ended up having a down year (10-18) and took a lot of the steam out of it by the time they arrived at the ARC for the rare February non-conference game.

When Smith resigned at the end of the season, he cited the endless apathy surrounding the program as one of the reasons why. I think he thought that a win over a "name" program like Marquette would help raise some eyebrows locally, but the old Vidette-Messenger treated it like a win over Michigan City Marquette and yawned. If that wasn't the last straw for him, it was close to it.

[usc4valpo]

Shorty Schabel was a fine gentleman but did not care one bit about the basketball program. with Shorty as president, it made you wonder if the Division I committment was there. It was certainly a Kmart budget back then.

[bbtds]

Shorty Schabel was a fine gentleman but did not care one bit about the basketball program. with Shorty as president, it made you wonder if the Division I committment was there. It was certainly a Kmart budget back then.

Although he had spent time at Concordia Seminary in St Louis, Robert Schnabel was the first VU president that had not been ordained as a pastor. He was very proficient at giving sermons and was very educated in theological disciplines and philosophy. He was probably the most theologically trained non-ordained administrator in America at the time. Basketball was not a real passion for Dr. Schnabel.