New Mexico at Valpo Sat Dec 6 7:05 pm CT

[covufan]

Zionsville will get a significant boost with the return of Cassius Smits-Francisco, a 6-8, 225-pound sophomore who should be back in mid-December as he recovers from surgery from an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his knee. Smits-Francisco, the cousin of Smits, is receiving early recruiting interest from Ball State, Indiana State, Ole Miss, Purdue and Valparaiso.

Derrik, we need you to start getting the basketball law firm to Valpo!

We need Derrik to bring his cousin to the New Mexico game!

[Kyle321n]

Zionsville will get a significant boost with the return of Cassius Smits-Francisco, a 6-8, 225-pound sophomore who should be back in mid-December as he recovers from surgery from an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his knee. Smits-Francisco, the cousin of Smits, is receiving early recruiting interest from Ball State, Indiana State, Ole Miss, Purdue and Valparaiso.

Derrik, we need you to start getting the basketball law firm to Valpo!

We need Derrik to bring his cousin to the New Mexico game!

Since his dad has NBA money, they can afford to come.

Chairbacks $35, lower bleachers $20, mezzanine bleachers $20.  Seriously?

I know this is a marquee game and we're off to a great start, but I'm afraid these prices will turn a lot of casual fans and potential newcomers off.  Would shelling out $20 each keep 2 buddies from checking out the Crusaders?  Probably not.  Would it keep a guy from bringing his wife and 2 kids and shelling out $80 plus concessions?  Almost definitely.  This would not be considered affordable family entertainment in NWI. 

Yeah this is really disappointing. If my parents were in town, this would probably keep them away from the game. $35 for chairbacks makes sense and since the center lower tank is almost sold out (2 in B, 3 in C and 42 in D) it appears $20 is good for that. A and E have a lot of seats left, maybe they should be priced at $15? $20 for the upper tank is just stupid. That should be no higher than $10 for any game that isn't the HL championship game.

[Vinny]

I think it's a pretty fair price to pay to see an 8-1 D1 team with an emerging superstar take on a perennial Tourney team. It's a Saturday night and in addition to what should be a great game, we're getting halftime entertainment (The Bucket Boys are impressive).  I'll be there - granted I purchased the five-game pack at the beginning of the season.

I expect a lot of fellow student-athletes and a handful of the general student population to be loud and rowdy in the student section. The ARC isn't the nicest place to watch a basketball game, but it doesn't take away from the product(s) on the court.

If a family of four can afford the cost of living in the city of Valparaiso, that family can most likely afford to spend just under $100 on a Saturday night. A night out at the movies with popcorn/candy/pop would run just as much.

[Kyle321n]

My one season ticket (15 games) cost as much as 7 tickets to Saturday's game. If I'm a family of 4, I'm not going to this game I'm waiting for Green Bay and Cleveland State to come into town and buying tickets to both of those games for the same price as this one game. While playing a "name" school that is a tourney team is nice, playing the top 2 teams in your conference has more impact on your tournament chance and 2 games for the price of 1 makes the sell even easier.

Also while my wife and I don't have kids, even if we did we can afford to live in Valpo on our 2 very modest (I'm talking VERY modest) incomes but we couldn't afford a $100 night for a Saturday. Since we don't have kids we can afford said $100 night for the two of us (Dinner, Valpo game, drinks after the game).

[LOBOS]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to come check out your message board and fill you all in on the Lobos this season.  The Lobos have gone to the NCAA tournament the last 3 seasons and have been ranked in the top 25 in all of those seasons.  However, we lost Alex Kirk (Cleveland Cavaliers), Cameron Bairstow (Chicago Bulls) and Kendall Williams (overseas) from last years team.  As you can imagine, its really difficult to replace 3 guys who all average over 15 pts a game, so the Lobos are currently in a transitional/rebuilding year. 

The Lobos have 2 Seniors led by Hugh Greenwood and Deshawn Delaney.  Hugh has been a starting guard for the Lobos all 3 years he's been here and Deshawn became a starter around conference time last season.  Hugh has been looked to this season to shoulder a lot of the offensive load but has struggled to find his shot early in the season.  Delaney is a freaky athlete and loves to try to get to the rim.  The Lobos are playing without arguably our best player this year in Cullen Neal as he was injured just 3 games into the season.  He was shooting 50% from behind the arc and was averaging 24 pts a game going into our 3rd game against Boston College.  Arthur Edwards who was coming off the bench and starting for Cullen after he got hurt also broke his hand and will miss Saturday's game.  Lastly, we are playing without Jordan Goodman who is out with a concussion.  Goodman is a 6-10 PF/SF and was the #2 rated JUCO player in the country.  In the one game where he really played significant minutes he scored 18 pts.  So the Lobos are in a transitional year and playing without 3 talented and key players. 

In the last couple games we have started Hugh Greenwood (Sr), Xavier Adams (Fr.), Deshawn Delaney (SR), Devon Williams (So.), and Obij Aget(So.).  Off the bench we have Tim Jacobs (Jr.), Sam Logwood (Fr.) Joe Furstinger (Fr) and JJ Nganga (Jr.).  Overall we are very young and missing key players while we also have Elijah Brown and Tim Williams who transferred and are redshirting this year. 

We are coming off a tough tournament where we lost 2 out of 3 games and came back home and lost to Southern Cal.  We got back on the winning track last night against our in state rivals New Mexico State and looked alot better than we have recently.  All in all it seems like you guys have a pretty good team this year and will more than likely win against our young and inexperienced team.  Good luck to you guys! 

[crusaderjoe]

Chairbacks $35, lower bleachers $20, mezzanine bleachers $20.  Seriously?

I know this is a marquee game and we're off to a great start, but I'm afraid these prices will turn a lot of casual fans and potential newcomers off.  Would shelling out $20 each keep 2 buddies from checking out the Crusaders?  Probably not.  Would it keep a guy from bringing his wife and 2 kids and shelling out $80 plus concessions?  Almost definitely.  This would not be considered affordable family entertainment in NWI.

+1

Just to put this in perspective, I could purchase a four ticket family pack to see the Florida Panthers play for $99.00, including food and parking for a weekend game, and sit in comfort in a much much better venue than the ARC.  Not to mention paying money to attend a professional sporting event.  I could even upgrade to lower bowl seating for $149.00, which is roughly the price of purchasing four chairbacks at $35.00 at the ARC.

And $20.00 a pop for the Mezz, where the sightlines are a complete disaster depending upon the angle and level of view?  No thanks.

[covufan]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to come check out your message board and fill you all in on the Lobos this season.  The Lobos have gone to the NCAA tournament the last 3 seasons and have been ranked in the top 25 in all of those seasons.  However, we lost Alex Kirk (Cleveland Cavaliers), Cameron Bairstow (Chicago Bulls) and Kendall Williams (overseas) from last years team.  As you can imagine, its really difficult to replace 3 guys who all average over 15 pts a game, so the Lobos are currently in a transitional/rebuilding year. 

The Lobos have 2 Seniors led by Hugh Greenwood and Deshawn Delaney.  Hugh has been a starting guard for the Lobos all 3 years he's been here and Deshawn became a starter around conference time last season.  Hugh has been looked to this season to shoulder a lot of the offensive load but has struggled to find his shot early in the season.  Delaney is a freaky athlete and loves to try to get to the rim.  The Lobos are playing without arguably our best player this year in Cullen Neal as he was injured just 3 games into the season.  He was shooting 50% from behind the arc and was averaging 24 pts a game going into our 3rd game against Boston College.  Arthur Edwards who was coming off the bench and starting for Cullen after he got hurt also broke his hand and will miss Saturday's game.  Lastly, we are playing without Jordan Goodman who is out with a concussion.  Goodman is a 6-10 PF/SF and was the #2 rated JUCO player in the country.  In the one game where he really played significant minutes he scored 18 pts.  So the Lobos are in a transitional year and playing without 3 talented and key players. 

In the last couple games we have started Hugh Greenwood (Sr), Xavier Adams (Fr.), Deshawn Delaney (SR), Devon Williams (So.), and Obij Aget(So.).  Off the bench we have Tim Jacobs (Jr.), Sam Logwood (Fr.) Joe Furstinger (Fr) and JJ Nganga (Jr.).  Overall we are very young and missing key players while we also have Elijah Brown and Tim Williams who transferred and are redshirting this year. 

We are coming off a tough tournament where we lost 2 out of 3 games and came back home and lost to Southern Cal.  We got back on the winning track last night against our in state rivals New Mexico State and looked alot better than we have recently.  All in all it seems like you guys have a pretty good team this year and will more than likely win against our young and inexperienced team.  Good luck to you guys! 

Thanks and welcome to the board!

[a3uge]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to come check out your message board and fill you all in on the Lobos this season.  The Lobos have gone to the NCAA tournament the last 3 seasons and have been ranked in the top 25 in all of those seasons.  However, we lost Alex Kirk (Cleveland Cavaliers), Cameron Bairstow (Chicago Bulls) and Kendall Williams (overseas) from last years team.  As you can imagine, its really difficult to replace 3 guys who all average over 15 pts a game, so the Lobos are currently in a transitional/rebuilding year. 

The Lobos have 2 Seniors led by Hugh Greenwood and Deshawn Delaney.  Hugh has been a starting guard for the Lobos all 3 years he's been here and Deshawn became a starter around conference time last season.  Hugh has been looked to this season to shoulder a lot of the offensive load but has struggled to find his shot early in the season.  Delaney is a freaky athlete and loves to try to get to the rim.  The Lobos are playing without arguably our best player this year in Cullen Neal as he was injured just 3 games into the season.  He was shooting 50% from behind the arc and was averaging 24 pts a game going into our 3rd game against Boston College.  Arthur Edwards who was coming off the bench and starting for Cullen after he got hurt also broke his hand and will miss Saturday's game.  Lastly, we are playing without Jordan Goodman who is out with a concussion.  Goodman is a 6-10 PF/SF and was the #2 rated JUCO player in the country.  In the one game where he really played significant minutes he scored 18 pts.  So the Lobos are in a transitional year and playing without 3 talented and key players. 

In the last couple games we have started Hugh Greenwood (Sr), Xavier Adams (Fr.), Deshawn Delaney (SR), Devon Williams (So.), and Obij Aget(So.).  Off the bench we have Tim Jacobs (Jr.), Sam Logwood (Fr.) Joe Furstinger (Fr) and JJ Nganga (Jr.).  Overall we are very young and missing key players while we also have Elijah Brown and Tim Williams who transferred and are redshirting this year. 

We are coming off a tough tournament where we lost 2 out of 3 games and came back home and lost to Southern Cal.  We got back on the winning track last night against our in state rivals New Mexico State and looked alot better than we have recently.  All in all it seems like you guys have a pretty good team this year and will more than likely win against our young and inexperienced team.  Good luck to you guys!

To add to this, the Lobos have made it to the tournament 4 of the past 5 years, with two 3-seeds, a 5 seed, and a 7-seed. They won in the round of 64 twice, never making it to the Sweet 16. In fact, they've never made a sweet 16 (Suck it New Mexico, more Sweet 16 appearances in the expanded tournament era than you!).

In all seriousness, New Mexico has helped turn the MWC into one of the best conferences in the nation, and a victory over a top MW school should be more worthy of praise than a win vs a bottom dweller from the SEC or B1G TEN.

While both teams are relatively young, I think New Mexico may struggle after a long flight into the cold NW Indiana weather. But I wouldn't be surprised if the talent of a perennial good team wins out.

[justducky]

I think it's a pretty fair price to pay to see an 8-1 D1 team with an emerging superstar take on a perennial Tourney team.

Yes---but "fair price" is a relative term that has to be determined in the larger context. For the last decade we have repeatedly talked about the gradual attendance decline while never thinking about some of the economic realities of northwest Indiana.

I have always found it almost laughable that VU advertises itself as northwest Indiana's team while being somewhat uncomfortable with many of us who live here, and being almost blissfully unaware that most of our area HS graduates are constrained enough financially that attending VU never enters their minds. The general area population nowhere nearly reflects the average level of affluence of either the city of Valpo or the average parents of VU students. So lets step back and rethink this for a second then ask the question of how hard we or maybe I mean you are trying to recruit a fan base that can probably never be students or parents of students.


If you want to start filling the building again I believe you will need to make the conscious decision that this is the group you will need to attract! To sum this up either step out to really become northwest Indiana's team or drop the charade.

[classof2014]

Another things that hurts the attendance of general NWI folk is simply the location of Valpo. If it were in Lake County instead of Porter, it's a much shorter commute for people in Hammond, Gary, Merrillville, Schererville, etc..., not to mention being that much closer to Chicago. Valpo is a stand alone city surrounded by farmland with the nearest town being South Haven or Chesterton, neither very large.

The location of Valpo isn't helping our attendance, neither is the marketing either. Hopefully the ARC will be full on Saturday.

[Donjon VU07]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to come check out your message board and fill you all in on the Lobos this season.  The Lobos have gone to the NCAA tournament the last 3 seasons and have been ranked in the top 25 in all of those seasons.  However, we lost Alex Kirk (Cleveland Cavaliers), Cameron Bairstow (Chicago Bulls) and Kendall Williams (overseas) from last years team.  As you can imagine, its really difficult to replace 3 guys who all average over 15 pts a game, so the Lobos are currently in a transitional/rebuilding year. 

The Lobos have 2 Seniors led by Hugh Greenwood and Deshawn Delaney.  Hugh has been a starting guard for the Lobos all 3 years he's been here and Deshawn became a starter around conference time last season.  Hugh has been looked to this season to shoulder a lot of the offensive load but has struggled to find his shot early in the season.  Delaney is a freaky athlete and loves to try to get to the rim.  The Lobos are playing without arguably our best player this year in Cullen Neal as he was injured just 3 games into the season.  He was shooting 50% from behind the arc and was averaging 24 pts a game going into our 3rd game against Boston College.  Arthur Edwards who was coming off the bench and starting for Cullen after he got hurt also broke his hand and will miss Saturday's game.  Lastly, we are playing without Jordan Goodman who is out with a concussion.  Goodman is a 6-10 PF/SF and was the #2 rated JUCO player in the country.  In the one game where he really played significant minutes he scored 18 pts.  So the Lobos are in a transitional year and playing without 3 talented and key players. 

In the last couple games we have started Hugh Greenwood (Sr), Xavier Adams (Fr.), Deshawn Delaney (SR), Devon Williams (So.), and Obij Aget(So.).  Off the bench we have Tim Jacobs (Jr.), Sam Logwood (Fr.) Joe Furstinger (Fr) and JJ Nganga (Jr.).  Overall we are very young and missing key players while we also have Elijah Brown and Tim Williams who transferred and are redshirting this year. 

We are coming off a tough tournament where we lost 2 out of 3 games and came back home and lost to Southern Cal.  We got back on the winning track last night against our in state rivals New Mexico State and looked alot better than we have recently.  All in all it seems like you guys have a pretty good team this year and will more than likely win against our young and inexperienced team.  Good luck to you guys! 

Wait a minute.  Who creates an account and posts an informational article on his team on the opponent's message board, before concluding by saying "you guys will probably win; good luck"?

Not sure if LOBOS is unrealistically cheery and outrageously bored . . . or hiding something.

[mj]

Chairbacks $35, lower bleachers $20, mezzanine bleachers $20.  Seriously?

I agree with you 100%. I love Valpo basketball but I'm not sure if I'd pay $20 to see a game at the ARC. Especially when the HLN is a great option.

Make the bleachers $5. Or don't charge anything. Find a way to pack the ARC on a consistent basis. Then start increasing prices.

[Valpofan00]

I think Valpo wins by 6. Playing too good to let this one slip.

[historyman]

Wait a minute.  Who creates an account and posts an informational article on his team on the opponent's message board, before concluding by saying "you guys will probably win; good luck"? Not sure if LOBOS is unrealistically cheery and outrageously bored . . . or hiding something.

So he should be called "los intrigante Lobos?"

[78crusader]

I live in Des Moines and I just checked the Drake Athletics website. Tickets for most of their games in the upper level go for anywhere from $5-$15.

Paul

[LOBOS]

Honestly, we are really die hard fans out her in New Mexico and love our Lobos.  I just wanted to come check out your board and see what you guys were saying about playing the Lobos and thought I would give you some information about our team.  I'm not the kind of fan who hates anybody who roots against my team and wanted to cordially give information and wish you guys luck.  Of course I would love it if we went to your place and beat you and I hope we do, but I'm definitely not spiteful and don't wish any ill will to your team.  I think you guys sound pretty good this year and we are pretty down this year from the past three so I think you will beat us.  I hope I'm wrong.  I wish you guys luck, not necessarily in beating us but throughout the rest of the year and I hope you team doesn't get any injuries like we've had this year!  I'm definitely not coming on here to troll you guys!  I just love college basketball and love talking about it with other passionate fans! 

[historyman]

Of course I would love it if we went to your place and beat you and I hope we do, but I'm definitely not spiteful and don't wish any ill will to your team.  I think you guys sound pretty good this year and we are pretty down this year from the past three so I think you will beat us.  I hope I'm wrong.

A very honest answer and one that I can respect. I have many of the same feelings. This is the biggest home game of the year for Valpo and through our history we have stumbled when facing teams with historically better records. Last year we lost to Saint Louis by 2 at the ARC in Valpo when the Billikens slammed home a rebound in the final seconds. We are hoping we can beat the Lobos but are leery of a last minute letdown again. It should be a very entertaining game and close through out.

[vu72]

I believe Hugh Greenwood is an Australian and former teammate of Rowdy.  As for losing to St. Louis by 1 or 2 last year, the difference THIS year is that those freshman starters are now sophomores and we all can see how that is going now.  Valpo by 7, 67-60

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Not sure if LOBOS is unrealistically cheery and outrageously bored . . . or hiding something.

...says the guy with 2 posts in 3 years...

[Chairback]

So I tried to buy the 5 game ticket plan.  The valpo athletics twitter account posted a link today promoting the 5 game ticket plan.  If you click the link it takes you to the ticket site where it says nothing about how to buy the ticket plan.  If you call the ticket office number during the hours they are open it goes straight to a ladies voice mail each and every time.

[justducky]

So I tried to buy the 5 game ticket plan. 

And I didn't even know there was a 5 game ticket plan! There is a problem here somewhere!

[historyman]

I believe Hugh Greenwood is an Australian and former teammate of Rowdy.  As for losing to St. Louis by 1 or 2 last year, the difference THIS year is that those freshman starters are now sophomores and we all can see how that is going now.  Valpo by 7, 67-60

Hugh Greenwood is from the same place as Cameron Witt--Tasmania, part of Australia.

http://www.golobos.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=87115&SPSID=616933

Yes, he knew Rowdy from his time at the Australian Institute of Sport.

http://www.golobos.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=616933&SPID=87115&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=26000&ATCLID=209076503&Q_SEASON=2014

[StlVUFan]

So I tried to buy the 5 game ticket plan.

And I didn't even know there was a 5 game ticket plan! There is a problem here somewhere!

They called me earlier this week asking if I was interested.

[covufan]

Is there an update on ticket sales for the Loss Lobos game?

[vu72]

Is there an update on ticket sales for the Loss Lobos game?

Just checked and if my count is right there are still 103 seats available in the chairbacks and 182 in the reserved seating.  Upstairs I would guess about 100 seats sold at this point.  That, obviously is where the walk=up sales will be.  So if the lower level ends up sold out that is about 2500 seats (my guess).  If we get to 500 in the upper deck that gets to about 3000, plus students.  My guess at this point is about 3500.  Not good for a team of this quality. 

Is this a "guarantee" game for New Mexico or do we keep ours and they keep theirs?