The Victory Bell/Arch Madness coverage

[BCPanther]

Paul did a good job of allowing that some of his observations might have rational explanations if further researched.
Other than that he did a great job of insulting nearly everybody including Valpo fans like myself who have gone soft on buying in that Valpo might be back. I think he even hinted criticism that Roger Powell was a bit slow in adjusting to the players he has instead of the players he wants and needs for his style of play.

No matter but the Valpo haters and critics on this board (which is many of you) may need to adjust to a new and perhaps painful reality if Roger can hold on to talent he has assembled and add a big. Valpo is oh so close to springing towards the top.

Let's see if he can hold the roster before we start making proclamations. Also, three days, while catching two teams with the flu, doesn't exactly make up for going 6-14.

[tribecalledquest]

Paul did a good job of allowing that some of his observations might have rational explanations if further researched.
Other than that he did a great job of insulting nearly everybody including Valpo fans like myself who have gone soft on buying in that Valpo might be back. I think he even hinted criticism that Roger Powell was a bit slow in adjusting to the players he has instead of the players he wants and needs for his style of play.

No matter but the Valpo haters and critics on this board (which is many of you) may need to adjust to a new and perhaps painful reality if Roger can hold on to talent he has assembled and add a big. Valpo is oh so close to springing towards the top.

Let's see if he can hold the roster before we start making proclamations. Also, three days, while catching two teams with the flu, doesn't exactly make up for going 6-14.

No kidding.

Are some of us here too critical of Valpo? Possibly. But maybe some of us have been following this league far longer than any Valpo fan or Paul Oren ever has. Seeing a team have a good weekend there while being a major underdog has not been some precursor to future success. Valpo didn't invent that this weekend. Two wins in STL doesn't make up for finishing 11th. Sorry, it doesn't.

Paul calling All Wright the best player he has ever seen was high comedy.

[bradley_townie]

I've always like Paul. He is a great storyteller and tells it like it is.

But man, I think it was a bad look to call out Bradley fans because of a few idiots in his Twitter mentions and his perception of how they were cheering during the Darius injury. Powell was HOT and going after the ref for like a minute while his injured player was on the floor. Bradley fans were reacting to Powell and wanted a T. Every fanbase of every school would react in that same situation when they see the opposing coach screaming in the ref's face.

If only he were here during the Wichita/Creighton days and saw how crazy belligerent some of those fans were.

And some of his complaining about the refs "The league has a vested interest in a Drake/Bradley final" is borderline conspiracy theory stuff I wouldn't expect from a beat writer. I am sure some of it was just him blowing off steam after an emotional weekend.

[TylerDurden]

Paul did a good job of allowing that some of his observations might have rational explanations if further researched.
Other than that he did a great job of insulting nearly everybody including Valpo fans like myself who have gone soft on buying in that Valpo might be back. I think he even hinted criticism that Roger Powell was a bit slow in adjusting to the players he has instead of the players he wants and needs for his style of play.

No matter but the Valpo haters and critics on this board (which is many of you) may need to adjust to a new and perhaps painful reality if Roger can hold on to talent he has assembled and add a big. Valpo is oh so close to springing towards the top.

I'm the only Verified Valpo Hater on this board. It's in my signature, after all.

It's perfectly understandable that you're excited because of what just happened in St. Louis. But the season happened and Valpo actually lowered its all-time MVC winning percentage this year.

The fighting lighthouses have now won 32.7% (rounding up) of MVC games since they joined. That isn't good.

It's also notable (and has been mentioned here) that the league was absolutely cleared out last off season. It wasn't full of great teams this year. Even at that, there was a clear separation at the top. Drake was easily the best team, followed by Bradley and UNI. Belmont was sort of its own tier - noteworthy because they lost more than anyone else - and then everyone else was basically the same.

Somehow, despite all of that, Valpo managed to finish alone in 11th, two games behind 10th place.

Even if we ignore that because of two wins in St. Louis and proclaim Valpo on the come up, the new reality of college basketball suggests that the MVC is going to be raided again this offseason. So sure, if Valpo is the team who keeps all of its players and the rest of the league has a bunch of unknowns, I'm sure they'll be picked to finished higher than 11th place next season and might even find a way to .500 in league play.

But as I've said before, the on-court stuff isn't what concerns me about Valpo. I want them to win games. My concern with Valpo is its lack of institutional capacity, crappy infrastructure and the horrendous color scheme.

[Chuck A]

I do think Paul made good points on Belmont (Ian Clark) and UIC (Kenny Williams) having Legend banners on the Arch Madness concourse but not Valpo. (Note: Paul didn’t mention it, but Murray State’s Popeye Jones has a banner too.)

If Ian Clark has a banner, Homer Drew obviously should have one.

It’s a little detail I think most people would just let roll off their backs, but Paul’s emotionally invested in and bleeds Valpo Gold, so that hits home to him when he sees Valpo not represented.

My take on this is that the League office is still being petty and letting Valpo know it. The Crusaders/Beacons made promises to the Expansion Committee, that to this day have not been followed through on. No one likes to be lied to especially if you're now one of the teams/athletic departments that's been an anchor for a number of years. It's a message to Valpo that the Valley hasn't forgotten your deception in getting into this League.

[MovingScreenOfDeath]

My take on this is that the League office is still being petty and letting Valpo know it

This is absolutely NOT the case. Occam's razor - they didn't have a Valpo banner because one wasn't available or nobody remembered to ask for one. There are so many things the Valley leadership needs to be working on, like asking CBS why we missed the first 4 minutes of the championship game, if they're sitting around snickering about not hanging a Valpo banner because they never built a new arena they need to get their priorities in order.

[just ducky]

Vast difference between what I would perceive to be a too shallow administrative assurance and a "deliberate deception". Even if it was the later who exactly who is still at Valpo would you like to blame? Meanwhile Roger Powell is toiling with his quality staff to glue back the pieces of a once highly respected program.

I sometimes regret that the 2020 Valpo run from the losers bracket to the championship game vs Bradley ever happened. It only delayed the housecleaning to the point of gutting everything.

[DUBulldog]

Oren had a follow up tweet this afternoon where he mentioned that he had great conversations with people at MVC, and that they were first class all the way

[TylerDurden]

Oren had a follow up tweet this afternoon where he mentioned that he had great conversations with people at MVC, and that they were first class all the way

They always have been first class and very hospitable.

They don't do petty Horizon League s*** like not hang banners out of spite.

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

I listened to this. I can’t say I disagree with everything he said, but it was an awful lot of whining. A reporter talking about the refs? Conspiring against Valpo to get a Bradley Drake Championship. Really? People complain all the time about refs, and sometimes rightfully so. But people involved should be better than that. Leave that to the fans.

He’s right about some people not wanting Valpo in this league. I’m one of them. They suck every year and start handing out Q4 losses come tournament time every year and it is horrible for the conference. Good for them for making runs in STL (something SIU can’t seem to ever do) but when you suck all year, it’s actually bad for our league.

And no, an 11th place team who had a good weekend doesn’t mean that you’re primed to be a great team next year if they stay. Outside of one nice hot streak for SIU, we were 1-10 (January 11-February 8) in conference play and yet we still finished 2 games above them.