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Post by vufan75 on Oct 24, 2007 19:12:50 GMT -5
In a Q & A about teams in the HL on 10-17-07, from csu.vikings.com, CSU head coach Gary Waters responded to a question about Valpo entering the HL:
Q. What do you think of Valparaiso coming into the league?
A. I think they are going to be highly competitive. It changes the dynamic of the league. It's a tough place to play. They get those foreign kids who are big, tough, and athletic. They are going to struggle with the toughness of this league now but they will adjust and be fine.
Hope he is right about being highly competitive in the HL, and soon. Although I'd like to be wrong, I'm expecting a middle of the pack finish in the regular season, as the HL to me is a deeper league, with no Chicago States or Centenary to get wins from. In the HL tourney, who knows, as seeding and getting some home games would be extremely important to advancing.
Physicality, does anyone who has followed the HL have any opinions as to the physical nature of the HL, and whether the HL allows more physical play than the Mid-Con did? As I've watched college games, it seems to me that the higher profile conferences allow more physical play than mid-major conferences do? Anyone else feel that way?
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Post by bigdwsu on Oct 24, 2007 21:52:05 GMT -5
Physicality, does anyone who has followed the HL have any opinions as to the physical nature of the HL, and whether the HL allows more physical play than the Mid-Con did? As I've watched college games, it seems to me that the higher profile conferences allow more physical play than mid-major conferences do? Anyone else feel that way? HL officials suck and are very inconsistent from game to game in how they call games. I've watched games where they call every touch foul in one half and almost let some guys beat the crap out of each other in the second half. They are very inconsistent and not good at all. In general, the home team always gets the advantage in calls. Upperclassmen and star players are also given alot of phantom calls by our officials. Get used to watching Butler players "flop" and picking up 2-3 BS fouls every game. It drives the rest of the league nuts. |
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Post by vurunner on Oct 25, 2007 1:42:14 GMT -5
sounds strangely familiar, except instead of ORU getting all the calls its Butler...hmm, maybe the adjustment wont be so hard afterall. haha
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Post by stlvufan on Oct 25, 2007 19:25:53 GMT -5
In a Q & A about teams in the HL on 10-17-07, from csu.vikings.com, CSU head coach Gary Waters responded to a question about Valpo entering the HL: Q. What do you think of Valparaiso coming into the league? A. I think they are going to be highly competitive. It changes the dynamic of the league. It's a tough place to play. They get those foreign kids who are big, tough, and athletic. They are going to struggle with the toughness of this league now but they will adjust and be fine. This sorta sounds like a coach who is making observations about a Valpo team from 2001 or so. Maybe "big, tough, and athletic" still describes the foreign recruits we get now, but I'm not so sure, and I'm quite sure it is not something that makes us "stand out in the crowd" anymore. I sure hope he's right about one thing, though: "It's a tough place to play." Even there, I bet he's thinking primarily of things like the Marquette game last year. Hopefully there will be a lot more seats filled for conference games this year, but I wouldn't be too surprised if the YSU game (for example) isn't a bit reminiscent of past games against -- I don't know, WIU maybe? If the YSU game can come close to our ORU games (attendance, noise, etc.), we'll be doing very good. |
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Post by Valpower on Oct 25, 2007 20:47:07 GMT -5
In a Q & A about teams in the HL on 10-17-07, from csu.vikings.com, CSU head coach Gary Waters responded to a question about Valpo entering the HL: Q. What do you think of Valparaiso coming into the league? A. I think they are going to be highly competitive. It changes the dynamic of the league. It's a tough place to play. They get those foreign kids who are big, tough, and athletic. They are going to struggle with the toughness of this league now but they will adjust and be fine. This sorta sounds like a coach who is making observations about a Valpo team from 2001 or so. Maybe "big, tough, and athletic" still describes the foreign recruits we get now, but I'm not so sure, and I'm quite sure it is not something that makes us "stand out in the crowd" anymore. Yeah, I'm not sure what the "foreign" part has to do with anything without his explaining it (though I think he's expressing some distaste). It'd be like saying that Butler will be tough because of those white kids who shoot the ball and pass so well. |
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Post by chucka on Oct 30, 2007 13:08:11 GMT -5
Physicality, does anyone who has followed the HL have any opinions as to the physical nature of the HL, and whether the HL allows more physical play than the Mid-Con did? As I've watched college games, it seems to me that the higher profile conferences allow more physical play than mid-major conferences do? Anyone else feel that way? HL officials suck and are very inconsistent from game to game in how they call games. I've watched games where they call every touch foul in one half and almost let some guys beat the crap out of each other in the second half. They are very inconsistent and not good at all. In general, the home team always gets the advantage in calls. Upperclassmen and star players are also given alot of phantom calls by our officials. Get used to watching Butler players "flop" and picking up 2-3 BS fouls every game. It drives the rest of the league nuts. I actually expected this sentiment from a Loyola fan because they're always whining about the officiating in this league. To answer your question vufan75, by and large the HL is a mini-Big Ten/Big East league in terms of physicality. Eventhough we have been a guard oriented league for quite some time, there is still quite a bit of banging among the teams. The officiating is not really that bad...except of course if you're from Loyola or Milwaukee (at least when Bruce Pearl was coaching them). |
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Post by rlh on Oct 30, 2007 13:13:16 GMT -5
Every league thinks their officiating is the worst....actually, when you slow down the film, it's amazing how often the officials are absolutely correct.....b ut it gives us fans something to talk about
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Post by bballraider on Oct 31, 2007 1:52:59 GMT -5
It's true, not all the HL refs are bad, some are actually ok, the problem is there are a few that are just terrible and the problem is the more experienced refs in the league try to be the more dominant ones in the game, and the HLs bad luck is the ones that have been around the HL the longest are actually the ones that tend to have more bad nights than good, and they overshadow the other good refs.
As far as being a physical league, it varies with the refs of course. Some of the HL refs are also refs in the big ten and allow a lot more contact, others also ref the smaller leagues and call tick tack stuff inside. Every night can be different, it kind of depends on the rotation of the refs, and what kind of mood they are in. They give the better players the calls more often then not. This could work against Valpo if the refs do not know the players yet, as they could get more 50/50 calls going against them this first year.
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Post by grizz on Oct 31, 2007 18:11:59 GMT -5
Waters is full of ****. Oakland has played many of these teams and so has Valpo. Valpos teams of the early 2000's would have won or competed for the horizon title. The top one or two teams in the mid-con were every bit as good as the top of the horizon. It's starting from 3 or 4 that the difference takes place. Oakland has a winning record against the horizon league over the past several years and so does Valpo. Didn't Valpo beat the Bruce Pearl team that went to the sweet 16? I somehow remember Valpo beating them, may not have been that year?  ??If Valpo struggles this year it's because Valpo is not as good as the Grafts/Barton teams. |
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Post by ValpoHoops on Oct 31, 2007 18:13:47 GMT -5
Yes we did. It was early in the year.
Jarryd Loyd made the second of two free throws with 1.8 seconds left.
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Post by bigdwsu on Oct 31, 2007 18:53:48 GMT -5
Waters is full of s**t. Oakland has played many of these teams and so has Valpo. Valpos teams of the early 2000's would have won or competed for the horizon title. The top one or two teams in the mid-con were every bit as good as the top of the horizon. It's starting from 3 or 4 that the difference takes place. Oakland has a winning record against the horizon league over the past several years and so does Valpo. Didn't Valpo beat the Bruce Pearl team that went to the sweet 16? I somehow remember Valpo beating them, may not have been that year? ??If Valpo struggles this year it's because Valpo is not as good as the Grafts/Barton teams. 2007: 0-1 Lost to (2) Butler 60-47 2006: 0-0 2005: 1-1 Beat (1) UWM 72-71, Lost to (7) Butler 72-69 2004: 0-2 Lost to (1) UWM 86-82, Lost to (7) Loyola 76-69 2003: 0-2 Lost to (2) UWM 75-61, Lost to (4) Loyola 80-62 2002: 2-0 Beat (3) UWM 82-69, Beat (9) YSU 80-50 2001: 0-1 Lost to (5) UWM 61-59 2000: 0-0 Total: 3-7 |
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Post by wh on Oct 31, 2007 19:26:42 GMT -5
Oakland has a winning record against the horizon league over the past several years and so does Valpo. 2007: 0-1 Lost to (2) Butler 60-47 2006: 0-0 2005: 1-1 Beat (1) UWM 72-71, Lost to (7) Butler 72-69 2004: 0-2 Lost to (1) UWM 86-82, Lost to (7) Loyola 76-69 2003: 0-2 Lost to (2) UWM 75-61, Lost to (4) Loyola 80-62 2002: 2-0 Beat (3) UWM 82-69, Beat (9) YSU 80-50 2001: 0-1 Lost to (5) UWM 61-59 2000: 0-0 Total: 3-7 There's always one person in every crowd that has to offer up indisputable facts to throw cold water on a good debate.  |
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Post by grizz on Oct 31, 2007 21:12:59 GMT -5
Oaklands Record:
06-07-Green Bay (won) 74-57
UW-M (won) 76-70
05-06 UW-M (lost) 60-83
04-05 none
03-04 UIC (won) 79-66
Det (lost) 60-76
YSU (won) 70-67
02-03 YSU (won) 75-70
01-02 Det (won) 93-67
Records 6-2
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Post by valpotx on Nov 1, 2007 10:07:00 GMT -5
Don't worry, we will improve that record against the HL starting this year ;-), and will be a top team in a few short years
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Post by bigdwsu on Nov 1, 2007 18:55:03 GMT -5
Oaklands Record: 06-07-Green Bay (won) 74-57 UW-M (won) 76-70 05-06 UW-M (lost) 60-83 04-05 none 03-04 UIC (won) 79-66 Det (lost) 60-76 YSU (won) 70-67 02-03 YSU (won) 75-70 01-02 Det (won) 93-67 Records 6-2 Try again. You missed some games and years from your original post. Oakland vs the HL: 2007: 2-0, Beat (4) UWGB and (7) UWM 2006: 0-1, Lost to (1) UWM 2005: 0-0 2004: 2-1, Beat (2) UIC and (8) YSU, lost to (4) Detroit 2003: 1-0, Beat (7) YSU 2002: 1-1, Beat (2) Detroit, Lost to (4) WSU 2001: 1-1, Beat (4) WSU, Lost to (2) Detroit 2000: 0-2, Lost to (2) CSU and (9) Loyola Total: 7-6 I hate to break it to you, but going 7-6 wouldn't make you a contender in the HL. |
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??If Valpo struggles this year it's because Valpo is not as good as the Grafts/Barton teams.