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Post by granny on May 3, 2010 10:15:46 GMT -5
First, I will say I am a Valpo SB fan. With that said, I feel that Horizon league softball is the toughest of all sports from a competitive standpoint. With 6-7 quality programs year in & year out.
What do you all think basketball? VB ?
Are all sports tougher in Horizon vs. old mid-con or new Summit conference ?
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Post by valpo89 on May 3, 2010 10:25:27 GMT -5
Excellent question granny. I'll be interested to see some responses.
I'm not familiar enough with sports outside of basketball, but I'd say across the board the Horizon is stronger in all sports. Baseball may be a toss up, only because Oral Roberts was so good and brought up the strength of the Mid-Con.
I'd say in men's basketball it was pretty strong this year. Don't think any Horizon softball teams will make it to the championship game - and teams 2-9 could all knock each other off on a given night (and pretty much did).
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Post by granny on May 3, 2010 10:36:00 GMT -5
Excellent question granny. I'll be interested to see some responses. I'm not familiar enough with sports outside of basketball, but I'd say across the board the Horizon is stronger in all sports. Baseball may be a toss up, only because Oral Roberts was so good and brought up the strength of the Mid-Con. I'd say in men's basketball it was pretty strong this year. Don't think any Horizon softball teams will make it to the championship game - and teams 2-9 could all knock each other off on a given night (and pretty much did). Good points, Basketball was pretty much a one horse show this year. SB is tough because of the # of tough teams, even a couple with overall losing record play a mean schedule,ex UIC/Wright State.You are probably right on going to the championships in SB,weather/$$/facilities have a little to do with that. I do think a few years back UIC advanced in the tourney a bit. VB might be tough, but I'm not in the know- we certainly have a good program. |
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Post by vu72 on May 3, 2010 11:05:20 GMT -5
It's difficult to get rankings on many sports but I found a few things that may be interesting.
Men's basketball had an rpi ranking (our conference) of 14 versus the Summit's ranking of 23
Women's basketball had a conference ranking of 19 versus the Summit's of 30
Last year the Horizon had a softball ranking of 22 v.the Summit's rank of 25.
I couldn't find conference rankings for volleyball or baseball but guess they are pretty close to each other in those sports.
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Post by valporun on May 3, 2010 12:21:37 GMT -5
Whatever sports you rank, we don't match up at all as a team in track in either conference. Cross Country is starting to look the same way, and I'm not sure if these sports suffer because of coaching, recruiting, or facilities, but we haven't been very competitive in either sport since, what year did we last have a real competitive track team? We have had good individuals, but nothing extremely spectacular on the team side. Looking at the results from this weekend's HL Outdoor Conference Championships, the men scored 37 points, and Vinny Liuzzo was the conference champion in javelin, and we had a couple other point scorers, mostly in the jumps and throws, but nothing spectacular besides. We were 7th out of 7.
The women scored a whopping 2 points! This came in a 6th place finish in the 800 by Alyssa Bradford, otherwise, we weren't competitive in anything, considering how small the roster was for the women's team. We had no one in the sprint events, the 100, 200, 400, 100HH hurdles. No jumpers that did anything special, and our throwers weren't competitive either.
My major question for track is what happened to the pole vaulter we signed from Lake Central? She was on the roster, and I think she competed once then she was non-existent in any results.
The only problem I could think we have with cross country is that we're always too young, or lack the mileage that is needed in the summer to do much of anything with. The dedication seems to be down in that area, and there could be a lot of factors in that, but the mileage is necessary to be able to handle a 5 mile (8K) race on a consistent basis.
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Post by valpo89 on May 3, 2010 12:57:06 GMT -5
valporun, I'm thinking the lack of a track hurts as well, along with the fact there's only a limited number of scholarships to divide up among recruits (I'm sure you don't need to be told that).
I'm a little disappointed in how the track and cross country programs have compared to their opponents, because I've got a son in 8th grade who has potential to run in college if he stays with it and works hard.
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Post by valporun on May 3, 2010 15:11:19 GMT -5
valporun, I'm thinking the lack of a track hurts as well, along with the fact there's only a limited number of scholarships to divide up among recruits (I'm sure you don't need to be told that). I'm a little disappointed in how the track and cross country programs have compared to their opponents, because I've got a son in 8th grade who has potential to run in college if he stays with it and works hard. I wish your son the best in his track career. Valpo not only hurts from the lack of true indoor and outdoor track facilities, but also.. for the entire program, they have a grand total of 2 scholarships to use for cross country or track. Most years, these scholarship options don't get used because we just can't get the kids that could really help bring the program up out of the basement. |
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Post by granny on May 3, 2010 17:13:06 GMT -5
I think a lot of tracks problem is facilities.
How do d-3 schools like Wartburg[Lutheran] have one of the top CC & both M/W track programs in the US. Just look at their facilities & you will see the reason.
And don't say they are d-3, I would say they would do very well in both CC/MWT in the Horizon, might win cc.
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Post by kkgrad on May 3, 2010 21:00:13 GMT -5
Toughest (meaning the one with the most teams that can compete on a national level) would have to be MBB. Nationally ranked team goes to a final 4, plus a few others with a shot at post season play. Men's soccer is another. Multiple NCAA teams (with only 48 in NCAA tourney field in men's soccer) every year out of the HL, and four out of nine HL teams have been ranked in the national top 25 at some point in last five years with some years having two or three ranked during the season. I don't follow the gals sports as closely but it seems these to sports have to be among the toughest of HL sports.
Most competitive might be another story. You could have 6 or 8 softball teams for example beating each other up every year. Not sure how many of those will go on to NCAA tournament play though. I guess the question is somewhat subjective. Whatever the answer, the HL is definitely a step up from the old Mid Con.
Track and swimming don't make much sense to me for Valpo. The pool is too small and there is no track to run on. Could they use local facilities ie. a HS or community track or pool?
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Post by valporun on May 3, 2010 22:01:18 GMT -5
kkgrad, the track teams will go over to Valpo High, Washington Township, or Ben Franklin Middle School to get on a track for some work. The distance team would often use the track at Thomas Jefferson Middle, before that was cemented to become a parking lot around the football field. Otherwise, we'd find a neighborhood we could do workouts at, or some nice, spatial grassy field in the Valpo area. Fairgrounds Park was a common spot for the cross country team to do some repeats on too.
I can only conceivably see the track portion of the TIFF project being final once the track team has shown some interest in improving their dedication and position at the conference meets. For this to happen any earlier means a stronger push from the coaching staff, or an individual donor who supports the finish of the track on their own.
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