Thursday, June 27, 2024

From The Arch to Dayton with a Grizzlie Celebration in Indy

This year’s personal March Odyssey was extra special for me because in Indianapolis, I got to crash Oakland University's title celebration on Tuesday night.  A little background seems in order…

Where It Started

It was a gloomy Monday morning for a Valpo fan, though the weather was bright and sunny in downtown Tulsa in early March of 2005.  You see, we were used to being the Kings of the Mid-Con.  I was later to that party than most Valpo fans, but I’m sure I was still struggling to process getting bounced in the quarterfinals.  The Men had been in every title game going back at least a decade, and the Women had been there each of the previous 3 years.  I suppose it is possible I was headed over to the UMAC (Union Multipurpose Athletic Complex) for the women’s semifinals because I wasn’t used to having to think about going home early.  By the way, I wasn’t the only Valpo fan by far who was doing the same.

Looking back on it 19 years later, I’d rather say that I had become hooked on conference tournament basketball – once a year, go somewhere for 4 or 5 days and just pig out on elimination basketball.  Because, except for 8 years in the Horizon League, that’s what I’ve done every single year since, through thick and thin Valpo-wise.

Or perhaps it was because that Monday morning as I scanned the lobby of my hotel for Mid-Con celebrities, Greg Kampe, coach of the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, noticed me and waved for me to come over.  Let me set some context here.

Picture a Valpo fan, whose team at the time was 15-0 lifetime against Oakland, parading around in a 2004 championship T-shirt with Valpo all over it, being summoned to a chat with the coach of that Oakland team.  Why? is a question I imagined going through the minds of any Golden Grizzlies fan who might have spied this chance encounter.  We talked about anything and everything.  He shared an embarrassing and amusing anecdote regarding a mishap with their practice jerseys.  We revisited the surprising first round exit he presided over 2 years prior in Kansas City.  He related his view of our game against Chicago State, including Homer Drew’s desperate attempt to find the one ref who was unfamiliar with him and get him to T him up, which did succeed in getting his team back into contention to advance (we still ended up losing by 5).  We must have chatted for 20 minutes or so before I (hopefully) thanked him for the conversation and headed over to the UMAC.  My own attempt to answer the Why question has only ever led to the first thing he said to me, something about “I see you at this thing every year.”  I can only guess I was flattered beyond reason.

Anyway, the championship game the following night between Oakland and Oral Roberts (ORU) was, up until a few years ago, the most breathtakingly exciting championship game I have ever attended in person.  Not the best, not the most well-played, and certainly not the most personally gratifying one for me as a Valpo fan.  Simply the most exciting one.  For two hours I literally forgot about the outside world.  I was on pins and needles, sitting with another Valpo fan about 5 or 6 rows behind the Oakland bench, in the midst of a 6000 seat arena packed to the gills with ORU fans (ORU is located in Tulsa).  I could mutter play-by-play in a low voice as the game went on, secure in the belief that no one around me would be the least bit aware.  That’s how electric it was.  Ironically, I don’t remember a single event in the game except for the winning basket.

In the years since, I have regularly exchanged emails with Coach Kampe, got him to bring one of his bobble-heads to Tulsa in 2007 (which he autographed and then gifted to me), and any time I told him I was going to pay a visit to the O’Rena, he would have ticket(s) waiting for me at Will-Call.  When Oakland finally paid a visit to the ARC in December of 2011 (Bryce Drew’s first year as head coach), and then Oakland joined the Horizon League, I would try my best to get to the ARC an hour before tipoff and would always be able to say hi and chat with him.  Mind you, I was far from the only Valpo fan who he would exchange pleasantries with.  Greg Kampe is one of a kind.

All of which is to say that this year’s annual March Odyssey will forever be known as the Oakland trip, with the bonus of sitting at home (because after 32 games in 14 days at 4 different venues, I am DONE) and thoroughly enjoying Oakland’s victory over Kentucky.  Like Oakland fans, it may take me awhile to find enjoyment in their OT loss to NC State.  But my journey hit its peak, its climax on a Tuesday night in Indianapolis at Indiana Farmer’s Coliseum when Oakland finally won their first Horizon League tournament championship.  More on that special night later.

A Plethora of Starting Points

I noticed everywhere I went in my 2 week College Basketball postseason journey, all 4 places declared themselves to be a starting point.

At the Enterprise Center at Arch Madness, before every game came the booming pronouncement: "March: it starts here!"  When I got to Indianapolis, every session (or every game, I can't remember) began with "March Starts Here!".  In Moline, Illinois at Vibrant Arena at the Mark, every game began with "March: it starts here!" (same conference and announcer as Arch Madness, but women this time, so not too surprising).  And the First Four at University of Dayton Arena is the start of the NCAA Tournament, contrary to the opinion of field-of-64-traditionalists.

More to the point, every one of these events (and many others just like it around the country) is a starting point for every team.  And, it is very American to think that "March" is all about you, and nobody else, even if every other team gets to view it the same way.  It's all in the spirit of friendly - but fiery - competition, you see.

Arch Madness

One of my joys every year is hanging out with a bunch of Valpo fans.  This year was no exception (Four of them came down from Valpo, two came from Florida):


I also found a Valpo High School classmate and three of us took a picture.  This must have been during the Valpo-Belmont game as I am wearing my bluetooth earbuds listening to the Valpo radio play-by-play.
From the VHS class of 1976, left to right: me, Mel Doering, and Phil Koenig

Day 1

Traditionally, MVC fans are lucky if day 1 is filled with excitement, especially now that the bottom 8 teams have to play on this day.  We have now had two years of experience with 4 games on Thursday, and 5 vs. 12 has been a sleepy blowout each year.

Missouri State (9) vs. Murray State (8)

It started out favoring the Bears, but I assumed that the Racers would recover and turn it into a competitive game.  After all, this should be the closest of all the Thursday games, according to the seeds.

For a short time, it looked like they would recover.  The Bears got sloppy with their passes, and the Racers tightened up on defense.  Of course, that only made it 11-8.

The Bears adjusted and the Racers had some awful turnovers that led to fast break points.  At the under 4 media timeout, the score was 20-13, so Missouri State took their sweet time turning this into a route, but by this point, it was beginning to be obvious.

I felt especially bad for the Racers fan during that timeout who did not know that Ja Morant's jersey number with the Memphis Grizzlies was 12.  Not only that, he had to endure the ridicule of Todd Thomas, aka "That One Guy" who grabs the mic for the fan contests while the teams are huddling and the fans at home are being subjected to commercials.

Ouch.  By the way, Wyatt Wheeler, the Missouri State beat writer, covered the game from home because the Springfield News-Leader decided it wasn't worth sending him to St. Louis.  Welcome to mid-major sports coverage in 2024, folks.
 
The second half was a struggle just to avoid a massive blowout, and even that failed.  The Racers did manage an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 12, and later managed to cut it to 11, but then they completely ran out of steam.

Given the Racers’ struggles during the conference season with building big leads and then letting them slip through their fingers, it was disheartening to see them be unable to even compete in this game.  There is wide consensus throughout the MVC that Murray State is an outstanding addition to the conference.

I’m not sure if the same was being said about Valpo in 2017, but it seems possible.  I hope that Murray State is not headed for the same struggles that Valpo has been through.

Valpo (12) vs. Belmont (5)

Not much to say on this one.  Belmont won by 25, losing the 2nd half by 1 because they rested their starters for much of it.  Valpo played awful, but plenty of credit for that goes to Belmont who is just a horrible matchup for the Beacons.
 
With almost a completely brand new roster and a new coach, this season was set up to be a complete failure for Valpo.  It is hard for me to be mad about that.  Much like Illinois State under their first year with Ryan Pedon as head coach, I was determined not to get bent out of shape about the W-L record – this year.  Next year, I sure hope things get better.

Evansville (10) vs. Illinois State (7)

For the first time in my life, I witnessed Evansville win an Arch Madness game in person.  That was good to see.  It was also a close game and therefore much more fun than the two afternoon games.
 
It was a defensive struggle.  Evansville lead ISU 25-21 at halftime.  The second half was equally tense, but the Aces held on for the win.

UIC (11) vs. Southern Illinois (6)

A typical UIC game this season: build a good lead in 1st half, fritter it away in 2nd half, fight back to force overtime, build lead in 1st OT, fritter it away, survive to second OT, almost lose grip again, but then:

Player of the game.  SIU had no answer.  None.

During the second half, this guy stopped by to say hi (New Mexico State fan I met last year at Arch Madness):


This year he was in the company of some UNI fans who were friends of his.  Also, since NMSU had switched to Conference USA, he was on his way to their conference tournament somewhere east of the Mississippi river.

Also, after the day was complete, an SIU fan reached out to me outside the Enterprise Center (after his team just suffered a brutal loss) to say he appreciated that I'm there for the tournament every year (apparently I'm recognizable) even though Valpo is struggling right now.  I was flattered beyond reason.  I love a conference tournament I can attend in person.  This is why I hate campus site tournaments.  And I am grateful to be appreciated like that.

Day 2

Missouri State (9) vs. Indiana State (1)

Interesting game.  The Trees typically run a short rotation.  A deeper team might wear them down, though that may be somewhat illusory if ISU is actually not afraid to go deeper when necessary.

ISU threatened to run away with it midway through first half, but the Bears recovered to make it a tight game at halftime, trailing 34-31.

The Bears were assessed 2 techs in the half, one for excessive hanging on the rim and one for taunting.  On the other hand, ISU had trouble at the rim, with several layups rejected by MSU shot blockers.

The Trees started the 2nd half strong.  It still took awhile for them to put MSU away for good, but they ended up winning 75-59.

The Carnage begins

During the game, Jeff Goodman reported that SIU was going to dismiss Bryan Mullins with 1 year remaining on his contract.  This was at least the 4th straight year Arch Madness ended a coaching career.  Greg Lansing was let go by Indiana State after losing to Missouri State in the 2021 semifinals.  Todd Licklighter was let go by Evansville after losing to Valpo in the 2022 opening round.  Matt Lottich was let go by Valpo after losing to Murray State in the 2023 opening round.
 
At the time, I knew (really everyone did) that Missouri State's Dana Ford was probably on the hot seat.  Indeed, by the end of Arch Madness, Dana Ford has also been fired.  Perhaps the most inexplicable firing (to me at least) was Luke Yakelich being let go by UIC.  I still don't understand that one.

Then of course, Darien DeVries got snatched up by WVU because Bob Huggins became toxic, and Josh Schertz got snatched up by St. Louis University because they had had enough of Travis Ford.

3 firings, 2 promotions - a total of 5 vacancies needing to be filled.  Not exactly glorious times for the MVC.

Belmont (5) vs. Northern Iowa (4)

This was an extremely competitive close game.  Belmont did not shoot as well as they did against Valpo, but Northern Iowa could never really achieve true separation.

Evansville (10) vs. Drake (2)

This game was competitive for the first five minutes or so, but then Drake pulled away and was up 21 at halftime.  Evansville never really made it a game in the second half.  Carlos Rosario took a really nasty fall in the second half and had to be helped to the locker room, but he did return to action later.  Drake was able to rest some of their regulars.

UIC (11) vs. Bradley (3)

As soon as the buzzer sounded, Wardle stomped off to the locker room ahead of his players (presumably so he could rip them a new one).

For one half, UIC made a serious play for a rematch with the team they just took to 3 OTs (Drake) toward the end of the regular season.

Then Connor Hickman happened, and then the game was effectively over.

Day 3

On my way to the Enterprise Center, I shared a Metrolink ride with a father and son pair of UNI fans.  The son (who was still school-age) was very knowledgeable for his age group.  He knew stats on the game UNI had against the Trees during the regular season.  The father and I somehow managed to get into a fascinating discussion about Martin Luther and Valpo's association with Lutheranism.  We were still going at it (not arguing, having fun) when we entered the facility, and then I had to go through the checkpoint (which is a little more complicated for me because I have a pacemaker).  By the time I was finished, he and his son had gone to their seats.  We never even got to the introductions phase.  I tried to find them during halftime and other breaks, to no avail.  I regret not asking them what section they would be in.  A very nice encounter, but I have to hope that I can run into them again next year.

I'll tell you one thing: it was a lot more fun than some of my online interactions with UNI fans have been.  That's a good reason to come to a tournament like this.  You never know what new people you might meet.

Northern Iowa (4) vs. Indiana State (1)

The better part of the first half was ISU putting on a clinic and the Panthers trying desperately to keep up.  But, UNI did dominate a couple of brief stretches to go into halftime down only (!) 11.

The Panthers' only lead came early on a wide open 3 from their big man, former Loyola Rambler Jacob Hutson.  ISU big man Robbie Avila ("hold my bear, bro") proceeded to drain 4 straight 3s, and the Trees were off and running.

Bradley (3) vs. Drake (2)

Epic showdown.  The only downside for me was sitting in a section filthy with Drake fans who kept standing up and blocking my view.
 
This was a rematch of last year's title game, which was a Drake blowout.  This year's game was much more competitive, but the Bulldogs still prevailed.

Day 4

Drake (2) vs. Indiana State (1)

This was simply a game for the ages, not because both teams were strong all the way through, but because in the end they both showed why they finished 1 and 2 in the standings.  Drake controlled the action after the opening minutes.  Indiana State was on its heels to some extent for much of the game.  Drake slowly built up an 18 point lead partway through the second half, and then finally the Trees came alive and erased the entire deficit, even taking a 2 pt lead late in the game, only to have Drake regain the lead and hang on for dear life.

I hated seeing the Sycamores come undone like that and did not want to see them get blown out like Bradley did in last year's title game.  I was also a little worried that ISU would not get an at-large if they lost.  I was glad to see that it turned out to be an exciting game, and who doesn't love seeing someone erase an 18 point lead?

Needless to say, because teams in the conferences I adore get no love on Selection Sunday, ISU did just barely miss the NCAA tournament.  Their subsequent path neatly paralleled Valpo's 2016 March agony, from the awful snub to the run to the NIT title game, to losing their outstanding coach immediately after losing that title game.  Eerie.

Horizon League Tournaments

I come to the semifinals and finals of these tournaments (both men's and women's finish up at the same venue) because I enjoyed Valpo's time in the Horizon League - which may make me unique among the Valpo fan-base.  I also got to know folks from some of the schools, and as mentioned above, one of the coaches.
 
Also, Indiana Farmer's Coliseum is a fairly comfortable venue to attend games.  I meet up every year with a couple from Green Bay and we just hang out on the mezzanine level on barstools (near where they serve the alchohol) and watch the games.  For the most part seating is general admission anyway, and the place is never standing room only, though it's never empty either.
 
I follow the conference during the regular season and even go to a handful of games every year, and maybe even say hi to a few friends along the way.

By the way, the seeding for the Men's semifinal games might look strange, but the Horizon League reseeds after every round.

Day 1

Wright State (4) vs. Cleveland State (1) (WBB)

This conference now has 2 perennial powerhouses - Cleveland State and Green Bay.  Charlie Creme at ESPN.com had Green Bay in the first four out and Cleveland State as the AQ.  I had wondered if CSU would get an at-large bid if Green Bay beat the Vikings in the title game.  Kyle Rossi told me not to count on it, because while the Vikings overall record was better, their strength of schedule was weak.  Kyle covers Horizon League Women's basketball extremely well for the HoriZone Roundtable, a site that continues to be the most dedicated source of Horizon League basketball coverage that I know of.

Anyway the Vikings were thrashing the Raiders by 30 midway through the 3rd quarter.  The game was tight for the first few minutes, but from then on it was all Vikings.  Ex-Valpo player Sara VanKempen played in this game for Wright State, coming off the bench.

Purdue Fort Wayne (3) vs. Green Bay (2) (WBB)

This game was much more even than the first one.  Green Bay had to overcome some hot shooting from Amellia Bromenschenkel and limit their turnovers in the second half to pull this one out.

Cleveland State (7) vs. Oakland (1)(MBB)

I got to say hi to Bob McDonald (managing editor of the HoriZone Roundtable) and Neal Ruhl before the game.  I rooted for Oakland to win.  Grateful to be able to say hi to coach Kampe after the game and congratulate him on the win.  It was a stressful game because (1) his team was short handed due to injuries, (2) let's just say the officiating was substandard in his estimation - so much so that he felt moved to have conversations with conference officials including the commissioner, and (3) Cleveland State is just a tough match-up for everyone.
 
Upon watching the replay, I saw one play that the broadcast made special note of.  With a 1 point lead late in the 2nd half, Blake Lampmen came around multiple screens for an easy lane to the basket.  He made the layup, but the Cleveland State player clearly grabbed Lampmen's arm on his way up.  Not only did they not call an intentional foul, they didn't call any kind of foul.  It was an atrocious missed call, and the Horizon League and Oakland have a right to expect better from referees at their conference tournament.

Milwaukee (6) vs. NKU (5)

Milwaukee was on a mission in this tournament, and they had the personality for it.  My Green Bay friends rooted wholeheartedly for NKU, but I remained neutral because I have a few friends within the Milwaukee fan-base.  Milwaukee did win this game, which meant I was able to say hi to my friend Jimmy Lemke the following night.

Day 2

Green Bay (2) vs. Cleveland State (1)(WBB)

This was the annual screaming rugrats title game (elementary school children from the Indianapolis area flooded the venue for their annual Horizon League tournament field trip).  Green Bay dominated this game almost from the start.  It seemed every shot went in for them, and Cleveland State looked shell-shocked.

Milwaukee (6) vs. Oakland (1)(MBB)

This was an awesome game, and another nerve wracking one for Greg Kampe, I'll bet.  Paul Oren of The Victory Bell decided to come down for this game (on his way to covering the Lady Beacons in Hoops In The Heartland in Moline).  He was a guest of some Valpo alums who now work for the Horizon League.  As I mentioned above, I met Kampe in 2005.  Paul covered many a Valpo-Oakland game in the Horizon League and possibly even the Mid-Con.  Paul even wrote his own story about his experience at this game: Kampe's win brings me great joy

Milwaukee was relentless, even more so than Cleveland State was in the semifinals.  They were still on a mission in this game, and it took a superlative effort by Trey Townsend and the leadership of Jack Golhke and Blake Lampen to vanquish them.

At halftime of a very close hard fought game, I ran into Paul and introduced him to the newest (to me anyway) in sports-related mixed marriages (Packers-Bears).  Honestly, they are both great friends and it was a great meet-up that culminated in a group picture taken by the ace photographer who had parked himself next to me and was shooting pictures of the action...

Left to right: Jamie Seidl, Sheri Seidl, me, Paul Oren (Photo by Skip Townsend)

... and just so happened to be Skip Townsend, father of Trey Townsend.  Dad played for Kampe 35 years ago.  I found this out because a good friend from Valpo texted me that I was on TV sitting next to Trey's dad because the broadcast wanted to highlight him.  Turns out he was taking pictures of his son in action.

This is why I do this - in part, at least - because something like this might happen, and it is very cool.  It stays with you for awhile.  I'll always remember the chance meeting and the ability to share it with friends.

After the game, and the post-game celebration including the cutting down of nets, I was allowed to go on the court and congratulate Coach Kampe and even chat with him a bit.  That too is a great privilege every time I get the chance.

Hoops In the Heartland

This tournament did not live up to the excitement of the first two I went to.  It usually doesn't.  The Drake, Illinois State, and Northern Iowa fan-bases do travel well to this tournament.  But I'm usually all by myself as far as Valpo fans are concerned.

This year, my seat was much closer to the court and other fans, but I had decided to do that anyway even if my assigned seat had been near the back.  It's no fun sitting all by yourself.

I also have to say that not every game made a strong impression on me.  For no fault of the participants, I simply don't have quite as much enthusiasm for women's basketball as I do for men's basketball.  I'm definitely interested or I wouldn't have made the trip, but it is sometimes a little harder to retain memories of a particular game.

Day 1

Indiana State (9) vs. Southern Illinois (8)

The story of this game was the 2nd quarter, when the Sycamores went on a bit of a run that gave them a 10 point lead at halftime.  Mya Glanton was a force in the paint, leading all scorers with 30 points.  The Salukis rallied in the 3rd quarter to cut the deficit to 3, but the Trees put the game away in the 4th quarter.

Evansville (12) vs. Illinois State (5)

This game carried no surprises.  The Redbirds didn't take long to exert their dominance.  Early in the 4th quarter they established a statistically safe lead, so I decided to get an early start pursuing supper at the Bent River Brewing Company on 5th Avenue.

Either before the game or at halftime, I saw someone who looked a lot like Ryan Pedon, ISU Men's coach, but I dismissed the idea.  Turns out my eyes were not deceiving me after all.

Valpo (10) vs. UIC (7)

Gutted.  For the first time since I started coming to this tournament, Valparaiso was competitive.  In fact they had the game won, but ran out of steam against UIC's superior depth.
 
Down the stretch, there were several official reviews that were irritating to those covering the game.  I happened to be tuned into the Valpo radio pbp and they were constantly standing up with hands outstretched wondering what was going on.

Bradley (11) vs. Murray State (6)

Another blowout, though it didn't start that way at all.

Day 2

Indiana State (9) vs. Drake (1)

This was a blowout too.  All game long, the Drake fan on the other side of the aisle verbally hung on every bounce of the ball and twist or turn in the action.  It was ecstasy or anguish and not much in between.

Illinois State (5) vs. Northern Iowa (4)

Strangely enough, the same fan did the same thing rooting for UNI.  He may just be someone who picks a team to root for and then goes all out.  Or, like other Drake fans also cheering for UNI, this may be an Iowa thing (both schools are located in that state).

This game was fun and exciting and even a little physical.  UNI kept trying to bury the Redbirds, but they refused to die until final buzzer.

UIC (7) vs. Belmont (2)

Game of runs early.  After trading baskets twice, Belmont ran off 8 straight points.  UIC responded with an 11-0 run of their own.  An intentional foul by UIC then sparked a 10-0 run by the Bruins. The first quarter ended with 4 straight points by UIC.

The Flames continued an 8-0 run into the second quarter before Belmont hit 2 straight 3s.  The rest of the first half was a little less streaky.

The only thing certain about the first half (to me anyway) was that UIC had no answer for Tessa Miller in the low post.

The most dramatic run came in the 4th quarter.  Belmont had a 10 point lead at the start, but it was a nail biter at crunch time.  UIC did not have the magic this time.
 
This would have been a great win for UIC.  For the second straight year, Belmont finished 2nd in the MVC.  Their men's team might have more notoriety, but their women's team is the real powerhouse.

Murray State (6) vs. Missouri State (3)

Murray State head coach Rochelle Turner was upset with the refs almost from the jump in this game.

Possibly the most exciting game of the tournament up to that point.  If Bria Sanders-Woods hits both free throws with 5 seconds to go, we might still be playing.  With the score tied at 69, the Murray State player was fouled, but missed the first free throw.  After hitting the second one, the Lady Bears called timeout, moving the ball to half court.  On the ensuing play, Lacy Stokes (who should have made the all tournament team and I assume she did) drew a foul with 1 second left and drained both free throws.

The OVC entrants have had miniscule success on the Men's side, but on the women's side, they both have more than proved their worthiness.

Day 3

Northern Iowa (4) vs. Drake (1)

Another barn burner.

It took until the 4th quarter media timeout before the UNI band finally broke out the Avengers theme song, as is their wont.  Sure enough at a timeout with 26.3 to go the Drake band countered with Blitzkrieg Bop (from Spiderman: Homecoming).

First overtime game of the tournament.

Missouri State (3) vs. Belmont (2)

Lacy Stokes was just too much for the Bruins.  Her defense was suffocating, her pursuit of loose balls was tenacious.

Day 4

Missouri State (3) vs. Drake (1)

Bracketologist at The Athletic thought the Valley had an outside shot at two bids if the Lady Bears had won this game, but they just couldn't quite pull it out.

This was a heck of a game with a thrilling/heartbreaking finish, depending on who you were rooting for.  Missouri State went ahead by 1 by hitting a bucket with about 3 seconds remaining, only to see Drake answer back with their own basket at the buzzer.

First Four

Even with something extra-special in Indy this year, the First Four in Dayton is still the best way to end my journey every year.  UD Arena is always at least 3/4s packed (and this year all 4 games featured at least one mid-major), and I get to enjoy a nice dinner at the Pine Club with guys like these: 

Clockwise from lower right: Me, Ben Case, Steve Timble, and a friend of Ben's (I neglected to get his name)

During dinner, prompted by a tweet I saw, I polled our little group, asking if any of them would make this trip if the NCAA decided to send 8 at-large bids instead of 4 at-larges and 4 auto-bids.  Every single one of us answered with an emphatic "NO!"  There have been coaches of 16 seeds who have argued that all auto-bids deserve immediate placement in the round of 64.  My counterpoint: under the current format, 4 auto-bids have a pretty decent chance to score an NCAA tournament win, which is worth money.  But for us, the whole point of coming to this event is to see smaller schools have the night all to themselves.  Even for the early games, the arena is fairly full and everyone gets into it.  The Dayton community truly supports this event.

If it was nothing but at-large teams, most of them would be from power conferences, and for these former members of the old Mid-Majority, that would be a bummer.  In fact, it would probably be enough for us to pass on the trip.

Day 1

Howard (16) vs. Wagner (16)

I often cannot decide who to root for in these games.  I don't really feel like rooting against either team.  Unless one of the teams is from the Horizon League or the MVC, I just root for a good game.

One of the oddities I remember from this game is that Wagner would struggle on offense, Howard would poke the ball into the back court, one of the Wagner guards would rush back to retrieve it, and as the shot clock wound down, he would storm into the front court and drain a 3 from the top of the key, beating the shot clock.  This happened more than once in the first half.  It's not exactly a good strategy, but hey - whatever works.

The other noteworthy item in this game is that Wagner only dressed 7 players.  They somehow dominated the first half and much of the 2nd half, but Howard stormed back all of a sudden to make it a one-possession game.  They even cut the deficit to 1 with less than 30 seconds remaining, but Wagner drained two free throws, and Howard attempted 3 shots beyond the arc but missed on all three.  It was an exciting finish to an otherwise lopsided game.

Colorado State (10) vs. Virginia (10)

Why they sent 10 seeds here this year is unknown to me.  Maybe all the 11 seeds were auto-bids.

This was ex-Drake coach Nico Medvid vs. ex-Green Bay player Tony Bennett.
 
I can't help remembering 8 years ago (2016 - the year I met Steve Timble in person) when mid-major fans reveled in Wichita State absolutely destroying Vanderbilt (who also arguably did not belong in the tournament).  As if to punish me for my enjoyment of their demise, they let Kevin Stallings go shortly thereafter, and a month later poached Bryce Drew from Valpo, beginning the slow decline of my favorite team that continues to this day.

Oh yeah, Colorado State absolutely obliterated Virginia, if you couldn't tell.  I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed it (no hate for Tony Bennett, who played for Green Bay in the Mid-Con, but when they move up to the power conferences, I lose any allegiance I might have had).  But there were plenty of knowledgeable pundits who seriously questioned the Cavs' selection for the tournament.  I would have much rather watched the Sycamores play the Rams in this game.

Day 2

Grambling State (16) vs. Montana State (16)

This game kind of snuck up on me.  It felt like a laugher for most of the first half and into the second half, but then it turned into an exciting game.  Montana State had a comfortable lead, but Grambling State started pressing mid-way through the second half, and the Bobcats started turning the ball over.  About 5 minutes later we had a barn-burner.  The Bobcats missed a contested layup with 7 seconds to go, but then they defended well on the other end, and the Tigers came up empty.  I think this was the first overtime game I ever experienced at the First Four.

In the overtime, Grambling State seized control, but it was Montana State constantly nipping at their heels, until there was about a minute and half left, when the Tigers achieved separation once and for all.

Colorado (10) vs. Boise State (10)

If Boise State had won this game, we would have had a mid-major clean sweep at the First Four, which would have been awesome.  Steve and I had the privilege of sitting just behind a row of kids (they were teens to 20s, but to this retired guy on Medicare, they're kids).  They were mugging for the camera whenever it was shooting footage of the Boise State cheerleaders just next door to us.  Some rooted for Colorado, others rooted for Boise State.  I was firmly rooting for Boise State.  The kid directly in front of me turned around during the second half and asked if I had money on the game.

"Hell no!  That takes all the fun out of it."

"I think it actually makes it more fun."

"Some do.  Not me."

"You rooting for Boise State?"

"I always root against power conference teams.  Always!"

It's pretty clear to me that all these kids had bet on the game, and that gave them a reason to root for whichever team they were rooting for.  A famous (infamous?) sports talker in Chicago years ago used to espouse the same philosophy on the air.  That's how I knew there were folks who looked at sports that way.  I don't get it, personally, but to each their own.  As a matter of fact on Tuesday night, no sooner had I sat down in my seat for the start of the Wagner-Howard game, but the young guy (you like that better?) who sat next to me immediately took out his phone and logged into Fan Duel.  I'm betting there was a lot of that at UD Arena.  If that's what people need in order to take an interest in the First Four, ... who am I to argue (I suppose)?

Alas, the Broncos could not close it out, so once again at least one power conference team advanced to the first round.
 
This was not my most favorite First Four ever, but that may be because the high point of the trip was the Horizon League Men's championship game, especially given what Oakland managed to do in Pittsburgh, which I thoroughly enjoyed at home while resting up from my adventure.  Did you remember I'm an old guy now?

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Sunday, August 13, 2023

32 games in 14 days - or How A Valpo fan has genuine fun in March

This year's theme: so what if Valpo is really down now, I can still enjoy March basketball, right?

Here's the thing about me.  When I go to a tournament, I don't just go to see Valpo play.  That comes in handy when the Beacons are going through down times (both Men's and Women's programs are really struggling right now).

1. The friends we meet along the way

Ever since I started going to conference tournaments, I have had opportunities to chat with fans from other teams in whatever conference Valpo is in.  At least once every year, I would be sitting in my seat watching one of the games, and end up talking with another fan.  For that matter, other Valpo fans were also there taking in the entire tournament just like me, so I almost always had someone to share any "wow" moments with.  Back in the Mid-Con days (2002-2007 for me), there were always at least a few Valpo fans I could hang out with in between sessions.  One year, we even opened it up to fans of other teams.  Conference tournaments are a great opportunity to meet fans from other teams.  They often turn out to be really interesting.  It helps a little if you can attend all games in person (hint, hint, Horizon League).

Sometimes, you meet fans online and then get to hang out with them at the site of your conference tournament (not to mention during regular season conference games, depending on how well fan bases travel).  This year was no exception.

At Arch Madness, I was assuming it would just be me and a few Valpo friends enjoying the games, but on Friday, I happened to notice someone I know online (@BHartyNMSU) tweeting out pictures from the Indiana State-Belmont game that was going on.  After confirming he was indeed in the house, I went to his section to meet him in person for the first time.  He was a fellow subscriber to Kyle Whelliston's Mid-Majority website (2004-2014, now resurrected under a different URL).  I have met several fellow subscribers at similar tournaments, and always treasure the connection.  If you zoom the picture a bit, you will see that he is a New Mexico State fan.  I discovered that he retired from employment with the university, and was planning to attend the WAC tournament in Vegas after Arch Madness was over.

My next stop was in Indianapolis for the Horizon League semifinals and finals at Indiana Farmers Coliseum, where I once again shared the games with some friends from Green Bay who I met back in 2014.  They have been to every conference tournament involving the Green Bay Phoenix for the past 30+ years.  This year they were heartbroken again because their women's team lost in the title game (the men's team just hired a brand new coach).

I also said hello again to the podcast hosts (BobMcDonald - @bobmcdonald and Matt Dudek - @horizone_matt) at The HoriZone Roundtable, a website that does a fantastic job of covering the Horizon League in an age where the traditional outlets are covering mid-major basketball less and less.  One of their writers does a bang-up job of covering Cleveland State Women's basketball and tries his best to cover Horizon League Women's hoops in general.  This will continue to be an annual trip for me.  On Championship Tuesday, I was even able to grab a late lunch with Matt at a nearby restaurant since there is a 4 hour gap between title games.

My next stop was Moline, Illinois for Hoops in the Heartland (MVC Women's tournament).  Last year's Tax Slayer Center is now Vibrant Arena.  This one continues to be a challenge for me, as both times I've been to this tournament I've basically been by myself.  However, this year, I did get to say hello to the Valpo sports beat writer (Paul Oren - @TVBOren), whose The Victory Bell newsletter is very good and reasonably priced.


Furthermore, at least some of the basketball is very good.  Newcomer Belmont came in as the 2 seed after finishing in a tie for first (they were picked preseason to win the regular season title).

My final stop was Dayton for the First Four, and the chance to gather again with more fellow mid-majority subscribers.  This year's traditional dinner at The Pine Club on the Dayton campus required a table for 8.

I forget some of the names, so in the interest of fairness, I won't identify anyone's name, but that's all on me.  First guy on the right runs a local pizza restaurant and has some great sports stories to share (he's squinting, not crying).  To his right is a Loyola-Chicago fan who I bumped in to at the First Four in 2016 and became fast friends with.  Next guy on the right is a guy who I believe lives in the Cincinnati area and has recently adopted the Northern Kentucky Norse as his team (though I believe he is a longtime Xavier fan).  Finally at the end on the right is the brother of the Loyola fan.

First on the left is a guy with two work phones, and I'm sorry I don't remember anything else about him.  To his left is yours truly (not to be confused with Santa Claus).  The remaining pair on the left are friends of the Xavier/Norse guy.  This is really the highlight of the trip for me every year.

The next night I was able to join two of these guys and a new friend for dinner at the Oakwood Club for another great dinner, followed by two more basketball games at the arena.

The Tuesday games were both exciting.  The Wednesday games were kind of boring, but getting to sit with these guys made it all worthwhile.  That's me in the back - you can only see my head.  The guy on the left was a new friend who came with the pizza entrepreneur (who is in front).

All in all, sharing the experience with friends makes it all worthwhile, and I look forward to doing it for as many years as I can.

2.  Thrilling games to watch

Note: There were some exciting WBB games in Indy that should be listed here.  The truth is that I did not find them as memorable because I don't appreciate WBB as much as MBB - something I am still working on.

Indiana State 94 Belmont 91 (3/3 Quarterfinal Arch Madness)

These two teams played only once during the regular season (MVC plays a 20-game schedule with 12 teams, so you play home-and-home against 9 of your rivals and single games against the other 2).  That game was played during the final week of the regular season, and Belmont won 89-88 in a thrilling comeback at home.

Apparently, that was a preview of this game.  The first media timeout happened at 13:42 in the first half.  No one came close to a shot-clock violation.  Talk about a clean game!  The Trees built two separate 6 point leads, but Belmont erased the lead each time.

The rest of the first half still saw Indiana State into the bonus, and a few dead ball turnovers, and we still got all our allotted media timeouts in, but the entire first half was still exciting.  Halftime score: ISU 49 Belmont 44.

The second half was the Cooper Neese show for the first 10 minutes, draining 3s from all over wide open or under pressure.  He was perfect or near perfect from behind the arc.  And ISU needed every single one of them.  When the Trees denied Ben Shepherd the ball, other Belmont players hit the big shots to keep the Bruins in the game.  Eventually, Belmont decided to focus on denying Neese the ball, but other Sycamore players filled the gap for him.  Neese still hit 2 more threes, one with a Belmont player's hand in his face at the top of the key.

If you were a Belmont fan, the end of the game was marred by a very questionable blocking foul call that you thought should have been a charge.  As a neutral observer, I thought it was the wrong call.  Seeing it on replay recently, I still think it was the wrong call.  But I'm sure Sycamore fans had calls that looked wrong to them, too.  All in all, it was a fantastic game.

Bradley 71 Indiana State 70 (3/4 Semifinal Arch Madness)

This game was more of a grinder game than the Belmont-ISU game.  The Sycamores did start out this game on fire from behind the arc, jumping out to a 9-2 lead and then on matching Bradley's first 3 with their 4th 3 and hearing the whistle blow, we thought it was going to be an and-one, but they got Courvoisier McCauley for a flop, which seemed iffy.  Bradley converted the free throw and then hit another 3 and we had a ball game.

From that point on, Bradley was the mouse and ISU was the cat.  Every time the mouse felt safe, the cat redoubled its efforts to catch the mouse.  There were a few lead changes in the first half, but the only lead change in the second half almost sealed the win for the #5 Sycamores.  Almost.

ISU was briefly bottled up well trying to drive the lane, but they adjusted.  Bradley tightened up their defense of ISU's 3 point shooters.  After the first 4, ISU went 4 for 18 the rest of the way.  Bradley's paint points seemed to come easier, but ISU battled for their fair share of points at the rim.

The first half ended in an interesting way.  Bradley had the ball trying to get the final score, but with 2.2 seconds left, the offensive set was going nowhere so they called timeout.  Brian Wardle called a play to clear out the right side for their senior guard to drive, but his defender fouled him.  It turned out that was only ISU's 5th foul, and it wasn't in the act of shooting.  With 0.4 left, they tried a toss and shoot, but it clanked harmlessly off the rim.  Bradley went into the locker room with a 1 point lead.

On re-watch, the CBSSN announcers marveled at how Bradley led by 1 in spite of the fact that Rienk Mast had been held scoreless.

In the second half, ISU shot 12.5 % from behind the arc, but they got to the free throw line a lot more to keep them close (and they only missed one FT out of 14).  Bradley had their way in the paint in the early part of the half and kept threatening to pull away, but Robbie Avila did his own damage in the paint on the other end.  Bradley got it up to 11 with about 13 minutes to go.  From that point, ISU did the "gain one point per minute" thing and worked their way back from the brink of elimination.  Most of their free throws came off of drives to the basket.  Actually, they still trailed by 7 with 4 minutes to go, but they ramped up the rally to make up the difference.  Robbie Avila was a beast in the paint on offense, along with Cameron Henry.

The most memorable part of the game came at the very end.  ISU got a steal down 2 with 41.6 left and called timeout in the front court.  They hit their one and only 3 of the second half (Courvoisier McCauley) and led 70-69.  Bradley brought the ball into the front court and took a time out with 34 seconds left.  They worked it into the paint and got off a shot (might have gotten away with a charge) and put up a shot that was blocked out of bounds with 18.2 seconds to go.  With about 6 seconds to go on the shot clock (12 seconds to go), the Braves put up a prayer of a shot that bounced high off the rim.  Players from both teams went for the ball, and the ISU player inadvertently committed a foul with Bradley in the bonus.  They hit both free throws.  ISU tried a last second buzzer beater, but Bradley defended it really well.  Just a real gut punch.  They had the game won and committed the unpardonable sin.  Cameron Henry was inconsolable (the foul was on him).  I felt bad for him.

Post-script: we were all looking forward to a barn-burner on Sunday, but #1 Bradley might as well not even have shown up.  #2 Drake took them to the woodshed from start to finish, winning by 26.  All in all, though, these two games were worth the price of the entire weekend.  An epic 3-pt shooting contest followed by an epic grinder.  Some of the other games were not bad, either.

Northern Kentucky 63 Cleveland State 61 (3/7 Title game Arch Madness)

These two teams each beat the other at home - in each case by 1 point in a nail-biter.  This one was likewise a close exciting game.  NKU's zone was a peculiar match-up zone.  On replay, Mark Adams (@EnthusiAdams) described it as a match-up zone driven by communication.  Sometimes they played full court, sometimes half court.  From what I could tell, the guards played zone while baseline guys sort of played man-to-man but anytime the ball went to a Vikings post player, they were ready with the double-team.  Crucially, they communicated so that teammates would move to cover the open players.  They were also consistently on the lookout for steal opportunities.

Cleveland State has continued to play with the same energy under Daniyal Robinson that they had with Dennis Gates, in spite of the fact that Gates took a couple of players with him to Mizzou.  Very high energy.  They brought their own defensive intensity to bear on the Norse.

There were plenty of "WOW" plays in this one.
  • In the first half, with Marques Warrick a few steps from the basket on the fast break, his teammate somehow threw the perfect spiral to him that managed to clear the outstretched hands of a couple of Cleveland State defenders so that he could get an easy layup.  Not too long, not too short.  Just right.
  • Early in the second half, Sam Vinson of NKU drove the lane only to be double teamed.  So, he just slipped the ball around the two defenders (threading the needle as it were) to his teammate for an easy layup.  John Kiser (March 2020 vs. Loyola) would have been proud.  Actually, Sam Vinson reminds me a lot of John Kiser, the Valpo 2017 walk-on who earned a scholarship and was instrumental in Valpo's run to the Arch Madness title game in 2020.  High IQ to compensate for lack of height and less than excellent athleticism (neither of them are to be confused with adjectives like plucky - they both are quite talented).
  • Cleveland State ended two busted offensive sets by draining a 3 at the shot clock buzzer.  Unfortunately, the first one was just a split second too late and was waived off after a review.  The second one reduced a 5 point deficit to a 2 point deficit with about 5 and a half minutes to go in the game.
  • The NKU swarming defense caused numerous turnovers that were kind of amazing.
  • In the final minutes, the Norse hosted a block party, mostly by Dwight Brandon.  He rejected one almost at the rim with 3 and a half minutes to go ("Star Wars at the rim" - Mark Adams).  NKU barely got it over the time line when CSU created a turnover of their own leading to an easy layup, except there was Dwight Brandon to reject another layup attempt ("We're not worthy!" - Mark Adams channeling Wayne and Garth).  That turned out to be a crucial 5 point swing when Sam Vinson drained a 3 from the top of the key.
  • With about 2 minutes to go, Cleveland State drained a 3 to reduce their deficit to 3.  On the ensuing possession, an NKU player got stuck near the basket with a double team and no one to pass to.  He managed to somehow get off a shot that turned out to be an air-ball.  Xavier Rhodes grabbed the offensive rebound and brought it back out, then suddenly realized the shot clock was at 3, so he hoisted one from about 25 feet.  Nothing but net.  That was more of a "Holy Crap" moment than a "WOW" moment.  Mark Adams pointed out that there were NKU fans court-side along that very sideline who were screaming at him to shoot.  What he failed to point out was that one of them was NKU alum Drew McDonald who has experienced this madness on the court a few times.  When Drew yells shoot, you shoot, dammit!  By the way, neither team was yet in the bonus at this point.
  • Cleveland State finally committed their 7th foul of the 2nd half in the most excruciating situation possible: just after NKU just barely avoided a 10-second call.

 3.  In Conclusion...

It is now a couple of months after I started this post - during which time I completely neglected it because I got wrapped up in other things.  But in early August, the White Sox are a dumpster fire, the Cardinals suck, Valpo's got a new coach who played and coached in national title games, and I am getting fired up for the 2023-2024 season.  So I figured I really ought to publish this thing.  I'm also re-watching the NKU-Houston first round game.  Even though it was a loss for the Norse, it was still an inspiring game.  After so many years of seeing Horizon League teams in the post-Butler era snag a bottom seed and get pummeled, it was fun to see NKU outplay the Cougars for decent portions of the game and Sam Vinson impress the hell out of the announcers for the game.  It would have been doubly cool to have two 16-over-1 upsets in the same tournament.

A White Sox fan recently shared why he was renewing his season ticket package for 2023-2024 (Why I’m Renewing: MySoxSummer--FromThe108) in spite of the fact that the franchise is being poorly run by an owner who does not care.  I'm not feeling that extreme of frustration with Valpo, but I still appreciate the sentiment.  I am a fan of CBB that is under the radar or mid-major or outside the spotlight or whatever metaphor you want to use.  There is a lot to like even when my favorite team is not doing very well.

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Thursday, March 24, 2022

Back To Normal March Madness - a personal journey

7 years ago, I started to write about my travels to College Basketball games. I kicked it off with my first ever visit to the First Four at the University of Dayton Arena. Like too many things like this, I never really followed through, so it sits in my draft posts for this blog. For that matter, I have pretty much forgotten about this blog since then.

I started something for myself back then, even if I did not chronicle it very well. I experienced March Madness in person year after year (for me it begins with conference tournaments). 2020 was cut short by COVID-19, 2021 was a weird year all around, but this year I set out to do it all again, and hopefully this time, I can share my experience with friends and anyone else who is interested.

A bit of background: 20 years ago, I started being a serious Valparaiso University Men's basketball fan.  I am not an alumnus, but Valpo is my hometown.  I was not a prolific traveler back then, and I had followed the team from afar since 1998 for obvious reasons, but 2002 was the year I decided to attend the conference tournament, held in Fort Wayne at the War Memorial Coliseum.  I fell in love with the experience and resolved to do the same every March.  Back then, Valpo played in the Mid-Continent conference (now known as The Summit League), and for every year through 2007, I enjoyed getting to see every single team (both Men's and Women's) play at least once.

Then Valpo moved to the Horizon League, and this was no longer possible because of their double-bye-1-seed-hosts format.  The only years I attended at all during that format were 2008 (at Hinkle), 2012, 2013, and 2015 (all at Valpo).  I enjoyed those years, but I missed the neutral site where all teams gathered.  The Horizon League moved to a neutral site in 2016 and since then has generally held at least the semi-finals and finals of both tournaments at a neutral site.

Valpo moved to the Missouri Valley in the summer of 2017, which meant Arch Madness right here in St. Louis where I have lived for the past 42 years.  The only rub: this conference holds its Women's tournament a week later at Tax Slayer Center in Moline, Illinois.  Perfection for me is both tournaments at the same site during the same weekend, but that's okay.

Meanwhile, back in 2015, the year Valpo was a 13 seed taking on Maryland in Columbus, Ohio, I decided to add a new adventure to my annual March trips: The First Four in Dayton.  In the early days of the P.I.G (play-in game, the field was not expanded to 68 until 2011), this was a favorite meet up spot for followers/subscribers to Kyle Whelliston's Mid-Majority.  After hearing stories about this, I knew I had to experience it for myself.  With Valpo being in Columbus and playing on Friday, it was very convenient.  Once again, I was hooked and have gone every year except for 2020 and 2021.  I met a couple of Mid-Majority friends by chance there in 2016, and every year since then we have gotten together for a late afternoon dinner at the Pine Club prior to heading over for the games.  This cozy intimate restaurant is a fine eating establishment that is quite familiar with the First Four.  Many of the patrons are there for the same reason we are: gather for a good meal prior to enjoying some exciting basketball at UD Arena.

2022 has been a cathartic year for College Basketball fans.  For the most part, everything is back to normal (translation: pre-2020).  Even where COVID restrictions were at least minimally in force, enforcement of said restrictions was not very aggressive.  If you watched any tournament game on TV, not very obvious that we are still living with a pandemic.  I decided this season to see if any of the pre-COVID magic was available to those who go to games, and for March, I decided to do what I had tried to do in 2020: Spend 2 solid weeks going to tournaments.

Arch Madness 2022

We start with Arch Madness at The Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis.  COVID-19: All participants were required to show proof of vaccination and wear a mask except while eating.  These two factors were hold overs from 2021, but there were no capacity restrictions this year, and there was no enforcement of masking at all.  Not surprisingly, on Sunday, March 6, the St. Louis City Board of Health COVID-19 rules expired, and they no longer asked for proof of vaccination.  One other hold over from 2021: all concessions were credit card only and tickets were mobile only.

That guy in the redbird jacket sitting on press row?  Recently fired Illinois State coach Dan Muller.  Both Thursday and Friday, he put on the headsets to provide excellent color commentary on The Big 550 KTRS.  I pulled up my Tune-in app to listen in.  If no coaching jobs come his way, I think Dan Muller would make an outstanding CBB color commentator.  Pure broadcasting gold.

He watched his Redbirds outlast Indiana State in the 8-9 game, and stayed for the 7-10 game between Valpo and Evansville.

As for me, I was overjoyed to once again be able to enjoy Arch Madness with some very good Valpo fan friends.

Two years ago, these guys and myself had a blast following our team all the way to the Arch Madness title game, and I was so happy to be able to do that again, even though Valpo did not make it past Friday this year.  In case you are wondering, every one of them stayed through Sunday, just the same.

Unlike 2020, the higher seeds won all games on Thursday and Friday.  Illinois State held on to be Indiana State, Valpo clobbered Evansville (which was surprising to us).  Northern Iowa handled Illinois State fairly easily, Loyola buried Bradley in the first half and played them even in the second half, Missouri State was a bit too much for Valpo, and Drake pulled away from Southern Illinois in the second half.

The bass player for the Drake pep band wore the most confusing costume I have ever seen in a pep band.  I tried to find out why he wore an eraser on his head and a T-shirt that says, "No. 2 Pencil" but the best we could do in our little group was to guess that he was honoring Drake's star point guard Roman Penn.  Get it?  He's a Penn-cil.  Ha ha.

Semifinal Saturday and Championship Sunday reversed the pattern.  All 3 games were upsets (by seed, at least).  Loyola jumped all over UNI in the first half and outscored them by 7 in the second half.  Loyola was not interested in helping the MVC be a multi-bid conference this year.  No sir!

In perhaps the closest game of the entire tournament, Drake took Missouri State to overtime and won by 1 point.  Gaige Prim put Missouri State ahead by 1 on a layup, but with 1 second left, Tucker DeVries drew a foul on Isiaih Mosley.  He hit both free throws and Donovan Clay missed a long shot at the buzzer to send the 3 seed to the title game

Then on Sunday, in a rematch from last year's title game, Loyola battled Drake to the final minutes before finally putting the game to bed by a margin of 6.  With that, the MVC was a 1-bid league again.

Oh yeah, before I move on, mad props to the UNI pep band for doing a pretty good rendition of the Avengers theme during one of the timeouts.  As a huge MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) fan, I'm a sucker for that kind of thing.

Horizon League Men's and Women's Semifinals and Finals

I left immediately from the Arch Madness title game with my bags packed for Indianapolis.  For some reason I booked - through Hotels.com - Old Northside Bed & Breakfast.  It was close to Indiana Farmers Coliseum, but I have never stayed in one of these places before.  To the left is my review.

Breakfast was delightful, and the conversation was surprisingly serendipitous.  Tuesday and Wednesday mornings I shared the table with a mother and daughter from Northern Kentucky who were keeping tabs on their team though not attending the games.

This is a group of Green Bay fans who I hung out with in 2020 at this tournament.  This year, the only two who made it were the two standing directly on either side of me (the guy in the blue T-shirt).  Having gone to the same event in 2018 up in Detroit all by myself, it has been nice since then to hang out with people I know.  I still have friends in the Horizon League, and it is always more fun to share a tournament with friends.

In the Women's semifinals, IUPUI (1 seed) trounced Oakland (7 seed), and Cleveland State (4 seed) trounced Green Bay (3 seed).  The latter game was a real surprise.  Green Bay usually does very well in this tournament.  By the way, if those seed pairings look funny, it is because the Horizon League re-seeds after every round.

In between sessions (prior to the Men's semifinals), we walked across the fairgrounds to the Horizon League fan zone, which included this hokey gimmick.  Get it?  I'm the "I" in "Indy."  Yes, that is me in my Missouri Valley fleece.  We also grabbed something to eat from the limited bar that was there.

The Men's semifinals were more to form - 1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3.  But Cleveland State (1 seed) was never able to deal with Wright State (4 seed) and lost by 15.

In the nightcap, Purdue Fort Wayne (2 seed and the team I decided to adopt) took on Northern Kentucky (3 seed).

I had seen Purdue Fort Wayne beat Milwaukee back on February 4 at that same War Memorial Coliseum where 20 years ago the Mid-Con held their conference tournament.  They had also finished the regular season on a 9 game winning streak to finish in a first place tie, quite the accomplishment for a team that joined the Horizon League from the Summit League in the summer of 2020.

Alas, these orange bearded Norse fans were having none of my joy, and neither were their team.  NKU had their way with the Mastadons, winning by 14.  Much like Arch Madness, the weaker seeds won both semifinals, setting up a rivalry rematch between NKU and Wright State.

And again, like Arch Madness, the 4 seed (Wright State) beat the 3 seed (NKU), but in this case, the Norse had the game well in hand until Wright State mounted a furious rally.  The Raiders took a 3 point lead with 1:20 to go.  Trevon Faulkner drew a foul with 1:01 to go and split the free throws.  The Norse got the offensive rebound but Sam Vinson turned it over.  And then, Tanner Holden was called for a charging foul with 34 seconds to go  On the ensuing possession, Bryson Langdon found Marques Warrick wide open on the wing for a 3 to put NKU up 71-70.  Without calling a timeout, Trey Calvin drove the lane for a jumper to put Wright State up 72-71.  Langdon missed a 3 pointer with 2 seconds left and that was it.

My Green Bay friends?  I fully expect them to be back next year.  One of them told me he has gone to 33 straight conference tournaments, dating all the way back to when Green Bay was in the Mid-Con.  I am planning on joining them again next year for this tournament.

I did enjoy the privilege of saying hi to one of the co-hosts of The HoriZone Roundtable, a website that does an outstanding job of covering as much of the Horizon League as they can - both Men's and Women's basketball.  They publish game stories and they do regular podcasts.  If you go all the way back the first season when they just did podcasts, you can find one in which yours truly was invited to join the hosts for an episode.  I had interacted with Bob McDonald (@BobMcDonald on twitter) virtually, but this year, I saw that he was covering the semifinals and finals on the Men's side, so I had to take the opportunity to say hi in person, and I am glad I did.

Hoops In The Heartland 2022

From the Bed and Breakfast to the Isle Casino Hotel - Bettendorf.  The Hotel is in Bettendorf, Iowa, just across the Mississippi river from Tax Slayer Center in Moline, Illinois.  These are part of the Quad Cities, after all.  Masks were optional, though recommended, and tickets were old-style.  All concessions were credit card only.

The same guy who was the PA announcer at Arch Madness performed that role for Hoops in the Heartland, and he is very good.  They also used the same contest - the basketball version of the Cap Dance famously used at MLB stadiums.  One thing we did not have was the super annoying Todd Thomas grabbing the microphone during timeouts and running contests with selected fans.  Instead the PA guy simply announced the contest and invited everyone to play.

Welcome to Tax Slayer Center.  I was in Moline in 2020 getting ready to attend the play-in round when everything was cancelled, so I never got to see inside the place.  Last year, they did not allow fans outside of parents of the players.

Hoops in the Heartland went - seed wise - exactly the way Arch Madness went.  The higher seed won every game on Thursday and Friday.  The lower seeds won each semifinal game and the title game.

Penn-cil guy is back!

In the 8-9 game, Indiana State jumped out to a 10 point lead in the first quarter, and won the remaining 3 quarters by 4 points.  In the 7-10 game, Drake pretty well dominated Bradley for a 15 point win.  Since Gaby Haack went down with a season ending injury, Bradley has been a shell of their former selves.

On Friday, Southern Illinois (1 seed) handled Indiana State fairly easily after a close 1st quarter.  Illinois State dominated Loyola in the opening quarter, and the Ramblers really never got close the rest of the way.

By the way, JuJu Redmond was - by my eyes, anyway - the best player in the tournament.  Just checked the conference website and indeed she was voted the tournament's most outstanding player.  Even as I was watching the tournament, her performance was very impressive.

If there was one game on Friday that trended toward an upset, it was Drake (7) vs. Missouri State (2).  The Bulldogs have been on a surge down the stretch of the regular season.  They lost some games in February, but they looked a lot better than they did in January.  They went into halftime with an 8 point lead.  However, the Lady Bears caught fire in the second half and won the game by 14.

The most forgettable game of the tournament for me was the nightcap, when UNI (3) crushed Valpo (6) by 24 points, and it was never close, even in the beginning.  The story of this matchup this season goes like this: on January 7, Valpo hosted UNI who had not played for 19 days, and beat them by 2.  On February 6, Valpo traveled to Cedar Falls and lost by 30.  Then on a neutral court, they lost by 24.  It's only 3 games, but it suggests that UNI was a really bad matchup for Valpo.  In this game, the Panthers kept having their way with Valpo in the paint, and Valpo never really got anything going.  There weren't that many Valpo fans there.  I might have been the only one who was not a family member.  It was disheartening.

On Saturday, the upsets began, with Illinois State besting Southern Illinois in a game that found Saluki coach Cindy Stein somewhat disappointed in the officiating.  The Redbirds played a very physical brand of defense and did not suffer sufficiently enough on the free throw line for Stein's liking.  She made it clear in the postgame that she gave a lot of credit to the Redbirds for the win, but she just wasn't happy with the way the game was officiated.  This felt like a bit of a sour note for her to go into retirement (SIU got the automatic bid to the WNIT as the regular season champ, but got creamed by Purdue in their only game).

The UNI-Missouri State game featured a tight battle in the first and third quarters, the Lady Bears dominating the second quarter, and UNI dominating the fourth quarter.  In the end, the Panthers won by 6.  They looked like the better team in this game.

I was also fascinated and entertained by the three bros two rows in front of me who spent the whole game very loudly proclaiming either their undying love for their "Lady Bears" or their unmitigated rage at the referees every time a call didn't go their team's way.  A couple of times, they became aware that the UNI fans found them entertaining as well.  They responded by pointing out that UNI has never won a game in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  These guys were a barrel of laughs.  As the game went south down the stretch, one of them kept slamming his phone hard down on the ledge in front of them.  Poor phone.  I hope it survived the violence.

On Sunday, the Redbirds and Panthers played a very exciting, close game that went down to the wire.  In the end, the Redbirds held on for a 50-48 win to secure the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.  It was a very enjoyable game.

I immediately headed home to St. Louis to exchange dirty close for clean clothes.

The 2022 First Four

On Monday, March 14, I drove to Dayton to check in to the Radisson Hotel Dayton Convention Center, only to discover that it was the same hotel I stayed in four years ago when it was called the Crowne Plaza Hotel.  To the left is a picture I took in 2018 of the arrival of one of the teams participating that year.  The hotels in Dayton really roll out the red carpet for the teams that get sent to the First Four.  This year, the IU Hoosiers' team bus was met with a bagpipe player out front and greeters inside.  The elevators include pictures of highlights of the teams that are staying in the hotel.  This year, Indiana and Texas Southern were the two teams staying in the Radisson.

I always try to get to my hotel in the afternoon, so I can check in and head over to UD Arena for open practice for the Tuesday teams (Texas Southern, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Indiana, and Wyoming).  TAMUCC was taking their allotted 40 minutes on the floor when I got there.

During the Indiana open practice (while waiting for Wyoming to take their turn), I decided to check out the view from my seat.  I usually get tickets in the 200 level, but this year I bought early and 300 level were the only ones being sold, so I ended up with this.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Wednesday teams (Bryant, Wright State, Rutgers, and Notre Dame) got their turn to practice on the court.  This was Bryant's entrance to the court, greeted by their pep band and cheerleaders.

And this is the nation's leading scorer, Peter Kiss, who has developed something of reputation as a trash talker.  I had heard about the controversy surrounding their conference title game, and wondered if anything extra-curricular would happen Wednesday night in their game against Wright State.

Then it was Wright State's turn.  If 2015 was regrettable for giving the Dayton Flyers an absolute home game in the tournament, 2022 was ever so slightly regrettable in giving Wright State a near home town advantage (they actually play in Fairborn, which is 15 minutes away).  There certainly were a lot of WSU fans in attendance for the open practice and even more for the game.  The two Dayton fans who sat next to me for the games both rooted for Wright State, and expressed their sincere hope that other Flyers fans would also be rooting for them.  I mentioned that the Gem City rivalry should be revived and they were at least somewhat agreeable with this.

Tuesday night, I decided to take a selfie at the entrance to my section during warmups for the Texas Southern-TAMUCC game.  Mask wearing was optional, and not many wore them, though I was not the only one who did.  No one was bothered by it.  I am comfortable with my mask on and try to wear one in public on the off chance it might help protect others.

The two Texas teams played a decent, entertaining game.  As games between 16 seeds go it was not half bad.  I tend to root for good basketball in a game like this.  Half of the mid-major fans out there think all auto-bids should be placed in the round of 64 and the First Four should only be at-large teams.  The other side is that one of those teams in each of those games gets a NCAA tournament win, which means extra money for their conference.

This game, on the other hand, between 11 seed Indiana and 11 seed Wyoming (warming up in this picture) is one where I definitely have a rooting interest.  I never root for power conference teams.  Ever.

This game was pure frustration.  Wyoming shot 15% from behind the arc and lost by 8.  They also committed 19 turnovers to Indiana's 8.

I have now been to 6 straight Dayton-hosted First Fours, and the only other time I have seen a power conference team beat a mid-major at the First Four was in 2015, when Ole Miss beat BYU 94-90.

Wichita State trounced Vanderbilt in 2016, there were no mid-major at larges in Dayton in 2017, St. Bonaventure knocked off UCLA in 2018, and Belmont beat Temple in 2019.  I had gotten used to seeing the big boys go down in Dayton, so this was kind of disheartening.

On Wednesday, several mid-major fan friends made their way to Dayton for the renewal of our annual ritual: late afternoon dinner at The Pine Club on the University of Dayton campus.  This year, one of our group was a Wright State fan.  The guy to his left is a Loyola fan I met at the First Four in 2016.  I'm at the far end of the table.  On the other side are fans I met in 2017, I believe, at this very restaurant.  All of us were subscribers to the Mid-Majority website.  Front and Center is the little Bally that Kyle had made for each of his subscribers.

Then we headed over the arena to watch Wright State take on Bryant in the 16 seed play-in game.

The crowd was indeed very much in Wright State's corner.  During the game, there was a power glitch that caused an extended free timeout for both teams.  The game was a high scoring affair, but Bryant's Peter Kiss did not grab center stage in the game.  Instead, the star of the game was Wright State's Tanner Holden, who led all scorers with 37 points (Kiss did score 28 to lead Bryant).  Grant Basile committed almost 50% of all of Wright State turnovers.  By mid-way through the second half, the Wright State fan in the row in front of me had "had it up to here with him."  He kept fumbling the ball in the paint.  Like many centers I've seen play with Valpo, he had the habit of bringing the ball down to his waist and dribbling on his way to the basket.  Bryant's defenders were constantly poking the ball away.  He did score 14 points, and fortunately, Trey Calvin added 21 points.  Other than the 29 turnovers by the two teams, it was a very exciting and well played game.

The HoriZone Roundtable has a far better story on this game.

The final game is often between two power conference teams, and this year was no exception - Notre Dame vs. Rutgers.  Some years I have decided not to even stay for that game because I wanted to get an early start for whichever site I decided to go to.  But this year I decided that the First Four would be the end of my March Madness journey, so I figured I might as well stay.  It certainly was an exciting game, going to double overtime before the Fighting Irish prevailed.  If I had decided to root for someone, it would have been Rutgers, because as a Valpo fan, I hate Notre Dame.

Two weeks, four different cities, 28 games.  This is the odyssey I set out to make 2 years ago, but it was cut in half by COVID.  I don't consider making it the whole way a triumph, but I did have the time of my life.  I plan to try it again next year, and am genuinely looking forward to it.












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