Valpo Basketball vs. Green Bay & Weekend Fun

Basketball seems to take over our house when it comes to Winter. In 8 days Little Man got to go to four different basketball games. He is LOVING it. After last weekend’s trip to Indiana University & a high school game, Little Man got to go to another high school game on Friday night. On Saturday night we headed down to the ARC to see Valpo basketball take on Green Bay in Horizon League Conference play. 

As part of a Christmas present for some of my nieces and nephews we took them to the Valpo basketball game. Some had never been before so it was a very fun experience to share with them. 

Here is the thing about Valpo basketball. There is history to it with a Sweet Sixteen run in 1998, there is a family dynasty being built (this was the Drew family’s 500th win) and it is a team that not just the students but the community backs 100%. I didn’t know much about college basketball until my Freshman year at Valpo. It just so happened to be Bryce Drew’s first year back as an assistant coach to his dad Homer and suddenly I had a lot to learn. 

General speaking, the student section is packed. So much so that they’ve added a small over flow student section at the other end of the court. Now, there are games where the students are missing, but lately we’ve seen a pretty big crowd every time we’re there. The non-student section was also packed. We crammed into our seats and I’m pretty sure the game was close to sold out. 

Then again, it’s not a secret that Valpo might be the cinderella team of this year’s NCAA tournament. There is no doubt in my mind that if another Valpo team has a shot at making a run in the tournament, it’s this year. 

After a slow start (4 minutes until the first basket), Valpo basketball picked up the pace and they were on their way to win. Going into the game we knew that Green Bay was a good team with a similar record so it should be a good game. Despite an early lead, Green Bay couldn’t keep up with Valpo’s defense. Most teams are starting to find out why Valpo has been named a team with one of the top defense’s in the country. They are that good. 

In the end Valpo won 85-70. It was a really good game and a lot of fun. The kids had a blast and have all asked to go to another game. I’m kind of bummed that the Horizon League tournament is in Detroit but excited to see what Valpo has to do the rest of this season. If you watch college basketball at all, keep an eye out for Valpo basketball. 

The rest of our weekend involved a lot of lazy time (oh, and laundry) for the most part. We watched a few basketball games (seriously guys, we don’t ever stop) and tried to catch up on some shows. Little Man managed to get all of his toys out on Sunday morning and play for a few hours by himself. I never complain when that happens!

On Sunday we celebrated my mother-in-law’s birthday with a chili cook off. Lots of poor planning on our part, I didn’t make my favorite chili but generally speaking it loses when we have contests anyways. The kids ran around, we ate a lot of chili and there was pie. A nice relaxing way to spend Sunday evening. 

Monday I decided to take the day off since my husband and Little Man were going to be home for MLK. We had another day of being lazy and getting stuff done around the house. Monday night we settled down to watch Valpo destroy Youngstown State in basketball and then called it a night. 

A quiet weekend was something we’ve needed for awhile so it was nice to have time to really just be lazy.

What did you do this weekend?