Parker Hazen is transferring, per Paul Oren

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/976585753995202560
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/976585756658593793

[NativeCheesehead]

Clearly just not a good fit. Love that he kept a positive attitude. Wish him well.

[bigmosmithfan1]

I wish him well. I hate to see this if it's just because he struggled this year -- lots of players struggled mightily as a true freshman only to become a key contributor as an upperclassman, and expecting to play a ton as a freshman is not always realistic.

That said, I kinda hated the way our coaching staff seemed to give up on him completely even as our team scuffled their way through the entire season. Yes, he looked completely overmatched early in the year, but man, you're telling me we couldn't find a way for him to give us 3 or 4 productive mins. per game once we were hopelessly out of the conference race to try and get his confidence up?

[VU2010]

Don't blame him. Not a did fit? Give me a break. We need a stretch 4 like Skara. Oh, wait. He transferred, too. And is playing in the Sweet 16. Parker deserves better.

[VU2014]

It's a bummer to see him transfer but it may be for the best of his colligate career if he thought he wasn't going to get minutes. It sounds like getting benched and all the DNPs in the 2nd half of the season was tough on him. He always kept his head up and was one of the more vocal guys from the bench. He has the physical tools to be a pretty good player but he needs game reps to refine his skills. If he wants to play right away he'd probably have to go the JUCO route. If he wants to stay D1 then also the Red-shirt year to refine his skills might be beneficial.

I wish Parker nothing but the best.

[M]

Not sad to see him go, still wish him well though. He had every chance at the beginning of the year to cement his role with the team and didn't get it done versus lesser competition.  Idk what practices looked like but something must not have been there that the coaches thought he had. Happy he stuck it out and was a supportive bench guy the whole season. Best of luck. Now go get us a grad transfer 4 with one of these open scholarships who can either start or spell Mileek.

[vu72]

Don't want to say "I told ya so" but I did.  There just was no room for him at his position.  Many have called for a 4 transfer which would have put him even further down the bench.  Matt was playing McMillan and even Kiser a head of him and that wasn't when we tried two big together on the floor.  Add Ryan possibly playing the 4 to get another scorer on the floor and there ya go.

Can he play right away at a D2? NAIA?  Obviously if so, at least he would continue to get a free ride.  I wish him all the best.  It just turned out to not be a good fit in the Coaches mind.

[VU2014]

Don't blame him. Not a did fit? Give me a break. We need a stretch 4 like Skara. Oh, wait. He transferred, too. And is playing in the Sweet 16. Parker deserves better.

He deserved better? 

To get minutes you need to play well or at the very least be somewhat consistent. He looked pretty overmatched at times. I'm not sure what you mean by "Parker deserved better". I'm pretty sure the Coaches probably sat him down and were telling him why he wasn't earning minutes this season. Also Skara was forced to transfer because Lottich wouldn't hire Maravilla's client. I don't blame Lottich for not hiring his guy and having a backbone.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/976596673265917953

[JD24]

Don't blame him. Not a did fit? Give me a break. We need a stretch 4 like Skara. Oh, wait. He transferred, too. And is playing in the Sweet 16. Parker deserves better.

Neither transfer has anything to do with each other. Skara could contribute in a positive fashion right from the start. Hazen didn't look like he belonged playing college ball. He didn't deserve anything more than what he got.

[FieldGoodie05]

Don't blame him. Not a did fit? Give me a break. We need a stretch 4 like Skara. Oh, wait. He transferred, too. And is playing in the Sweet 16. Parker deserves better.

I wanted him to stay ONLY because his high school 3* ranking meant he had upside.  Minus that, I see why he departed.  He has aspirations to play solid minutes and I would too.

Best of luck Parker, you appeared to be a helluva team mate and that will be missed.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/PostTribSports/status/976632888451129344

Freshman Parker Hazen leaving Valparaiso in search of more playing time elsewhere
Michael Osipoff
Post-Tribune
March 21, 2018

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-mens-basketball-valparaiso-parker-hazen-st-0322-20180321-story.html

[nkvu]

I wish Parker well in finding a place where he can play and develop. That one of the two freshman 4s is transferring comes as no surprise to me. From the beginning of the season I thought this a likely outcome particularly once Martin came on board as the 4/5 "project".

So now we have two scholarships for next year instead of one?  I hope one of these is a grad transfer 4 who defends and rebounds so he can show the two M guys how to do it without picking up quick fouls. We need rebounding from the 4 as I don't think either of our 5's will ever be great at it.  Absent that I really hope Fazekus has been working to develop his inside game so he can play some 4.

[Chairback]

This really doesn't add up.  Something had to happen that we will never know.  He starts the first 10 games and then never sees the light of day ever again, even when we were struggling.  I thought he was going to be really good.  Even though he started, I don't remember him getting over 15 mins of PT in a game or if he ever hit a 3 point shot. 

[ValpoDad89]

He was a solid hard worker. We are from NW Indiana / Southside of Chicago, we love and root for hard workers. I made it to only 3 games this year and he seemed he was out of his element a bit. Not surprising. Would've loved to see him develop but numbers sometimes go against you. We are in the MVC with a conference brother staring at a Sweet 16 bid and more if they can get by Nevada. It's a top 10 conference and a big boy one at that.

[valpotx]

I wish him well.  He was given every opportunity to show that he could play at this level over the first 15+ games, and he just didn't cut it.  He needs a change of scenery, and I think that he will do well at a low mid-major

[nkvu]

I wonder how much circumstances played into this. Think about it. The best 4 ever to play for Valpo graduates. The heir apparent (Skara) transfered the year before leaving two freshmen to fill the void this year.   Had Skara stayed, he would have gotten the majority of minutes at the 4 thereby lowering the expectations on the two freshmen.  Maybe one of the two freshmen transferring was inevitable, but it might have been after next year rather than the end of this year. I don't know which of the two freshman would have been better after their sophomore year.  Now as far as Valpo is concerned, it doesn't matter.

[Just Sayin]

He just wasn't good enough. In another smaller pond, he might shine. Everyone has their limits. He needs to accept what his limits are and find a place where the competition level meets his own abilities, a place where he can succeed. Probably JUCO. But don't sugar coat his lack of talent at Div 1 level. Doesn't make him a bad guy to want to play more somewhere else.

[elephtheria47]

Freshmen bigs generally take awhile to adapt to the college game. Judging his potential off of his first 15 games of the season probably isn't a fair assessment. However,  the coaches are in a far better spot to make that assessment than any of us fans. Weird how it all played out....wonder if he was promised a starting job or at least significant playing time to get him to valpo in the first place

[IndyValpo]

First off I appreciate his attitude, by all accounts he was a good teammate. He was always engaged on the bench.

My concern falls on the coaching staff and that is what did they see in preseason to make him a starter for 11 games? Obviously he was showing some promise or we are really bad at evaluating talent.

I hope Parker finds the PT he is looking for. Perhaps Indiana Wesleyan or St Francis might be landing spots should his D1 desires not work out.

[crusader05]

My theory is he looked like the freshman with the biggest upside and Lottich wanted to a keep a possible red shirt in his pocket for either Marten or Mileek. When he seemed to struggle with the game and we needed to go that deep on our bench my guess is the priority shifted to hurrying along the other two even more.

Not sure why he got no playing time after a certain point but i find it hard to say he didn't get a shot.

[vu72]

I think he started because Matt wants defense first and compared to the other bigs at his position he was the most athletic.  He couldn't stay on the floor any better than Mileek and Mileek could hit a 3 from time to time. Parker had 22 fouls and 19 turnovers while scoring 20 points for the season.

[EddieCabot]

My theory is he looked like the freshman with the biggest upside and Lottich wanted to a keep a possible red shirt in his pocket for either Marten or Mileek.

I'm confused ... Parker, Marten and Mileek all played in Game #1 vs North Park, so none of them were going to be able to redshirt after that (barring season-ending injury). 

Put me on the list wondering what the coaching staff saw that made them think he was a starter in November and not worthy of garbage time minutes in January/February.

[vuny98]

Never like to see / hope for an athlete transfer but this was inevitable after last year. He always seemed to have a positive attitude, which given the situation is a testament to him. Hopefully he catches on somewhere else. He had a rough go in the games he played, and I'm sure the coaches wish they had handled it differently to start the season, but hindsight is 20/20 and he didn't earn playing time over others from what we could see.

Hopefully we can use the open spot to find a good transfer that can contribute right away. I think the team next year could be really good, but a solid 4 could really help solidify the team.

[crusadermoe]

Cabot certainly nails it.   I don't think I have ever seen a guy start 10 games and be kept on the bench permanently after that.   In any sport at any age.