Game #29 @UNI Saturday 2/23/19 7pm

[mj]

The thing to watch for the next few games, isn't necessarily the W-L record, but effort the team gives in those games.

Last year we went 4-4 in our final 8 games, so there was some glimmer of hope for this year because we saw improvement.

I know ML says they aren't packing in it, but the play on the court seems to suggest otherwise. Also, the fact that parents of players are willing to vent their frustrations in public seems to be a bad sign.

Next year isn't going to be the year we want, if ML loses control of this team now.

[vu72]

Should. Have. Hired. A. Search. Firm. When. Powell. Turned. You. Down.

We might have a chance to get him or Diebler anyway if Vandy cans Bryce.

Why would Vandy can Bryce?  All he has done is lose 15 in a row and set a new school record for futility!   

[NativeCheesehead]

Bryce's incoming recruiting class may save him. Of course in the big time if the boosters want you gone, you're gone. And it's not uncommon for said boosters to work some back channels to see if high level recruits would leave if the coach is fired.

[GoldenCrusader87]

All great points for sure. You're right - ML is in a tough spot as a new coach in a new conference. And, he's not been dealt the best of cards with the injuries and such.

Yes - the injuries could be bad fate. But, I think they also need to do a deeper dive into things and see if there's anything within our control that could help. Always have to re-evaluate approaches to static and dynamic stretching, conditioning, weight training, off season training, in season training, between game training, post game recovery, etc. I'm sure they're doing so.  But bring in some of the faculty at VU who could assist. I've always been concerned about the lack of immediate attention our players get when there's an injury on the court. Do we have a team doctor? If so, who is it and how long has he/she been with us? What does Derek Bol (spelling?) do? Not asking to be a jerk. Honestly asking. I remember several years ago he'd be out stretching guys and such. And, I don't see that as often. But could be missing something on my end.

Here's my thing though - apart from wanting to preserve the class at that time, Mark L and Co. put him in this situation. He doesn't have any HC coaching experience. Zilch. He's learning as he goes. And the thing is it's not like he was an assistant for a long time beforehand. Didn't Bryce give him his first coaching gig?

How do they expect much else? Thinking they got a diamond in the rough like Brad Stevens? Sorry but no. We didn't. He's the exception to the norm.

There are so many good coaches out there .... even up and comings who've shown their ability or that they possess some sort of X factor. The Sean McVay types. But again they're a rarity.

My biggest thing is that we didn't give ourselves a chance. Sold ourselves short. Didn't show enough respect to ourselves when we didn't hire a firm.

As it's been said by others, maybe this is our season. Mediocre mid major. Playing in an outdated high school-like gym.

[GoldenCrusader87]

Bright side:

At least I don't see any possibility of another program wanting to poach our coach again. At least we'll have consistency in that regard. Maybe we can build off it. If he's got an open mind and a growth mindset willing to adapt and change and be honest with himself, the he'll evolve into a really good coach. It may take awhile.

It's gotta be hard for Matt when he - as a player - had the grit and glue-man mentality of John Kaiser with a legit ability to actually score like Ryan.  We don't have *that* guy or *those* guys. Matt was a competitor. Three sport athlete and a darn good one. Went to Stanford and played on a really good team. This is uncharted territory for him.

Bryce - on the contrary - knew what he'd gotten himself into when being a HC at Valpo. He played here as a player who could've obviously played virtually anywhere he wanted to play. He knew the setbacks and challenges. He knew what it would take for a Valpo team to be special. It's no easy task Matt's taking on.

Folks like me would be more supportive of him if he demonstrated a humble attitude and was outward in interviews about taking full responsibility of the team. For better or worse. That's all I ask. I can overlook the lack of offensive strategy and such and rally behind a coach who's willing to own up and take responsibility even when it may not be his direct fault. But that takes putting your ego to the side. I'd be OK supporting him as a our HC if he took the high road and demonstrated he's the leader of this program and for us to rally behind him, be patient, and show him grace as he learns how to be a head coach. Humility goes a long way. But, that's not what I see. Maybe I'm wrong and he's actually the opposite behind closed doors. Idk. But that's the image he projects and is something he can fix. If we wants to...

[Just Sayin]

Bryce's incoming recruiting class may save him. Of course in the big time if the boosters want you gone, you're gone. And it's not uncommon for said boosters to work some back channels to see if high level recruits would leave if the coach is fired.

I doubt that they will fire Bryce after only his third season.  They will give him at least four years through a full recruiting cycle. Even if they did, from a financial standpoint, VU would have to shell out about $8 million to Bryce, half of his six-year contract as reported to have been $16 million as I recall.  A win-win for Bryce. 

[VUGrad1314]

I could see Bryce taking a job as an assistant on a P5 staff to hone his skills and give coaching at that level another go in a few years.

[vu72]

Bryce's incoming recruiting class may save him. Of course in the big time if the boosters want you gone, you're gone. And it's not uncommon for said boosters to work some back channels to see if high level recruits would leave if the coach is fired.

I doubt that they will fire Bryce after only his third season.  They will give him at least four years through a full recruiting cycle. Even if they did, from a financial standpoint, VU would have to shell out about $8 million to Bryce, half of his six-year contract as reported to have been $16 million as I recall.  A win-win for Bryce. 

Somehow I don't think you understand contracts.  Under your theory, Vandy steals our coach and when he doesn't work out WE pay for half his remaining contract?  THEY might have to pay him but we certainly wouldn't.  And if we wanted him back we ceertainly wouldn't pay him $8 million!

[VUGrad1314]

Bryce's incoming recruiting class may save him. Of course in the big time if the boosters want you gone, you're gone. And it's not uncommon for said boosters to work some back channels to see if high level recruits would leave if the coach is fired.

I doubt that they will fire Bryce after only his third season.  They will give him at least four years through a full recruiting cycle. Even if they did, from a financial standpoint, VU would have to shell out about $8 million to Bryce, half of his six-year contract as reported to have been $16 million as I recall.  A win-win for Bryce.

Somehow I don't think you understand contracts.  Under your theory, Vandy steals our coach and when he doesn't work out WE pay for half his remaining contract?  THEY might have to pay him but we certainly wouldn't.  And if we wanted him back we ceertainly wouldn't pay him $8 million!

I think he means that $8million would be the price  of making an immediate return to Valpo worthwhile to Bryce which is in all likelihood true.

[valpolaw]

I agree with the others who have said it's hard to be a valpo fan in the ML era. I used to get excited to watch each game but each game usually brings a new disappointment of some sort now. No consistency, no steady improvements, very questionable rotations, terrible play calling, etc. I just watched a Steve Kerr interview on espn about the warriors game last night. Kerr said "I have to do a better job getting them ready." Maybe I've missed it but I have never heard anything like that from ML. All I ever hear are new excuses and the same old stuff with no changes and no improvement.

Mileek gets two minutes yesterday and Kiser plays basically as much as Golder. I'm sure Kiser is a great guy, but he brings nothing on the offesnsive end. This coaching staff needs to figure something out and quick.

[EddieCabot]

Bryce's incoming recruiting class may save him. Of course in the big time if the boosters want you gone, you're gone. And it's not uncommon for said boosters to work some back channels to see if high level recruits would leave if the coach is fired.

I doubt that they will fire Bryce after only his third season.  They will give him at least four years through a full recruiting cycle. Even if they did, from a financial standpoint, VU would have to shell out about $8 million to Bryce, half of his six-year contract as reported to have been $16 million as I recall.  A win-win for Bryce. 

Somehow I don't think you understand contracts.  Under your theory, Vandy steals our coach and when he doesn't work out WE pay for half his remaining contract?  THEY might have to pay him but we certainly wouldn't.  And if we wanted him back we ceertainly wouldn't pay him $8 million!

VU = Vanderbilt University??

[Valpo2013]

The thing to watch for the next few games, isn't necessarily the W-L record, but effort the team gives in those games.

Last year we went 4-4 in our final 8 games, so there was some glimmer of hope for this year because we saw improvement.

I know ML says they aren't packing in it, but the play on the court seems to suggest otherwise. Also, the fact that parents of players are willing to vent their frustrations in public seems to be a bad sign.

Next year isn't going to be the year we want, if ML loses control of this team now.

I disagree
I'm tired of the "we play hard crap"
If we put our best "effort"guys on the court we will lose games by a bigger disparity
Everybody plays hard
You have to win games

[SanityLost17]

Despite Jacobson being known for his defensive coaching skills, it was clear last night his offensive scheme still rivals ours.   I think it was my dad who asked the other day, "when was the last time we have hit somebody on a backdoor cut to the basket."  Last one of prominence I can remember was Smits to Lavender @SIU.  Whether it is a stand alone cut, or an off ball up-screan, a successful pick and roll, or some sort of screen the screener double screen action, we almost never get anybody the ball with momentum to the basket. 

I thought we played good defense but they were crisp with their ball rotations and thought they set far fewer moving screens this time around and had key places were somebody was to cut to the basket usually assisted by some sort of off ball up-screen so that while we were busy trying to fight through or communicate a switch on a screen they had a well timed drive to the basket and pass to the cutter who was cutting simultaneously off an off-ball screen.    For non basketball minds this would be the equivalent of a magician drawing your eyes away with some ball action at the top of the key while the real trick is being done in secret in a place you weren't paying attention. 

I would love to see some of that here at Valpo.   Because UNI could be really stagnant at times just like us, almost lulling you into a haze, but every once in a while they would do something like that for an easy score.   We just don't seem to get very many easy scores.   That said, it would be nice if more of our guys could shoot the 3 consistently, I mean we did have some good looks that just didn't go in.   

[FieldGoodie05]

Bryce's incoming recruiting class may save him. Of course in the big time if the boosters want you gone, you're gone. And it's not uncommon for said boosters to work some back channels to see if high level recruits would leave if the coach is fired.

I doubt that they will fire Bryce after only his third season.  They will give him at least four years through a full recruiting cycle. Even if they did, from a financial standpoint, VU would have to shell out about $8 million to Bryce, half of his six-year contract as reported to have been $16 million as I recall.  A win-win for Bryce. 

Somehow I don't think you understand contracts.  Under your theory, Vandy steals our coach and when he doesn't work out WE pay for half his remaining contract?  THEY might have to pay him but we certainly wouldn't.  And if we wanted him back we ceertainly wouldn't pay him $8 million!

VU = Vanderbilt University??

That was my read as well

[valpopal]

I looked at the UNI fan board to see their analyses and get a different perspective. A theme seemed to be that the difference between this game and the first one that Valpo won was the fact that Smits fouled out and Sorolla had 4 fouls, especially in the closing 4:30 minutes after Valpo had cut the lead. As the UNI folks point out, the fouls on our big guys cut their impact and output. In the last game Smits alone had 21 points and 11 rebounds. In last night's game the UNI centers outscored our two bigs 19-13.


When Smits left the game with 5 fouls, Sorolla already had 4 fouls, yet the entire UNI team only had 7 fouls called for the whole game to that point, 1 of those an intentional foul at the end of the first half. The officials swallowed their whistles at one end of the court. There were a couple of obvious fouls on Freeman that were not called. Also, when Golder and Dahl went for a loose ball, Dahl slammed into Golder undercutting him, yet no foul was called. I looked and didn't see Lottich complain about that lack of a call. I wish he would be more forceful toward officials with objections about calls. Jacobson seemed to have a running lobbying effort with the officials throughout the game. Both Bryce and mild-mannered Homer were more animated in their confrontations with officials. In fact, Lottich's response in the post-game also was rather subdued: "There were times where maybe I didn't agree with (calls), but that's the nature of basketball."

[justducky]

Would someone who has a basketball background please explain to me what our offense is trying to do? 

It looks like we are developing the 2019-20 offensive scheme with our 18-19 misfit collection of key missing pieces.

Now if we had a couple of players who can effectively penetrate and finish I could see how the first option could work.

I will briefly and without comment summarize that the players we add will suit the 19-20 Lottich game plan. Is that helping us now?

We don't run plays that utilize screens off the ball. We don't utilize back cuts.  We don't execute the pick and roll at all because our guards can't put the ball in a place where our bigs can handle it

When we have done any of this it always looks more like opportunistic freelancing. I'm suggesting that the players recognize the opening rather than the offense directly creating it. Next year I can picture this occurring on a very regular basis. Again---Is that helping us now?

[VUGrad1314]

I looked at the UNI fan board to see their analyses and get a different perspective. A theme seemed to be that the difference between this game and the first one that Valpo won was the fact that Smits fouled out and Sorolla had 4 fouls, especially in the closing 4:30 minutes after Valpo had cut the lead. As the UNI folks point out, the fouls on our big guys cut their impact and output. In the last game Smits alone had 21 points and 11 rebounds. In last night's game the UNI centers outscored our two bigs 19-13.


When Smits left the game with 5 fouls, Sorolla already had 4 fouls, yet the entire UNI team only had 7 fouls called for the whole game to that point, 1 of those an intentional foul at the end of the first half. The officials swallowed their whistles at one end of the court. There were a couple of obvious fouls on Freeman that were not called. Also, when Golder and Dahl went for a loose ball, Dahl slammed into Golder undercutting him, yet no foul was called. I looked and didn't see Lottich complain about that lack of a call. I wish he would be more forceful toward officials with objections about calls. Jacobson seemed to have a running lobbying effort with the officials throughout the game. Both Bryce and mild-mannered Homer were more animated in their confrontations with officials. In fact, Lottich's response in the post-game also was rather subdued: "There were times where maybe I didn't agree with (calls), but that's the nature of basketball."

That quote reads like a coach that has lost this team and he knows it. It sounds like he's at his wits end and doesn't know what to do anymore. It smacks of a coach that has checked out mentally. My optimism for next year is dropping precipitously.

[GoldenCrusader87]

10000000000% agree with Valpolaw

[GoldenCrusader87]

I get what the UNI boards are saying about the fouling situation on our bigs. But, there's more to it than that.

Yes - some of it can be chalked up to good calls / missed calls / bad calls by the officials. Without a doubt.

But, the other side of things is between-game adjustments. Jacobson out-coaches Matt. Out-schemed Matt. He's no dummy. He said, alright - if they're going to run their offense thru the bigs, we're not going to get beat by it again. Not going to allow Smitts to get 20+.
And sure enough - it worked. Ideally, Matt would've anticipated that and planned accordingly.

Maybe he did and that's why Sarolla started. Not sure. But we didn't have consistency from guys making shots for it to make a difference.

Also, same crap with not being able to finish out the first half after a run. No adjustments. And free throw shooting is tough to judge because we didn't shoot many. Smitts 2/2 I believe. Someone else 1/2 and Lav 1/4 if I'm not mistaken.

What bothers me most ... guys aren't going to want to take risks and play high energy b-ball if they're afraid of making mistakes that cause them to never get a shot. Mileek doesn't get a shot. Now he's doing it to Daniel. Not a way to build confidence in my opinion.

Plain and simple - I wouldn't want my son playing for him as-is. Sorry.

And he's not going to earn the respect of officials until he proves himself. Jacobson has proven himself. We're not there yet. Takes time.

[vu72]

Bryce's incoming recruiting class may save him. Of course in the big time if the boosters want you gone, you're gone. And it's not uncommon for said boosters to work some back channels to see if high level recruits would leave if the coach is fired.

I doubt that they will fire Bryce after only his third season.  They will give him at least four years through a full recruiting cycle. Even if they did, from a financial standpoint, VU would have to shell out about $8 million to Bryce, half of his six-year contract as reported to have been $16 million as I recall.  A win-win for Bryce. 

Somehow I don't think you understand contracts.  Under your theory, Vandy steals our coach and when he doesn't work out WE pay for half his remaining contract?  THEY might have to pay him but we certainly wouldn't.  And if we wanted him back we ceertainly wouldn't pay him $8 million!

VU = Vanderbilt University??

Not to anyone on this board!

[oklahomamick]

Agree AJ Green is freshman of the year.  But I would rather have Freeman.  And Freeman May have a higher ceiling.

AJ Green wouldn't look as good if
He played for valpo....he wouldn't and you guys know that.

[VU2014]

Agree AJ Green is freshman of the year.  But I would rather have Freeman.  And Freeman May have a higher ceiling.

AJ Green wouldn't look as good if
He played for valpo....he wouldn't and you guys know that.

Yep. UNI isn't an offensive powerhouse but they have a more efficient offensive scheme than us. They use screens and cuts to get guys open.

Honest Question: Can anyone tell me what Coach Lottich's offensive philosophy is after 3 seasons? What are the core principals of this offense? It's a hell of a lot of standing around and waiting around for one player to make a play. That is completely utterly unacceptable for this level of basketball.

[FieldGoodie05]

Agree AJ Green is freshman of the year.  But I would rather have Freeman.  And Freeman May have a higher ceiling.

AJ Green wouldn't look as good if
He played for valpo....he wouldn't and you guys know that.

Yep. UNI isn't an offensive powerhouse but they have a more efficient offensive scheme than us. They use screens and cuts to get guys open.

Honest Question: Can anyone tell me what Coach Lottich's offensive philosophy is after 3 seasons? What are the core principals of this offense? It's a hell of a lot of standing around and waiting around for one player to make a play. That is completely utterly unacceptable for this level of basketball.

I think quite a bit is our classic post-up game which takes A TON of motion and slashing out of the picture....no?

[oklahomamick]

If fazekas was getting looks that rowdy and Alec were getting, fazekas would make either second or first team MVC.

Several times they were already set when receiving a pass without a defender. 

[VU2014]

Agree AJ Green is freshman of the year.  But I would rather have Freeman.  And Freeman May have a higher ceiling.

AJ Green wouldn't look as good if
He played for valpo....he wouldn't and you guys know that.

Yep. UNI isn't an offensive powerhouse but they have a more efficient offensive scheme than us. They use screens and cuts to get guys open.

Honest Question: Can anyone tell me what Coach Lottich's offensive philosophy is after 3 seasons? What are the core principals of this offense? It's a hell of a lot of standing around and waiting around for one player to make a play. That is completely utterly unacceptable for this level of basketball.

I think quite a bit is our classic post-up game which takes A TON of motion and slashing out of the picture....no?

Agreed whenever we dump it into Smits (which isn't a bad option at all) he's now getting double teamed. When it's not there we can't be forcing it so much. We should kick it out and not just have 4 guys standing around hoping Smits made some magic happen. The first handful of conference games we were actually pretty decent with the ball movement but after the injuries started to stack up this team became more and more reliant on Smits, which has almost been a negative, imo. I'm not a basketball expert but I know enough to say this team has  issues on the offensive side of the ball.