What does success look like for next year?

[mj]

You want changes?
Stop donating money
Tell them why

My parents have donated since I was there and I have also been a contributor although not as much as them
For what?
Not sure at this point...

Last year is the first year we didn't donate to Valpo since we graduated. For whatever reason, the university never reached out and asked for anything. Hard to send a message by stopping donations, when they don't even care if you donate or not.

[oklahomamick]

Consider yourself lucky.  I get mail once a week asking for donations.  I made a small donations after our last HL championship.  I guess that's the last time we had direction and identity as a basketball program

[GoldenCrusader87]

Correct. I no longer donate (other than getting season tickets). Why donate to a place that's content with mediocrity? That's out of touch with reality. That doesn't do much of anything to improve the fan experience? All about academics? Ok. Then drop the athletics at this point if you're not committed to them. Joke. No thank you.

[VUGrad1314]

While I understand the sentiment behind these thoughts especially in light of the frustration these past two seasons have been you do realize that refusing to donate only feeds the problems we all complain about right? The AD could do a better job by telling us what is needed and how much it would require to get the things we need. It would be nice if they communicated a plan to us and told us how we can help. Why so secretive about everything?

[Valpofan15]

I would have to say it's hard to guess what success will look like until we know how many players transfer after the season. If we don't lose anyone we need to be top 4 in conference to be successful. If we lose 3+ I would say avoid Thursday in tournament.

[VU2014]

Consider yourself lucky.  I get mail once a week asking for donations.  I made a small donations after our last HL championship.  I guess that's the last time we had direction and identity as a basketball program

Literally two weeks after I walked across the graduation stage they sent an ad in the mail asking for donations before I even finished paying off my student loans. Just completely tone death.

[Valpo2013]

Hahaha
Hopefully they tried to help you get a job first?!

[valpolaw]

The law school closing and the basketball team being terrible the last two years definitely makes me question why I continue to be a fan. Sounds like I'm not alone based on other posts.

[VULB#62]

I am not picking on this kid. I love the heart and intensity that John Kiser brings to every minute he plays. From that standpoint, I wish that all of our players had his qualities.  However.............. one measure of a successful 2019-20 season will be characterized by John seeing fewer minutes (<10)  as a defensive specialist and never starting a game. His frequent starts in the second half of the season glaringly exposed our lack of talented depth. If he sees less time, it will signal that our level of pure talent has been upgraded and we have a better opportunity for success.

[GoldenCrusader87]

Well-said, VULB

[JD24]

I am not picking on this kid. I love the heart and intensity that John Kiser brings to every minute he plays. From that standpoint, I wish that all of our players had his qualities.  However.............. one measure of a successful 2019-20 season will be characterized by John seeing fewer minutes (<10)  as a defensive specialist and never starting a game. His frequent starts in the second half of the season glaringly exposed our lack of talented depth. If he sees less time, it will signal that our level of pure talent has been upgraded and we have a better opportunity for success.

Eureka!!! The self propessed non basketball expert (and forgive me if my interpretation is incorrect on that) points out the single biggest issue with the current program. Not John Kiser. Just that John Kiser is playing too much and what that really means.

[justducky]

We were among the worst 3 point shooting teams in D-1. Without Fazekas we may have been dead last.  . Watching the OVC games showed me equivalent physical talents separated only by Belmont and Murray having multiple threats from deep. Their consistency is such that open misses are a surprise. With us I was shocked if one fell in.

If we were to drop from #350 to #175 in 3 point %, what could our 19-20 record look like? In my mind that is a realistic number that would open up the post and driving lanes for easier exploitation. Even backdoor plays magically appear.  Suddenly Lottich starts winning and becomes a genius instead of a moron.

It could happen.

[JD24]

We were among the worst 3 point shooting teams in D-1. Without Fazekas we may have been dead last.  . Watching the OVC games showed me equivalent physical talents separated only by Belmont and Murray having multiple threats from deep. Their consistency is such that open misses are a surprise. With us I was shocked if one fell in. If we were to drop from #350 to #175 in 3 point %, what could our 19-20 record look like? In my mind that is a realistic number that would open up the post and driving lanes for easier exploitation. Even backdoor plays magically appear.  Suddenly Lottich starts winning and becomes a genius instead of a moron. It could happen.

Golder and Evelyn's 3pt pct dropped by .100 each this year over last year's performance. No idea which is the outlier or if the true level lies somewhere in between but there seems to be some room for immediate improvement there. In addition, I'd think Freeman would improve over time. If he's to become the all around player we all hope, it's a must.

[VULB#62]

QUESTION:  How do you turn 20% (or lower) three point shooters into 40% shooters?

Just shooting the same old shot 200 times every day isn't gonna guarantee improvement. If mechanics are wrong it merely reinforces  bad habits. Will Valpo bring in consultants to remedy this or will the staff just tell players to just keep shooting. Well, they better bring in shooting experts. The investment will pay back ten-fold. It's just another way to effectively utilize the MBB budget.  .........

And then there is free throw technique ........... is there a current practitioner of the Virgil Sweet method available to the program?  Heck, the fallback is to just Google the major rules and it should help. I did. There are 20 specific steps.  I was at Valpo from 1962-1966. Chuck Kriston, a Valpo HS grad, was a VU starter. He shot over 80% for his career at Valpo.  VHS set a state record for shooting close to 80% as a team. Why are we not mining this incredible resource?

To be honest, right now I'd rather see $50K spent on these two things than an upgrade to the ARC.  Man, we gotta win and improving these two techniques can turn things around big tme.

Today, there are ways to digitally record and assess body mechanics for specific movements. Valpo has a big problem here and this might be a way to address this. But it has to be sooner than later.

[wh]

The law school closing and the basketball team being terrible the last two years definitely makes me question why I continue to be a fan. Sounds like I'm not alone based on other posts.

I've done a terrible job of being a voice of reason lately, but let me just encourage everyone - don't give up!  Good things may be around the next corner. Besides that, this board has never been stronger. We continue to add posters and discussion is more active than ever before. Let's keep it going.

[FieldGoodie05]

The law school closing and the basketball team being terrible the last two years definitely makes me question why I continue to be a fan. Sounds like I'm not alone based on other posts.

I've done a terrible job of being a voice of reason lately, but let me just encourage everyone - don't give up!  Good things may be around the next corner. Besides that, this board has never been stronger. We continue to add posters and discussion is more active than ever before. Let's keep it going.

I'd second your sentiment.  I believe we have 2 strong contributors eligible after sitting out and I like the potential with Clay.  Unlike Mileek, Clay appears more polished and ready to take on light minutes.  Doubtful he is the same project that Mileek always was going to be.

[JD24]

While I don't discount attempting to improve the current team's ability to shoot 3 pointers and free throws, the real answer is to recruit better shooters as shooters are born rather than created for the most part. Anecdotally, I'm sure players who've improved their ability to shoot the ball can be pointed out but I'd offer that many more go completely unaffected by whatever "coaching" they receive and don't improve at all and we simply don't hear about them. In addition, we have no idea what steps Valpo has taken to improve any of the players ability to play the game in any fashion.

[usc4valpo]

I love Valpo, I want see the school excel in all areas. I am concerned that either they need cash, they do not know how to maximize they assets, or they are way too conservative fiscally.
My daughter agreed to make a trip with me to tour the campus, but right now it is remote she will go there.

[VUGrad1314]

I love Valpo, I want see the school excel in all areas. I am concerned that either they need cash, they do not know how to maximize they assets, or they are way too conservative fiscally. My daughter agreed to make a trip with me to tour the campus, but right now it is remote she will go there.

To varying degrees the problem could be all three of those issues.

[FieldGoodie05]

While I don't discount attempting to improve the current team's ability to shoot 3 pointers and free throws, the real answer is to recruit better shooters as shooters are born rather than created for the most part. Anecdotally, I'm sure players who've improved their ability to shoot the ball can be pointed out but I'd offer that many more go completely unaffected by whatever "coaching" they receive and don't improve at all and we simply don't hear about them. In addition, we have no idea what steps Valpo has taken to improve any of the players ability to play the game in any fashion.

On the surface I'd agree to that statement with a clarification since I know your statement isn't intended literally.  A player with the God given athleticism/size to not be embarrassed against D1 opponents must also carry the unrivaled work ethic and abilities necessary to be a sharp shooter.

I think Lottich wants to run guys, he really does as he's said it a bunch of times publicly.  The issue he's come across is he was really gifted Smits and Sorolla was signee #2 within months of being hired.  That was Bryce's system and you take those two because they are hard to come by at our level (HL or MVC).  So if they develop we sort of have to use them on offense and thereby reduce the run and gun.  The oversight was thinking that the athletes he recruited last two years could shoot well enough.  We know most of them are athletic enough.

If players can run, dunk and shoot....they are B1G around here.  Even Javon was not a true shooter despite his absurdly high IQ and defensive prowess.

[JD24]

On the surface I'd agree to that statement with a clarification since I know your statement isn't intended literally.  A player with the God given athleticism/size to not be embarrassed against D1 opponents must also carry the unrivaled work ethic and abilities necessary to be a sharp shooter. 

Since I've worked with kids in many sports from youth through high school what typically happens follows some sort of pattern of...applicable to shooting....kid at 8-9 years old shows the ability to shoot, likes the game and receives a lot of encouragement along those lines. There is some innate ability to have the proper hand/eye coordination to shoot. This ability is fortified throughout age group and high school ball at a time when most of what becomes of eventual athletes along with confidence and desire to succeed are being formed. Now a kid who was a good shooter in high school may take his game higher by working to become a more consistent shooter in college as time and room to shoot is usually reduced even if it is simply by the size of players. It doesn't always work. I've seen kids who were deadly shooters in high school go to college programs and not be able to come near their shooting percentages in high school.

One problem with mechanics for anything in sport is that most people, when stressed or tired, revert to old mechanics.
In Valpo's situation they have two players who fell way off in Evelyn and Golder this season from what they showed shooting the 3 last year.  I doubt their mechanics deteriorate so it could be a multitude of multiple issues. Not getting the right looks in the right rhythm. Pace of play. Injury. Who knows? Hopefully they will bounce back and along with Fazekas and the new additions, the team will shoot better overall.

I think the board is looking for one answer.....and thus everyone wants to blame the coach or coaches because it's one move that will solve everything in everyone's mind....but it is probably many issues at the moment.

The team right now is one player from being Bryce Drew's team. Alec Peters. He was handed Broekhoff. He recruited Peters (didn't Lottich actually do that?) and Lottich did very well with the team he inherited from Drew until.....Peters was injured which left the team with a similar team to the current one. So how much has really changed from Drew to Lottich? One player? Maybe the issue(s) are much deeper than that.

[crusadermoe]

On VU finances, there are many detailed facts in the "General University threads.   As MJ said, in essence VU leadership designed a masterplan in 2013 that is "required to support the 6,000 student goal."  That document is in the thread. Then they borrowed a lot of money under Heckler to build and expand buildings to serve 6,000 students. 

But now the student numbers have not increased to any real degree.  The enrollment went down last Fall.  The speculation MLB will not receive more budget $ is likely correct.  In this context, MLB and ML have performed well.

[VUGrad1314]

Why does it seem like everybody but us figured out that you build the marketing machine before the shiny toys? You hook them in with basketball then build all the cool stuff they'll love and appreciate?

[FieldGoodie05]

Why does it seem like everybody but us figured out that you build the marketing machine before the shiny toys? You hook them in with basketball then build all the cool stuff they'll love and appreciate?

Who is the HL had this figured out?  I'd wager that MVC notoriety and dividends paid for much of the MVC dwellings.  Loyola was going to do this in the HL?

[VUGrad1314]

Where's our Loyola level commitment to facility building? No budget increase or ARC renos for years despite the endowment doing gangbusters? Shouldn't that be paying down the debt to where it's no longer a concern? We've waited patiently for decades to see athletics funded to a level commensurate with the value they bring to the university and now we're still waiting? When will it be? 2030? 2050? Will most of us even live to see it? It's time to make basketball a priority with our actions and not just our words.