Game #31 vs Evansville Saturday 3/2/19 1pm

[mj]

Honestly the program would be better off letting ML go now.

Let's say we give him another year and we have the same results. The problem is that we have a ton of roster turnover next year, so you'd have a new coach trying to fill a ton of roster spots without having any time to recruit.

If you hire a new coach now, you give him a year to recruit. Plus a senior team to see what he can do with. And maybe add some luster back to the program.

[GoldenCrusader87]

Anyone have any excuses still? Bueller ...... Bueller .... Bueller ....

[oklahomamick]

We have more talent than Evansville who had nothing to play for today.  And we still lost.

[oklahomamick]

Going by Lavender's speech, it didn't sound like he had a good time at Valpo this year. 

[VUGrad1314]

I'm mad and I'm wondering why. Should I have expected any different than what I saw? Have they given me any reason whatsoever to hope for better? Why get mad at a team and a coach that is clearly showing and giving me all it's capable of? Rather I should be mad at the people who threw Lottich to the wolves and set him up to fail. Hiring from within only works when you have an experienced candidate who is ready for the job not some untested greenhorn with no experience from the end of the bench.

[a3uge]

We have more talent than Evansville who had nothing to play for today.  And we still lost.

Still wondering where the talent on the team is.

[oklahomamick]

Our players are better than Evansville.  No argument. 

[valpotx]

What did Lavender say?  Of course he would be disappointed.  You don't use your grad transfer to go to a team that finishes 9th

[valpopal]

As others have noted, if not for Golder's long shot to save a game that was lost, this year's MVC record would be the same as last year: 6-12 vs 7-11. However, at least last year Valpo won a majority of its conference home games (5-4) and the overall home record was 10-4, giving fans a little bit of an excuse to be happy or optimistic. This year's home conference record is 4-5 (despite the miracle win). Also, last year's overall record was 15-17. The current overall record is 14-17. Therefore, the Crusaders must win on Thursday just to be as good as last year, and even if they do win the first game in the tournament, if they lose the second game they will wind up with a worse record than last year. This seems like a wasted year with no progress.

[VU2014]

Going by Lavender's speech, it didn't sound like he had a good time at Valpo this year. 

I've heard otherwise from people within the program. Heard he has enjoyed his time here, but no doubt it's been a really rough with how the season played out and this game in particular. Can't blame him for not being happy with this game and then having to give a speech to a disappointed crowd.

[VUGrad1314]

We have more talent than Evansville who had nothing to play for today.  And we still lost.

Still wondering where the talent on the team is.

Then our coach can't recruit and we have an even bigger problem than simple ineptitude on offense and he should probably be let go.

[VUGrad1314]

I heard a lot of" I can't believe we're doing this against the worst team in the league" and I thought "It's because we have the worst coach in the league" There I said it Matt Lottich is the worst coach in the MVC and by a pretty wide margin. Evansville's issues are talent related but they have a coach that learned under Pitino and Brad Stevens played in the NBA and has a guy who went to the Sweet 16 and won a national coach of the year award as an assistant. He'll be fine once he gets the right pieces. I can't say that about Valpo or Lottich.

[valpopal]

A salute to Deion Lavender. He contributed even more than was expected from him. He led the team in assists by 50 over Evelyn in second place. His assists to turnovers ratio was sensational. He was the team's second leading rebounder, only behind Smits. His field goal percentage was also second only to Smits. He committed the fewest personal fouls of anyone on the team. His free throw percentage was second only to Fazekas. Give us 5 Lavenders and we aren't playing in the Thursday game at St. Louis.

[VU2014]

We have more talent than Evansville who had nothing to play for today.  And we still lost.

Still wondering where the talent on the team is.

Then our coach can't recruit and we have an even bigger problem than simple ineptitude on offense and he should probably be let go.

I think there is talent on this roster but a lot of it is injured. I think we also may have chose to overlook some of our players flaws in the talent evaluation process, when projected success for this team. We're a really poor passing team... and we have guys that do many things well but handling the ball isn't one of them. I don't think we'd be quite this poor of a 3 point shooting team if Golder, Bakari and Fazekas were healthy this season. Still we have too many guys that don't shoot the ball well. There needs to be a lot of growth from all the players this offseason.

Maybe we need a whole 4 year recruiting cycle to get Valley caliber players? I still think we should have been better than we were this season even with all the injuries and that's an indictment on the coaching staff.

Fans have a right to be pissed off watch this team this season.

[VUSL98]

Is Part of the coach's job to develop players?  If so, there has been a remarkable failure with Sorolla, Evelyn, McMillan, and even Golder.  These players did not progress from last year and arguably regressed.  Sackey and Freeman may be harder to judge.  Perhaps they "hit a wall" at the end of their freshman year.  But, it could be argued that they also failed to progress from the beginning of the season.

For the last two years, this board has been filled with mid-season comments about "next year" and hopeful optimism about red shirts on the bench.  Last year, it was Fazekas (aka, LeBron) and this year it's Robinson and Gordon.  Well, that's a sign of failing to develop the talent available.  Shooting isn't the coach's job.  Neither is passing the ball, catching the ball, and holding on to the ball.  But, these are the fundamentals, and there has to be some culpability for the coach when these fundamentals are not developed, year after year.

I'm so glad I was able to flip the channel after this abominable loss and find a baseball game.  This winter has been too cold, just like my Crusaders.

[a3uge]

We have more talent than Evansville who had nothing to play for today.  And we still lost.

Still wondering where the talent on the team is.

Then our coach can't recruit and we have an even bigger problem than simple ineptitude on offense and he should probably be let go.

No argument here

[GoldenCrusader87]

The only thing WORSE than this season and that game as a representative of the season is Matt's weirdo speech. What was that? It was like he was begging for another shot. How about - instead- you finally own up!!!!!

If he gets a contract extension, I'm out. No way I'm wasting my money any longer if they support this. What a joke. That team sucks and hasn't won in a month and yet we can't close a game out??? Weren't we up 7? Terrible.

And I'm sickened to see how he treats players like Sackey. Leaned on him when he needed him and then chewed him up and spit him out. That young man sat on the bench! After his comments about Daniel's turnovers. We've seen this before. Starts true freshman and then benches them. Joke. Absolute joke.

Slow it down slow it down! Run the offense! Looks at his little card! Wastes time outs talking to his coaches. Tired of being such a pathetic program we have to put up with this mess while he learns to coach. Yes - he was thrown to the wolves when hired. No doubt. But my goodness. Enough is enough.

Greg Tonagel! We need you!!!!!!!!!   

[EddieCabot]

A salute to Deion Lavender. He contributed even more than was expected from him. He led the team in assists by 50 over Evelyn in second place. His assists to turnovers ratio was sensational. He was the team's second leading rebounder, only behind Smits. His field goal percentage was also second only to Smits. He committed the fewest personal fouls of anyone on the team. His free throw percentage was second only to Fazekas. Give us 5 Lavenders and we aren't playing in the Thursday game at St. Louis.

You could argue that Lavender was Valpo's best and most consistent player this year.  Can't believe he was going to finish his career at a non-DI school before Valpo picked him up late.

[VUGrad1314]

A salute to Deion Lavender. He contributed even more than was expected from him. He led the team in assists by 50 over Evelyn in second place. His assists to turnovers ratio was sensational. He was the team's second leading rebounder, only behind Smits. His field goal percentage was also second only to Smits. He committed the fewest personal fouls of anyone on the team. His free throw percentage was second only to Fazekas. Give us 5 Lavenders and we aren't playing in the Thursday game at St. Louis.

And his reward from our brilliant  coach was to be forced into a reserve role for most of the conference season. Why didn't we ever try Lavender Sackey and Freeman together?

[EddieCabot]

Valpo wins this game if Fazekas plays.  Hope he can stay healthy next year.

[VUGrad1314]

Also did we ever practice late game situations? Serious question. Because it sure doesn't seem like it since we piss down our legs EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

[VUGrad1314]

Valpo wins this game if Fazekas plays.  Hope he can stay healthy next year.

Give that man one healthy year. He deserves it.

[VU2014]

Greg Tonagel! We need you!!!!!!!!!   

I certainly think he'd be a better in-game coach and at developing game plans but I'm not sure he's the answer. I've stated my case in other threads.

[VUGrad1314]

Greg Tonagel! We need you!!!!!!!!!

I certainly think he'd be a in-game coach and at developing game plans but I'm not sure he's the answer. I've stated my case in other threads.

So we should continue with this mess?


We have 25 D1 wins in 2 years and a non-D1 exhibition loss with absolutely NOTHING getting better.

[vu72]

Shut it down.