MBB 2020-2021

[VU2014]

Lottich did an interview with Andy Katz.  With it was while we were playing better basketball.

https://twitter.com/valleyhoops/status/1349431520268754944?s=21

[VU2014]

👀

https://twitter.com/nwioren/status/1349446799464005636?s=21

[JBC1824]

"Personal attacks?"

I'm sorry, but how much more impersonal could the exchanges on this forum be? None of the posters here know anything about the other posters unless otherwise divulged. And to characterize what I wrote as an "attack" is just ridiculous. I was also responding in a manner commensurate with the post I was responding to.

SanityLost17 seemed to be mocking other forum posters to an extent, writing "Everyone is complaining about the offense.... Which i find hilarious;"

"Defensive improvement is the #1 priority right now and anybody argues differently clearly knows nothing about basketball."

Calling him "coach" and questioning his basketball knowledge, as he questioned everyone elses, are not over the top responses.

As Valpo's head coach I believe Lottich bears some responsability whenever a player whom the team would benefit from retaining has decided to transfer. However, you do bring up some good points.

Of the "others," I would have preferred if at least one of Smorrolla had stayed. While I despised them both, we would have been a better team for it, supposing they had been healthy. Golder having stayed also would likely have been a positive.

We needed one scholarship to add Krikke. Evelyn left; there you go. The European players we added suck, and I couldnt care less if they went back to Europe tomorrow.

Ya, Matt's a real magician alright... you hand him a perennial 20 wins per year division 1 college basketball program... and poof... he makes it disappear!

I'm not saying Clay will transfer. Im saying his father being publicly critical makes it seem a possibility. Couple this criticism with all of our recent transfers, and I become concerned.

[SanityLost17]

"Personal attacks?"

I'm sorry, but how much more impersonal could the exchanges on this forum be? None of the posters here know anything about the other posters unless otherwise divulged. And to characterize what I wrote as an "attack" is just ridiculous. I was also responding in a manner commensurate with the post I was responding to.

SanityLost17 seemed to be mocking other forum posters to an extent, writing "Everyone is complaining about the offense.... Which i find hilarious;"

"Defensive improvement is the #1 priority right now and anybody argues differently clearly knows nothing about basketball."

Calling him "coach" and questioning his basketball knowledge, as he questioned everyone elses, are not over the top responses.

As Valpo's head coach I believe Lottich bears some responsability whenever a player whom the team would benefit from retaining has decided to transfer. However, you do bring up some good points.

Of the "others," I would have preferred if at least one of Smorrolla had stayed. While I despised them both, we would have been a better team for it, supposing they had been healthy. Golder having stayed also would likely have been a positive.

We needed one scholarship to add Krikke. Evelyn left; there you go. The European players we added suck, and I couldnt care less if they went back to Europe tomorrow.

Ya, Matt's a real magician alright... you hand him a perennial 20 wins per year division 1 college basketball program... and poof... he makes it disappear!

I'm not saying Clay will transfer. Im saying his father being publicly critical makes it seem a possibility. Couple this criticism with all of our recent transfers, and I become concerned.

I meant no REAL offense to anybody and took no REAL offense to his post.   

[VU2014]

Not a good sign guys...

https://twitter.com/dexterclay1977/status/1352054324180918273?s=21
https://twitter.com/dexterclay1977/status/1352053285134352384?s=21
https://twitter.com/dexterclay1977/status/1352056748601839618?s=21

[valpotx]

He is 3 for 9 today.  If you watch him off the ball, he is not getting open on his own.  How can you force a pass, when he is fully covered?  Oh wait, we can just ask Sackey and Edwards, each time they attempt such a thing...

[vok22]

He is 3 for 9 today.  If you watch him off the ball, he is not getting open on his own.  How can you force a pass, when he is fully covered?  Oh wait, we can just ask Sackey and Edwards, each time they attempt such a thing...

You hit the nail on the head. I see those tweets from Dexter and I'm confused. Is he just expecting every possession to be a Donovan one on one?

This team needs a deep cleaning from the head coach down to the last player on the bench.

[valpotx]

My guess is that he is hoping for the JFL treatment for Donovan, where he touched the ball several times on each possession, and then did a 1-on-1 at the end.  However, that does a disservice to the team development overall, as we have noticed now that JFL is gone, as no one seems to understand who will step up in key moments, when the clock is winding down on a possession. 

[valpotx]

Congrats to the current team on being on the receiving end of our largest conference loss since 1992!  Let's see if they show any guts/balls in the next few games, in order to right the rest of their season.

[VU2014]

Parents of kids who transfer don't have great things to say...
https://twitter.com/jlg5297/status/1352081157592997888?s=21

[wh]

Parents of kids who transfer don't have great things to say...
https://twitter.com/jlg5297/status/1352081157592997888?s=21

Im not interested in anything Marcus Golder's fan club of 1 has to say about anything, especially her garbage political tweets. What other "parents of kids who transfer" are you referring to?

[valpolaw]

I forgot the team even played tonight because it's so hard to watch these days. The box score is all I needed to see though and it's downright embarrassing.

I'm sure the Lottich apologists will make every excuse in the book, like no other teams are dealing with the same COVID issues. 

[VU2014]

Im not interested in anything Marcus Golder's fan club of 1 has to say about anything, especially her garbage political tweets. What other "parents of kids who transfer" are you referring to?

More so Markus' Mom more than anyone. It sounds like she was happy that Markus was injured. I know there were a couple tweets from JFL's Mom that wasn't happy at some Valpo Fans being angry about JFL transferring in the offseason, but definitely no bad blood this.

[may know]

Looking at her twitter, like 80% of her tweets are hating on someone or something. It's best not to touch those people with a ten foot pole.

[valpotx]

Yeah, not worried about what the mom of Markus Golder thinks about Valpo.  He was absolutely a 'me first' player.  He had some good games for us, but was a very selfish and whiney basketball player. 

[vuny98]

On a bright note, we have played arguably two of the best teams in the conference thus far, so our 0-3 record isn't exactly a surprise. But the way we have played has been embarrassing. Hopefully, with some easier games coming up, we can at least be more competitive.

Coming into this year, I said the two most important players were Krikke and Clay. Neither have been that impressive thus far. Our Upperclassmen have proven they are role players, and in some cases, have regressed dramatically. I'd like to see the Freshmen continue to get more playing time and for us to see them be more aggressive on the offensive end.

[vok22]

https://twitter.com/nwioren/status/1352280395212087303?s=21

[wh]

https://twitter.com/nwioren/status/1352280395212087303?s=21

Our newest never-ending "disappearing" veteran mystery. So, from last year to this we go from losing Ryan and John to Ryan, John and Javon, to Ryan, John, Javon and Nick, to Ryan, John, Javon, Nick and Zion to Ryan, John, Javon, Nick, Zion, and Sigard, to Ryan, John, Javon, Nick, Zion, Sigard and Emil to Ryan, John, Javon, Nick, Zion, Sigard, Emil and an out of shape regressing MIA Mileek, to Ryan, John, Javon, Nick, Zion, Sigard, Emil, an out of shape regressing MIA Mileek and a sophomore-slumped Donovan.

So, what's left? A bunch of raw freshmen, 2 underperforming sophomores, and a couple of upper class role players. The question is not why we got smoked last night. That's obvious. The question is what in the world is going on with these never ending drop offs, no shows, injuries, player scratches at game time, etc. This seems to be a never ending saga in the Matt Lottich era. And why are we saddled with COVID protocol violations? I can only surmise that is the result of lack of player discipline. It certainly fits with picking up 40 pounds "getting ready" for a new season.

[vuny98]

https://twitter.com/nwioren/status/1352280395212087303?s=21

Our newest never-ending "disappearing" veteran mystery. So, from last year to this we go from losing Ryan and John to Ryan, John and Javon, to Ryan, John, Javon and Nick, to Ryan, John, Javon, Nick and Zion to Ryan, John, Javon, Nick, Zion, and Sigard, to Ryan, John, Javon, Nick, Zion, Sigard and Emil to Ryan, John, Javon, Nick, Zion, Sigard, Emil and an out of shape regressing MIA Mileek, to Ryan, John, Javon, Nick, Zion, Sigard, Emil, an out of shape regressing MIA Mileek and a sophomore-slumped Donovan. So, what's left? A bunch of raw freshmen, 2 underperforming sophomores, and a couple of upper class role players. The question is not why we got smoked last night. That's obvious. The question is what in the world is going on with these never ending drop offs, no shows, injuries, player scratches at game time, etc. This seems to be a never ending saga in the Matt Lottich era. And why are we saddled with COVID protocol violations? I can only surmise that is the result of lack of player discipline. It certainly fits with picking up 40 pounds "getting ready" for a new season.

I haven't been following that closely, but are Zion, Sigurd and Emil still on the team?

I'm not sure if I am overly surprised that Nick bailed, but it is a bit curious. 

[wh]

I suppose. Who knows? They're just part of the never ending game time scratches without any explanation. Sig goes from starting game-1 to MIA. This kind of thing is so typical no one even stops to ask why or what happened any more. Are they hurt?Did they decide to scratch the season? Maybe an eternal case of COVID? Are they even still in the country? No postgame questions or weekly Brandon questions about them. Is this part of a strategy to give these guys another season. Are they actually tanking the season intentionally as part of a larger strategy? Never mind, nosey. Just move on. Nothing to see here. Let's see who "no-shows" on Saturday. Very likely that will be a bigger mystery than the outcome of the game.

[valpotx]

If it is related to any newborn, as has been hinted in the past, congrats to Nick, and it is a good decision at this point in his life.  If he can be there for child/family, and potentially start making money for his family, he is making an adult decision. 

[NativeCheesehead]

With a baby on the way (or here) and a degree in hand, I can imagine basketball suddenly isn't that important right now. Best of luck to the young family!

[vu72]

I haven't been following that closely, but are Zion, Sigurd and Emil still on the team?[/q

I spotted all three at the game around the bench. Luke said that Emil is getting better--you know..."progressing nicely" .

[AB]

JFL and Kiser were much bigger losses than anticipated. Not so much in terms of stats, but how their basketball IQ, effort and determination on the court raised the level of play of others around them. Prime example. The road games at Arkansas and Northern Iowa. Those two teams landed some hey makers and pounced on Valpo early. By halftime it was a game again. Folded like a deck of cards last night. Who is that guy on the court this year that raises the play of others around him?

[crusadermoe]

Those sound like comments much more fair to Matt Lottich and they ring true from where I sit.  Thank you.