MBB 2020-2021

[VU2014]

The hits keep on coming...

I won't begrudge Nick for making this choice. It's his health and he has a young child on the way or already here to keep in mind and doesn't want the baby or his partner to get sick.

It is what it is. A tough break.

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

[mj]

Something weird is going on with the program. Why would Robinson feel the need to go public with a letter regarding his decision to opt out?

[valpopal]

Message from Nick Robinson:



Dear Crusader Nation,
I want to begin by saying it deeply saddens me to write this letter to the Valparaiso University fans.Throughout  my time here there have been numerous  trials and tribulations but I never could have envisioned this one. Due to recent events, I have chosen to opt-out of my 5th year. I value and appreciate the support and encouragement  I have received from you all and feel that it;s important to provide clarity on this unfortunate  and gratuitous  situation.


On January 9th and January 10th, I did not play in the two games against Missouri State due to covid protocol. On January 9th I was blessed with my first son, Noah Saint Robinson. Given my personal situation as well as covid protocols, I did not attend these two games. Coach Lottich informed me that I had his full support on whatever I wanted and needed to do but also that he still wanted me to come to practice the following week. In order to show my dedication and loyalty to the program, I resumed attending practice on January 12, and continued  to do so for the remainder of the week.


On January 14th,during the beginning  of practice, the team was notified that we were scheduled to play against the DePaul Blue Demons. This posed a problem: if I were to play I would not be able to come home  both due to Chicago being a hot zone for covid and DePaul's number  of stoppages of play due to positive covid cases. I let Coach Lottich know that I would like to sit out to provide support for the first week of my son being born. Since a week prior the coaching staff helped me secure a new apartment,(that  was set for me to move in on January 18th) so I would be able to mitigate the risk of my newborn son catching covid. I thought  that I would continue  to have his support that was shown over the last two weeks.


On January 15th, before practice, Coach Lottich invited me into his office. He told me that I had two options, to play against DePaul or opt out for the remainder of the season because he could no longer deal with my inconsistency.  I was completely caught off guard by this statement as I have constantly kept him informed  with my concerns, intentions,  and goals for the season.


Despite coming off the bench, I am top three in every statistical category except for rebounding (in which I am fourth),  and free throw percentage (in which I am currently shooting 81.8%). Off the court, my teammates  can attest that I have consistently been a leader that has tried to be the gel that keeps us together during our tough  times. It is clear that I thrive under pressure and would be able to manage  any difficulty in scheduling the new addition to my family. I felt my situation could be classified as growing pains, rather than a perpetual problem that would result in my having to opt out of the season. However, I made the executive decision to put my family before any other priority and, as such, must opt out.


To my son and family,
I made this decision to set a standard that our family comes first. In the past six years I have lost my brother to cancer, my father to a heart attack, and my grandfather  to old age. It has taught  me many things  but the most important one is how precious life is. Now being the oldest male in my family, I want you to know  everyday I will put you first and not think twice about it.


To the Coaching staff
Thank you for the many life lessons that you have been a part of me learning during my time at
VU,  it has been a blessing.


To the Crusader Fans
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to wear the brown and gold. It was an honor and pleasure to play in the Athletics Recreation Center.

[Chairback]

I would probably do the same as Nick. He is being a responsible father and family man.  Sounds like his priorities are in order and wish him the best. 

I wonder if more is coming with others opting out.

[justducky]

In what has essentially become a throw away season of exhibition games, I'll have to side with Nick for now. Obviously there could be much more to the story from both sides.

[vu72]

I think Nick didn't want people to think he walked out on the team.  He was defending his decision but also making it clear that he had little choice.  Unfortunately it does little to enhance Matt's image with Chicago recruits if they view the situation from Nick's side of things.  It will be interesting to see how this impacts his teammates.

[wh]

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?

At the end of last season, replacing Ryan and John was the only missing piece of this year's puzzle. Then JFL left (after he assured the world he wasn't) and we lost another piece. Not ideal, but with the expectation of having everyone else back and a talented group of freshmen coming in, I think most of us thought the prospects were good for building on last year's positive finish. What has happened since is nothing short of a nightmare. Basically, we're down 8 players from last year's roster, if you count heavyweight Mileek whose complete irresponsibility has rendered him completely ineffective. As a result, we have completely bottomed out - again. We now have so many missing pieces to the puzzle, you might as well throw the puzzle away and start over - again! And, if truth be told, there's plenty of blame to go around, including the coaches, certain players that aren't dedicated enough, and probably a few whiny, know it all parents poisoning the well, to boot. What a mess.

[VUBBFan]

I can sympathize with each side on this. This Covid situation has played havoc all around us, unlike anything else in current history.

Being a first time parent is an uncertain and confusing time for most people. For those with more than one child, remember how you handled  things with your first versus the next one. It can be a scary and confusing time. With his family history I can see him being overly cautious, and I feel most of us would also put our feeling for family first.

I applaud Nick for his sincere letter to the Valpo community. I found it informative and not mean spirited, but still laced with some disappointment of the outcome. He was a good friend and leader to the team and will be missed greatly.

On the other hand Coach Lottich has a responsibility to maintain a viable and committed team. Coaches are the boss, and while they have the option to consider player requests, players are not the ones who dictate how the program progresses or how they are personally treated. In most schools players have been given the option of playing or opting out for the season. Not the option of choosing which games they want to play or not play in. There has to be some discipline in order to move forward.

I thought giving personal time off for the birth of Nick's son was the right thing to do for the Missouri State game. I myself would probably have granted time off for DePaul also, but there is a time where a decision has to be made to be fair for the rest of the team. Life comes down to hard choices.

Nick was an important and valuable part of this team and will be missed. I wish him well in his future endeavors. 

[VU2014]

I understand that the Coaches want consistency but I'm a little baffled by Lottich's decision.

I support Nick's decision with family coming first.

I'm not sure how it came to this and why things couldn't be handled in house. Why wouldn't Lottich work with him?

Now I've been around long enough in this world to know there is ALWAYS two sides to a story but I'd really wish The Coaching staff would work this out and not be doing this through the Press. Just bad PR.

It honestly makes me question leadership and this includes the AD. There is no way Mark L wasn't aware of all this going down but let it. Just adds to Fans and Alumni's frustrations with this stuff. A terrible look for Valpo Athletics.

[mj]

Didn't we have an issue a few years ago with allegedly selfish players who didn't fit it (Smits, Golder, Evelyn, etc). They left, Lottich brought in his own guys and now we're seeing the same thing again???

[crusadermoe]

Indeed it sounds like a mess.  Most of you know the team better than I do. 

But from afar it really doesn't sound like the chemistry issues are being set in motion or even added by the coaches. You've had some players' personal issues to navigate You can imagine the dominos when losing spreads conflict and frustration.  Winning covers all of those flaws.  Just ask the Yankees and some of the Oakland As teams.

[justducky]

Basically, we're down 8 players from last year's roster, if you count heavyweight Mileek whose complete irresponsibility has rendered him completely ineffective. As a result, we have completely bottomed out - again. We now have so many missing pieces to the puzzle, you might as well throw the puzzle away and start over - again! And, if truth be told, there's plenty of blame to go around, including the coaches, certain players that aren't dedicated enough, and probably a few whiny, know it all parents poisoning the well, to boot. What a mess.

I don't see Mileek returning short term to anywhere near full strength so should he be encouraged to return for another season? Same question goes for Zion. Eron could play another year but should he? Fast tracking our youth looks like our best solution and if Emil gets healthy he could be given major minutes.

Getting our Valley record to 6-12 is no longer viewed as a certainty but we accomplished that with less talent 4 years ago just with an all out defensive resolve. We again need a quick hook for defensive errors and sub maximum efforts. Maybe they should watch some February 2017-18 game film. That defense was the only thing that justified the price of admission.

[oklahomamick]

This shouldn't be seen as a negative to the program.

It's best for both parties involved.  Lottich needed his player 100% of the time and Robinson for a good reason couldn't give that. 

Tough being a D1 student athlete.  Couldn't imagine doing that and having a child.  Especially during the pandemic. 

Most importantly I sure hope Robinson gets his degree from Valparaiso universality. 

[NativeCheesehead]

In any other year this is the right move. But this year it's a bad look for a program in disarray, especially when there's no eligibility at stake.

Maybe Nick decides to use that last year next season. If so, I can't imagine it being here. And how does this look to current and future recruits? 

[valpotx]

I can also see this situation from both sides, as an occasional/game-by-game player will only cause more synergy issues, whenever they are able to play.  On the same end, if my coach had worded such a thing as Nick attests to in his letter, when I was Nick's age, I would have told Lottich to go f* himself lol.  I really hope that Lottich did not tell Nick that he can't put up with the inconsistency, just a few weeks after a child's birth...

[wh]

Basically, we're down 8 players from last year's roster, if you count heavyweight Mileek whose complete irresponsibility has rendered him completely ineffective. As a result, we have completely bottomed out - again. We now have so many missing pieces to the puzzle, you might as well throw the puzzle away and start over - again! And, if truth be told, there's plenty of blame to go around, including the coaches, certain players that aren't dedicated enough, and probably a few whiny, know it all parents poisoning the well, to boot. What a mess.

I don't see Mileek returning short term to anywhere near full strength so should he be encouraged to return for another season? Same question goes for Zion. Eron could play another year but should he? Fast tracking our youth looks like our best solution and if Emil gets healthy he could be given major minutes.

Getting our Valley record to 6-12 is no longer viewed as a certainty but we accomplished that with less talent 4 years ago just with an all out defensive resolve. We again need a quick hook for defensive errors and sub maximum efforts. Maybe they should watch some February 2017-18 game film. That defense was the only thing that justified the price of admission.

I don't know why we would want any of those guys back next year. We have a whole new crop of freshmen coming it and 13 scholarship players without them. There's only 1 basketball and 200 minutes. More players means more unhappy players, which leads to more discord.

[oklahomamick]

WH, the problem with that is we have said the same thing for the last 3 years.  Good, Bakari Evelyn needs to go.  We have good freshman coming in.  Good, Golden needs to go, we have good freshman coming in.  Good, Smits needs to go, we have another 7 footer......So on and so on. 

[nkvu]

What a messed up situation. Absent COVID I bet something could have been worked out. I'm not unfamiliar with getting an ultimatum from a coach. In high school my baseball coach gave me an ultimatum to abandon another activity because he questioned whether I was sufficiently dedicated to baseball. At that time I told him no, that I could do both. He didn't cut me but he did bench me, even though I was clearly the best player at my position and our record suffered because of it. That's high school where I think the school should support students trying many different things. College is a different.  You accept an athletic scholarship, it's like a contract. They pay for your education and in return, you play your sport. You go to classes and you play your sport. Nothing else should interfere. If something does and you can't play, you've broken your contract.  Anything the college does or doesn't do to accommodate the situation is up to them.  This year with an opt out it provides a reasonable alternative. Now I hope that Lottich's meeting wasn't as cold as was described.  I could see a conversation where after honest and sympathetic discussion both parties could come to the conclusion that given the circumstances that an opt out was the best way to proceed.  But I do worry about how this might play with future recruits if it truly went down as described. Btw my coach finally relented and let me play the last quarter of the season including the sectional which we won for the first time, and I was named to the all sectional team. I ended up hitting .344 for the season. The experience so soured me that I haven't touched a baseball since.

[mj]

Thinking more about the situation, it's not necessarily the losing that's the problem. It's the drama. Think about the 08-09 season. We were terrible that year. We even had some questionable personalities (Logan Jones). But Homer handled the situation and we moved on.

[justducky]

All of our seniors have weighed and are weighing their future options. Because of the extended eligibility there should be a glut of competent transfers flooding the market for the 2021-2022 season. Realistically the best case for Zion or Mileek is sideways as situational role players. Eron or Nick might find a spot on a top 100 team but would need to really shine to gain any meaningful playing time. If my perception of their reality is accurate then perhaps none of them will continue with NCAA basketball elsewhere.  Thoughts?

[vu72]

All of our seniors have weighed and are weighing their future options. Because of the extended eligibility there should be a glut of competent transfers flooding the market for the 2021-2022 season. Realistically the best case for Zion or Mileek is sideways as situational role players. Eron or Nick might find a spot on a top 100 team but would need to really shine to gain any meaningful playing time. If my perception of their reality is accurate then perhaps none of them will continue with NCAA basketball elsewhere.  Thoughts?

I wonder how the scholarship situation will pan out.  Will schools want to offer any of them a scholarship?  If Mileek thinks he has pro potential then perhaps he might want to play another year at Valpo as he is a local guy.  Would love to have Eron back as he could really help the young guys. Nick surely won't want to be back and Zion would not get any playing time.

[wh]

All of our seniors have weighed and are weighing their future options. Because of the extended eligibility there should be a glut of competent transfers flooding the market for the 2021-2022 season. Realistically the best case for Zion or Mileek is sideways as situational role players. Eron or Nick might find a spot on a top 100 team but would need to really shine to gain any meaningful playing time. If my perception of their reality is accurate then perhaps none of them will continue with NCAA basketball elsewhere.  Thoughts?

I wonder how the scholarship situation will pan out.  Will schools want to offer any of them a scholarship?  If Mileek thinks he has pro potential then perhaps he might want to play another year at Valpo as he is a local guy.  Would love to have Eron back as he could really help the young guys. Nick surely won't want to be back and Zion would not get any playing time.

I repeat. We will already have 13 players under scholarship without any players in their final season returning. Does anyone honestly think those 13 guys are going to stand pat and sit on the bench while 5th and 6th year players take their minutes. Of course not. The first thing they're going to do is look for a better situation. And, it won't just be the guys that aren't in the rotation. It will be guys who are in the rotation now because guys like Mileek selfishly wouldn't hold himself accountable to stay anywhere close to being in game shape and has yet to create so much as a fart in a windstorm. There is a far greater risk of doing long term damage to the program by bringing them back than whatever benefit there might be, if any, to having them on next year's roster.

[vu72]

All of our seniors have weighed and are weighing their future options. Because of the extended eligibility there should be a glut of competent transfers flooding the market for the 2021-2022 season. Realistically the best case for Zion or Mileek is sideways as situational role players. Eron or Nick might find a spot on a top 100 team but would need to really shine to gain any meaningful playing time. If my perception of their reality is accurate then perhaps none of them will continue with NCAA basketball elsewhere.  Thoughts?

I wonder how the scholarship situation will pan out.  Will schools want to offer any of them a scholarship?  If Mileek thinks he has pro potential then perhaps he might want to play another year at Valpo as he is a local guy.  Would love to have Eron back as he could really help the young guys. Nick surely won't want to be back and Zion would not get any playing time.

I repeat. We will already have 13 players under scholarship without any players in their final season returning. Does anyone honestly think those 13 guys are going to stand pat and sit on the bench while 5th and 6th year players take their minutes. Of course not. The first thing they're going to do is look for a better situation. And, it won't just be the guys that aren't in the rotation. It will be guys who are in the rotation now because guys like Mileek selfishly wouldn't hold himself accountable to stay anywhere close to being in game shape and has yet to create so much as a fart in a windstorm. There is a far greater risk of doing long term damage to the program by bringing them back than whatever benefit there might be, if any, to having them on next year's roster.

But, under the covid rules, as I understand them, if a school chooses to, they can have more than 13 scholarship players, so for example, a really in-shape Mileek wants to give it another year and Coach decides that we really need a big, Valpo could give Mileek a scholarship and have 14 scholarship players.  The guys coming in and who are on the team now, aren't what you'd call "big". JO needs to play the 4 as he isn't capable of defending bigs in the Valley, yet he is our best 3 shooter.  I sure don't see a need for any of the other seniors.

[Valpofamfan]

Don't want to speak too soon but want to put it out there that regardless of what happens the rest of the game: we have brought energy and come to play and don't look like the dejected team we did last time we took the court. Good on the team for bouncing back well, at least for the first 3 and a half minutes of this game.

[JD24]

I must be the only member of the board who found the letter completely self serving. We don't know what the coach said to him or he said to the coach. We do know that the player, for whatever reason, felt the need to quickly get his side of the story out there presenting himself in the best possible light including a review of his basketball career at Valpo. I found that odd and completely unnecessary and also, apparently, not really much of the issue which caused him to opt out.

He didn't present himself in a great light to me with the letter.

As an aside, the coaching staff has a roster of players to deal with and many situations come up in other players lives which may not seem as high up the food chain as the birth of a child but might be just as important to those other players who might ask for special treatment...if one wishes to call it that.