Valpo vs Missouri St

[oklahomamick]

Tex agree with you on Mileek.  And he has been one of the few players as of late that I've watched play as a freshman all the way through.  Used to be the norm at valpo. 

Most of that blame goes to Lottich and coaching staff.  Some of the blame goes to cancel society and mentality that a lot of have.   

I would bet that players during Bruce era have different experiences and memories of valpo than the ML ones that graduated.

Yes we are with ML for another 3 years no matter what.  But how long is our marriage with the other ML?  He's done well to get us from league to league and
Finally finally finally hit on a football coach and women's basketball coach. 

[vu72]

That was just ugly.  I couldn't believe the first half when we put up a shot and four of their guys were there guys were there for a rebound and not a gold jersey in sight.  Where were they?  We couldn't compete with a guy like Mosley and Prim with shooters like Zion and Sackey. Not even close. 

I still have solid hope for next year and really don't think anybody is going to transfer other than possibly the European guys.  I hope that Emil comes back and has figured it out by then.  He is a big which we need badly.  The point guard issues should be cured with the guys coming in as should some of our shooting woes. 

So here's some good news!  The women are still playing, football is starting, Volleyball is playing as are softball and baseball, swimming, track and bowling!  Amazing situation where ALL of our teams sans Men's Basketball, are playing at the same time.

[Just Sayin]

Missouri St went 3-0 against us this year.  Better players or better coached?

All successful programs have two things in common:


Excellent recruiting


Excellent coaching




Valpo has shown to be average on these two factors.


How did Drake get it done and Valpo has shown it cannot?

[usc4valpo]

Easy answer - Drake is more committed to success in basketball than Valpo. Valpo has always taken previous basketball success for granted and now the degradation of the program is showing. The problem is more than Lottich.

I really wish the university was more committed to the flagship sport. Really disappointing in this commitment to mediocrity.

[vok22]

We shall see. If the recruiting class coming in next year doesn't show signs of life, then I will be concerned. They seem to address our biggest concern--scoring/shooting. I have said this countless times, but I think having a point guard that can score consistently will add 8-10 points to our average alone. Not just from them hitting shots, but opening up the floor a little for other players to take advantage of. If also appears that there are maybe 3 guys in this class who have to potential to grow into a go-to scorer. We don't need three, we need one. If just one of these guys can be a go to scorer, which I definitely think is possible, and the other guys play to their roles, our team improves drastically. Our defense was not even bad this year. There were bad stretches of course, but our ppg against was top 30% in NCAA, which is manageable. Sheldon has shown signs of great defensive potential, and we know what Clay can do (as long as he doesn't hurt us too much on the offensive end). I am not discouraged at all right now. Next year is a big year though, and I am confident we will have a competitive team.

[valpopal]

Anybody want to speculate on Kpegeol sitting out the second half?

That is a question I really hope Paul asks Lottich postgame. I don't understand our best player from the 1st half not stepping foot on the court during the 2nd half.

I'm curious, did anyone learn an answer to this question?

[valpolaw]

The end of the season and the annual "next year" cycle under Lottich continues. If you take away the Peter's team he inherited, Lottichs record has been well under .500

[valpotx]

The end of the season and the annual "next year" cycle under Lottich continues. If you take away the Peter's team he inherited, Lottichs record has been well under .500

Yep, he is 59-69 (.461) without that first season, but you also have to give him credit for being an Assistant for 3 of Peters' years/recruiting some of those players, so you can't completely discount his 24-9 year.

[valpopal]

The end of the season and the annual "next year" cycle under Lottich continues. If you take away the Peter's team he inherited, Lottichs record has been well under .500

Yep, he is 59-69 (.461) without that first season, but you also have to give him credit for being an Assistant for 3 of Peters' years/recruiting some of those players, so you can't completely discount his 24-9 year.

But that 24-9 year ended with a bad taste from the first round loss to 10th seed Milwaukee in the HL tournament where the team only scored 41 points, just 12 points in the first half, reminiscent of this tournament with only 13 points in the first half.

[a3uge]

The end of the season and the annual "next year" cycle under Lottich continues. If you take away the Peter's team he inherited, Lottichs record has been well under .500

Yep, he is 59-69 (.461) without that first season, but you also have to give him credit for being an Assistant for 3 of Peters' years/recruiting some of those players, so you can't completely discount his 24-9 year.

But that 24-9 year ended with a bad taste from the first round loss to 10th seed Milwaukee in the HL tournament where the team only scored 41 points, just 12 points in the first half, reminiscent of this tournament with only 13 points in the first half.

Peters getting injured was the bad taste from the season, not the tournament loss. They were a tournament team before then, and Lottich held the team together after Bryce started interviewing mid-NIT. That was a tough situation that could have ended even more poorly.

With that said, Lottich is clearly in over his head and wasn't ready to recruit and lead a competitive MVC team. At the time it was fine; we got another year of Peters and got accepted into a higher league (for better or worse) but it's time to move on and turn the program back over to a coach that can recruit and put together rational lineups.

[vu72]

Very short memory for some here.  We had a bad loss to a very good team.  If we had Prim or Mosely we would have won-easily.

We played in a very difficult environment (covid etc.) with a team that should have been very experienced but stuff happens. Mileek? Much expected little gained. Zion? Personal reasons why he missed half the season and on top of that he is a terrible shooter. Eron? Good contributions from a role player and then there's Nick.

So given all that, we got 79% of our scoring and 66% of our rebounds from Freshman and Sophomores and in spite of these facts we beat a top 25 Drake team and lost by 2 points to a top 25 Loyola team at their place.

So is it Matt's fault that Nick leaves, Zion is missing for half the season and Donovan's shooting regresses from 45.2% overall and 28.6% from the 3, to 39% and 20.4%?

We need to re-think this and I'll give you this, if everyone of consequence comes back and we end up with a losing record or near losing and don't finish higher than 5th, I'll join in calling for his job.

Loyola just beat up on a very experienced Indiana State team by 16, 65-49

[VUGrad1314]

Let's just hope the team has more belief in Lottich than we fans do. if they stay together we might finally get our legs under us in this conference. If he can't keep this group together then what's the point of his recruiting chops such as they are if he can't keep a team together for more than a year or two? That alone would be grounds to look in a different direction. That being said Lottich's record outside of the first year is just gross. What's is actual record in games that matter? Meaning: take out the worthless non-D1s and how far under .500 is he? 15 games? 17?

[JD24]

The roster and/or rotation just has too many players with obvious offensive deficiencies. Too many can't shoot and the others can't get their own shot. Sackey is not a player I like as a point guard and his backup should be a backup and is too often used as a main cog when he is what he is...a backup. Clay? He can't shoot. Nothing in his shot from the moment he decides to shoot gives me the impression it's going in. It's awkward and looks forced. Not fluid.

While I'd say it's tough on the coach when the best player on the team throws up some of the nonsense we've seen from Clay this year at times, he's also the one responsible for the recruiting class. Let's hope next years class builds on the couple of guys they brought in this year who have at least some ability.

As to Kpegeol and not playing in the 2nd half maybe the answer is he played in the first half and the team was down 20. So maybe it was something not apparent to those watching on TV. A question that should be (have been) asked though.

[oklahomamick]

Tex Lottich had very little to do with recruiting those players as a third assistant.  Bryce and Roger recruited them.  Bryce and roger were very involved and delegated very little to the third assistant in terms of recruiting. Those two were control freaks.  Third assistant had minor role of any. 

[valpotx]

I didn't realize that Prim only spent 2 years at Missouri State.  Talk about being under-recruited, having initially landed at D-2 West Texas A&M, as an All-State player in HS!

https://missouristatebears.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/gaige-prim/5823

[VUGrad1314]

I didn't realize that Prim only spent 2 years at Missouri State.  Talk about being under-recruited, having initially landed at D-2 West Texas A&M, as an All-State player in HS! https://missouristatebears.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/gaige-prim/5823

Gotta believe he'll use the extra year and come back. They're just beginning to put a capable team around him and Mosley. Next year they could be very good I think.

[NativeCheesehead]

That is one thing I keep forgetting about in relation to next year, if the top teams bring back most of their stars then even with an improved team we could be fighting for 5/6 place again.

[vu72]

That is one thing I keep forgetting about in relation to next year, if the top teams bring back most of their stars then even with an improved team we could be fighting for 5/6 place again.

I still can't figure out why anyone would want to come back, unless a graduate degree was being sought. If they are good enough to play professionally why pass up that chance? Even AJ Green probably wouldn't come back because he will be an NBA draft pick.  Same for the average player, say, Zion Morgan.  If he graduates, why would you not pursue a career particularly is you have to pay?  Eligibility is one thing, paying for another year is a different matter.  Has that been settled?

[oklahomamick]

I think it was very telling when Lexus transferred out his last year of eligibility.  He was runner up mr. Valpo to only vashil.  Since Lexus left the transfer bug has really hit valpo.  Or is it since ML took over.

I had a student who played one year with Lexus at Boise st.  He really admired Lexus.  Does anyone know what Lexus IS doing?  He would be a good coach and recruiter.

[JD24]

The transfer bug has become a bigger issue all over within the last 5 years. It isn't a Valpo issue.

[wh]

That is one thing I keep forgetting about in relation to next year, if the top teams bring back most of their stars then even with an improved team we could be fighting for 5/6 place again.

I still can't figure out why anyone would want to come back, unless a graduate degree was being sought. If they are good enough to play professionally why pass up that chance? Even AJ Green probably wouldn't come back because he will be an NBA draft pick.  Same for the average player, say, Zion Morgan.  If he graduates, why would you not pursue a career particularly is you have to pay?  Eligibility is one thing, paying for another year is a different matter.  Has that been settled?

The NCAA decided last August to provide student athletes playing fall sports an extra year of eligibility. In October it applied the same ruling to winter sports. This inciteful WAPost article was written after the fall sport ruling, but the challenges the author raises could be similarly applied to basketball.

NCAA eligibility ruling solves some problems, creates others

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/ncaa-eligibility-ruling-solves-some-problems-creates-others/2020/08/21/ee482ccc-e3eb-11ea-82d8-5e55d47e90ca_story.html%3foutputType=amp

[vu72]

That is one thing I keep forgetting about in relation to next year, if the top teams bring back most of their stars then even with an improved team we could be fighting for 5/6 place again.

I still can't figure out why anyone would want to come back, unless a graduate degree was being sought. If they are good enough to play professionally why pass up that chance? Even AJ Green probably wouldn't come back because he will be an NBA draft pick.  Same for the average player, say, Zion Morgan.  If he graduates, why would you not pursue a career particularly is you have to pay?  Eligibility is one thing, paying for another year is a different matter.  Has that been settled?

The NCAA decided last August to provide student athletes playing fall sports an extra year of eligibility. In October it applied the same ruling to winter sports. This inciteful WAPost article was written after the fall sport ruling, but the challenges the author raises could be similarly applied to basketball.

NCAA eligibility ruling solves some problems, creates others

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/ncaa-eligibility-ruling-solves-some-problems-creates-others/2020/08/21/ee482ccc-e3eb-11ea-82d8-5e55d47e90ca_story.html%3foutputType=amp

So this quote from the article is my point:

And while the NCAA is giving back the eligibility, no athlete is guaranteed financial aid or a scholarship. Those decisions will be left to the schools.

[wh]

If I were Mark LaBarbara, I would stick to standard 13 scholarship limit and be done with it.

The athletic department can't make ends meet now, so much so it's passing a tin cup around begging for extra help. I'm not interested in financially supporting extra scholarships for something that never even materialized - a lost season.

If, for instance, 2 years from now Ben Krikke wants to play a 5th year and we maintain our 13 scholarship limit, have at it.

[justducky]

Scholarship money availability aside this is still simple economics. The D-1 playing time demand number remains unchanged because there is a fixed 200 minutes per game played multiplied by total D-1 teams. On the other hand we have increased player supply availability by as much as 25%.  Duh! 

When reality sinks in it may come as a surprise to many, but it shouldn't because they are all college educated! I guess?

[Pgmado]

Couple thoughts...

1) Donovan Clay and Eron Gordon played all 20 minutes of the second half. That's your (perceived) best player and your fifth-year senior. Krikke and Edwards barely left the floor as well. Zion came off the bench and that group of five started Valpo on a run that got them back in the game. Lottich, as Bryce and Homer before him, has proven time and time again that when the team is in a rut and a group begins to show life, he stays with that group. Should Goodnews have gotten on the court in the second half? Probably. But when are you putting him in and who are you putting him in for? He played well in the first half, but the team was still -9 when he was on the court. He missed both of his 3-pointers and they were WIDE OPEN. Sheldon and Clay were much better in the second half. Maybe you take Gordon out and put in Goodnews, but again, that's your fifth-year senior.

2) Give a ton of credit to Missouri State for the way they defended Ognacevic. They stayed with him on every play. I think I count one time that he was able to get free from a defender and Zion was turned the other way and driving at that point. Ognacevic worked his ass off to get free looks and he was covered up on every possession. Ford said after the game that Ognacevic was the X-factor for Valpo and they "respected him from the moment we saw we drew Valpo."

3) It is painfully evident to me that Clay should play in the post. He can't shoot 98 3-pointers if he's only going to hit 20 percent of them. He's got to want to mix it up in the post and get physical with players. If he would rather stay on the perimeter, he has got to shoot better. Or take the ball and drive to the lane and finish at the rim.

4) The future is bright, but only if the two sophomores and three freshmen return. Take those five guys and surround them with other talent. Some that's on the roster. The freshmen coming in and some possible transfers. This team can be very good with that quintet leading the way. Give a typical offseason to those five guys working together and you've got an excellent foundtion for next season and the seasons to come. This program will only flourish if those five stay the course. I've got a column coming out tomorrow on this very topic.

5) An interesting stat I found while researching the aforementioned column. Mileek McMillan is the first four-year player since Lance Barker (1991-95) to not appear in a postseason game.