Arch Madness (MVC MBB Tournament)

[historyman]

Valpo has been great and basketball for a very long time.  They will be good again .  It's cyclical.  We just have the wrong guy. 

Having his own recruits would help. He keeps playing with other teams recruiting rejects.

[usc4valpo]

Nope, we need a fresh start. ML has had a sufficient time window to succeed.

[tiny707]

Ben looked pissed off and extremely frustrated walking back to locker room.

[AlaskaCrusader19]

Valpo has been great and basketball for a very long time.  They will be good again .  It's cyclical.  We just have the wrong guy. 

Having his own recruits would help. He keeps playing with other teams recruiting rejects.

Most of his recruits leave the program. What does that say about his program?

[vu72]

I think the hard reality is that the close games we lost this season were more a matter of teams playing down to our level and catching themselves just in time to win versus us actually be nearly as good as a team like Murray State or others.  People, Kobe King, our second best player, shot 13% from the 3 this conference season.  I don't think Max Nelson is a D1 player, at least not yet. We've got 21 feet of basketball players riding the pines when what we need is smaller guys who actually can shoot!

So the Matt spin includes all the transfer stuff and how hard it is to put a team together when they don't know each other.  Well Steve Prohm proved that a good coach can get it done.  Follow fans, Prohm had, ready, ONE, read that, ONE player come back from last year and he hadn't even coached that player. So maybe our problem is that we just need to adjust to the tougher league and then we'll be fine.  That doesn't fly either and both Belmont and Murray did better than us and Murray just smoked us.

I'm glad President Padilla was at the game and saw this embarrassment.

Finally, I'll conclude with a financial justification for moving on from Matt.  Here it is--the last time we had a winning record was 2019-2020 at 19-16.  That year we drew 2971 per game in attendance.  The last two years we have averaged 1692 per game.  Without specific knowledge, other than seeing the chairbacks half full, I'll use $20 as the average ticket price.  That means we lost an average of 1,280 ticket sales at $20 or $25,600 per game or 256,000 per season based on 10 home games.  So over the last two season, a combined loss of $512,000.  There is your justification for his buyout.

Ironic that both our men's and women's team were blown out by newcomer Murray, on the same night.  time to move on.

[usc4valpo]

Keeping the program as is will be more burdensome financially beyond the well thought out analysis by vu72. Think about the apathy, school spirit/attitude, enrollment - it all plays in. Quit the excuses and move on. Act like you are a division 1 program.

[tjjvalpo]

There is this belief that Lottich only has one year left on his contract. At the time of the extension it was reported that his contract goes through the 2024-25 season.

So given Valpo financial state and the fact that there are 2 years left, I am afraid that he will be around for next year. Too bad, because with this years seniors departing, there would be very little to worry about retaining players, because what is left shows little promise. This is very sad state for our program.

[David81]

There is this belief that Lottich only has one year left on his contract. At the time of the extension it was reported that his contract goes through the 2024-25 season.

So given Valpo financial state and the fact that there are 2 years left, I am afraid that he will be around for next year. Too bad, because with this years seniors departing, there would be very little to worry about retaining players, because what is left shows little promise. This is very sad state for our program.

Many of us have been suggesting that a negotiated buyout may be possible, especially because Coach Lottich is a good man who might well accept a year's salary as severance when it appears he's signed through 2 more seasons. It would be reasonable for him to hold out for that. But even one year's salary is a lot for a school doing a lot of belt-tightening.

Had the team made even a tiny run in Arch Madness, say, a win followed by a close loss, the optics might look slightly different in terms of sticking with him for another season. But the sound of that 28 point loss was the thud of the program hitting its rock bottom (so far). I cannot imagine next year's roster with the same coaching staff in place.

[tjjvalpo]

I can imagine it, and it is real ugly! Our average attendance probably drops below 1000!

[historyman]

I think the hard reality is that the close games we lost this season were more a matter of teams playing down to our level and catching themselves just in time to win versus us actually be nearly as good as a team like Murray State or others.

After watching Bradley vs Northern Iowa live it's very hard not to agree with you. Valpo is no where near the level of the top of the MVC teams.

[historyman]

Act like you are a division 1 program.

Valpo no longer has the financial situation to be a Division I athletic program plan & simple. If you can't financially find a solution to end Lottich's contract then you can't be Division I. Valpo as a school will survive. Tough decisions are ahead.

[Just Sayin]

I can imagine it, and it is real ugly! Our average attendance probably drops below 1000!

Average home attendance this year was 1,603 and 32.06% of seating capacity.

[tjjvalpo]

Bradley and UNI are going toe to toe today! This is Valley Basketball. What we saw yesterday all four games was not. The reason that our conference net rating is down is the four bottom feeders and sadly Valpo is one of them. I still don't think it is a talent gap, this year. Next year, when we fighting to stay out of last place probably.

[Valpo89]

I can imagine it, and it is real ugly! Our average attendance probably drops below 1000!

Average home attendance this year was 1,603 and 32.06% of seating capacity.

And you know, the attendance figures are usually just a somewhat educated guess by the sports information staff. I don't think there's any science to it.
I'm afraid 1,600 is highly inflated if you actually count AIS - Asses in Seats (tributed to Everybody Loves Raymond).

[JD24]

There is this belief that Lottich only has one year left on his contract. At the time of the extension it was reported that his contract goes through the 2024-25 season. So given Valpo financial state and the fact that there are 2 years left, I am afraid that he will be around for next year. Too bad, because with this years seniors departing, there would be very little to worry about retaining players, because what is left shows little promise. This is very sad state for our program.

Many of us have been suggesting that a negotiated buyout may be possible, especially because Coach Lottich is a good man who might well accept a year's salary as severance when it appears he's signed through 2 more seasons. It would be reasonable for him to hold out for that. But even one year's salary is a lot for a school doing a lot of belt-tightening. Had the team made even a tiny run in Arch Madness, say, a win followed by a close loss, the optics might look slightly different in terms of sticking with him for another season. But the sound of that 28 point loss was the thud of the program hitting its rock bottom (so far). I cannot imagine next year's roster with the same coaching staff in place.

If the school's negotiator didn't leave room for an escape in a reasonable timeframe then I hope the school has changed negotiator's...whoever that may have been or be today. That's just incompetence.

[tjjvalpo]

Indiana State vs Belmont another great game!

[justducky]

Indiana State vs Belmont another great game!

Indiana St holds on to win. I had great difficulty finding this game but did manage to catch the last couple minutes. Hope the evening 2 games are equally competitive to the first 2.

[AlaskaCrusader19]

Bradley and UNI are going toe to toe today! This is Valley Basketball. What we saw yesterday all four games was not. The reason that our conference net rating is down is the four bottom feeders and sadly Valpo is one of them. I still don't think it is a talent gap, this year. Next year, when we fighting to stay out of last place probably.

Outside of Krikke and King, there was definitely a talent gap between this year's team and most of the MVC. Nowhere near enough skilled players, hence the three-point shooting woes.

[justducky]

Good shooting and low turn overs gave Drake a very comfortable win over Murray. Impressive win!  At this point there is still a very remote chance for 2 bids so I'd love to see Bradley- Drake in the final game. Clearly they are the best 2 teams in the league and each might be about #2 seeds for the NIT if they stumble.

[Just Sayin]

Post-game presser. Matt, Kobe, Ben. Starts at 17:30

https://youtu.be/k2N9mpLmQ-U

[Dr. T]

I couldn't begin to fathom how the Valpo v. Murray State NIGHT game was played in the same building ... as part of the same tournament ... in the same conference ... mere hours apart from the Bradley game that was an AFTERNOON game on a weekday. And, yet, the energy was ELECTRIC!!! What a shame. We are an embarrassment to the conference. I cannot use the excuse of being the new school any longer ... no excuses. Not a new coach ... and not the only one dealing with the transfer portal & NIL deals. Did I hear correct that we didn't even have our band there last night, so another team's band played for us? Northern Iowa or something? Unreal.

[usc4valpo]

Bradley vs. Drake for the MVC title. Two teams with talent and excellent coaching. This should be a great game with certainly the 2 best teams in the conference duking it out. We should watch and appreciate this matchup.

[justducky]

Bradley vs. Drake for the MVC title. Two teams with talent and excellent coaching. This should be a great game with certainly the 2 best teams in the conference duking it out. We should watch and appreciate this matchup.

Great basketball yesterday and should be better today. Maybe we should refrain from pissing on Matt or his boots between the hrs of 1:00 and 3:00 central while we watch the automatic bid get decided. Prepare for the chance of multiple over times. I'm thinking it will be Drake which means you should go with Bradley.

[usc4valpo]

I am rooting for Des Moines' team and hope for a big party in Dogtown.

[justducky]

Wasn't Tahvanainen checked and cleared yesterday, Friday or both for concussion and now today he can't dress. Am I confused or how does this work?