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You guys all sound like jilted kids with the "selfish/problem child" nonsense. We have a coaching staff that didn't know how to utilize guys in the MVC that three high-major programs happily grabbed for their rosters. If they were that bad, they wouldn't have all landed upgrades like that. This is on Lottich and his staff until he's able to prove otherwise with results on the court.

George Washington: I know we already have a date set for the GW game but there is no reason they would play this game. New coach (who didn't schedule this), young roster, coming off bad seasons, etc. Since it has to be looked at as a loss for them and since GW is a very wealthy school they have to have tried or are trying to buy this game out.

Um, that's not how scheduling works, at all. The game date is announced for the upcoming season, which means it's basically final. Valpo wouldn't announce and promote a game that was any way in flux (and if it was, someone from GW certainly would have disputed Valpo's announcement). Your assumption that they are trying to buy the game out is pretty funny -- they would have done so months ago if that's what they were planning. "Rich school" also doesn't translate to "rich athletic department." GW definitely isn't in the position to throw tens of thousands of dollars away to not play a basketball game (on TOP of the normal buyout fee, since we're within months of the game now) -- they aren't a Power 5.

While something might leak out sooner, I wouldn't take the lack of news on Vandy as anything just yet. SEC basketball schedules are usually released in mid-to-late August and the contract might very well state Valpo can't announce prior to that date. As I've stated here before, Vandy probably has *less* motivation to avoid a trip to Valpo with Bryce gone and us coming off of a bad season than they did with Bryce at the helm. Again, MLB doesn't usually reveal scheduling info publicly ahead of time so I also find it hard to believe he'd tell people about an SEC opponent at the ARC if said opponent wasn't locked down, whether it's Vandy or someone else.

He said that he no longer will redshirt players.  This makes sense as does not bringing kids for classes during the summer.

I've said it on here before and I'll say it again: with this new transfer portal, any midmajor coach who redshirts a kid for any reason other than injury or academic eligibility issues is out of their mind.

Whether you have sympathy for him or not, he's not wrong about how this transfer portal has strayed well away from what it was intended to be, and how it essentially enables schools to illegally recruit other team's players during the season.

Good point, 87, three of our so-called "selfish" transfers ended up at high-major schools (two of which were in the tourney last year) and a fourth ended up at a D1 midmajor school in his hometown, playing a brand-new arena. Clearly other coaching staffs saw their value.

Like you said, no more excuses left for Lottich. If he doesn't start winning with the roster he crafted immediately, it'll be clear that the problem didn't lie with the players who departed.

Think he's out kicked his coverage...heck, even in the MVC he was borderline.  Though I liked his defensive presence.

Or... it's much more likely that our coaching staff did not develop or utilize him properly, much like they did with Smits. Both ended up at much higher-profile destinations and conferences, so maybe it's possible the scouting acumen of this board is clouded by its tendency to immediately throw players under the bus as selfish.

is the basketball office in what was really a closet!!! Even though I was a kid, I knew it was not up to D1 standards...

Yeah, if I recall, Steinbrecher was the only one who had a real office in the building, and even that was so small, whenever he'd have a cigarette while working (which was frequently), it would fill the hallways around it with clouds of smoke.

So I ran into Tom in Minneapolis at, I think, was a final four, many years ago.  This was after Homer was in charge.  Tom told me that he had a conversation with Schnabel about Cleveland State's (a conference mate at the time) success in the NCAA tournament and how that success equated to Valpo getting some share of the funds.  Schnabel response was priceless.  He said:  "Well let's hope Cleveland State continues to be successful".  True story.

I've heard that story as well, and I know it to be true. As someone noted above -- Smith was a great player for VU but also was a flawed coach -- he was way too stubborn with his system, and way too quick to run guys off over minor disagreements. He seemed to lose sight at times that unlike at a D-2 state school in Missouri, there wasn't an endless array of talented D-1 players that he could get and keep in school at Valpo at that time.

That said, I don't think we've ever had a coach that absolutely busted his butt to the degree Smith did to try and make the program work. This is a guy who, when told the university wouldn't cover a hotel room or airfare for a recruiting trip, borrowed a season-ticket holder's conversion van, drove on the recruiting trip and slept in the back of it for a week. He and his staff would absolutely work themselves ragged on the recruiting trail because they had to, with very little in the way of returns. He finally saw the ARC open, only to see the university half-ass every detail, to the point of *not ordering Valpo name placards for the scoreboard* (which we lost a big-time recruit over at the ARC dedication game). He and his staff worked all summer running large stay-on-site basketball youth camps (at a time when only P5 schools really did so) in an effort to not only get local families excited about cheering for their hometown team, but also to remind prospects from the area that there was a Division I team in their backyard.

So yeah, mixed legacy in terms of results, but no one should question his dedication to VU.

I will say this - Hilltop was the Division 1 facility I ever saw in the life time, and I saw some inadequate places - the old Loyola Alumni gym, Northwestern McGaw hall, Chicago State's old gym, Western Hall at WIU.

Loyola's old Alumni Gym was pretty bad but at least it had all the history from the 1963 championship team there. Northeastern Illinois' gym would've been considered small by Porter County Conference standards, but at least it was more modern than Hilltop was (built in the late 80's, I think).

Chicago State's old gym was pretty awful too and only held about half as many as Hilltop, so that would get my vote as "worst," but not by much. That said, I'm pretty sure the old University of Baltimore facility was the worst we've ever played in as a D-1 team back in the late 70s/early 80s... it was a converted armory.

Smith pretty much had to roll the dice with guys, given the state of our program at that time. VU had no academic advising resources dedicated to basketball at the time and there was zero investment in the program at the time. (Smith was interviewed shortly after the Sweet 16 year by a local reporter and he basically relayed how he was told he couldn't put up ads in the ARC because the university didn't want the building to "look cheap." He apparently had a couple of local corporate sponsors that he and a few boosters had lined up that would have helped our financial situation greatly but the deals fell apart when the sponsors were told they couldn't have an ad in the arena). It'd be interesting to see how he would have done with the resources and sponsorship Homer's teams had.

I am not sure Smith was a step up from Rochlitz. Rochlitz was also a successful JUCO coach in Wyoming. Both coaches had limited resources during their tenures.

Apples to oranges a bit, because Rochlitz was the coach as we transitioned to D-1, so that's a much tougher gig, plus we were independent, so we had to play more road games. But Smith had us competitive a few years at least.

Favorite Rochlitz memory of the "it was a different time" variety: I remember him getting teed up by a ref in one game for stomping his foot. Once. He didn't say anything audible (you could hear easily in old Hilltop if he had back then). Just one stomp out of frustration on a no-call and the ref whistled the T.

This offseason flipped in a hurry. Javon was always the one whose (previously announced but no longer valid) departure was the one that really was a kick to the gut and read like a bad verdict on the direction of the program. The grad transfer market is what it is, and the Sam Haanpa situation has always left me expecting our Euro guys to head home for a pro contract at the first opportunity, but one of our most talented freshmen in years choosing to bail on top of that? That was gonna be hard to recover from.

Now, ML still has to go out and win, which he has not proven he can do yet with his own roster. But I'm way more optimistic about that possibility than I was just 24 hours ago.

I still think Vandy will just buy out of the contract now, but good to see I'm not the only one with the counterintuitive take that Bryce's departure makes that series more likely to happen, not less. It was no secret that Bryce would never want to play that game (there's a reason we haven't played Baylor since Scott took over there -- the Drew family hates playing against teams where they have family or close friends). Now, in our current weakened state and a new coach hungry for wins at Vandy and any likely awkwardness gone, Vandy may just decide to save the money and go through with it and get two easy W's.

[You adjust your damn system for that at this level]

He didnt fit in the offense here

A) There's been no evidence of any sort of offensive system the past two years so that seems like a hasty generalization, and... B) If a 7-1 dude who can score (regardless of any other flaws in his game) doesn't a fit a coach's "offensive system" in a midmajor conference, then that coach is, frankly, a moron. You adjust your damn system for that at this level.

We did, and it was painful to watch.

See point a) above.

He didnt fit in the offense here

A) There's been no evidence of any sort of offensive system the past two years so that seems like a hasty generalization, and...

B) If a 7-1 dude who can score (regardless of any other flaws in his game) doesn't a fit a coach's "offensive system" in a midmajor conference, then that coach is, frankly, a moron. You adjust your damn system for that at this level.

First Butler win over VU since 2011?

The landing of Zion is a good and hopeful sign. But let's be clear, there are no excuses left for Lottich. This is now entirely his roster. NCAA tourney or bust next year. Win and win now, or make a change before we are fully dragged into the muck of long-term mediocrity.

you are a fool.  all anyone cares about is they put themselves above the team and didn't follow the rules and it has a major impact on the program.  Any law or team rule not followed is selfish.

Look at Johnny Hardass over here. Lighten up, Francis. It's a plant.

Anyone still trying to spin this as "look at all these selfish players" completely has their head in the sand. An exodus of this size is ENTIRELY on the coaching staff's incompetence and they need to be replaced. Name one, just one, successful program that has had this level of turnover and continued to be successful. You can't. Because there isn't one. (And no, smart guy, one-and-dones at an elite P5 program don't count. Those players are leaving for a *giant paycheck,* not because of dissatisfaction with their college coach/program).

There is one answer staring everyone in the face here, and no one wants to own up to it. You have several guys, all at different phases of development, all from different backgrounds, all determining at once that their futures are best served somewhere, anywhere, that they aren't being coached by Matt Lottich. Any AD who lets this debacle continue on their watch is as complicit as the head coach.

New BB court?  Look at Purdue, IU, Butlet. & Notre DAME. THEY ARE PROBALY ALL OVER THIRTY YEARS OLD.
THEY CAN DRAW CROWDS.
Both Mackey and Hinkel have been extensively renovated this decade.

Yeah, actually ALL FOUR of those facilities mentioned have undergone massive renovations within the past decade.

Purcell Pavilion at ND - $27M renovation debuted in 2012 and that doesn't include new practice/training facilities that were part of the $400M football stadium renovations a few years later

Assembly Hall - $50M renovation debuted in 2017

What's unfair about the article? It's impossible to spin losing four of your top 5 scorers positively and this is a must win year. Would it have been better if he had mentioned the injuries more? I'm really trying to understand what is so objectionable here.

When you've spun every story about VU negatively over the years because of your longstanding audition to be the Butler SID, you're not gonna get applause for a "blind squirrel/nut" moment where you're suddenly being Captain Obvious.

The Zags may be outliers, but 20 years ago today, they were in essentially the same spot as Valpo, with Valpo having the arguably higher name recognition and potential at that time.

One school used their first Cinderella run to reinvest seriously in their program and facilities, and built a juggernaut that eventually became a #1 seed despite never moving from their midmajor conference. The other stood pat, content to not rock the boat, only moving to a higher level when conditions worsened in their respective midmajor leagues, but let the good reputation of their coaches carry the day instead of preparing for life without them.

We're seeing the results of those very different approaches today. (And yes, there's no reason Valpo couldn't be much closer to where the Zags are today if they had shown the same institutional commitment way back then).

Story gets assigned, story gets written. Paycheck gets cashed.

So tough questions couldn't be asked? C'mon.

That tweet about the search firm is... a really silly tweet. Korn Ferry is one of the biggest executive search firms in the nation. They probably have a contract with Vandy to handle all of their national high-level searches, and even if they don't, it's be like drawing a conspiracy theory based on the fact that both jobs were listed on Indeed or something.

You can make the argument that Bryce should have gotten one more year and his firing was unfair. I might agree, but I would also argue that when you sign the nearly $17m contract, normal definitions of "fair" and "patience" no longer apply. You're at the whims of your latest W/L record. Bryce knew the score when he signed on, or should have. That's the price of prestige.