Messages

The good days. RIP.

Actually Loyola has been to the sweet sixteen in 4 different decades I find it hard  to question their commitment to succeeding in the A10.

That's one way to skirt around 30 years of incompetence.

1998

So you're comparing Valpo's tournament teams with Loyola's doormat teams that dragged the Horizon down since the mid 80s?

Actually Loyola has been to the sweet sixteen in 4 different decades I find it hard  to question their commitment to succeeding in the A10.

That's one way to skirt around 30 years of incompetence.

The game was a great disappointment...I also have questions regarding Matt's performance...also we should not think that when Krikke and Kobe get on the floor everything will be well...once again we will have a new group that has to get used to playing together...I see that factor as our biggest problem, that is playing together as a team...perhaps one reason Gordon is getting so many minutes is that he is one of the few who has had prior experience here.  We cannot lose sight of the point that while we have some talented guys, they all come from different programs...Mich St. Wisc, jr. college, high school.  To all of a sudden have to get all theses new faces to blend is a very tough situation to deal with.  We also need to remember that pre-season practices had Krikke, and maybe another one or 2 people, in the starting lineup and then all of a sudden the season begins and your best player is out.   So we start over.  The important experience of playing together appears to have been forgotten.   While Matt has his faults, especially on offensive, I think the playing time together is very much needed and will determine our team's ;success, and Matt's future.

UIC played 4 new transfers and 2 freshmen. If Lottich can't get new players up to speed to beat a Horizon League bottom dweller at home that also has a ton of transfers, Valpo should find a coach that can.

Valpo has now lost to two D-2 teams and two D-1 teams from conferences lower than the MVC on its home court. UIC is predicted to finish 8th in the Horizon League and ranked about 270 nationally, yet VU seemed the lesser team. This is a sure way to dowse enthusiasm, even among loyal longtime fans, and diminish attendance. In the post-game press conference, the players again appeared to be more aware and more composed than Lottich. As Kithier said: "If you execute in the last five minutes of each game, we are sitting at 2-0." I will pay attention to the team again in three weeks on December 7 when Kobe King is eligible and Krikke should be fully healthy, and I will optimistically hope for a total reboot of the season.

There sure seems to be some glimmer of hope that this team will come together with the addition of King and a healthy Krikke. Seriously. Jury is still out though. Even with a better team than we have now, Matt looks to be easily out-coached in the MVC. Coaching matters. I'm afraid even with a healthy and ready K&K, Valpo89's scenario will play out once again this year. Deja Vu all over again.

Valpo has now lost to two D-2 teams and two D-1 teams from conferences lower than the MVC on its home court. UIC is predicted to finish 8th in the Horizon League and ranked about 270 nationally, yet VU seemed the lesser team. This is a sure way to dowse enthusiasm, even among loyal longtime fans, and diminish attendance. In the post-game press conference, the players again appeared to be more aware and more composed than Lottich. As Kithier said: "If you execute in the last five minutes of each game, we are sitting at 2-0." I will pay attention to the team again in three weeks on December 7 when Kobe King is eligible and Krikke should be fully healthy, and I will optimistically hope for a total reboot of the season.

There sure seems to be some glimmer of hope that this team will come together with the addition of King and a healthy Krikke. Seriously. Jury is still out though. Even with a better team than we have now, Matt looks to be easily out-coached in the MVC. Coaching matters. I'm afraid even with a healthy and ready K&K, Valpo89's scenario will play out once again this year. Deja Vu all over again.

Krikke is likely a backup to Kithier anyway. You can't really put them both on the court at the same time unless you want even worse floor spacing.

Judging a coach on THREE games was short sided. They also got blown out in the championship game to a pretty mediocre team. I cannot believe people say he's recruited well after going from Broekhoff to Peters. JFL is the closest "star" the team has had and he's nowhere close to that caliber. Which players are great recruits? Edwards? Give me a break. He'd be E Victor Nickerson minutes on the decent Horizon teams.

Lottich needs to go. Not getting a 2 for 1 at the end of the 1st half but still settling for a terrible contested deep 3 was coaching malpractice. This is after Kithier didn't get a shot in the last few possessions. The saddest part was Valpo didn't play down to UIC... UIC looked like the better, more talented team. If this is excusable, Valpo should ask the Horizon if they'll take them back.

I also don't understand why Young isn't given more playing time.  I haven't seen anything negative with him in his limited PT, but Matt seemed to indicate after the second exhibition, that he was only giving him PT essentially as a favor, due to how he recruited him to come to Valpo.  That was a very weird response to PO, where he seemed to be joking, but he also continues to leave him on the bench.

He is this year's Ognacovic

This isn't a bad team. But it's not a good team either. We had an opportunity to win and Edwards blew it.

This is a bad team. Bad teams lose to UIC at home.

Edwards, Anderson, and Gordon are PAINFUL to watch.

How on earth is he STILL coming off the bench? It was criminal at Valpo, and is criminal now.

Golden Knights? Talk about bland and uninspired.  Most of the names on the list are at least unique and either represent the university or geography. I'm not a fan of a lot of the names, but at least they're more inspiring than something generic like "Knights"

I think Beacon will end up being chosen, with Dunehawks a possibility.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Packer fans, you are hereby put on notice. My Bears finally drafted an elite QB (and great team leader), Justin Fields. No more "game managers." Your days are numbered.

RETURNING NOW TO REGULAR PROGRAMMING

Always funny to watch bears fans every 3-4 years think they finally have a decent quarterback. You'd think they'd have learned their lesson by now, but it's an amusing tradition dating back to Sid Luckman.

Gonzaga didn't play their A game, but UCLA brought their A+++ game. Classic.

Not very many missed shots to remember! What is the point spread for Monday?

On DraftKings, the line moved from -6 Gonzaga before the final 4 games to now Gonzaga -4.5.

Say Valpo is a heathen university and JO starts every game and is the focal point of the offense instead of backing up a noticably lazy player who sometimes has more fouls every other possession, does he still leave?

Let it sink in that JO was 7th in minutes played but had the highest PER on the team, the most points p/40, highest FG%, and by far the most capable 3pt shooter. Who wouldn't feel burned riding the bench when your team loses 18 games?

Lottich hasn't pulled down 3 or 4 star recruits, or anyone near NBA-caliber. The recruits that turn out to be good have quickly transferred out. What are we doing here?

This year's portal is going to become musical chairs with more contestants than seats.

On the bright side for them, there's tons of spots open for a certain school in northwest indiana.

[Mid Major]

From "Mens Mid Major Top 25" collegeinsider.com Ranking and the number of players in the transfer portal:

1. Gonzaga 0
2. Loyola Chi 0
3. Winthrop 0
4. BYU  0
5. Drake 0
6. Liberty 0
7. Morehead State 0
8. Southern Utah 1
9. Toledo 1
10. Belmont 0
11. Abilene Christian 0
12. GA State 0
13. UCSB 0
14. Sam Houston 0
15. UNCG 1
16. E. Washington 0
17. Wright State  0
18. S. Dakota St. 1
19. Buffalo 1
20. Colgate 2
21. Texas St. 0
22. E. KY 3
23. Akron 0
24. Weber St. 0
25. Prairie View 0
26. Missouri State 0
27. Cleveland St. 0
28. Furman 0
29. St. Mary's 0
30. Wofford 3
31. Kent St. 2
32. Navy 1
33. Vermont 2
34. Ohio 0
35. Grand Canyon 0
36. Loyola Marymount 1
37. Norfolk St. 0
38. Pepperdine 1
39. UC Irvine 0
40. Stephen F. Austin 1
41. UC Riverside 1
42. Bryant 1
43. Utah Valley 0
44. Bowling Green 1
45. Nicholls St. 1
46. Louisiana 0
47. Siena 2
48. Jackson St. 0
49. N. Alabama 1
50. UMBC 2
51. Mercer 1
52. Pacific 0

Valpo: 6

You're saying teams that are still playing sports don't have players leaving before sport ends? Who would have thought?

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.

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

Yes.

Is holy cross changing their mascot?  They are the crusaders too.  They play in the patriot league.  Maybe the league name also needs to be changed from patriot. 

HC kept the Crusaders  but dropped the Knight mascot in 2018 it appears. Their Crusader is a crusade for social change on something like that.

There's a 1% chance they are the Crusaders by this time next year.

That's a foul in real-time, but slowed down it looks egregious. Tough break.

I'm still waiting for someone - anyone - to provide me with any hard evidence that the Crusader name has been adopted by, or linked to, hate groups. 

This is part of a Reuters article:

The Crusader, one of the white supremacist group's most prominent publications, published a lengthy endorsement and defense of Trump's message on the front page of its current issue under the headline: "Make America Great Again."

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-kkk-idUSKBN12X2IG

https://www.snopes.com/news/2016/11/02/kkk-newspaper-backs-donald-trump/

Ah yes, the super popular Crusader newspaper which seems to have such a following that the only reference to it that anyone can find is 4 years old. Too bad they didn't name it The Bulldog.

Ok, if we win at Loyola, will the #FireLottich crowd put off their demands until next season?

I'd be wondering why a team talented enough to beat a ranked Loyola at-large team lost so many other games this season.

Then perhaps you're already worried seeing as this team was talented enough to beat a ranked at-large caliber Drake team?

Fair, but Loyola seems much better overall than Drake. They're legit this year.

Ok, if we win at Loyola, will the #FireLottich crowd put off their demands until next season?

I'd be wondering why a team talented enough to beat a ranked Loyola at-large team lost so many other games this season.

The "adopted by hate groups" is just a way for the university to save face and absolve themselves of blame for using a mascot for 70 years they themselves have deemed unacceptable. I don't think anyone is arguing that it isn't disingenuous. The name didn't suddenly become problematic; this debate has been going on for years.

Would a petition for a name return and president Knotte's resignation gain steam?

No. President Padilla takes over in 2 weeks. VU isn't going to walk this back either. It's better to push for  an open and fair process in picking the new mascot.
Although they said a new committee will be formed, we've seen how that's gone in the past...

How do we push for a process that results in a name that isn't completely lame or generic? I guess the best course of action in 2021 is to make sure the people we disagree with or make dumb decisions lose their livelihood and lose their jobs.