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It would appear all of our recruits from 2020 and 2021 are going to start their career at Valpo playing better basketball that McMillan started his freshman year.  All are way ahead of where he was when he came into the program.    If Lottich and staff can progress just 60% of these recruits the way they progressed McMillan we are going to be really good a few years down the road.   

While I can't claim to be over the moon excited, I'm fine with this. Who knows what the next couple of years are going to be like, having stability will be important. By the time CBB is back to 'normal', if it ever is, this contract will be half over and if we need to move on, we can. He's recruited well, and if we can make it through a single offseason without an impact transfer, he'll have a stacked roster in the next couple of years.

He does deserve a lot of credit for the run in St. Louis this year. But we were still a Thursday team. Again. For me progress this year is staying out of that bottom four.

We were only a Thursday team because we didn't have our 50% 3 point shooting senior leader the 1st half of the conference season and our future NBA player had mono for the last half of the season.    Even after all that, if we get some better officiating on the road at Drake down the stretch, we are not a Thursday team, would have only had to play 3 games in a row instead of 4, and might have had enough in the tank to make the dance by not running out of energy the last 10 minutes of the championship game. 

Player development has been great.   Players, when healthy and buy in to his philosophy, improve by leaps and bounds every season.   If that means some of them get so good they want to transfer, so be it.   

Seems to me like, at the very least, he will be just as good as Golder.

Golder had phenomenal athleticism but was a bit one dimensional when his 3 wasn't falling. 

I am curious as to why he left Kansas State after only 1 semester?    Anybody read anything?   

One article said it was about wanting to get more playing time https://themercury.com/k_state_sports/why-goodnews-kpegeol-left-kansas-state-and-what-bruce-weber/article_eb645444-26f3-5086-ac7e-e8507fa8a0bf.html.

Sounds like he transferred for more minutes.  I am curious how many minutes he will get for us.    We do have 4 seniors and 3 incoming freshman who appear to be solid, and you know Clay/Krikke/Sackey are going to get their minutes.     I get that he was a fairly highly touted recruit out of high school but we all know that doesn't mean a whole lot.  His numbers in JUCO were good but not fabulous for that level by any means.   

I am still very high on Robinson.   His numbers weren't great this year but he started off the year rusty and then was playing injured the majority of the season, I think he gets lots of minutes this next year.     If Goodnews is a good basketball player I think that spells trouble for guys like Zion Morgan and we may not see him very much this year.  Next guy to lose minutes probably Gordon.  Gordon had some moments and at times was really hot from 3 but a large part of the season we didn't see much productivity from him.    Will be interesting to see how it all plays out.   Hopefully there is a real battle for playing time because everyone is as good as advertised and guys like Gordon step up as seniors and are super productive after a year in the system.   

I am curious as to why he left Kansas State after only 1 semester?    Anybody read anything?   

Glad he truly stuck to his word and it wasn't a ploy just to get a hardship waiver. I wish him nothing but the best. Hopefully he's just the player the Blue Demons need to change their toxic culture. That team is a mess and needs all the help it can get.

He won't sit a year.  He will get a hardship waiver whatever it takes.    All my speculation.....
1.  Valpo was going to be better than Depaul next year FOR SURE with JFL.  If JFL sits for them next year I still think we will be better than Depaul.
2. He clearly wanted to get into the Big East but he could have done better than Depaul.  No way several Big East schools wouldn't want JFL.  If Butler had a spot and he called them, they would take him.  That means he chose Depaul knowing there was a good chance for a hardship waiver.  He gets the Big East and doesn't have to sit out a year.  Maybe didn't want Depaul, but that's just how it was gonna work.
3.  All this to say, his Grandmother might really have some issues but Valpo/Depaul isn't a far enough difference for that to really matter, not in the days of ZOOM meetings.   So this was about playing up a conference and not having to sit out.

I just don't know.  I think he will be there best player, but man....  I just don't know.   Depaul is....  man...  They are just sooo bad.   

I don't actually think we should do this, but...

Lottich could just start marketing to 2-3 year guys.   Say.... "hey, come here for 2 years and declare for a transfer and see what you're options are.  If you think you can get into a top half Big10 school or top half ACC school, go for it.  If not stay one more year and then try again after your 3rd year.  If they still don't want you screw them and we will beat them in the NCAA tournament and tell them to go $)@#$*)# themselves."   

If I was a player that wasn't getting love from the big guys out of high school but thought I could play, I would love that kinda talk.   

Combination of.....
1. No school all spring =  Not around the team and coaching staff but plenty of other people in his ear to push him elsewhere. 
2. They are gonna allow immediate eligibility for all transfers next year I guarantee it and the people in his ear know this. Won't have to sit out a year. 

If both of those things don't happen in combination, I actually don't think he would have left, because he was improving and the team culture was finally to his liking.   

This is somewhat just bad luck.   Without the coronavirus/pending transfer rule, I think we would have had him for 1 more year then he would have went to the NBA or transferred to a high major as a grad transfer.   Oh well...  Clay is gonna take on his role next year and be really good.   Definitely will need 2 of the freshman to be legit and Robinson to be healthy, but I think we are a middle of the road 5th or 6th best team in the valley next year without him.  Shouldn't be a Thursday team even with the loss.   

Agree with WH...have you actually watched him in the pregame warmups...dude has the best dunks out there!

I fully expect that the 4 and 5 positions might actually be a strength for us next year as all three look to be 3 point threats.   Krikke with a year under his belt, McMillan improving leaps and bounds every year, and JO being D1 ready immediately.    I could see those guys all averaging 20-25 minutes a game at the 4/5 positions eating up the majority of the time at those positions.   

Found these astounding stats on Jacob for his Senior year:


https://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/jacob-ognacevic/fxynjqbOEeeT-Oz0u-e-FA/basketball/stats.htm


Not only did he score 1,024 points, averaging 39 ppg and 16 rebounds, but he shot 77% from the 2, 86% from the line and.........wait for it......40 of 82 from the 3!!!!!! (49%)

People say he's not very athletic, but neither is Krikke.    They are a similar size.    I don't think Krikke would have put up those numbers as a senior in high school in the small school division in Wisconsin, so I'm assuming at WORST he will have a similar freshman year as Krikke but I really think he will be quite a bit better.   

So the the math starts over every year for NET/RPI... 

If mid major leagues TRADITIONALLY 9-20 refused to play anyone from leagues TRADITIONALLY 1-8...   

Theoretically.   Both the traditional 9-20 leagues and the traditional 1-8 leagues would play amongst themselves in addition to games against leagues traditionally 21-32. 

So wouldn't the computers find it impossible to find a distinction between the 2 as long as mid majors held their own against 21-32 leagues and beat up on each other just like likes 1-8 beat up on each other and beat up on 21-32?   Ok Ok...  Maybe the mid majors would lose some of those games to leagues 21-32..BUT would play more road games where as teams 1-8 would play no road games, so that make break pretty close to even due to the emphasis on road games....   

Just thinking creatively here.   Just refuse to play them, play each other and beat up on the soft leagues.   Basically do EXACTLY what the 1-8 leagues do except have to go on the road more against those bottom leagues.   OR... For 1 year only just throw a bunch of money at it and buy all home games that year too.   Just to   with the system....     Then the computer wouldn't be able to tell the difference at all.    traditionally 1-8 leagues played only each other and bought games against leagues 21-32.   Leagues traditionally 9-20 did the exact same thing.    Computer shouldn't be able to tell a difference right?   

Yeah... So just one year... Everyone save up money, and overthrow the system.   

That Robbins case seems so sketchy, after finding out that his uncle is an Associate HC, but there is no way to prove that they tampered.  No one should be happy about that transfer, regardless.

His uncle was an asst coach at Minnesota since 2016-17. His title was changed to Associate Head Coach for the coming season. So I don't think his uncle's change in title was the reason Robbins decided to transfer.

https://gophersports.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/coaches/ed-conroy/1991

Why didn't Robbins sign with the Gophers from the beginning? Obviously Pitino, Conroy, Jeter and the rest of the Minnesota staff felt that they had their center position covered with sophomore Daniel Oturu and freshman Sam Freeman. Oturu has now declared for the draft and has said he will sign with an agent. The Minnesota staff had a hole to fill at center suddenly and it wasn't hard at all for Robbins to see he had a golden opportunity to fill that hole.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28944086/minnesota-forward-center-daniel-oturu-plans-enter-nba-draft


https://www.startribune.com/gophers-land-7-foot-center-liam-robbins-from-drake/569397772/

"I originally started this process because I wanted to challenge myself against tougher competition and see what my options were after putting my name into the portal," Robbins told the Star Tribune on Sunday. "I got contacted by 25 schools, but after talking with Pitino extensively last night and my uncle, this was the best place to challenge myself and also be surrounded by family. With the pandemic going on, to be surrounded by family was very important to me."

Replacing Oturu was the top priority in spring recruiting for the Gophers once the third-team All-America selection declared last month for the NBA draft. The 6-10 sophomore averaged 20 points, 11 rebounds and 2.5 blocks this season.

"Oturu was a fantastic player," Robbins said. "Hopefully, I can replicate that and make Gophers fans proud and help Minnesota win some games."

Gotta add in that pandemic statement to make sure he is eligible to play immediately due to a Covid-19 hardship waiver. 

Smart kid! 

In some alternate universe our senior bigs stayed and we never got Krikke on scholarship and McMillan never got enough playing time to improve (which he did improve...A LOT...although he has a ways to go).  Sorolla/Smits leaving was huge as I think Krikke is going to be great and McMillan will have a very solid senior season.

[IMO we need starters minutes from a player that shoots 42%+ from deep.]

Paul Oren laid out a really nice case on the last episode of Union Street Hoops to suggest that Siggy could fill needs 1 and 3 himself. I also think Barrett and Edwards are being recruited because they can shoot and Ognacevic looks like he may have the makings of a great stretch 4.

I'd agree that Siggy potentially fills #1 and #3, hoping anyways.  But can we play him strong minutes if he is a defensive liability?  Fazekas ended up being a better defender than I expected and he shot lights out, that is why he got minutes.  I don't think Siggy can get strong minutes because we probably cannot play him and Sackey at the same time.  Not to mention coach liked Javon at PG at times.

IMO we need starters minutes from a player that shoots 42%+ from deep.  Our current roster doesn't have that besides Gordon @ 42%.  If we lean on Gordon for starters mpg, how do we think his defense is?  He is the 6'2" G that isn't giving up a ton of size or athleticism . . . does he take those minutes and shoot 42%+ with 2x more attempts?  Gordon only took 69 attempts and Freeman (178), Donovan (112) and Mileek (110).

Freeman 29%
Donovan 29%
McMllan 36%
Krikke 34%
Sackey 31%
Robinson 27%
Siggy 60%

You MUST take into consideration player improvement. 
Freeman 29%   <---  Mono played a role in this being low.  Started the season in the 34%/35% range before falling off a cliff late.
Donovan 29% <---  No reason to believe this won't bump to the mid 30's with natural player progression
McMllan 36%  <--- He finished the season real strong.  I think he could get to 40% next year.
Krikke 34%  <--- Again, natural player progression from a young kid should bring this up
Sackey 31%  <--- shot 22% as a freshman... His shot improved.  Gotta think he bumps that up a few ticks higher next year. 
Robinson 27%   <--- back injury played a role in this being low.  He is better than that.  Was almost 35% his sophomore season. 
Siggy 60%   <-- Not sure this # means a whole lot without meaningful minutes against, but it is intriguing enough to want to keep him to see.

**Long story short**   Don't absolutely need a 42% guy if the whole team is shooting 36-38% so that on any given night 1 of them can go off for 45%. 

If Siggy really is that good of a 3 point shooter when he is healthy I hope he stays.   Over the next 2 years Clay/JFL are going to draw a lot of attention going to the basket so even a guy who is 5'10" (guessing, I know he is short) may get lots of open looks on kickouts.   Not sure he will be able to hang defensively or not, but I would like to see him healthy for a year before making decisions on him. 

I hate it when people just assume there is a 50% of a player transferring because they played well.    Let's not speculate for no good reason.   It is annoying and will make for a long off season.   

As of now we have no reason to believe any major contributors are leaving.  IF and when a player gives us reason to speculate, we can talk about it then, otherwise we are just wasting valuable brain energy.   

I do agree about Robinson.  I think he is REALLY REALLY good and we didn't get to see his full potential because he was never the same after his back injury.  I want to see him back next year and healthy because he was definitely one of our 5 best players when he was healthy.

Almost guaranteed to be blacked out on espn+.   Games were blacked out last night.  I have SlingTV, which used to have fox sports but doesn't anymore.   

I used to pay the $23094829572934802348209380 a month for Comcast and never had to worry about it, but now I pay for local internet, SlingTV, Netflix, ESPN+ and Amazon Prime for about $60 a month less than Comcast and have more viewing options. Comcast is evil.

Side effect of all this is I can't watch the 1st 2 rounds of the MVC tourney, but most years I go to St. Louis, just couldn't go this year. 

Anybody know what the TV schedule looks like for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday for the MVC tournament?   

As in, what network is everything on?     I have Sling TV, ESPN+, as well as local antenna and am wondering if I will be able to watch any of the games.  Thanks! 

Looking forward to seeing Jacob Ognacevic in a VU uniform and hope that his game will translate to the college level despite playing in a lower level class in Wisconsin. I was worried about his athleticism last year, but it appears that perhaps he has started to mature a bit and from this recent video he appears to be more athletic than I remember. Since he is averaging 36 ppg he has to be approaching 2300 points in his high school career.

https://www.maxpreps.com/m/athlete/jacob-ognacevic/fxynjqbOEeeT-Oz0u-e-FA/videos.htm

Krutweig is not super athletic nor super tall.  He is smart, strong, and crafty.   And he dominates.    Clearly these 2 are different types of players, but you don't have to be super athletic to be really good. 

Ryan Fazekas goes 5-6 from 3 tonight and is now 36-70 for the year putting him at 51.42% for the season and now 84-181 for his VU career or 46.41%. This is a top 3 conference team if Ryan had been healthy all season.

I would say 4th.   Childs was out for Bradley most of the season too.   We had a lot of growing pains at center, although Krikke/McMillan are now showing flashes, that still has hurt us, especially stopping good big men. 

Point being, with JFL/Clay/Fazeekas on the court and healthy we are at worst the 4th best team in this conference.   Fact. 

Kiser is the 1st 4 year guy to graduate under Lottich and he was a walk-on.    Next year the only 4 year guy will be McMillan who was a real project.   I am curious to know how good the Valpo teams are if Lottich can start getting 2 4 year guys to graduate every year who are contributors from the start.   Think Krikke/Clay going all 4 years or Sackey/JFL going all 4 years.     That is why I am for a 4 year contract.     A legitimate knock on Lottich is that players have transferred, however, the guys this year have all but said over and over that the team is better off without them and that they are happier.

I really think Lottich has shown tremendous improvement this year as a coach.   He is twice the offense coach he was the last 3 seasons.  He is starting to figure out what he is doing and I think he might end up being a great one. 

Only 3 total fouls between Krikke and McMillan.   I want to see them BOTH in this game in the 2nd half.... None of this 10 minutes for each stuff, they BOTH need to play at the same time for a good portion of this 2nd half.   Krikke is the hot hand and McMillan has owned 2nd halves of late.   Might help with rebounding as well. 

2 freaking years in a row we can't freaking catch a break when MoSt comes to town.  Insane. 

I created my best attempt at a regression based on how 5 major CBB statistics (NET, PPG, Opponent PPG, and SOS) relate to Valpo final scores (negetives for losses and positives for wins). I only created it two games ago but in hindsight it predicted the winner of 24 of our 27 D1 games correctly (14 out of 15 in conference). It had us beating Illinois State by 2 and losing to Drake by 2. It has us beating Bradley by 1 and Missouri State by 3, while losing to Indiana State by 6. I would be very encouraged by that and that's what I am rolling with.

That puts us at 9-9 in conference.  Not sure whether that results in a Thursday game.  However, at the beginning of the year, I think that many posters were asserting that getting to .500 was a good step in the right direction, since VU finished 7-11 last year, and 6-12 in the previous year.  I agree that it is a step up from previous years in the conference.  The debate could have been whether the first year was a sufficiently high starting point and whether the positive progression is good enough.  If the progression continues, then next year we could reasonably expect 11-7. 

I don't think that the first year record was good enough.  However, I do recognize that the progression since then has been positive.  I think that we should let that continue.  Speaking for myself, I'm not going to clamor for wholesale changes, including a coaching change, or stop sitting in the 4th row at home games, until the trend reverses.

In the "what does success look like" page most everyone said that with all the defections and a young roster that a winning record overall and a 9-9 conference record would constitute a very successful season.    Almost everyone thought that.    It wasn't until during the season that people started setting unrealistic expectations for this group.     

We still have a good shot at 9-9 and an overall winning record.   I WILL TAKE IT.    Plus, we are playing our best basketball the to end the season.   Good job Matt! 

I would really like to win this game.   Mostly because this game last year we were down like 4 players and they barely beat us.   They were a "hot" team last  year and we should have swept them. 

I think we will be cold from 3 but still find a way to win a close game.