Poll: Grade the 2017-18 season for Valpo Basketball

[VU2014]

  Grade the 2017-18 season for Valpo Basketball

[valpotx]

D.  Highly disappointing season, though we showed some progress in the last 10 games.

[ValpoFan]

F.
I am not going to get into the results of this year - Last place and one-and-done in the conference tournament kinda speak for themselves.
I am more disappointed with the development phase and "the process". Next year, we will have a team with no returning seniors, none of the 3 freshmen of this year make me look forward to see them next year, and I can't say that the returning sophomores (Smitts and Sorolla) are better today than they were at the end of their freshman season.
I am very disappointed.   

[nkvu]

Got to be a D just based on results.  Given our youth and the tremendous hole that we turned out to have at the four which, given our two bigs being below average on the boards, pretty much doomed the season.

[justducky]

C.  All of these sophomores are starting to come around.

Not having a 4 has been a nightmare, although our 4 and sometimes 5 guard lineups have kept us in more games than I imagined they would.

[wh]

D team performance
F  university administration support
D adult fan support
F  student support
D- avg.

[valpopal]

F. 10th place, an overall losing record, loss in first round of tournament: A disappointment on and off the court and at every level: administration, coaches, players, students, officials, etc.

[a3uge]

Lottich getting technicals - F.
Parking situation - F.
President Heckler - F.
Conference play - F.
Scheduling - F.
Parking situation - F.
Marijuana scandal - F.
Valpo's Twitter account - F.
Parking situation - F.

[EddieCabot]

I voted C, but that could move to a B- if Valpo wins a few games in the CBI.

[truth219]

F- bad coaching and player development
F- horrible play calling
Valpo university didn't execute well at anything this year...i have no idea how anyone could grade them any better than a D.

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[vu72]

We don't deserve to be in any tournament.  I voted D and that is based on the overall result which includes the loss of Joe Burton.  That was out of Lottich's control.  It changed the dynamics and put freshman is spots that they were not ready to fill.  As for the Administration, what the heck did they do or not do to effect the result?  Should they have started to install chairbacks in the middle of the season?  The team flew everywhere except Loyola.  That is a big dollar commitment and a change from previous years.

I saw improvement year over year from Derrik and Micah, once his role was redefined, played very solid minutes.  His assist to turnover ratio was the best on the team, other than Kiser who didn't have nearly the total opportunities that Micah had.  J seemed to get better on defense.  Golder was a very pleasant surprise and continued to improve as the year went on.  Bakari was and will be a stud going forward.  Kiser was Kiser.  The freshman?  A big disappointment.  I don't see them being a significant part of any future success.  The seniors?  A just average year.  Max did as much as his talent would allow and Tevonn, given the setback of a serious illness, did just OK.

So there you have it.  Pretty much a bust and a D from me.

[VU2014]

I gave a D. I think this would have been a noticeably different season if Joe Burton doesn't leave the team for academic issues. I think we'd be a Top 5 team and win a lot more of those close games.

Coaching and player development - I don't know how anyone could give them a F. There was noticeable development from Smits, Bakari, and Golder. Arguably the best players on the team. I think there is room for criticism but let's be real, they didn't do a bad job. They deserve criticism for not recruiting a ready PF. The PF position was a such a glaring weakness. They could have added a patch work grad-transfer. I think it would be wise to do that this offseason to take pressure off Mileek. I'm sure Mileek will grow next season.

This season was just really unsatisfactory. I think most of us knew it would a tough year losing AP, Shane and Jubril but it was worse then I thought it would be. We dealt with off court issues again with Joe not cutting it in the classroom and Micah's misdemeanor. It wasn't a good season but I think it's important to point out the future is bright. We're young and we'll continue to get better.

[Valpo89]

I gave a D only because I lived through the 5-22 seasons of the early 90s, which would have been F's.

[VULB#62]

D.   It would have been an F only if absolutely nothing positive occurred.  Some Positives - Marcus and Bakari, the kids never gave up on the season.

[justducky]

Mileek is a Jekyl and Hyde with better size and speed.

His offensive potential is enormous so I give that an   A+.

His defensive struggles are unmatched in recent memory  F.

McMillan could be playing 8 minutes per game in 2018-19 or 28. It will all depend on his defense.

[VU2014]

Mileek is a Jekyl and Hyde with better size and speed.

His offensive potential is enormous so I give that an   A+.

His defensive struggles are unmatched in recent memory  F.

McMillan could be playing 8 minutes per game in 2018-19 or 28. It will all depend on his defense.

100% agree. It's pretty clear the key to getting minutes from Coach Lottich is playing good defense. Kiser is offensively challenged but defends and rebounds so he earned an average of 18.2 minutes per game this season.

[usc4valpo]

C-. With Peters gone, I expected a down season for Valpo. I also expect the Fighting Crusaders to be better next year.

[IndyValpo]

C-
We all got swept in by the early success and I think built unreasonable expectations for a team that lost 3 players playing professionally plus a starter at Boise State. This before Burton left and Walker got sick.

My score reflects our effort and ability to keep scores close offset by our inability to win games we could/should have.

[VUSL98]

D.  I grade based on objective performance.  C means average.  D is below average.  We lost more than we won, therefore D.

I am pleased with the progress over the second half.  This team had the life sucked out of it when Joe Burton left and when Tevonn got sick.  Talk about a team dead in the water!  Regardless, players improved, the defense started to improve, and players started picking up the offensive slack, especially Golder, Bakari, and Smits.

Over the off-season, the guys will get older, they will continue to learn how to play as a team.  This is a sophomore-laden group.  I hope our bigs (and Mileek) get all they can eat and spend lots of time in the gym.  I'm hopeful that next year we improve to a B.  That would be enough of an improvement for me.

[justducky]

Mileek is a Jekyl and Hyde with better size and speed.

I couldn't find any fresh scouting reports on either Jekyl or Hyde but both could probably outsmart him and get wide open for easy shots. 

[FieldGoodie05]

F- bad coaching and player development
F- horrible play calling
Valpo university didn't execute well at anything this year...i have no idea how anyone could grade them any better than a D.

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You're entitled to your wrong opinion.  Anyone who watched them from December through last night could see development.  We all wished that it wasn't as bad to start MVC play, but we were in every game we played down the stretch.  Even the blatant foul-gasm the refs fell for against UNI was a tight game.

If I had replied last night, I'd have been as mad as you.  Luckily I just deleted this thread from my favorites, only to bring it back up less than 24-hours later 😉

[VULB#62]

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

Regarding development, I have to believe that the Tevonn mono and the Joe withdrawl blew up the whole plan for the season. At that point it was a scramble to reorganize and adjust — just as we were going  into the MVC (and most important) portion of our schedule. In January we were not a very competitive team, but going into February the light bulbs started to come on with all our youngsters. In February our young team pretty much took every opponent to the wall before losing and even won a few.  That to me is progress and that to me shows that our kids were forced to develop and they responded.

I still rate the season as a D for more reasons than the disappointing W-L result (young team /young coach). Others have cited the "ancillary" aspects of the entire first year. That contributed greatly to my overall grade. I think ValpoPal said it best - another missed opportunity.

[valpospartan]

D.  I grade based on objective performance.  C means average.  D is below average.  We lost more than we won, therefore D.

I am pleased with the progress over the second half.  This team had the life sucked out of it when Joe Burton left and when Tevonn got sick.  Talk about a team dead in the water!  Regardless, players improved, the defense started to improve, and players started picking up the offensive slack, especially Golder, Bakari, and Smits.

Over the off-season, the guys will get older, they will continue to learn how to play as a team.  This is a sophomore-laden group. I hope our bigs (and Mileek) get all they can eat and spend lots of time in the gym.  I'm hopeful that next year we improve to a B.  That would be enough of an improvement for me.

And learn how to rebound and dunk.

[VU2010]

Vocal leadership/energy of staff during games- D (once, Gore stood up for the team, and it was amazing). Somebody has to be a vocal leader.
Parking situation - F.
President Heckler - N/A - only saw him at one game. Last year, AP barely acknowledged him when he became all-time leader and while free Jubril thing going on.
Conference play - D
Scheduling - D
Control of players (transfers, drinking, drugs, academics) - F.
Player Rotations - D ... seriously feel for Parker and haven't seen a single other program start players and then bench them for the rest of each half.
Appreciation of season ticket holders - F.
Parking situation - F.
Facilities - D-
Student section - D
Excuses and over reliance on trusting the process and blaming things on inexperience and age - D-
Player effort - B+
Seniors - A
Golder - A

Need J to transfer, along with others.

Hope for the incoming freshmen - A

Belief that coaches/leadership will listen - B

[mj]

I've mentioned it before but I think this program is at a crossroads. We're 3 years removed for a near miss at the NCAA tournament. 2 years from an NIT final game. Yet since then, this program has taken some major hits. We're still standing but I've questioned how much more this program can take.

First the good news. This program has shown signs of life in the last month. Evelyn and Golder have come into their own. Smits has shown signs of breaking out. We have Fazekas eligible to play next year and at least one highly ranked recruit. In sum, we have something that resembles a solid core of players. We won't be this bad next year. Guaranteed.

The bad news. I'm deeply concerned about the support this program is receiving from the university. The lack of students showing up is merely a symptom, I fear. We've had a very successful past few years but I'm afraid we have not maximized our opportunities. As others have indicated, the game atmosphere hasn't changed since our days in the Mid-Con. I've seen this in other parts of the university as well: going through the motions, lack of creativity, etc. Doing this like we've always done them isn't an option at this point. If we are not improving, then we're falling behind.

In sum, this season was brutal but better than the 9-22 season we had in 2008-2009. I remain optimistic about Valpo basketball.