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Perhaps a prime example of why journalism is in such a sad state nowadays. The author of this interview with Eron Gordon writes: "This season, Valpo will return it's top five scorers from a year ago, and will undoubtedly be a favorite to take home an NCAA Tournament berth from the MVC." In addition, the interview is awful and non-substantive. Nevertheless, here it is: https://cbbreview.com/2019/06/03/q-a-with-valparaiso-guard-eron-gordon/

in the comments section of the story:

Brad Anderson  June 5, 2019   11:59 am

Valpo is returning only 2 of 5 top scorers from last year. Same is true of minutes and rebounds. After significant transfer-related roster turnover, this team is a huge unknown, not a favorite to win the conference.


Reply
Mat Mlodzinski [the writer of the story] June 5, 2019   12:00 pm

Thanks for the input! Regardless, it's a team with talent.

And he hasn't even corrected the story.

[EDIT] It's been updated.

Curious to know - those of you who believe in Matt Lottich, has the spate of transfers changed your mind? Or does he deserve more time to prove he can build a program? Let's remember that Lottich's take was that there would be very little movement.

I don't think I'm alone when I say that, since we've now lost Smits, Evelyn and Freeman, we might as well blow it up now and start a real coaching search.

The next 4-6 years could really, really suck. Might as well suck in the pursuit of rebuilding the program instead of drowning with what we have in place now.

I ate lunch at a BBQ place near the SLU campus on Friday

Mmmm, Pappy's

Valpo64, I know I'm one of the ones frustrating you with criticism of Lottich's coaching. Can you give an example of a 'cheap shot'? I'd be happy to apologise for any I've taken, my intent is to criticize, not insult.

Damn, it sucks that Loyola lost. MVC will get a terrible seed now. Anybody know if NIT money gets shared with the conference, by chance? I bet not...

Just got home from the Enterprise Center. That was the most fun I've had this season, even though I was sure we'd find a way to make it close pretty much up until Stallings came in at the very end.

Nice to get a win near the end of the season after all that losing.

If not for a miracle heave in a home game we had no business winning, this team finishes with the same record as last year.

What a frustrating season. At least last year we finished with a few wins down the stretch. Thankful that it's almost over.

Bakari time

My son just came into the room: "Valpo is winning?"
Me: "Yeah, but only by one. Lot of basketball left."
Him: "Yeah but as bad as they've played lately that's really good!"

Sigh...

So, I'm glad coach drew up a play at the end of half.  But it was a crappy play and again Bakari was the quarter back.

Hey, progress is progress. But the trick is to not regress...

I wonder if anyone on the staff is even aware their broadcast isn't working.

I would like  to see "Plum" discuss and evaluate  the present and future outlooks for the other MVC teams relating to their finish this season, beginning with Loyola, Southern Illinois and Evansville.

This sounds fun, but it would be a largely statistical analysis since I don't have time to watch many games that Valpo isn't playing in.

I just might do it though, and I'll strive to be critical of every coach in the Valley just to be as even-handed as possible 

Sigh.

Someone had to do it, and I figure I can't make things any worse. Also I'm not superstitious, so...

I predict a Valpo win, because it's a home game against the worst team in the conference. 58-53 Valpo.

Here's hoping this game leads to some shooting confidence. I want to finish at .500, which means we'd have to play next Saturday, too.

Plum, I hope you're saying 12 conference wins, right?

Yep, 12 conference wins. I've started thinking of non-conference almost like pre-season baseball but more exciting.

Success is 12 wins, or a Lottich firing. I'll be happy with one of those. His guys didn't play with any effort tonight, and that was the last thing we had to hang our hats on.

Now, we all know that won't happen, so I'll set a third criterion: Wholesale changes in the athletic department leadership. ... But I know that's even less likely than 12 wins or a coaching change.

I'll revisit this thread tomorrow when I'm hopefully feeling less ashamed of being a Valpo basketball fan. Maybe I'll change my mimd.

I know I've tried to find silver linings and I posted a defense of giving Lottich one more year... But after the turd this team just laid, I sincerely hope Javon Freeman is looking at transfer options. He deserves better than this organization. That was absolutely embarrassing.

Frankly I'll be shocked if we beat Evansville, and if I go to Arch Madness it won't be to watch this team. It's one thing to give 100% and get beat; it's another to play half-assed.

I am a nurse and can assure you that HIPPA laws are no joke. It's absolutely none of your business as a fan what the medical history is for this young man.

Quite right, HIPAA is no joke, but it's also not universally applicable.

The question is whether the university is considered a covered entity under HIPAA. There's an argument to be made that they might qualify as a provider, and thus a covered entity, if treatment provided by the training staff qualifies as medical care, and the staff are employees of the university or qualify as business associates. On the other hand, the university has the option to be a hybrid entity, with some components functioning as a covered entity (training staff, student health clinic, etc) while the rest of the university remains outside the bounds of HIPAA.

Of course, if Bakari (or any player of the age of majority) gives his permission for information to be released, it can be released - the whole point of HIPAA is to put the patient in charge of his own information. Maybe he kept it quiet because he didn't want other teams trying to cross him over all the time on a bad ankle, who knows.

I would definitely challenge your assertion that a player's medical history is 'absolutely none of [our] business'. I'd say a player's privacy interest in his medical information takes precedence over a fan's curiosity, but the business of sport rests on a foundation built out of sports fans. Some aspects of player health are directly relevant to our interests, though maybe not complete or detailed health histories.

Well, that was enjoyable. Not the game but the comments. Has the tide finally turned? Are people calling a spade a spade at this point? I don't want to sound like a 7-year old, so I'll keep my comments to an abridged version.

That's more like it!

I mostly agree with you on this. If the university extends Lottich after another mediocre season, that's a very bad long term sign. But the more I think about it (and I'm not a big fan of the tactical coaching decisions or the offensive strategy), the guy has a tough row to hoe. First time head coach, transition to a tougher conference, I think he should get the chance to go a full three years. But some damned self-accountability would be nice.

The thing to remember to stop some of the doom and gloom from taking hold is this: there are at least 3 other teams praying we don't win our last 2 games, because if we do we could be the 5 seed instead of the 8. We're having a disappointing year, but the Valley is still a close enough league that we might still have a little fun before the curtain falls.

I mean, we're not gonna win Arch Madness, but if we play on Saturday nobody would be surprised; AND, that's progress from last year, hopefully enough that Javon doesn't start second-guessing his choice of university.

On the other hand, we really suck lately... but at least we somehow still have two hands to compare.

Just finished watching the game on replay. It's very tempting to blame officiating in this one, but they would have won this game if they played even halfway decently. Instead they were a dumpster fire.

I really hope those transfers can shoot the rock next year. And, you know, not dribble the ball off their feet out of bounds.

I was waiting for someone to try and compare the impact of injuries at Valpo to the injury of Zion last night. I knew it would come up. Sure, enough - it did.

I 100% agree. The loss of Zion - a mediocre mid major player - is a completely analogous comparison to the injuries we've had this year. So thankful it was finally brought up! I finally feel so much better about the season and realize without the injuries we'd likely be a top seed in the tournament, playing on national tv for game day, and drawing the attendance of celebrities to our games. Tickets would be starting at $2,500 for a battle against the Salukis!

You remind me of my son when he's tired and hungry.

He's 7.

Make a real argument about why the analogy is flawed, or go be sarcastic somewhere else. This is a remarkably civil board on an internet full of cr@p. Please don't be that guy.

More of the brown unis

Was Fazekas defending better tonight?

I thought he looked a step quicker, with better anticipation. But he's not back at full speed yet, still a little rusty. Looks like he's still thinking instead of reacting sometimes, on both ends of the court.

Read somewhere that tie breakers aren't head-to-heads any longer.  Isn't it that new national ranking?

Tiebreaker rules:
http://mvc-sports.com/news/2018/12/18/arch-madness-revises-tiebreaker.aspx

Head to head is first, then NET ranking as of March 3 if head to head is an even split.

WHY
THE
HELL
DO
THEY
STILL
RUN
THE
BAKARI
ISO

Haha wow, this is now a competition to see who can choke harder

What's really nuts is that, while unlikely, I don't think many people around the league would be that surprised by an outcome with 8 teams at 10-8.