Valpo Adjusting During Changing Times

Matt Lottich Navigating the New Landscape

(St. Louis, MO) – Nearly 1,500 college basketball players are passing through the ‘transfer portal’ and Valparaiso coach Matt Lottich is navigating the new landscape. The university’s basketball program lost its ‘Crusader’ name and since the season ended Valpo has been hit harder than most by the portal pandemic.

Lottich has been busy replenishing his roster and digging in to offseason workouts. He has landed four transfers and four high school players and believes their roster is well poised for next year’s Missouri Valley Conference season.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, college basketball like every other walk of life, was greatly affected. Lottich believes the MVC administration did a great job in an impossible situation. The season was incredibly difficult for players, coaches and administrators. The Valpo program experienced several shutdowns and struggled to find a consistent level of play.

 

 

Transfers – Navigating the New Landscape

Roughly twenty percent of college basketball players are transferring due to the possibility of instant eligibility. Valpo’s transfers include Donovan Clay, Jacob Ognacevic, Daniel Sackey and others. Lottich says a ‘perfect storm’ has occured between the national health issues, instant eligibility and the NCAA’s decision to add a year of eligibility for all the players.

While that has caused great disruptions for some teams, Lottich says there are also opportunities to be seized.

 

 

The Missouri Valley Conference is changing. There is a new Commissioner (Jeff Jackson) and veteran Valley coaches Porter Moser and Greg Lansing are gone. For the first time during his coaching career, new coaches will be at Loyola Chicago and Indiana State.

 

 

New Recruits and Solid Returners

While Lottich’s team has been hit hard by player transfers, he has some solid returners and high level recruits. The sixth-year coach has four college transfers coming to Northwest Indiana and four high school freshmen on the way. Three of Valpo’s transfers come from the Big Ten.

Navigating the new landscape means coaches must investigate the portal and find more talent. Two Wisconsin players bolster this year’s lineup. Point guard Trevor Anderson and center Joe Hedstrom are leaving the Badgers to join Valpo. Anderson is a great shooter and solid floor general. Hedstrom is a 7-footer that hasn’t had a lot of playing time in Madison.

Michigan State transfer Thomas Kithier is a forward that saw a lot of action for Tom Izzo’s Spartans. These three veterans should be instant impact types of players.

 

 

Division 2 transfer Kevion Taylor was a prolific scorer at Winona State. Lottich’s four freshmen join Valpo with impressive resumes.

Returners Ben Krikke, Sheldon Edwards and Connor Barrett are valuable returners. Krikke was a third-team all-Valley performer and Edwards was named to the league’s all-freshman team. The 6’9 Krikke was the team’s leading scorer (12.3 ppg) and also landed on the Valley’s ‘most improved’ team. Edwards is an electric athlete and an explosive player. His 8.1 points-per-game average only scratches the surface of what he meant to Valpo.

Edwards made it to Sports Center Top Plays for a huge dunk against Drake and sparked the team to an overtime win against Bradley while scoring 11 of his 18 points during the overtime period. Barrett missed ten games due to injury but the sophomore-to-be made nearly 40% of his shots from deep.

Lottich says those three will be key pieces to this year’s squad.

 

 

More to Come!

Our entire interview with Valpo’s Matt Lottich can be heard here.

Navigating the new landscape of college basketball is not for the faint of heart, but Matt Lottich and the Valpo coaching staff, seem to be making the right kinds of decisions. Every Valley team is doing this type of navigating and recruiting from the portal.

Do Good