3 MVC games Wednesday, Jan. 25

[Da Coach]

3 MVC games Wednesday, Jan. 25

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/scoreboard/_/date/20230125/group/18

[Stryker]

The way things have been shaping up it appears BU will be in a dog fight for 3rd or 4th in the MVC. I think BU will finish 13-7. If we can go 14-6 I think a shot at 2nd is still open, but who knows. I believe MoState will finish 13-7 as well and tie us for 3rd/4th and take 4th place with BU in 3rd. Drake and UNI will be in the 5th/6th spots I think.

Should be interesting down the stretch here. Anything can still happen. BU could still win out, I won't bet on it but stranger things have happened.

[Da Coach]

Bradley is a 15.5 point favorite over Illinois State, Belmont is a 13.5 point favorite at Evansville, and UNI is an 8 point favorite over Valparaiso.
I am slightly surprised that UNI (7-3) is only favored by 8 points over Valpo (3-7). Maybe it's because Valpo has won their last 3 MVC games in a row after starting 0-7. And 2 of Valpo's wins have been road games (at Evansville and Illinois State).

Question- which MVC coach, if any, is on the hot seat if things continue the way they are looking now at the halfway point?
Only 4 teams have a losing record- Valparaiso (3-7), Illinois State (3-7), UIC (1-10), and Evansville (0-10).

My take- Evansville and Illinois State have 1st year coaches, so there is no chance, barring some form of violations, that those two will fire their coach.

UIC is in their 3rd season under Luke Yaklich, but they have stepped up into a stronger conference this year. And they lost a lot of key players from last year (only 16.5% of their scoring returned this season), they have only 1 senior, and they are not a big-budget school . So despite their poor record, I think they will give Yaklich at least 2-3 more years to see if he can build a winning team there.

So that leaves Valparaiso. This is Matt Lottich's 7th season overall, and 6th season in the MVC. He's had one winning season (19-16 overall, 9-9 in MVC) in 2020-21. Under him, Valparaiso has never been higher than a 7th seed, and has played on Thursday in the MVCT for the last 5 years straight. And with the change in format, his team will play on Thursday again this year for the 6th straight year. Of the only 4 scorers who average more than 4 points per game, one of a 4th year senior (Ben Krikke), one is a 5th year senior (Nick Edwards), and two are 6th year seniors (Quinton Green and Kobe King). So they are not a young team and don't appear to be likely to improve unless they can successfully reload in the transfer portal. So a lot of coaches would lose they jobs with the poor performance Valpo has shown in their 6 seasons in the MVC. By comparison, Loyola was a last place team in their first season in the MVC, but by year 5 they won the league, made it to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament, and they went on to dominate the league for 5 seasons. Valpo seems to getting worse.
But Matt Lottich is well liked, and he is signed through the 2024-25 season. Valpo is not a school that can easily afford to buy out his contract, so I think he will get another year or two to see if he can turn things around.

[Nashville Cat]

I don't see any changes in the Valley. AD'S realize that the criteria for coaching changes has been convoluted by NIL/Portal dynamics. At some point you have to win, though.

[braves16]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/scoreboard/_/date/20230125/group/18

[Wilbery]

I don't see how they keep Lottich. He's been there so long and done nothing of note besides lose to us in a MVCT final. I imagine it'll be hard having to do a real search that is outside of the Drew family/former assistants but they need a complete overhaul in my opinion.

When they joined the league I was thrilled since I have a few friends who went there so more personal rivalries seemed great but they have not held up there end of the competitive bargain.