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LOCATION: Valparaiso, IN
CONFERENCE: Mid-Continent
LAST SEASON: 23-9 (.719)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 10-4 (t-1st)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 1/4
NICKNAME: Crusaders
COLORS: Brown & Gold
HOMECOURT: Athletics-Recreation Center (4,500)
COACH: Homer Drew (William Jewell '66)
record at school 167-156 (11 years)
career record 436-278 (23 years)
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ASSISTANTS: Scott Drew (Butler '93)
Steve Flint (UC-San Diego '84)
Mark Morefield (Valparaiso '98)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 20-21-24-23-23
RPI (last 5 years) 111-123-67-70-131
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in NCAA first round.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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All hail Homer. Not the Greek poet, not the patriarch of the Simpson clan and not the infielder who went from the Yankees to the Blue Jays in the Roger Clemens deal. No, the Homer to be hailed here is Drew, 11-year head coach of the Valparaiso Crusaders, a man who quietly pulled off one of the niftiest coaching jobs in the country last season. Stripped by graduation of four of his starters one of them his son Bryce, nabbed by the Houston Rockets in last year's NBA draft Drew appeared to be in dire straits. He had lost more than 50 points and 24 rebounds per game, not to mention substantial leadership. Valpo began the year starting two freshmen, a sophomore, a junior-college transfer and a senior, yet still managed two upsets, over South Carolina and Seton Hall, to open the season. Two victories later, with the Crusaders at 4-0, their starting point guard, promising sophomore Jared Nuness, fractured his right ankle in the fifth game of the season. Surgery ended his playing time for the year, rendering him a medical redshirt and leaving Valparaiso in an even deeper hole. A narrow loss to Illinois in the sixth game seemed to portent doom, but Drew kept his troops cool. Four players went on and averaged in double-figure scoring, with two of them earning spots on the All-Mid-Continent Conference first team. The Crusaders lost three consecutive games in mid-December, another one in mid-January, and three more during the first half of February. By and large, though, Valparaiso was remarkably balanced and consistent, and the rest of its schedule was a string of Ws.
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT B BENCH/DEPTH C+
FRONTCOURT B INTANGIBLES A
We thought last year's Valparaiso team would need a year to gel before being ready to contend again. We were wrong. Shooting 47 percent from the field while holding the opposition to under 64 points per game, the Crusaders put in a solid- to outstanding wire-to-wire effort and finished with an amazing 23 victories and yet another trip to the NCAA Tournament. The self-titled Young Guns are a year older and return, with just one exception, the entire complement of major components from last season. The backcourt has talent and experience at both positions, fortified by solid bench players. Up front, Lubos Barton and Ivan Vujic are ready to continue their sterling play and pick up the slack for the departed Zoran Viskovic. Last year coach Homer Drew had to make something out of nothing, and did, better than almost anyone could have predicted. This season Valparaiso won't surprise anyone. From the outset, the Crusaders appear fully capable of another 20-victory season, another Mid-Continent Conference championship, another reason to give us pause over the office bracket and wonder, can Valpo do it again? |
Valpo concluded the regular season in a first-place conference tie with a strong Oral Roberts squad, then blasted Chicago State and Western Illinois in the quarter- and semifinals of the Mid-Continent Tournament, which set up a championship game against ORU. The teams had split the season series, and the conference final confirmed that they were evenly matched. Led by a 21-point, 11-rebound effort from 6-11 center Zoran Viskovic, the Crusaders eked out a 73-69 victory and landed a slot in the NCAA Tournament. Unlike the magical mystery tour taken by the 1997-98 Valparaiso team, last year's group was brought back to reality much sooner than in the Sweet 16. Playing in Orlando in the South Region, second-seeded Maryland laid a 22-point hurting on the 15th-seeded Crusaders, finishing their season, but the loss in no way obscured the amazing achievement that Drew had wrought. Valpo is the only Division I school in the country to have won its conference regular-season and tournament championships for each of the last five seasons. One senses that public perception of the program is shifting from that of cute, overachieving underdog to perennially dangerous, legitimate NCAA contender. At this point, all accolades are given out of respect and admiration, not grudging condescension. It doesn't seem possible, but the Crusaders enter 1999-2000 as a legitimate threat to capture their sixth straight Mid-Continent title. Four starters return, including an All-Conference first-teamer, and there is an almost ideal mix of veteran players and youngsters. Smell that? That's the fragrance of a dynasty, friends. Czech native Lubos Barton (13.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg), a 6-7 sophomore swingman, leads the charge. The athletic Barton almost literally came from nowhere one year ago, committing in late August, just a day before the fall semestser. He wasn't listed on Valpo's preseason roster, but proceeded to compile a most impressive rookie season, topping the Crusaders in scoring, three-pointers (62) and steals (50) and blocking 25 shots as well. Barton, who started all 32 of Valparaiso's games, was the Mid-Continent's Newcomer of the Year and a member of the all-conference first team. Barton is a well-rounded player, a guy who can hit from the perimeter, bang inside and not embarrass himself on defense. Perhaps his sole deficiency is a failure to take the ball to the hole a 6-7 forward who can hit .813 percent of his free-throws needs to get to the line more than 75 times. With Viskovic lost to graduation, 6-10 senior Ivan Vujic (10.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg) will shift from power forward, where he started 31 times a season ago, to the pivot. As a first-time Division I player after transferring from Vincennes (Ind.) University, Vujic played himself onto the conference's all-newcomer team, by shooting .567 from the floor, blocking 41 shots, and placing second on his team in scoring and rebounding. With quick moves for a big guy, the Croatian native will be counted on to make up for Viskovic's absence and to provide leadership. The Crusaders are a guard-heavy squad, so Barton and Vujic may be the only starters in the frontcourt. There isn't a ton of depth up front, leading Drew to hope that his European tandem remains nice and healthy. The most experienced frontcourt reserve is 6-8 junior forward Jason Jenkins (5.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg), who appeared in all 32 games, starting once. Jenkins shot a solid .468 percent from the field and .367 percent from beyond the three-point arc, and looks poised to serve as a key bench player and a reliable starter if Drew has the need to begin a game big. Also playing in all 32 games, though in a far lesser role than Jenkins, was 6-7 senior forward Aaron Thomason (2.0 ppg, 1.2 rpg). It seems fair to say that he made the most of his limited opportunity, making 24 of 40 shots from the field, but more important, he provides an emotional center for the Crusaders. Freshman 6-9 center Phil Wille (Hilliard-Davidson HS/Hilliard, Ohio) sat out last season as a medical redshirt and will start his career two years after graduating from high school, where he averaged 8.0 points and 5.0 rebounds as a senior. Valparaiso looks loaded in the backcourt. In his four-plus games a year ago, Nuness, Bryce Drew's projected replacement, looked sharp, averaging 5.2 points and 3.2 rebounds, passing for 23 assists and making five steals. His swiftness and outside shot make him a dangerous playmaker. Nuness' season-ending injury made a starter out of 6-3 sophomore Greg Tonagel (5.7 ppg, 2.4 rpg), who had 98 assists and 34 steals and generally played capably in his unexpected new role. Tonagel made .959 percent of his free throws, missing just twice all season, and at one point he made 41 in a row, a school and conference record. If Nuness is healthy, the Crusaders will be deep and talented at the point. Returning to start at shooting guard is 6-4 sophomore Milo Stovall (10.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg), who also helped out at the point and compiled a team-high 100 assists to go with 39 steals. He is a crack defensive guard who can hit the boards and score. Stovall capped his impressive rookie season by being chosen the Mid-Con Tournament MVP and a member of the conference's all-newcomer squad. A solid role player a season ago, 6-3 senior Tarrance Price (8.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg) will probably be the first guard off the bench for Drew. Price knocked down .416 percent of his three-point shots and also managed 52 assists and .783 shooting from the line. He brings to the team the savvy of a veteran and an explosive offensive potential. With the Crusaders trailing Oakland by 14 with less than two minutes to play, Price found himself in the zone, burning the Golden Grizzlies with four three-pointers in 54 seconds and leading Valparaiso to victory. Providing Drew with more options are 6-6 junior swingman Marko Punda (4.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg), who appeared 28 times last year, and 6-0 senior Chris Sparks (0.8 ppg, 0.5 rpg), who mopped up in 11 games. Rounding out the guard rotation is 6-2 junior Dwayne Toatley, who sat out last season after transferring from Minnesota-Duluth.
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