Gearing up for HL tourney
With No. 3 seed a longshot, VU looks to build momentum
Valparaiso coach Bryce Drew said his team was “still focused on getting better and improving” after the Crusaders’ 67-58 loss at Wright State on Tuesday night.
Looking at the glass half full is nothing new for Drew. But his third season at the helm of the Crusaders (17-13, 9-6) has been the most challenging with such a high roster turnover. They lost seven seniors, including every starter, from last year’s Horizon League Tournament champs.
Ups and downs were expected. Leadership was coming from different sources, as was the scoring, which has been assumed in large part by senior guard LaVonte Dority (16.3 points per game), while freshman Alec Peters (12.1 ppg.) has been a pleasant revelation.
But still, expectations are rarely low at Valparaiso when it comes to men’s basketball.
So, to a man, the Crusaders will tell you it’s disappointing to be heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale at the Athletics-Recreation Center against Cleveland State with very little on the line except for pride.
Sure, there’s an outside chance Valparaiso can jump back into the third seed — which garners a bye into the quarterfinals of next week’s tourney — if it beats a Cleveland State squad that has even less to play for.
CSU (20-10, 11-4) has already clinched the No. 2 seed with no chance to catch topseeded Green Bay.
But even if VU wins, Wright State would have to lose at UIC, which won its first Ho- rizon League game of the season on Tuesday night at Milwaukee.
The more logical goal going into this game is to get into the right frame of mind to make a run in the tournament from the fourth seed.
“We need some momentum going into the postseason,” Dority said.
Some of the issues that hurt the Crusaders early in the season cropped up again Tuesday night.
“Turnovers definitely hurt us, and on defense, we gave up too many easy shots,” Drew said.
It’s a statistical truth for a VU team that was quite inexperienced before the season began: If the Crusaders don’t turn the ball over, they generally win games.
The Crusaders, who likely will be hosting a first-round game Tuesday at the ARC against UIC, will be looking to cut down the turnovers after committing 20 at Wright State.