Valpo Horizon Contender

CHICAGO–Bryce Drew bust out laughing when he was asked if all of his players must sit down and watch the video of the play they call “The Shot” at Valparaiso.

No, he said. Three players listening in also laughed and said no, but… Meaning knowledge of the occasion, one of the high points in the northwest Indiana school’s college basketball history, is at least wise to be aware of, even if mandatory viewings aren’t required.

Both Drew and the 2011-2012 Crusaders are on their own crusade to capture the Horizon League title this winter and make some fresh noise in the NCAA tournament. They are conscious of the past, but not stuck in it. Drew’s 23-foot, 3-point jumper at the buzzer to KO Mississippi in the 1998 NCAAs is Valparaiso lore, but that’s when he was an undergraduate, not the coach who succeeded his father Homer in the family business.

At the moment, Valparaiso is 14-7 overall, 7-2 in the league and in first place in a year when several contenders, from Cleveland State to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, believe they can overtake perennial champ Butler. Butler is rebuilding and should not be counted out, but right now the spotlight is shining on Valpo.

Butler did the league a favor the last two seasons reaching the NCAA title game. But although the Bulldogs got most of the publicity, the Horizon League’s image was burnished. Valparaiso was in Chicago to meet last-place Loyola and although the Crusaders romped, 69-48, it wasn’t a no-sweat game, either.

“It’s very balanced, one through 10,” said Valpo guard Jay Harris, who scored a game-high 18 points, a performance that included four 3-point jumpers of the way the conference is. “Going into each game you know you have to be at your best.”

Using the term “well-balanced” would probably be part of any scouting report on the Crusaders, too. There is no superstar, but a few double-figure scorers and capable players at every slot. The Crusaders move the ball around well and their defense includes a variety of quick traps that force turnovers and translate into fast-break points.

Loyola coach Porter Moser said his Ramblers practiced for Valparaiso’s variety of defenses, but practice and a real-game confrontation proved to be the difference between running videotape in slow motion and fast forward. Moser suggested that Valpo’s “shut-down” defense may be underappreciated.

“I think they (his players) were surprised how fast the double teams came,” Moser said.

The way Valpo moved the ball also took advantage of Loyola being a step behind on defense, too. With their mix of weapons the Crusaders can make teams look bad by catching them out of position chasing the last pass.

“They have a system that’s been in place a long time and the kids have bought into it,” Moser said. “We didn’t have an answer defensively. They have the ability to make defenses look bad. Their offense was way better than our defense.”

Homer Drew is both father of Valparaiso’s most successful basketball moments, as well as father of Bryce, and Scott, who is coaching Baylor to prominence. Bryce Drew, 37, played in the NBA for a half-dozen seasons and in Europe, then returned to Valpo and became his father’s assistant coach, succeeding him when he retired two seasons ago.

Valpo, partially instigated by Scott Drew, was ahead of the now common national habit of recruiting players from foreign countries. The Crusaders were perhaps the first school to do so in a big way. Appropriately, there are four players on this year’s roster who hail from outside of the United States,. They come from Croatia, Australia, The Netherlands, and Jamaica.

Forward Ryan Broekhoff, a 6-foot-7 junior, is from Frankston, Australia and averages about 15 ppg. So does 6-8 junior Kevin Van Wijk.

Valpo shot 62.5 percent in the first half against Loyola and 56.9 percent for the game.

“The team shot fantastic tonight,” Broekhoff said. “We really moved the ball well.”

Harris, who is from Aurora, Il., a suburb about 20 miles west of Loyola, had his own fan club of about a dozen people in the stands at Gentile Arena.

“Thank God I had a good game,” Harris said.

Drew expected nothing less.

“Jay, he’s very good when the lights are on,” said the coach. “He’s good with pressure.”

So was Drew, most notably his famous shot. Trailing 69-67 with 2.5 seconds to go that year, Valpo executed two passes taking the ball the length of the court for Drew to square up for an open three. He swished it. That year the Crusaders advanced to the Sweet 16.

Drew denied making his players study up on YouTube, but said all of his players have seen the play.

“We’ll just leave it at that,” he said.

The present, not the past, is on the Crusaders’ minds. The Loyola contest was the first of a four-game, two-week road swing in league play and not a one of them thought it would be easy.

“In the Horizon League,” Broekhoff said, “any team can win any night.”

The Crusaders just hope they are the team that knocks off at least one more opponent than the others.