Valparaiso Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Crusaders
By Joey Loose
The Valparaiso Crusaders enter Year Two in the Missouri Valley Conference looking to make a better impression after falling flat and landing in last place in 2017-18. Will they make that necessary jump?
After five Horizon League regular season titles in six years, Valparaiso was harshly welcomed into the MVC with a tenth place finish. After losing star Alec Peters, last season was expected to be a rebuilding effort, but there were significantly more growing pains than expected. This year’s team bids goodbye to star scorer Tevonn Walker but there are a great number of role players ready to step up in his stead.
Last season’s 8-0 start against sub-par competition was immediately erased by a rough December and a 6-12 record in their first MVC regular season. With everyone besides Loyola winning between 6 and 11 MVC games last season, Valpo wasn’t too far off from the rest of the league, but they were swept by Missouri State, Evansville, and Northern Iowa, the three teams who finished just one game ahead of them in the standings.
Matt Lottich’s third season at the helm brings new optimism, with a junior-heavy lineup and a year’s experience in the new conference behind them. Replacing cellar dwellers like Youngstown State and Detroit on their schedule with MVC stalwarts like Illinois State and Northern Iowa has proved to be a challenge, but this Valpo team will look less like a deer in the headlights this year.
After spending half a decade as the class of the Horizon League, Valpo finds them staring straight up at neighbor and fellow ex-Horizon League member Loyola, fresh off their run to the Final Four. Loyola should continue to be the class of the MVC in 2019, but that might not stop Valpo from challenging for a top half finish this season. Despite that Final Four run, the MVC is still undergoing a shift of power and this next season could be an important year for Valpo to claim their role in the new alignment.