No. 7 – Valparaiso Beacons
The Beacons have earned their first-ever winning MVC record. Their overall total of wins is the most they’ve acquired since joining the Valley. Roger Powell Jr is know as ‘The Rev’ and he’s selling faith to his players and fan base and they are buying.
Last season Valpo finished last season with flurry of victories at Arch Madness and then watched virtually its entire roster depart via the transfer portal. Gone were the Valley’s last two freshmen of the year, so Powell had to rebuild overnight
New freshmen stars in J.T. Pettigrew and Rakim Chaney have catapulted the team to its best MVC season. Those youngsters joined with senior and graduate transfers to win a large number of close games. Guard Brody Whitaker and forward Owen Dease provide a lot offense. Sixth man Justus McNair is the only experienced player that returned and has been named to the Valley’s all-bench team.
Twelve Beacon conference games were decided by six points (two possessions) or less with Valpo winning seven of them. This is a battle tested team. While they dropped both games to Belmont, the losses came by a grand total of five points. Sixteen of their 31 overall games have been decided by two or fewer possessions.
Powell says being in so many close games has given his team the experience needed to learn how to be successful.
“We figured out a way to win those games,” said Powell. “We lost to Evansville by one point. We lost to Belmont by one point. You can’t duplicate (those) reps. We’ve had so many reps of being in close games and we’re learning and our guys are growing. Hopefully it pays dividends in St. Louis.”
Valpo defeated first round opponent Indiana State twice, by a total of nine points, with one game going into overtime. If the Beacons prevail, they would face Bradley in the tournament’s second round.
They split those two games, with each team winning at home and both games being decided by seven points. It’s not outrageous the think Valpo could be playing in Saturday’s semifinals against Northern Iowa.