Valpo Preview

[Jonathan Breiner]

When most people think of Valparaiso, they think of former coach Homer Drew
and his son Bryce who led the Crusaders to the sweet 16 in 1998.  They
remember Bryce's incredible game winning three-point shot over number 2 seed
Mississippi on the "Home-run" play that gave Valpo a 70-69 win.  Now they
might remember son Scott for taking over a good Valpo program that won seven
Mid-Continent Conference Championships in Homer's last 8 years as coach.

The Crusaders, 25-8 in 2001-02, are picked to repeat as conference champs.
Just like all of UC's opponents to this point, Valpo returns some strong
players.  Coach Scott was an assistant under Drew for nine seasons, during
which he established Valpo as a home away from home for foreign athletes.
This years Crusaders count heavily on players from other lands, as four of
the five starters are not from the US.

Starting center Raitis Grafs leads the team in scoring and rebounding.  The
6-11 senior from Riga, Lithuania averages 22 points and 7.3 rebounds.  He is
a two-time all first team MCC and is preseason first team again this year.
6-9 junior forward Joaquim Gomes is second in scoring.  Gomes, from Luanda
Angola, is a second team preseason selection.  Gomes is averaging almost 15
points and is tied with Grafs, averaging 7.3 rebounds per game.  He played
for Angola in this past summer's world championship averaging 13 points and
6 rebounds per game.  He played his two best games against Spain and Puerto
Rico who are not international slouches.   For reference, this is the same
world championship that USA's NBA players finished 5th!

Stalin Ortiz, from Cali Columbia also averages double figure points with 11
per game.  Ortiz is one of 3 starting guards in a perimeter-oriented attack
that is very successful with Gomes and Grafs underneath.   But do not let
that fool you as Gomes and Grafs will both wander out to the three-point
line occasionally.  Miguel Ali Berdiel from Ponce Puerto Rico and Greg
Tonegal, the odd ball of the group from Indiana, complete the starters.

Valpo's weakness is where you would expect from a mid-major program: depth.
After the starting five, only three players average double-digit minutes.
All five starters play 28 or more minutes per game.  Of course, UC has
played a lot of players, but has not gotten production from many either.

Valpo will be a good test for the Bearcats after the loss to Dayton.  The
Bearcats get to come back for some home cooking and play a team that should
give them some problems.  Valpo is more talented inside, but UC has much
more talent on the perimeter.  If UC can effectively pressure the interior
pass, double on the low post and have better rotations than against Dayton,
it will be a blowout.  If not, Valpo is good enough to win.



 Keys for UC:

1. Defense.  After getting some production from Maxiell (in the second half)
and Flowers (in the first), the defense let UC down.  One player short on
many rotations, Dayton was left open repeatedly for three point shots and
many times got good looks from lay-up positions.  While not as talented as
Dayton, Valpo is good and a junior and senior led team will not be
intimidated by UC.   I feel UC will have to play exceptionally good defense
inside as Grafs and Gomes are both equal (and probably better) to
Waleskowski and Finn from Dayton.


2. Rebounding.  UC looks to be an awful rebounding team to this point.
Valpo is a decent rebounding team and UC cannot afford to give easy second
chances and as bad as UC has been offensively, will need to create some easy
chances for themselves.

3. Bench. Not really a key for this game as much for the season.  If Hicks,
Kirkland and Moore do not start practicing hard and receiving on-court time
before the conference season starts, UC is in for a world of hurt.

I am really not sure about what team will show up for UC.  I wish Huggins
had a few extra days to prepare after the loss to Dayton as he usually has
the team respond well after a loss.  Valpo is good.  I do not know who set
up the early season schedule for UC, but Huggins should fire him.  :)  UC
returned very little experience but has been playing against teams of all
juniors and seniors, even Florida A&M.  And not much help looms on the
horizon with games a gainst Xavier, Oregon, and Clemson.  But I digress.  On
to the pick.

Even with UC playing the way they have to this point, I do not see how I can
pick against them.  I can see more than one scenario whereby Valpo wins, but
more scenarios for UC to win.  In a close one

UC 67  Valpo 64

jon b