Roger got about as much out of this team as a coach could, in my opinion. Great job.
So long roster, hopefully Roger can do it again
I don’t think next year is a total rebuild. Don’t be surprised if we have 50% or higher retention from the guys who have remaining eligibility. Valpo is in a different spot today than they were even a year ago. We have a group of guys that are different from last year’s team. There is a good chance we keep a good core, and I’m not just saying this either.
We fought like hell and made it an entertaining game. Roger brought together a good group of kids and turned it into a team.
The last year has changed the trajectory of the program.
Love these guys, proud of this team… many of us on the board went through the season together watching this bunch grow, sad to see it end like this but excited for the future!
I'm still numbly mentally processing the loss but they clearly died with their boots on. For those efforts they will always have my respect.
Pettigrew had an excellent floor game. Really high ceiling hope we can keep him and Chaney. Shon is very new to basketball, should only be better next year. Hoipoi showed great flashes and Servilus has great glue guy potential.
Very excited if we can keep this group together. With Whittaker and Dease leaving there will for sure be a shooting/scoring void. Does anyone know what we have coming in?
I am proud of what Valpo basketball has accomplished this year. They improved and represent the university well under challenging times. Powell is doing a great job and I hope the university and community appreciates and acknowledges this.
Does anyone know what we have coming in?
@valpofb16 I think your on the right track! Shooting and scoring is what Powell will target. I think he targets this more in the portal. Don’t be surprised if we see a D2 or NAIA guard come into that role. We have seen it play out with Schmidt and Whitaker. We have our incoming recruits are 2 guards in 6’4 Justin Curry and 6’0 Rajan Roberts, and a wing in 6’7 Hudson scroggins. Curry looks to be a great player, had a lot of good Mid Major offers to include Murray and Nevada. Good kid, I met him at a game this past year, and he seems eager to get on campus. Roberts has power 5 offers and a lot of top mid major offers, his P5 offers include Cal and VT. Scroggins, is an under recruited wing. I seen him on campus late in the season, he is thin right now think of a build similar to Owen. He is an under the radar guy, Valpo may have been his only D1 offer, but not sure on that. Curry tore his ACL this past season and will likely be hampered in recovery to start off. If JT transfers I think we can expect to see Roger look for a scoring forward big. I think we are also in the market for an aforementioned scoring guard, and at least one tall athletic wing scorers, (Dease like). We will get these guys in the portal. I also think we see excellent development out of Carter and Sader if they stay.
Fantastic season, can’t complain about any of it really. Hate that two seasons in a row end by Bradley going Tonya Harding on our guys but I love the fight they had for 50 minutes last night and most of the season. I think Pettigrew leaves but most of the other guys stay, and the freshmen coming in will be great especially Roberts. Super excited about next year and proud to be a Valpo fan this year.
Also holding out hope that maybe they decide to play in the CBI? Actually some decent correlation between doing well in the CBI and having a good next season if you can have player retention too and really I’d just like to see Valpo playing for something in March for the first time in forever. But regardless, loved watching this team this year.
Curry is one of the top five highest recruits we’ve ever had, including high major offers. He was. Core Junior All Star and generally thought of as a top 3 candidate for Mr. Basketball—until, his torn ACL. For his sake let’s hope he heals quickly and well. It did happen relatively early in the season so he has already had some time to recover.
My first Arch Madness and some genuine feedback on it.
If you’ve never been to Arch Madness, I highly recommend thinking about making the trip sometime. The university did an excellent job with the send-off events and really made an effort to prioritize the fans.
One of the highlights for me was getting this picture of Shon—I know you all will get a kick out of it. I first met Shon at Grit & Grill early in the season, and as many of you know, he has a larger-than-life personality and is an outstanding person.
Every game he made a point to stop and say hello and chat for a bit. He is just an easy guy to be around, always smiling, always positive. It’s clear he’s someone who will be successful in whatever he decides to do.
I’m really excited to see how much improvement he makes over the summer. I think he’s going to be a huge piece for this team next year. He is a whole different beast on the court! It’s the tooth 😂
At the end of the day, despite the loss. Powell has done, something that many thought was impossible to do with the program, especially in the Missouri Valley conference.
He made them competitive.
Heightened the caliber of recruit. And got players to actually want to play for the brown and gold again.
But the thing most important that he can be accredited with is he got people to believe again. He got students and student athletes to come back and create one of the best environments in the MVC. He got donors to come back despite mascot change and poor performances on the court. And he got the community to come back. Here's to many more years under Roger Powell. Honestly, they should build his statue next to Papa Drew when he's done.
Bryan thanks for that info, basketball is actually the sport I follow most (Pacers and Hoosiers!), but have gotten into Valpo bball last two years.
Curry looks like a true spot up, knock down guy who will keep the floor open, very little dribbling in clips I saw. Roberts is definitely a down hill guard. Will apply rim pressure. Scroggins was the best three level scorer I saw of the three. But you are correct he is very skinny. Crafty kid.
Interesting that no size is coming in with Hopoi/Servilus from what I’ve seen essentially being the backup 4/5. Admittedly didn’t watch enough to be all in on what our weaknesses are/were outside of basic roster construction
I was also impressed by the level of engagement by President Konkol. He is clearly into the game. You can't fake it. During the overtimes, he looked like every other fan who was experiencing the highs and the lows. Just another small building block for the program.
The off season will of course, be full of twists and turns. To wit, we undoubtedly paid Mark Brown to come to Valpo. He has eligibility, do we keep him? Also on the bench is Jayden Watson, two either red-shirt or medical years. The kid is a mirror image of Deese, 6'8" and actually has 15# on Owen. And then there is Kobe Walker, red-shirted no doubt because of the depth at the 5. The kid is 6'9" 270#! And, was a first team All State player out of Illinois.
Player participation wise, the year played out in a similar way to last year. The first game of last season had Ellis and Shaw in the starting five and this year we had Brown and Barnes in the starting five. In the last game, all four didn't see the floor.
