Can you name the nation’s only Division I men’s basketball team to win its conference postseason tournament each of the past six years?
Valparaiso University, the Crusaders from the Mid-Continent Conference.
Coach Homer Drew’s son and assistant coach Scott recruited forward Lubos Barton from his home near Prague and center Raitis Grafs from Latvia. Dwayne Toatley and Jared Nuness are the guards. Forward Jason Jenkins comes from Peoria East. Valparaiso, 55 miles southeast of Chicago in Indiana, has played in the last five NCAA tournaments. The Crusaders became America’s Cinderella heroes in 1998 when they cracked the Sweet 16. Another of the coach’s sons–Bryce, now with the Bulls–beat Mississippi 70-69 with a buzzer-beating 23-foot basket.
Valpo tries to improve its records of 12-6 overall and 3-2 in the Mid-Con Thursday when it plays at Chicago State against the Cougars, coached by former Marquette star Bo Ellis.
Drew beefed up Valpo’s non-conference schedule this season. The Crusaders beat Ohio State and Rhode Island and lost to Purdue, Indiana and Missouri. They rank among NCAA leaders with 7.5 more rebounds per game than opponents.
While they suffered conference losses to Oral Roberts and Southern Utah on the road this month, they have won 12 straight home games and 17 of the past 18 at home.
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Drew gives all credit to his son Scott for recruiting Barton, Grafs and three other foreign players on the roster: 6-8 freshman Joaquim Gomes from Angola, 6-6 senior Marko Punda from Croatia and 6-11 sophomore Antti Nikkila from Finland.
“Scott started recruiting in Europe, because all the big men here went to the high-profile schools,” Drew said. “At first, we were on level recruiting ground. Players didn’t always knew the difference between Duke and Valparaiso. To them, we were just two American universities.”
Drew cited two factors for helping his international players adjust comfortably at his school of 3,000 undergraduates in a city of 25,000.
“First, basketball has become a universal language, because it’s played everywhere,” Drew said. “And we’re only an hour from Chicago where there are people of every nationality. We’ve attracted Chicago followings because of our international players.”
Barton, averaging 11.3 points and 5.9 rebounds, is a standout. Drew called him “a complete player, the best of his age group [20 years old] in the Czech Republic. He can handle the ball, pass, do it all.”
Grafs, an improving sophomore, leads his team with averages of 12.6 points and 7.5 rebounds. Jenkins, averaging 10.6 points, has terrific shooting percentages of 54.7 percent from the floor and 44.3 percent from three-point range.
Toatley, a fifth-year senior and transfer from Minnesota-Duluth, played as a walk-on last year and started the last 14 games. The team finished 12-2 and he ended up being named MVP of the conference tournament and earning a scholarship.
Toatley helped recruit point guard Nuness, whose father Al once starred at Proviso and then captained the Golden Gophers.
The same five has started every game for Valpo. Junior guard Milo Stovall from Kalamazoo has been the sixth man.
Quite a group: Bradley coach Jim Molinari is two victories away from moving into exclusive company with Henry Iba, Eddie Hickey, Phog Allen and Rich Herrin.
Molinari has coached 98 Bradley victories in Missouri Valley Conference play. Only four others have 100 or more. Iba coached 187 conference victories at Oklahoma A&M from 1934-57. Hickey had 163 victories at Creighton 1935-43 and St. Louis 1946-58. Allen had 126 wins in two terms at Kansas, 1907-09 and 1919-28. Herrin had 111 wins at Southern Illinois 1985-97.