Guys hate sap.

We like Bruce Willis, Steven Seagal and professional wrestling. A lot of us, anyway.

Guys don't like sap.

This is as about as sappy as it'll get - you've been warned - but here goes: Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball fans have fallen in love with first-year coach Bill Patrick, and Bill Patrick has fallen in love with Valley fans.

Example: Assistant coach Chad Patrick, also Bill's son, leads a drill during the 20 minutes before game time where the Viking players clap a montonous, rhythmic, one-two, one-two clap.

Valley fans begin doing this clap before the players come onto the court. And when the players on the court clap for their drill, they join them again.

When Valley played at Triton last month, Triton's janitors had not pulled out the upper bleachers on the visitors' side.

Mistake.

So many Valley fans showed up they were left standing - all the seats below the railing were taken -Êuntil finally noticing the congregation, light bulbs above heads went off and Triton's maintenance men pulled the top bleachers out.

So many Valley fans showed up that Triton ran out of programs during the junior varsity game.

So many Valley fans showed up that - this isn't official - judging with the naked eye, they outnumbered the Triton home crowd.

After Tuesday's 111-107 double overtime sectional loss to Peru, Patrick said, "Could you mention something about our fan support? We've had great fan support all year."

The Viking fans fell in love with their team because they believed in their coach, because they knew he would make their players believe they could win.

Columbia City, Manchester ... who knows where all Bill applied during his three years out of coaching. For some reason or another, none of these schools saw fit to hire a man who had 478 -Ê478! - wins and never had a losing season in 29 years in the Whitko corporation. This has nothing to do with the coaches at any of the schools mentioned. Columbia City's Chris Benedict is as sharp as the razor cut he sports on top of his head, and Gary Goshert - all Manchester does is win TRC titles every year under him.

The Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation, no stranger to a good blunder now and then, did something right by hiring Patrick. Valley fans who hadn't bought season tickets in eight or 10 years showed up to games again.

Sure, Valley lost to Peru 111-107 in double overtime in Tuesday's first round of the sectional, but who wouldn't lose to Peru? Peru is 17-3 and has been ranked in the top 10 of the 3A poll all season.

Look at where Valley started under Patrick. Look at where Valley finished under Patrick.

Valley went 6-15 one year ago. This year, Valley went 14-7.

It took 10 days of practice in November for one Valley player to jump over and back a 2-by-4 24 inches off the ground, something all 12 of his Whitko players could do each year.

Bill was bummed. Oh, he's always been negative, but it seemed like he truly wondered in November why the heck he ever got back into coaching.

He's a competitor. That's why. He's never lost before, and he wasn't about to start now.

He had one big-time change to make at Valley: He had to make the players believe they could win every single time.

This took time.

After Valley lost to Peru 80-62 in December, Patrick said, "A lot of it is still mental. A lot of it is knowing we can play with anybody. I think we walked out seeing Peru ranked fourth, so we begin thinking the other team's better. I'm not sure how many kids we had convinced we could win this ballgame."

Valley responded to the Peru loss by winning seven of its next eight.

# "When we beat South Bend Washington (86-76), which I thought was a whale of a basketball team, I thought we could play with anyone," Patrick said.

Valley became a team to be reckoned with. In December Valley trailed Peru 55-51 in the fourth and folded to lose by 18. Last night Valley trailed Peru 73-61 with five minutes left, tied the game 82-82 at the end of regulation and forced two overtimes.

This was a Peru team that starts five seniors. Valley graduates three seniors on its whole roster.

Peru coach Terry Heavilon was impressed with Valley.

"A situation like that, had we capitalized, they may have quit," he said. "We made the mistakes, and they capitalized on them to get back in the game. They believed the whole way through.

"That's a tribute to their kids."

Rob Irwin, whose Carroll Chargers meet Peru in the second round, was so taken with Valley's passionate performance, he said, "I'm gonna make coach Patrick shake my hand, because he's so lucky."

Ask formerly bummed Bill now at the end of the season about his team, and he says, "This team went from a 1 at the start of the season to a 10 on a 1 to 10 scale.

"This team made as much improvement as any team I've ever coached from the start of the season to the end."

What was the key, you ask.

"They started believing," he says.

You ask senior guard Jarvis Shepherd, who has just hit four three-pointers and scored 28 points in the double overtime loss to Peru, how Valley turned the program around so quickly.

"Coach Patrick changed our attitude," he says. "He gave us a lot of confidence. He believed in us."

This is what Valley fans did all along, believe. Even after the 75-57 season-opening loss to Warsaw, none were upset. "Give him time," they said. "You'll see."

They were right.

The Vikings and Patrick showed their appreciation of the fan support by gathering at halfcourt and waving after the sectional loss to Peru. Then they started -Êyou guessed it - their clap. Valley fans, players and coaches.

Even after bowing out in the first round of the sectional. They believe in their coach and love their basketball program. [[In-content Ad]]