AKRON – Hall of Fame coach Bill Patrick knows he's not going to replace Nick Kindig's scoring with just one player. Fortunately for Tippecanoe Valley's veteran boys basketball coach there is a number of players capable of picking up the slack. Kindig, a sharp-shooting guard who spent the better part of four years on the varsity squad, scored 449 points last year for the Vikings, who were 20-4 overall, 7-0 in the Three Rivers Conference and winners of the Class 3A sectional at Wawasee. With Kindig, as well as steady starter Jacob Ritchey, lost to graduation, Patrick is turning to a group of five seniors and some talented underclassmen to lead the way. “We're not counting on one guy to replace Nick Kindig,” said Patrick, who enters his 45th season overall with a record of 713-278, which includes a mark of 235-98 in 15 seasons with the Vikings. “We're gonna rely a lot on Tanner Andrews, and from there, we hope we can get five or six kids to score eight, nine, 10 points. Kindig scored 20 points per game and could score points in bunches. Replacing him, we're gonna be more scoring by committee.” Andrews, an athletic 6-foot-3 senior who scored 414 points last season, figures to be Valley's go-to player, but will get help from classmates Ben Shriver, Logan Britton, Robby Groom and Derrick Cunningham. Others on Valley's varsity roster include juniors Jarred Littlejohn, Chainey Zolman and Alex Salmon, sophomores Gavin Bussard and Neil Clampitt and freshman Alec Craig. “We have five seniors on the team, and the good thing is all five can play,” said Patrick. “Chainey played a lot last year. Really, we have six players who played a lot last year. “We should have some depth if we can get everyone healthy.” During Wednesday afternoon's phone interview, Patrick said his team hadn't had a practice yet where all of his players have been healthy. Andrews, a standout three-sport athlete, is nursing a shoulder injury, while Groom has been on crutches after spraining his ankle during practice last week and Cunningham hurt his knee. Patrick said Groom is no longer on crutches and is expected to play, as is Andrews, when Valley opens the season Wednesday by hosting county rival Warsaw. “He's off the crutches now,” Patrick said of Groom. “He'll play against Warsaw. He's a pretty tough kid.” Valley has more experience returning from last year than Warsaw does. If the Vikings are healthy, Wednesday could be a good opportunity to beat the Tigers, something they haven't done since 2006. Warsaw holds a 30-6 advantage in the all-time series. Though his team is more experienced at the varsity level than Warsaw, Patrick, as he has so many times before, took the Lou Holtz-approach and downplayed his team's chances to win. “I saw them this summer, they're going to be tough to beat,” Patrick said of the Tigers. “They're going to be better than people think. “(Rashaan) Jackson played very well for them this summer. (Jordan) Stookey, if he's not the best player in the area, is definitely among the top two or three players around. They're gonna be tough to beat.” Following Wednesday's home game with Warsaw, the Vikings travel to Argos on Dec. 3 and to Knox on Dec. 6. Valley opens TRC play Dec. 20 at Whitko. The Vikings have gone 13-1 in conference over play the past two seasons and won at least a share of the TRC title in 11 of Patrick's 15 seasons in Akron. “I think we should be one of the teams to beat,” Patrick said of the TRC. “Manchester and Southwood are a couple teams that are going to be tough to beat. Us, Southwood, Manchester and Northfield are probably the top four teams in the conference.” Patrick also pointed to games with Culver Academy (Dec. 10), Peru (Dec. 17), the NorthWood Tournament (Jan. 3-4) and Plymouth (Jan. 11) as to being difficult contests on the schedule.
