AKRON - Veteran coach Bill Patrick thinks his Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball team will be much-improved this season.
Defense, the Hall of Fame coach said, will be a big key for the Vikings, as they will be tested early by a tough schedule that includes the likes of Warsaw, Argos, Knox, Peru and Whitko.Those five teams - all of which Valley will play in its first seven games of the season - have plenty of talent returning from successful teams last season.
Peru, Warsaw and Whitko all won 19 games last season, while Knox won 15 games and Argos won 14 games with a first-year varsity coach.
While Patrick is certainly known for his Lou Holtz approach, always building up the opposition, the Vikings do have a tough schedule ahead of them.
"I think we'll be a pretty decent team," said Patrick. "We'll be fun to watch. We'll play hard and compete, but if you look at our schedule, it's tough. We'll be better than we were last year, but we're going to be tested right away. I think we'll be able to score points, but we're really going to have to play defense against some very good players and some very good teams."
Valley opens the season Friday against Kosciusko County rival Warsaw, a program that owns an all-time record of 26-4 against the Vikings.
Valley's last win over Warsaw came in 2000.
"Warsaw is going to be tough to defend," said Patrick. "Nic Moore is capable of doing so many things. It's almost impossible for us to guard him. Then you throw in their big kids, they just have so many good players. They've got so many weapons. They've got a really good chance to go somewhere in the tournament. It's going to be tough for us to compete in that game."
Warsaw won the game 76-49 in the Tiger Den last year and went on to a 19-3 season, while Valley was saddled with injuries and struggled through a 4-17 season with inexperienced players.
It was the first losing season of Patrick's 40-year coaching career, which includes a combined 29 seasons at Sidney, South Whitley and Whitko and 11 seasons at Valley.
With the Vikings, Patrick owns a 184-62 record.
Overall, Patrick is 662-242. He is sixth in Indiana history in all-time wins, and second among active coaches.
"We'd like to change the way things went last season, but we can't," said Patrick. "The kids have a goal to improve and not repeat what we did last year. We've got some experience, and we should be a better team."
Gone from last year's team are Devin Vogel, Ross Miller, Brad Shepherd, Josh Cooper and Kenny Campbell.
Vogel was a starter and scored 114 points in his senior season, while Miller scored 107 points. None of the others aforementioned players scored more than 33 points all of last season.
Leading the list of returners is senior Zach Owens, who led the Vikings with 13 points per game last season.
Senior Anthony Tolson averaged nine points per contest last season.
Joining them in the starting lineup will likely be fellow seniors Taylor Burkhart and Caleb Rovenstine, as well as Dan Kitch.
"I think we'll be a good shooting team," said Patrick. "Owens can shoot the ball. Tolson can really shoot the ball. Bukhart has improved. Rovenstine was injured last year and is healthy now. I think Dan Kitch could have a really good season for us. The big thing for us is we're healthy. We've had all of our players in practice. Last year we'd finish practices with six players. It's been much better this year, and the practices have been competitive."
Other players on the varsity roster include senior Jordan Littlejohn, juniors Taylor Breeden, Gus Lukens and Jared Gordon, sophomores Bret Cooper and Shelton Carpenter and freshman Nick Kindig.
Following Wednesday's season opener, the Vikings will play at Argos Dec. 1 and at Knox Dec. 4.
Valley will open Three Rivers Conference play Dec. 18 at Whitko.
