The 2015–16 Valparaiso Crusaders men's basketball team represented

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana, United States. It is an independent Lutheran university with five colleges. It enrolls nearly 2,300 students and has a campus. The university is known for its Luthe ...

during the

2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 13. The first early-season tournaments to begin were the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and the Charleston Classic. The season ended with the 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tour ...

. The Crusaders, led by fifth year head coach

Bryce Drew Bryce Homer Drew (born September 21, 1974) is an American college basketball coach and former player who is the head coach at Grand Canyon University. Previously, he served as the head coach at Vanderbilt and in the same capacity at his alma ma ...

, played their home games at the

Athletics–Recreation Center The Athletics–Recreation Center, also known as the ARC, is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, United States. It serves as the home court for Valparaiso Beacons men's and women's baske ...

and were members of the

Horizon League The Horizon League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in ...

. They finished the season 30–7, 16–2 in Horizon League play to win the regular season championship. They lost in the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament to Green Bay. As a regular season conference champion who failed to win their conference tournament, received an automatic bid to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

. As one of the last four teams left out of the NCAA tournament, they received a #1 seed in the NIT where they defeated

Texas Southern Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically Black university in Houston. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schoo ...

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, Saint Mary's, and BYU to advance to the championship game where they lost to

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

. This season was Bryce Drew's final season as Valparaiso head coach. He accepted the Vanderbilt head coaching job on April 5, 2016. He finished at Valpo with a five-year record of 124–49 and went to the postseason every year as head coach.

Previous season

The

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

finished the 2014–15 season with an overall record of 28–6, and 13–3 to win the Horizon League regular season championship. They defeated

Cleveland State Cleveland State University (CSU) is a Public university, public research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school th ...

and Green Bay to win the Horizon League tournament championship. They received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the second round to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Pre-season

On July 31, 2015, the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

announced that senior Vashil Fernandez, the 2015 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year, would be granted an additional year of eligibility. The Crusaders therefore returned 98.9 percent of their minutes from the previous season in which they won both the Horizon League regular season and tournament championships. All five starting players from 2014-15 returned to the 2015-16 team.

Departures

Class of 2015 signees

On October 7, 2014 Derrik Smits, son of former NBA Center

Rik Smits Rik Smits (born 23 August 1966), nicknamed "the Dunking Dutchman" is a Dutch former professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The center was drafted by the ...

, committed to Valparaiso.

Class of 2016 signees

Season results

The Crusaders won 16 games in Horizon League play and lost 2, both to Wright State. The Crusaders won the Horizon League regular season championship, three games ahead of second place

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

. After Valparaiso won the regular season Horizon League championship, a Fox Sports writer noted that the Crusaders' strengths were defense, rebounding, depth and experience, and that Valpo—"perhaps the best mid-major team in college basketball this year"—was still likely to be on the edge of the March Madness selection process. ESPN's Eamonn Brennan wrote that Valpo was "a really good team that was banged up in nonconference play and -- in the Watch's humble opinion -- probably deserves to be in the tournament at the end of the day." In January 2016,

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

selected coach

as one of its ten national Coach of the Year finalists. As of late February 2016, the Crusaders allowed opponents 0.87 points per possession, best of all Division I teams. Senior center Vashil Fernandez was again the league's Defensive Player of the Year, and junior forward

Alec Peters Alec Jeffrey Peters (born April 13, 1995) is an American-born naturalized Bosnian professional basketball player for Olympiacos of the Greek Basket League (GBL) and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for Valparaiso University, where h ...

was named again to the All League First Team. For the third time in five seasons, Bryce Drew was named the league's Coach of the Year. Vashil Fernandez earned the 2016

Lefty Driesell Award The Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's college basketball defender in NCAA Division I competition. The award was established in 2010 and is named after head coach Lefty Dries ...

as the nation's top defensive player. However, Valpo lost their first game of the Horizon League Tournament, losing to Green Bay in the semifinals. The Crusaders failed to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As the winners of the Horizon League regular season, the Crusaders received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament. Valpo received a #1 seed and defeated

, and Saint Mary's to advance to the NIT Final Four at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

. There, they defeated BYU to advance to the NIT Championship game versus

. After a close first half, George Washington ran away with the game in the second half, defeating Valpo 76–60. Following the season, head coach Bryce Drew accepted the head coaching position at Vanderbilt.

Roster

Schedule

The 2015–2016 Valparaiso University men's basketball schedule is: , - !colspan=9 style="background:#613318; color:#FFCC00;", Exhibition , - !colspan=9 style="background:#613318; color:#FFCC00;", Regular season , - !colspan=9 style="background:#613318; color:#FFCC00;", Horizon League regular season , - !colspan=9 style="background:#613318; color:#FFCC00;", Horizon League tournament , - !colspan=9 style="background:#613318; color:#FFCC00;", NIT , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 Valparaiso Crusaders men's Basketball Team Valparaiso Valparaiso Beacons men's basketball seasons Valparaiso Crusaders men's basket Valparaiso Crusaders men's basket Valparaiso