More than just another game for Valparaiso

VALPARAISO | The response was as predictable as the question for Ryan Broekhoff on Friday night.

Shortly after the Valparaiso men's basketball team finished its most complete game of the season with a 68-52 victory over Youngstown State, Broekhoff was asked about the importance of today's contest against Horizon League-leading Cleveland State.

Never being the one to stray from the coaching-staff approved script, Broekhoff gave as vanilla an answer as humanly possible.

"Each game is the biggest game in the conference, they all count the same," Broekhoff said. "Cleveland State is playing fantastic; it's a huge challenge for us."

Sure, each one of the 18 Horizon League games count as one in the win or loss column, but the Crusaders have a real chance to help or hurt themselves against the Vikings. A loss on the home court will put Valparaiso two behind Cleveland State in the loss column. A win will keep the Crusaders locked in second place with the Vikings just behind Milwaukee, a place that could be very important come March.

The Panthers hosted last season's Horizon League tournament, but will be unable to do so this season, regardless of where they finish in the standings. Disney On Ice is scheduled for the U.S. Cellular Arena during the first weekend in March and if Milwaukee wins the regular season title, whoever finishes in second place will host the bulk of the conference tournament. For that reason alone, this afternoon's game against Cleveland State is more than just another conference game.

"It's important in the sense that Cleveland State is ahead of us in the standings and we don't want to fall too far behind them," Valparaiso coach Bryce Drew said. "We really do look at every conference game as an important game and we want to perform well in all of them, regardless of the opponent."

The Vikings turned plenty of heads this season by winning at Vanderbilt, even after losing Norris Cole to the Miami Heat. Cleveland State features a strong frontline, led by 6-foot-9, 270-pound senior Aaron Pogue. The Crusaders expect plenty of physical play in the post against Vikings and that thought has Kevin Van Wijk licking his chops.

"I always look forward to playing any big guy," Van Wijk said. "I was pretty limited in playing them last year, not on the court much. We want to keep working those guys, make sure they can't post up as much."