The Valparaiso University men's basketball team continued to receive significant attention on Monday following Friday's 83-80 double overtime victory at Purdue.
Rocco Miller of Field of 68 listed Valpo at No. 1 in his mid-major Top 60. Bracket Busters highlighted Valpo in the "Week 1 Heat Check," listing the Beacons in the "On Fire" section. Basket Under Review named Valpo one of the national Teams of the Week, joining East Texas A&M, Memphis, UCLA and Notre Dame.
NCAA March Madness and Andy Katz named Valpo the Cinderella Team of the Week. Valpo is ranked No. 6 nationally by 801 Bracketology in terms of "wins above the bubble." T3 Bracketology listed Valpo at No. 12 in the Mid-Major Top 50.
In addition, sophomore
Rakim Chaney (Rockford, Ill. / Rockford Auburn [212 Sports Academy]) was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week. Chaney, who achieved a career high in scoring, posted a 35-point, eight-rebound, six-assist game, Valpo's first on record. The point guard had no turnovers, becoming the first player nationally to post that points/rebounds/assists stat line with no turnovers since 2016 and just the second since 2007. He had Valpo's first 35-point game since 2016. Chaney hit a game-tying buzzer-beater at the end of overtime to force a second overtime in Valpo's improbable victory. Earlier in the week, Chaney tallied 10 points in an 80-58 win over Western Illinois.
Chaney became the first Valpo player to earn MVC Player of the Week laurels since Cooper Schwieger on March 3, 2025. Chaney joins Schwieger, Ben Krikke (three times) and Javon Freeman-Liberty (three times) as Valpo's Players of the Week since joining the league. This marks Chaney's third career MVC weekly award, as he also earned the MVC Freshman of the Week distinction twice last season (Nov. 17 and Nov. 24).
Earlier on Monday, Chaney was named the Lou Henson Award National Player of the Week and College Basketball Report's "Non-P5 MVP." College Basketball Report listed the Valpo victory as the National Game of the Week.
