Emily Leighton | Staff Writer
On Saturday, Nov. 15th, the Buena Vista University (BVU) men’s basketball team took the court against Augsburg College. The following Sunday, they took the court against Gustavus Adolphus College, starting off the season with two thrillers. The Beavers went 1-1 for the weekend. The final score on Saturday was Augsburg 74, BVU 71. On Sunday, BVU 76, Gustavus Adolphus 73.
This Beaver basketball team has a lot of returning starters. One of those starters is senior Cole Darrow from Glenwood, Iowa. Darrow, being one of the seven returning seniors, knows this season will be a special one. Darrow finished the weekend with 13 points on Saturday and 22 points on Sunday.
“Knowing this is my senior season and also last basketball season ever is hard to imagine. It is weird to think that it is all about over. I think having seven seniors this year realizing that this is their last chance to play the game will help make this season an interesting one,” Darrow said.
Head coach Brian Van Haaften is ready for the season to get going. He knows there will be some tough things that will need to be worked through during the season, but he has a lot of faith in his team.
“We are very excited about the season. In the early part of the schedule, all games are important as we grow together and define ourselves as a team,” Van Haaften said.
Both Darrow and Van Haaften have high goals and expectations for this team.
“We are looking to win the conference as well as the conference tournament and then making a run in the national tournament. I believe the team we have is capable athletically of achieving all these goals; it is just a matter of putting everything together,” Darrow said.
Aside from the long-term goals, the team also has some specific goals that they want to improve on each day that they play together.
“I love this group of guys, and I can’t wait to keep getting better each and every day. I am hoping that we are excellent defensively, rebound the ball well, play fast, and pass the ball with great precision. We have shown glimpses of that already this year, and I have a lot of faith in these guys,” Van Haaften said. “We are trying to get away from being outcome oriented and get ourselves to enjoy the process and be solid every single trip with our fundamentals on both ends of the court.”
The Beavers play a tough non-conference schedule through December and start their conference season in January.
The Beavers will participate in a tournament in Jacksonville, Illinois starting this Friday, Nov. 22nd. The men’s next home game of the season will be Tuesday, Nov. 25th against Bethel University starting at 7:30 p.m.
Photo by Taylor Staab
