Valparaiso Beacons

The Valparaiso Beacons play home games at the Athletics-Recreation Center in Valparaiso, Indiana, a small-school program with an outsized place in March Madness history. Under the Drew family's coaching dynasty, Valpo built a reputation as a mid-major giant-killer, and that legacy still defines the program's identity today in the Missouri Valley Conference. Few programs its size have delivered a moment as iconic as Valpo's.

Under Homer, Scott, and Bryce Drew, Valparaiso won 13 regular-season and 10 conference tournament championships and reached nine NCAA tournaments over 26 years. The program's signature moment came in 1998, when Bryce Drew hit a buzzer-beating three to upset Ole Miss, propelling the 13-seed Crusaders to the Sweet Sixteen. Valparaiso moved from the Horizon League to the Missouri Valley Conference in 2017, carrying its giant-killer reputation into a new league.