The theme of change is dominant right now for both the men’s and women’s basketball programs at Valparaiso. Now, the question is which team will turn that proverbial corner first.

For the women, the new look is obvious as the Crusaders have a new head coach. Mary Evans begins her first season after 15 years of college assistant coaching experience, including the past five seasons at Ohio University.

“When you’re an assistant coach, you a lot of time to do things you want to do. When you become a head coach you’re being pulled by a lot of different people. You must be there for everybody,” said Evans.

Though Evans returns an abundance of experience, the Crusaders lost leading scorer and All-Conference player Dani Franklin (15.6 points per game) to graduation.

“We have to do things more as a collective effort this year. But there’s a group of people who played behind her (Franklin) that are excited about the opportunity to step up,” Evans said.

Evans and her staff brainstormed the idea of a team hashtag this past summer and came up with #RingtheBell. This has been well-received by the Crusaders. The theme stems from the tradition of students actually ringing the university’s trademark bell upon graduation.

“Ringing the bell is synonymous with Valparaiso University as a whole and has been for quite some time. This allows us to become closely associated with something that is university-wide,” said senior guard Allison Schofield.

Senior Meredith Hamlet is Evans’ leading returning scorer at 11.6 points per game. Point guard Hannah Schaub sat out last season but has two years of eligibility left. She led Valpo with 4.3 assist per game in 2016-17.

Evans also is looking to junior Maya Meredith to step up her play. Meredith had 16 assists in one game, in her first career start, last season - but did not play major minutes. Fellow juniors Grace Hales (8 ppg) and 6-2 junior Caitlin Morrison (4.5 rpg, 1.3 bpg, 1.2 spg) will also be major contributors.

Hales made 43 shots from 3-point range last season on 38 percent shooting.

For the men, there is stability in head coach Matt Lottich. He is entering his third season at Valparaiso following three as an assistant. However, his primary challenge has been adjusting to the Missouri Valley Conference.

Valpo, the Valley’s youngest team, went 17-15 last season, including 6-12 in its inaugural MVC season. They were picked to finish seventh in the MVC Preseason Poll.

Lottich said he now has a better understanding of how teams win in the MVC. “We built this team with a lot of point-of-attack guys. Strong rebounders. But you also have to knock down outside shots, and that was something we didn’t do well last season.”

The Crusaders lost their leading scorer from last season, Tevonn Walker.

Lottich played at Stanford from 2000 through 2004, and his teams played in the NCAA Tournament each season. Valpo has not played in the NCAA Tournament since 2015.

Topping his returning players is redshirt junior guard Bakari Evelyn. He averaged 12.6 points last season and led the team with 57 made 3s.

“I love how we have so many guys who can handle the ball,” Evelyn said during the recent MVC Media Day.

Junior transfer 6-6 Markus Golder averaged 9.5 points last season and is the team’s top perimeter shooter, making 43 percent from long range.

Lottich is fortunate to have a pair of post players to rely upon, a rarity for MVC teams. Junior 7-1 center Derrik Smits (7.5 ppg) played only 18 minutes per game last season. He’s supported by 7-foot big man Jaume Sorolla. Smits is the son of Indiana Pacers legend Rik Smits.

The Crusaders’ lone senior is graduate transfer Deion Lavender, a 6-3 guard from Alabama-Birmingham, who also had previously played at MVC member Southern Illinois. Lottich expects him to play immediately.

Each program simply needs to win because recruiting success for the Crusaders is always there for the taking.

“Having the proximity, in Northwest Indiana, to Chicago and Indianapolis and parts of Michigan, makes this a real hotbed for recruiting,” said Evans.