Is the grass greener?
MBB: A look at former Valparaiso players and their new landing spots
Jahari Williamson and Kaspar Sepp played on the same basketball court on Nov. 7. Isaiah Stafford and Jerome Palm did the same. Tyler Schmidt and Devon Ellis met up a week later and then Jaxon Edwards bumped into Cam Palesse a week after that. The latest reunion came on Dec. 14 when Cooper and Carson Schwieger found themselves together in North Carolina.
All 10 players once wore a Valparaiso uniform, yet they all reunited as opponents over the last two months. There is perhaps no clearer example that college basketball isn’t the sport it used to be.
Much has been made of the fact that Justus McNair is the only experienced scholarship returner on the 2025-26 Valparaiso men’s basketball team. With newcomers like Rakim Chaney, Owen Dease and Shon Tupuola joining the Beacons last spring, that means plenty of others had to leave.
There are currently 19 former Valparaiso men’s basketball players spread across Division I rosters during the 2025-26 season.
Some are key starters for their new programs and others are struggling to make an impact. A pair of old friends are just hoping to feel the rush of the crowd one more time on the collegiate level.
Some left in search of more playing time or because the coach that recruited them was no longer at Valpo. Others left quite simply because they were offered such a large amount of money that staying would’ve been financial malpractice. Others left because that’s what they’ve been doing for their entire basketball careers.
The following is a look at where Valparaiso’s former players are now, how they’re performing, and the path they took to get there. They’re broken down, in alphabetical order, by players who have earned starting roles at their new schools, those who are mired on the bench, and those who are waiting patiently to make an impact.