While Valentine's Day can provide everlasting delight or devastating heartbreak for students all over the UW campus, the Wisconsin basketball program has thoroughly enjoyed its very own valentine this season in the form of a guard on the rise: freshman Brett Valentyn.
Valentyn (pronounced like valentine) grew up in Verona, Wisconsin, a suburb just 20 minutes outside the city of Madison. He had a very successful high school career, particularly his senior year when he was named an honorable mention all-state selection by the Associated Press, was a unanimous first-team All-Badger South conference choice and led the Verona Wildcats to a 21-3 record and their first ever appearance in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletics Association boys basketball state tournament.
This spectacular play offered Valentyn some great opportunities and a tough decision of where to enroll for the fall of 2006. Both his parents attended UW-Madison— his father Tim even played for the Badgers in the 1970s. Valentyn said the emotional connection he had to the university definitely contributed to his decision.
""I was definitely a fan of the Badgers growing up,"" Valentyn said. ""I had gone to all the games at the Field House way back in the day, watching Michael Finley, Rashard Griffith and our assistant coach Howard Moore.
""First I took some visits to some Division II and Division III schools but wasn't really finding exactly what I wanted,"" he said. ""Then I started to look into some D-I walk-on opportunities and eventually I got the offer to walk-on here and couldn't pass it up.""
Although Valentyn was thrilled when he made the team last summer, he knew there was a lot of work to be done to make the huge transition from the high school to college level.
""I guess after I decided I was redshirting, my main goal was to get stronger and quicker and improve my athleticism and strength,"" Valentyn said. ""I wanted to get on a level where I could compete with my skills, but to do that you need to try to get on a similar level with these guys because they're so quick and strong.""
Assistant coach Greg Gard said he has been impressed with Valentyn's progression this season, both on and off the court.
""I think this year he's trying to figure out what college basketball is all about,"" Gard said. ""He gets a chance to guard a Michael Flowers or Alando Tucker every day in practice so that helps him in terms of his defensive ability and I think he's learning in all aspects.""
Although Gard acknowledged that Valentyn's perimeter shooting has improved, he also said the freshman needed to work on his ball handling and quickening up his release.
""He spends a lot of time in the gym on his own so I would suspect to see some leaps and bounds in terms of his improvement,"" Gard said. ""He's a great person and team player, understands what his role is right now and what he needs to do if he wants to expand his role in terms of getting minutes and being able to contribute on the floor down the road.""
Valentyn has made a similarly positive impression on his teammates, including sophomore forward Joe Krabbenhoft.
""He treats each practice like a game,"" Krabbenhoft said. ""He watches and learns from the veterans, guys like Alando [Tucker], guys like Brian [Butch] and guys who play his position like Kam [Taylor] and Mike Flowers. He's a very smart kid and we're all happy to know him and happy to have him on the team.""
Krabbenhoft said Valentyn is still learning about how long the season is and how all the practices and games can grind on a redshirt freshman.
""Coming in I think it took a while to break him in a little bit, but now that he's a full part of this team, he's a very important part of the team,"" Krabbenhoft said. He's like all 15 of us guys: he's always got a joke or two to make us laugh during the hard times during the season, so it's really great to have him around.""
Valentyn will be back next season with freshman eligibility and greater expectations. When Valentine's Day 2008 rolls around, the Grateful Red could hold Valentyn even closer to their hearts.
