CHICAGO, Ill. -- North Park Men's Basketball season tips off tomorrow against Lake Forest College and no one is more excited than second year head coach Edwind McGhee. Last season the Vikings ended two games above .500 with a 14-12 overall record and a 9-7 conference record, guided by a head coach in his first season. The Vikings ended the season on a skid and fell out of the conference tournament, but that's provided a clearer picture for this year's preseason practices.
This season marks a fresh start for the Vikings with some familiar faces along with a number of new players added to the roster through recruiting and transfers. McGhee expressed his excitement with this new crew due to the balance of young and veteran talent they have this year, highlighting the potential that this freshman class brings and the leadership that experienced returners exude.
One of those returners is two-time All-Region and 2025 Preseason All-American guard Kolden Vanlandingham. Vanlandingham led North Park in scoring during both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, with respective PPG totals of 15.8 and 18.0. He is a two-time first-team All-CCIW selection and two-time D3Hoops.com All-Region pick. In that 2023-24 season with the Vikings, he posted 10 different games with 20+ points and marked at least one steal in all but four games played. He was second in CCIW scoring (17.4 PPG, 261 PTS) and seventh in steals (21) boasting 11 different league games with a double-digit scoring total.
Coach McGhee mentioned how quickly this group has come together through these first few weeks of practice and how eager they are to be coached and learn. The camaraderie that the coaches and players have built so far bodes well for the style of play McGhee wants to see out on the court, emphasizing defense, physicality and rebounding as the core of their identity. More than half of this team (17 of 27) is made up of new Vikings including a familiar face in Carthage College transfer Julian Campbell, the CCIW's Newcomer of the Year for 2022-23.
Much like last season, McGhee intentionally put together a challenging non-conference schedule to start the season, not only to challenge the players but use the first few games to establish and define their identity early on against really good competition. He talked about how winning is obviously the goal these first few games before conference play, but focusing on their brand of Viking basketball is still very much at the forefront. Part of that will include the players doing what he has challenged them to do this season, which is to "focus on competing within the parameters of what we can control". McGhee went on to say "there will always be factors outside our control, [but] we can control our energy, effort and how hard we play", echoing the three pillars mentioned as a part of their identity: defense, physicality, and rebounding, things within their control.
As mentioned before, the Vikings went on a 6-game skid to end last season. When reflecting on that stretch and his first year as a whole, McGhee said that he learned a lot from that experience, stressing the "importance of staying committed to the process. Everything outside of that, good or bad, can become a distraction". He continued, "as a staff, our focus is solely on getting better every single day, because that's the only thing we can truly control. Last year, we looked ahead at times, and it cost us. The process is the process, and that's what matters most".
Tip off for the season-opening game is at 4pm on Saturday, November 8th at Lake Forest College.
