Halvorsen gets Valpo offer

Henry Sibley's 6-foot-8 small forward Chris Halvorsen was a key component to the Warriors playing in last year's state championship contest. Halvorsen produced 11.7 points per contest along with nearly double figure boards, defending the opposition's top scorer, and he may have had the 2008 play of the year. Chris has been offered four scholarships so far and more could be on the way.

If you were to rank the top ten dunks of last year in Minnesota nine of those ten jams would most likely come from either Michael Floyd or Rodney Williams. But number one? That belongs to Halvorsen and it may not even be close because of the difficulty. Chris's first half jam in transition over the top of Rodney Williams in the state semi-final will be talked about for years to come as Chris finished at the height of his jump while Williams was even with him trying to defend.

Halvorsen's other top jam against Richfield is a You Tube highlight regular and you can see all of Chris's jams on a couple highlight packages that are floating around the You Tube site. But Chris was more then a finisher at the rim for Sibley as his decent lateral quicks in a 6-foot-8 body along with a huge wingspan make him a tough defender to deal with. Halvorsen is also a top rebounder plus he scored nearly 12 points a contest as a junior.

Chris has participated in several events in the off-season with his high school teammates and his AAU team, the 43 Hoops 17 and Under Basketball Club. Where Halvorsen has looked to improve is in the area of his ball skills. This spring and summer Chris has focused on refining both his jumpshot and ball handling and thus far it looks like there has been marked improvement.

"Chris is playing well," said Tom Dasovich who is the head coach at Henry Sibley. "He is having a good time playing with 43 Hoops. They are in Cincinnati this weekend and Chris is having a good summer.

"Chris is really shooting the ball a lot better. He's always been a little more of a force on the defensive end and rebounding wise but he's really worked hard on his offensive game. He's improved his ball-handling and shooting of the basketball. Chris is shooting free throws a ton better from what I have seen this summer when he was playing with us and with 43 Hoops in summer tournaments. At the Wisconsin camp Chris just had an excellent, excellent team camp shooting the basketball from all ranges including from the three-point line and from the free throw line. Chris has just made huge strides and he's put a lot of work in."

At 6-foot-8 with length, solid athletic ability, skills to finish in transition, a rebounding ability above the rim, a quality work ethic, and definitely the grades, Chris has made himself into a quality mid-major prospect.

"Right now from what I now Pepperdine, Pacific, and South Dakota have offered Chris scholarships," said Dasovich. "North Dakota State has become very interested, Chris was recently at the Santa Clara elite camp, and I think by the end of June he will have at least ten division one scholarship offers."

With Chris being a solid academic student he has also heard from some Ivy schools like Yale. And last fall Montana offered Chris although they have been quiet.

That offer list climbed to five today. "Valpo has just offered Christian," said 43 Hoops director Chris Carr