Diablo Valley College basketball head coach Ervin Anderson said he had two different expectations for the team heading into the 2025-26 season.
On the one hand, he had a lofty goal: to challenge for a league title and “compete day in and day out, [where] we could lose to anybody and we could beat anybody.”
On the other hand, he had a more realistic expectation of placing somewhere within the top four teams pushing for the conference title.
“If we could get that three-four spot, and be better than Sierra [College], I thought we could do something,” Anderson said.
In the end, the Vikings finished this season a disappointing 11-17 (5-7 in preseason, 6-10 in conference), ultimately tying for fifth place in the conference with Delta College, who went on to the playoffs unlike DVC.
The Vikings ended the season six games behind Modesto Junior College, who earned the 4th seed.
But their record doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of the team’s play, Anderson said.
He noted that injuries and other “internal stuff,” including several players unexpectedly leaving the team mid-season, played a part in the Vikings’ poorer performance.
At the same time, nine of DVC’s 17 losses came in single digits — and half those losses occurred against ranked teams that made the playoffs.
“I thought we battled like crazy,” Anderson said, adding that he believed the team played one of the most competitive schedules in the Bay Area.
Among the team’s biggest improvements from the previous year was sophomore forward Lloyd Akudinobi, according to Anderson.
At 6 feet 7 inches, Akudinobi was the Vikings starting forward, holding down the middle while averaging 6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
And the statsheet didn’t always tell the full story.
“He didn’t average a crazy number, but he had some big games for us,” Anderson said.
Akudinobi, who jumped from his role as a third-string player in 2024-25 to become the Vikings leading forward, “went from [being] a guy that we’d just throw out there, to a guy that we could count on.”
Sophomore guard Mozell Wilson was another key contributor who outperformed his 2024-25 season, said Anderson. Wilson averaged 10.6 points along with 2.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, earning him all conference honors.
Nonetheless, speaking about his season, Wilson said, “I felt like I could have done better.”
And the same, he added, could be said for the team on the whole, which lost a number of close games.
“We missed out on too many easy ones,” said Wilson.
Anderson said four of the team’s sophomores would be heading to Los Angeles to workout and compete in front of college scouts this spring, where they hoped to attract attention from four-year schools.
Among the Vikings expected to return next season, Anderson highlighted two freshmen leading scorers: Brandon Earl, who led the team in points (15.4) and rebounds (6.2), and Dylan Devinney, who tied for second with Wilson at 10.6 points per game.
As the Vikings look to retool for next season, Anderson said he’s already brought in some size, hoping to add rebounds to the team’s defense. He’s also looking to address concerns of defensive progression and putting more points up.
“The junior college model is all about improving,” he said, and “that’s what we strive to continue doing.”
“Improve as a coach, as a staff, as players, and overall as a program.”