Rivaldo "Valdo" Soares, joins the Practice Players to discuss his journey from JUCO to the Pac-12. He shares what sports he played throughout his childhood and how that benefited him now as a basketball player. Furthermore, Valdo breaks down some of his biggest moments as a duck, and has an all-time college big 3 fantasy draft with the hosts.
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Rivaldo is in his second season at Oregon. As a Junior in 2021-22, he played in all 35 games for the Ducks. Scored a season-high 13 points in his first start of the season in a NIT round one win over Utah State. Prior to Oregon, Rivaldo spent two seasons at South Plains College (NJCAA). As a freshman in 2019-20, he played in 30 games and averaged 15.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Additionally, he shot 42.0 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from three. As a sophomore at South Plains in 2020-21, he was named a NJCAA first-team all-American and the Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) player of the year. He averaged 15.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, shot 45.5 percent from the floor and 34.5 percent from three-point range. Rivaldo lead South Plains to a share of the WJCAC title and helped the Texans to an appearance in the Elite Eight of the NJCAA Men's Basketball National Tournament.