Past Articles
Honorable Mentions: RJ Walker, Seth Moan, Keegan Oyugi, Anthony DiLoreto, Bryce Williams
No. 10: Roland Owczarek
No. 9: Gunnar Ledin
No. 8: David Glover
No. 7: Chris Moore

ST. BONIFCAIUS, Minn. --- Our next player on the list is a recent graduate who holds the distinction of being the most efficient shooter in Crown's NCAA-era. A member of the 1,000 point club, Josh Volness holds the career records for three-point and free throw percentages. Far from a sharpshooting specialist, the 5'10 wing/guard produced in every aspect, recording top-six career marks in rebounds, assists, and steals during a four-year career that included 91 games played with 81 starts.
 
 The Crown coaching staff didn't think the Lester Prairie, Minnesota native was going to ever play for the Storm, however, due in large part to a fishing trip gone wrong and a cell phone overboard.

"We got connected with Josh initially because we were recruiting a teammate of his," remembers coach Herbert. "Crown wasn't a great fit for our initial target, but Josh seemed like a great fit. After a really solid visit we were motivated to get him on board, but we couldn't get ahold of him. For weeks I texted, called, left voicemails, with zero response. Turns out, Josh had dropped his phone in a lake and wasn't due for a free replacement for six weeks – so he was dutifully getting in all of his admissions items in but we weren't in the loop!"
 
When the lefty did hit campus, the team wasn't sure where he fit into their rotation, and he didn't appear in the first varsity game because the initial plan was for him to cut his teeth on the JV team. It didn't take long for those plans to disappear as Volness made his first two appearances count, hitting on three of five attempts from three-point range in his first two varsity contests. 

"I remember going up to Josh after that first game against Macalester, he led us in scoring in only 15 minutes, and asking him if he enjoyed his previous JV game," says Herbert. "I didn't let him answer and just said that I hoped so because he wasn't going to play another one."
 
By the second semester, Josh was a fixture in the starting lineup, albeit playing out of position at the power forward position. Plenty tough, and smart, to play above his size, Volness thrived on being a difficult matchup for the other team and finished the season averaging ten points per game. 

Along with a move to a more natural position on the wing, came an uptick in scoring. As a sophomore Volness upped his scoring average to 11.1 and shot 40.2% from deep. He also recorded the single most efficient free-throw shooting campaign in program history, hitting on 88.1% of his shots from the charity stripe.
 
His best individual season came the following year when he averaged a career-high 14.3 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 45% from the field and 42.1% from three. The junior was peaking at the right time, scoring a career-high 25 points twice in seven days at the end of the season before a broken ankle in the penultimate week of the regular season ended his year.

"I will always admire Josh for how adamant he was about coming back into that game [against Northland College, when suffered the injury]," notes coach Herbert. "He made our trainer tape him up and he tried to run on it, but obviously couldn't. That win clinched a playoff berth for us and he told the trainer that he was going to live in the training room to be ready for that game. Thankfully our head athletic trainer Andrew Herdman made him get an X-ray to identify the break, but I appreciated how much he wanted to be back out there."
 
After watching from the sideline as the team lost that first-round playoff game at home against Minnesota Morris, Volness was determined to get back to the playoffs the following the year.

As a senior, he averaged 13.5 points per game and again helped to lead the Storm to the UMAC postseason. In the opening game of the UMAC tournament, Josh had a legacy game, going 5-8 from three and 7-10 overall on his way to 21 points and a 78-71 victory. He played great two days later as the season and his career came to an end, scoring a team-high 20 points.

One of his favorite on-court memories also came that year, albeit in a tough, overtime loss at Minnesota Morris. With three fellow starters fouled out, Volness scored seven points in the final 1:07 of regulation, including a layup HIGH off the glass at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
 
People will remember Josh a shooter, and that's not unfair as his signature step-back three IS memorable. As were his record-breaking marks in three-point shooting percentage (39.7%) and free throw percentage (85.5%). Those numbers are perhaps even more remarkable when you hear about Josh's shooting in his own words.

"Up until 8th grade I shot with two hands and my coach told me I can't shoot with both hands and that I had to pick a hand to shoot with. So I compromised and throughout the rest of my basketball career, I shot all my 3s and free throws left-handed, and most of my 2 point attempts right-handed."
 
But Josh was so much more than that, recording the sixth-most rebounds (330) and steals (83) in program history, as well as the fifth most assists (178).  

His worth was evident to his coaching staff as much as it was to fans and opponents as his 2,597 minutes are the sixth most all-time and his 81 starts are the seventh-best program total.

"Josh is an incredibly underrated defender," explains coach Inder Singh. "He wasn't the most athletic, but he was an incredible game plan defender. He always knew where to be, battled bigger players for much of his career, took charges, and did the little things that only coaches notice."
 
"Most players take steps during their four-year career, improving as they go," explains coach Herbert. "Josh was different though, he got in the weight room and really changed his physique, but also added things to his game. He became a really great secondary playmaker for us and was always able to adapt whenever we made changes."

For his part, Josh describes lifting, but also just a love for basketball and getting up thousands of shots in the offseason for his incredible development during his career.

As much as Josh contributed in all aspects of the game, it was shot-making that helps elevate him to this position on the list. Alongside his program best efficiency was a player who made a high volume of shots. His 200 made threes are the third-best total in the NCAA-era, and his 194 made free throws and 359 made field goals are both fifth best. Those totals helped Josh reach 1,112 career points, also fifth-best on that list.
 
Remarkably, each of his four seasons places him in the career top 20 for both threes made and three-point percentage. His 64 made threes in 2017-18 are the sixth-best single-season total for the program and his mark of 42.1% that same year is good for third place. Unsurprisingly, each of his four seasons is also in the top 20 for free throw percentage. What is remarkable, is that those seasons come in at first, third, fourth, and sixth on the list of best single-season percentages!

As you might imagine, a handful of single-game performances also make the all-time top 20. Volness twice hit six threes in a game (eighth), had an eight assist game (ninth), and twice had four steals in a game (T-20th).
 
For his career, he notched game-highs of 25 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists, along with two blocks and four steals.  
As Josh improved, so did the team, with Crown winning more games than the previous year in each of his four seasons, culminating in the program's second playoff win in his senior year.

Josh is currently living in Minnetonka and working at an assisted living home, with plans on pursuing a career in marketing or banking in the future.  
 
"Josh made the most of his opportunity at Crown," says coach Singh. "He worked hard to improve on the court and has given himself an opportunity to be really successful for the rest of his life."

It's tough to ask for much more than that.