Can Loyola Slay Another Dragon?

(St. Louis, MO) – Can Loyola keep defying the odds? Are there more miracles up Sister Jean’s sleeve? Which Rambler will be the hero this time? The national pundits have written off Loyola Chicago for the fifth game in-a-row.

The pundits are 0-4.

When the two hottest teams in basketball meet Saturday in college basketball’s first national semifinal game, no one outside ‘Valley Country’ believes the Ramblers can win. At last check they are 5.5 point underdog to Michigan. KenPom.com calls it a five point margin and gives them a 33% chance of winning.

So can the Ramblers, winners of 14 straight games upset their fifth straight NCAA Tournament foe and earn a spot in Monday’s championship game. Michigan, winners of 13 straight, is a formidable foe. The Big 10 Tournament champions play great defense, make a lot of threes and have one of the best coaches in the college game. John Beilein is 23-11 in during March Madness and has won 798 collegiate basketball contests.

Michigan has star-power in Mo Wagner, Muhamad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Charles Matthews. Wagner is a 6’11, 245 pound bruiser who is also effective from deep (59 triples this season). Abdur-Rahkman and Matthews are the other two double-digit scorers for Big Blue, but this is a balanced team with good size. Five different players have made 33 or more treys and during their postseason run (4 Big 10 games and 4 in NCAA’s), a fourth player, Duncan Robinson has joined the double figure scoring parade,

The Wolverines are long on the perimeter. Robinson is 6’8, Matthews, 6’6, Abdur-Rahkman 6’4 and fifth starter Isaiah Livers is 6’7.

How do the Ramblers knock off powerful Michigan. KenPom.com ranks Michigan as the seventh most efficient team nationally and the Ramblers are ranked 30^th. These are two stingy defensive teams. Loyola is fourth in the nation at ‘points allowed’ (62.4), and the Wolverines are eighth (63.1). However, in Mr. Pomeroy’s efficiency ratings, Michigan is a more efficient team allowing just 90.8 points per 100 possessions, compared to Loyola Chicago’s 95.3.

The Ramblers have to be the Ramblers

They must stubbornly hold to their normal defensive and offensive strategies. Loyola’s strength of outstanding shooting, unselfish play, defending like their lives depend on it is a special recipe. You can scout the Ramblers and somewhat predict what they will do, but their execution and the shooting ability of all five players makes them a difficult team to stop. The fact is, they are one of the best shooting teams in America, because they are offensively talented players, but also because they work their own system.

No matter the configuration, the five on the floor can shoot and execute. Loyola doesn’t pass the airplane test, but they excel at the basketball IQ test. They make the right play, the extra pass. The Ramblers don’t beat themselves.

The magic happens because no one cares who scores. During their seven-game postseason run (MVC tournament and March Madness, five different players have been the scoring leader and in the four games of the NCAA Tournament, there have been four different scoring leaders. Only one time in that seven game stretch has a Rambler reached the 20-point mark. Four different players have hit (essentially) the game-winning shots in the four nail-biters.

Loyola races the ball into the front court to look for easy baskets. If none occur, they settle into half-court sets that demand the other team play intense defense for 20 seconds or more on virtually every possession. They wear teams down with this style of great spacing and cutting to the basket. Loyola’s eight interchangeable parts wear down other teams.

On defense they stay in front of the ball and typically do a good job of making the opposing team’s best offensive option have a miserable and hard working night. AND they don’t foul! As one of the least penalized teams in college basketball almost no Rambler averages more than two fouls per game.

‘Chemistry’ is probably an overused word in sports. When a team is winning and the players all get along, it’s called chemistry. If they are losing and they all get along, they are often called soft and lacking intensity. In this case however, the chemistry is unique. Older players are truly mentoring the younger ones. So many of Porter Moser’s mantras (learned from Rick Majerus) are quoted, believed and adhered to by this edition of Ramblers.

Can Loyola beat Michigan? If Loyola plays like Ramblers, yes they can.

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