New Era Ramblers

Things Look Very Different at Loyola

(St. Louis, MO) – The last two Missouri Valley Conference ‘Player of the Year’ award winners are gone. Now it is up to the new era Ramblers to carry their winning tradition. For the last two seasons, Clayton Custer and Marques Townes were a part of 52 wins, a Final Four run and two Valley championships.

Those two stars have graduated.

For the past five years Loyola has been identified with outstanding guard play. From Milton Doyle, to Dante Ingram, to Ben Richardson, Townes and Custer the Ramblers have accumulated a lot of hardware. Three All-conference trophies, one defensive player of the year, two Larry Bird statues and an all newcomer mention have filled the Rambler rotation of guards.

They are all gone. Even last year’s all-freshman team member Cooper Kaifes is out for the season with an injury.

Now coach Porter Moser is building around his forward line. The new era Ramblers will lean on juniors Cameron Krutwig and Lucas Williamson. Those two were freshmen during the LUC historic Final Four visit of 2017-18. They are now the building blocks of Moser’s first team in three years without a returning all-star guard.

A Change of Perspective

Marcus Townes’ was the third straight guard to lead Loyola in scoring, but this year Loyola will look inside first. When they look into the post they will find the Valley’s preseason ‘Player of the Year’ Cameron Krutwig. The 6’9 lefty was an all-league player last season and is building his own Loyola legacy.

After being named to the Valley’s all-freshman team (2018) and playing a key role in LUC’s program record 32 wins, he landed on the league’s all-Valley team last season and has accumulated 902 career points and 477 rebounds. Last season he averaged 14.8 points and 7.2 rebounds. He is the most proven commodity on this year’s team.

If Loyola is to win their third straight title, Krutwig has to be a star. Moser says the Algonquin, Illinois grad has been outstanding during his first two seasons and still has room to improve.

 

 

On The Wings

Lucas Williamson might be the Valley’s’ most intriguing player. As a true freshman he played high leverage minutes during the Final Four season and great things were anticipated for his sophomore campaign. Last year was a difficult one for the 6’4 wing. He missed 18 games due to injuries and was hobbled in many others.

Still he averaged 8.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game and showed flashes of the potential people saw during his freshman season. His late season performances helped the Ramblers earn their co-championship and earn a number one seed at Arch Madness.

Williamson is athletic, can create his own shot and is an outstanding three-point shooter. He can be the game-changing kind of player in the Milton Doyle mode. The entire league race could hinge on Williamson’s play (See ‘Four Returners Will Shape the Valley Season‘).

Moser says Williamson is an elite defender and he expects more leadership from the Chicago native.

 

 

Aher Uguak transferred to Loyola from New Mexico. The 6’7 redshirt junior was rated as one of Western Canada’s best players when he arrived in Rogers Park. His sophomore season had several ups and downs. Uguak accumulated five double-figure scoring games, including an 18 point performance in LUC’s NIT loss to Creighton. He also had ten games where he scored two or fewer points.

While shooting over 50% from the field, he also had eight games where he grabbed one or fewer rebounds.

Moser believes Uguak has realized there are multiple ways he can impact a game and contribute to Loyola success.

 

 

New Era Ramblers

Recruiting experts are saying this could be Moser’s best recruiting class ever. Three guards, Marquise Kennedy, Keith Clemons and Jason Pipkins are the headliners of the current crop.

Kennedy is a 3.5 star 6’1 freshman guard from Chicago’s Brother Rice High School. He averaged over 25 points and six rebounds per game as a senior.

Both Clemons and Pipkins are ranked in the top 75 of all junior college transfers. Clemons averaged over 15 points per game for national junior college champion Vincennes University. After winning a state title in high school, Pipkins averaged over 21 points per game for Paris (Texas) Community College.

Moser says Kennedy and Clemons have the chance to become all-league type of players. As Moser heads into his ninth Loyola season, he believes those two have the leadership capabilities to grow in to the star guard roles Rambler fans have grown to expect.

 

 

This Just In! 

Clemons will miss the early part of the season. The 6’1 junior had knee surgery (Oct 22) and will miss four-to-six weeks. Franklin Agunanne will be miss time the season opener too. He has an injured thumb.

Moser is energetic about this year’s team. This may be the truest test of his time at Loyola. After building a brand and a winning culture in Rogers Park, now he must do it with a different type of lineup. Legendary UCLA coach John Wooden won national titles with guard oriented teams (Gail Goodrich), post-centric teams (Lew Alcindor) and forward leaning (Keith Wilkes). His long run of championships with different types of lineups proved his unique ability was beyond one type of style.

This is Moser’s chance to do the same with these new era Ramblers.

Do Good

(Cover photo courtesy of Steve Woltmann & loyolaramblers.com)

Editor: Of course Alcindor went on to be known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilkes later changed his name to Jamaal Wilkes.