I'm still blown away that in conference play over the last 4 years in Gentile, we are 34-2. Our only losses are a 4 point loss to Indiana State on January 3, 2018, and a 4 point loss to Missouri State on February 17, 2019. THAT WAS IT. It's nearly impossible for a Valley team to get a road win in our building. That is huge.
I'm really impressed that this year we didn't have the typical Loyola "clunker" game we've become used the last 3 years ("The Boise State game" in 2018, Getting doubled up by Missouri State, 35-70 in 2019, The 39-68 loss to ISUb in 2020). I don't think any of the 4 losses we've had were "bad."
I'm enjoying the moment, but I'm extremely concerned about our shooting going into Saint Louis... Shooting 3s in an empty, cavernous, NBA style arena isn't going to make things easy for our long-range shooters. I want Clemons, Norris, and Cooper to have the greenlight to fire from 3 in the first game; but I want to see Williamson, Kennedy, Hall, and Uguak shot-faking, getting their defender in the air, and driving to the rim.
I'm not sure what kind of practice time in the arena we get before the tournament starts (if any), but if we do, I hope we give our shooters a ton of time on the court to acclimate to the sightlines and background depth.
I'm going to be paying very close attention to the three point shooting in the Bradley-SIU game. Sure, we're going to get either of them on short rest, but either of those two teams are going to get the benefit of 40 extra game-time minutes and shoot-arounds to acclimate to the rim and sightlines from distance.
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