Tuesday, November 9, 2021 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Illinois


Loyola men's basketball returns to Gentile Arena with fans for the first time since February 25, 2020 on Tuesday night. Coppin State kicks off the 2021-22 regular season and the Drew Valentine era of Loyola men's basketball. Fans in attendance will be required to wear a mask and show proof of a recent negative Covid 19 test or a vaccination.

If Coppin State sounds familiar, it's probably because the Eagles shocked the Ramblers at Gentile Arena 76-72 the last time the two teams met in November 2019. Head coach Juan Dixon -- who led Maryland to the 2002 National Championship as a player-- is entering his 5th season as coach. CSU claimed a share of the MEAC regular season title last year in an abbreviated conference season, despite a 9-13 overall record.

The Eagles are doing some rebuilding this season, looking to replace their top three scorers. Nevertheless, CSU was picked to finish fourth in the league. Two CSU players ranked on the MEAC preseason teams-- 6'4" sophomore guard Nendah Tarke made the first team, and 6'2" redshirt sophomore Kyle Cardaci was named to the league's second team.

Only three players remain on this year's roster who saw playing time at CSU last season. Two of CSU's top three scorers lost from last season were also their top playmakers, so a newcomer will probably be relied upon to run the offense. Mike Hood, a 6'2" guard who played last season at Montana State, or 6'3" juco guard Jesse Zarzuela might fill that role.

Some newcomers who add height to the CSU roster are 6'8" Sita Conteh (an Austin Peay transfer), 6'9" juco Remy Lemovou, 6'8" Bryant transfer Nathaniel Stokes, 6'7" Alcorn State transfer Tyree Corbett, and 6'8" sophomore juco Daniel Titus.

As for the Ramblers, the biggest question is how will team adjust to the absence of a four-time all league player (er, legend?) who had such a powerful impact on both offense and defense. Cameron Krutwig had rare passing ability, court vision, leadership, and organizing skills that went far beyond his exceptional scoring and defending. Fortunately, this season the Ramblers have enough experience at almost every position to direct the offensive and defensive flow, but the intangibles of Krutwig's leadership are probably going to become a factor at times this season.

Loyola's new coach, Drew Valentine, may be the youngest head coach in Division I right now, but his familiarity with his players and the system built up during the past four-plus years will help him transition to the top job. It will be fun to see how he puts his imprint on the team's approach to the system.

The Ramblers were picked to finish second in the MVC Preseason Poll on the basis of four returning starters, along with several exceptional and experienced bench players. The newcomers include Saint Thomas, TY Johnson, Ryan Schwieger, Chris Knight, Will Smythe, and Ben Schwieger. That's a really impressive group with enough talent, athleticism and potential that if they were a team by themselves they could probably avoid an opening night slot in St. Louis.

In last Wednesday's exhibition, Loyola defeated UW-Stout 93-41. Braden Norris' 17 points led four players in double figures, and sophomore Jacob Hutson was the starter in place of Krutwig.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... 1_9_21.pdf

Coppin State game notes: https://coppinstatesports.com/news/2021 ... epaul.aspx

TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago + https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=81&type=Live

Live stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=369438

Vegas odds: 31.5

I've been waiting almost eight months for one of these threads. Thank you for continuing to do them. Cannot wait to watch our Ramblers back in action!

The greatest posts in Ramblermania are back!!!

Excellent preview!

On a side note, good luck to Lucas Williamson who, with a win tomorrow night, will become the winningest player in Loyola basketball history. This should be Lucas’ 100th victory in a Ramblers uniform, and he will officially claim the record, outright, by overtaking Cameron Krutwig, who finished with 99 wins. Because of the COVID-19 extra year of eligibility it is highly unlikely that Williamson’s record, which will only rise with each win this year, will ever be broken.

Just for Fun – if Loyola finishes the season undefeated and wins Arch Madness, Lucas will be at 132 wins. It looks like the player with the most all-time wins in D-1 college basketball history is Przemek Karnowski, a member of the 2017 Gonzaga Bulldogs who lost to UNC in the championship game. He finished with 137 wins. As long as we win out and win the national championship, Williamson will be the winningest player in NCAA history at 138! So… Something to shoot for?

Coppin State also plays DePaul on Wednesday, so we should get an early comp for a game later in the year. Pretty rough at the low major level to have to play back to back on the road.

Ahem, I believe Jake Baughman will still hold that record! Hopefully Lucas breaks it sometime in early January, though.

Oh man! Very nice catch! I completely forgot! Nonetheless… I’m still going to celebrate #1’s 100th win! I watched the Illinois game in-full tonight to get excited for the season. As much as we will miss Krut … when you see everyone against Illinois playing the way they played that we still have, it’s really hard not to get jacked up about this season! I especially got excited when I saw how well Hutson played in relief. If Hutty has even mild improvement, we are going to be in good shape.

Thanks for the game preview, JCT!

Vegas has the Ramblers a whopping 31.5 point favorite. I think it will be a little closer than that.

LOYOLA 82
COPPIN STATE 59

I've been waiting for this post for seven months. Great preview JCT, I'm very appreciative of you continuing to make these for us over the years. Here's to hoping that we demolish CSU instead of getting embarrassed again.

Thanks for the preview! Hope I can figure out a way to watch tonight.