Going into this tournament, the hope was that we'd face Tulsa, Boise State, and Texas A&M. We did, but came out of it with zero wins, 63 turnovers, our KenPom dropping from 70 to 122, and maybe even a damaged psyche.
It was one thing to watch Loyola play this badly back in the days when we had mediocre talent, tight budgets, bad facilities, and a loser reputation. But to see play on the court that statistically you have to go back decades to come close to.... it's amazing.
Somewhere around the middle of the exhibition game, I realized this was not going to be a triumphant year. I saw I had overestimated the skills and abilities of some newcomers, that the players I'd hoped would make huge leaps had not, that the speed and quickness was not there for several players, and there was a whole lot of confusion on the court on both offense and defense. (I was also positively impressed by Alston and Quinn, and thought they had a huge upside).
Now that the benches have shifted over to the other side of the court I get a better look at the coaching that goes on, coach and player reactions, body language and dynamics. It looked pretty ugly in the second half of that exhibition-- Coach Valentine was sarcastic, beside himself, rolling his eyes, mumbling to himself, disgusted by the whole thing. The other coaches looked concerned and scrambling a bit. I thought/hoped maybe it was just the rotations and jitters of the newcomers. Also I thought/hoped that when Kennedy and Edwards got healthy that would make a big, positive difference.
But this tournament kind of stripped away those hopes. This is a deeper problem. I don't know how you go from a program that made valuing the ball such a fundamental part of their mindset-- so much so that it plainly lowered the ceiling for the team several years, I think-- to a team that is on pace to possibly lead all 363 Division I teams in turnovers. It's crazy-- 106 turnovers in 5 games. 119 fouls in 5 games. 127 opponent free throw attempts in 5 games. All of these stats are in the top 5 percent of all teams in college basketball, and we've only played 3 games against average or better opponents.
You can try and say it's youth and inexperience, but Norris' turnovers per game (3.8) is nearly double last year (2.1) and almost three times the rate of his first season at Loyola (1.6). Saint Thomas made six turnovers all last season in 169 minutes played. This year he made six against Fairleigh Dickinson in the very first game of the season. Fifteen turnovers on the season, and he's only played 115 minutes so far. This is the most basic, fundamental skill in basketball.... holding onto the ball. Ball control. Not throwing it to the other team. Not charging into other players.
Take care of the ball. Value the ball. Run plays. And play some defense.
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