Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius Rome Italy

The Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius, located in Rome, Italy, is a magnificent example of Baroque architecture, reflecting the grandeur and the artistic richness of the period.

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Seigneur, apprends-moi à être généreux,
à te servir comme tu le mérites,
à donner sans compter,
à me battre et à ne pas tenir compte des blessures,
à peiner et à ne pas chercher le repos,
de travailler et de ne pas chercher de récompense,
sauf celle de savoir que je fais ta sainte volonté.

-Saint Ignace #jesuitprayer #Loyola #scouts

Players commit to play for a team. They play for said team. Then… the portal giveth, the portal taketh away… It’s the cycle of life in NCAA basketball.

Yesterday marked the deadline for players to enter the NCAA transfer portal and the high school recruits have two weeks to sign their letters of intent.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at where both Rambler teams stand with their departures and new acquisitions.

MEN:

2023 Record: 23-10 (15-3 A10) – A10 co-regular season champions

Final Status: Lost NIT First Round vs. Bradley (77-62)

It was a heartbreaking end to a storybook season for the Ramblers, but they have a lot to hang their head on for next season. A new era has officially been ushered in with the graduation of several key players from years’ past. Luckily, their transfer damage has been minimal compared to other teams in the Atlantic 10. With the portal window officially ended, this is my breakdown of the current roster that Drew Valentine and his staff have built up.

Graduated:

G: Braden Norris, Greg Dolan, Will Smythe (WO)

F: Tom Welch, Philip Alston, Dame Adelekun, Patrick Mwamba
C: None

Others Outgoing:

RS-SO F Ben Schwieger (Northern Iowa), RS-FR G Trey Lewis (Purdue-Fort Wayne)

Current Roster:

G: Jalen Quinn, Jayden Dawson Des Watson, Sheldon Edwards, Jr., Caleb Reese (WO), Sam Yurasek (WO), Matthew Mortensen (WO)

F: None

C: Miles Rubin

Incoming Recruits:

G Jack Turner (St. John Bosco, Bellflower, CA)

Turner has been locked into Loyola for just about 18 months now, as previously reported by Andrew Bucholz of A10 Talk. Turner had a dominant senior season at SJB. They started the preseason ranked as the #1 boy’s basketball team in the LA area per the Los Angeles Times and he led the Braves to a state championship on a game-best 20 points. He has a nice touch from 3 and has a lot of nice finishing moves at the rim. Based on the roster construction for next year, I could see him taking a redshirt year and picking up steam in the 2025-26 season.

C Brayden Young (Cypress Falls, Houston, TX)

Currently ranked inside 24/7’s Top 50 centers of the 2024 class, Young led the Cypress Falls Eagles to a 26-5 record in his senior season. At 6’9/195, he looks to be a great pickup for the Ramblers.  He has nice ball-handling skills for a big man and can get up there when blocking shots or dunking the ball. I think he could be a nice bench piece in his first year, though he’d be the best fit at the 4 spot rather than the 5.

F Seifeldin “Seif” Hendawy (NBA Academy Africa, Egypt)

Hendawy follows a similar lineage as Patrick Mwamba, coming to Loyola out of the NBA Academy in Africa. I’ve seen conflicting reports of his height at 6’6 or 6’7, but I think the quality of his game isn’t going to come down to an inch of height. He’s a forward with keen playmaking abilities and can score from all three levels. He held his own in the Egyptian professional ranks by averaging almost 9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game for Al Ahly. I like his game a lot and could be someone who could get starting minutes in a pinch for Drew Valentine.

G Daniil Glazkov (IMG Academy, Russia)

I truly don’t have much to gripe about with the IMG product. Out of the four signees we have in this class, Daniil looks the most collegiate-ready of the bunch. His crisp passing and strong confident shooting abilities will translate to some success in the A10 and I really liked what I saw on tape. I didn’t see much of his defensive work on film, but he is the one guy who could get some starting minutes in his freshman year based on his offensive ability alone. I’m excited to see how he develops into a more complete player.

Transfers:

G Justin Moore (Rising junior – Drexel)

The Philly native averaged 12/3/3 in 31 games for the Dragons this past season and was named to the all-CAA third team. When watching his tape, I’d his biggest comparison on the current roster is Des Watson – sans the three-point shooting ability. He has a nice midrange jumper and is not afraid to get to the basket.

Twitter user “Jon Dunn” (@jonathandunlea6) coached Moore at the AAU level and said that he shot 40% from beyond the arc. However, that has “never been the main part” of the way he plays.

“He flashes as the main conductor g(e)tting to his middy and exploiting mismatches,” he added in an April 3 Twitter post . “You’ll see a lot of plays drawn up for him where he’s moving towards the rim, hence the lack of volume and % from 3”

Based on his scouting report, the 6’3 Moore will round out the defensive-minded backcourt with Watson and Jalen Quinn. This could end up being a sneaky good pickup by Drew Valentine.

G Kymany Houinsou (Rising junior – Washington State)

Well, well, a P6 transfer to Loyola! And he played with Victor Wembanyama in Europe? Tell us more, they say! Well, Houinsou looks to be a pretty solid pickup for the Ramblers who can contribute on both sides of the ball.

Because he just committed on Monday, I don’t have too much scouted on him. This is not a name I ever saw tied to the Ramblers, but it looks like he’s the real deal. He’s represented France at the national level and played with some top prospects, including the aforementioned Wemby.

His three-point ability might be lacking, but he more than makes up for that with his ability to attack the basket and get some nice looks in transition. His tape shows he’s unselfish and can be a really nice orchestrator with the basketball when his game is on.

What stands out to me the most is that he comes from a Washington State team that finished very similarly to Loyola in defensive efficiency in KenPom. I was hoping Drew Valentine would go out to recruit players from teams with a strong defensive philosophy, and that he did. My assumption is he’ll be a specialist off the bench and provide some energy when needed.

F Jalen Deloach (Rising senior – Georgia & VCU)

The Ramblers managed to swipe up another player from within the conference, albeit a year after he transferred to a P5 school. Before leaving, Deloach was a 3rd-team All-A10 member and averaged 9 points and 7 rebounds per game for the Rams. There’s a chance he could be another Des Watson type of story and make it back on that list in his final year.

At 6’9, Deloach becomes a true #4 guy for the Ramblers. He crashes the glass like crazy, and for a Rambler team that struggled to grab offensive boards last season, he could be a huge help. It’s worth noting he averaged almost 1.5 blocks in 2022-23 as well, which was 5th best in the league. Having him and Miles Rubin playing in the frontcourt creates a potential headache for a lot of conference opponents.

One final thing that shouldn’t be overlooked is Deloach has played postseason basketball in all three of his collegiate seasons. Two NIT games in 2021-22, an NCAA tournament game in 2023, and, most notably, a NIT final four this past season. Having that type of experience on a roster is invaluable, and I think it was a slam-dunk acquisition by Valentine and his team.

F Francis Nwakorie (Rising senior, UC San Diego)

Like Houinsou, Nwakorie is not a name I had seen associated with Loyola outside of a few Tweets. However, I really think he fits the team scheme well. With the addition of Nwakorie to the roster, the debate now shifts to who starts. Is it Nwakorie, a stretch-four similar to last year’s roster, or a true #4 like Deloach?

If he’s the man they choose to start, he’s got some big shoes to fill. He might not be as physically imposing as Philip Alston was (though not many people are) but he’s very confident dribbling the basketball and can score at the rim with ease. What stands out to me was a jump in his three point volume from his sophomore to junior year. The Tritons ran a fast-paced, efficient offense last year and he took about 40 more jumpers beyond the arc at 35% clip. He’s also averaged no fewer than 5 rebounds per game in his three seasons with the Tritons, so it’s nice to see Drew Valentine continuing to invest in guys who are aggressive on the glass.

I like what I see so far from the Ramblers, and have easily had the best off-season outside of SLU. They recruited a lot younger, which helps build the roster for the next few years rather than a “win now” mentality. I’m not in the game of fortune-telling, but Loyola seems to be in a really great spot going into the summer months.

WOMEN’S:

2023-24 Record: 15-16 (8-10 A10)

Final Status: Lost A10 Quarterfinal vs Richmond (70-54)

I felt that Allison Guth’s transformation of the women’s team was just as impressive as Drew Valentine’s. For a team that was projected to finish DEAD LAST in the standings this year (winning just one conference game last year), they turned a lot of heads in the conference towards them. Similarly to the men, they will have a lot of turnover from last season. They have lost eight of their 13 players to graduation or the portal, but the impact may be minimal with some new recruits and transfers on the way.

Graduated:

G: Alyssa Fisher, Sam Galanopoulos, Ali Berg

F: Sophia & Emma Nolan

C: None

Others Outgoing:

SO G Mallory Ramage (Lewis – D2), SR F Aaliyah Moore (Omaha), FR* G Maddie Petrolije (TBD)

*Petrolije will likely remain a freshman through a medical redshirt. She played 2 games and spent most of the season injured. 

Current Roster:

G: Audrey Deptula, Kira Chivers, Thoranna Kika Hodge-Carr
F: Destiny Jackson (WO), Sitori Tanin
C: None

Head coach Allison Guth has six new recruits coming into the program for next year. They are:

G: Alexa Kinas

F: Holly Dolny, Kendall Hendrix, Yasmyn Palmer, Brooklyn Vaughn

C: Roison Grandberry

I like the fact that she added some size into next year’s roster, which was a big weak spot for the Ramblers last year. Vaughn is 6’ and Palmer is 6’2, though Grandberry is the centerpiece of the recruiting class. Coming in as a 6’4, 4-star recruit from nearby Rolling Meadows, she was ranked 75th in HoopGurlz’ Top 100 prospects for the class of 2024. She will likely take over at the 5 and give Sitori Tanin some much-needed help on the interior.

There may be a redshirt or two for next season because the Ramblers have also added another three transfers to fill out their roster: Forward Emma Theodorosson joins the Ramblers from Bucknell, and guards Naelle Bernard from conference rival Duquesne and Jess Finney out of the University of San Diego.

Bernard has to play out and it’s another rare in-conference transfer for the Ramblers. Although she’s “undersized” at 5’5, Rambler fans are quite aware that size isn’t the most important thing in a player. What IS an eye-popping stat is how much of a punch she packs from beyond the arc. She finished 8th in the A10 averaging 1.9 3PTFG/game.

Duquesne beat writer and PGHSportsNow’s Zachary Weiss said that this transition is a good fit for Bernard.

“Her threes can play and her improvement as a defender and with how low she can get [it] will frustrate opponents,” he told me via Twitter.

Theodorsson, on the other hand, is a 6’1 native of Pittsburgh. She was a star in her two seasons in the Patriot League, making the all rookie-team in 2022-23 and the second all-conference team this past season. She averaged just about 13 points and 6 rebounds in 30 games, which fills the team’s need for a true point forward.

Jess Finney was just signed yesterday and it goes down as one of the bigger transfers the Ramblers have made. She’s a former top-100 prospect and Pac-12 signee who played her first year at the University of Washington. She’s listed as a redshirt junior (likely receiving a medical in her sophomore season), but like the two other signees, she may have two years left to play if she takes her COVID year.

I can see both Theodorsson and Bernard cracking the starting lineup and I think Finney would be a great spark off the bench. She’s a great three point shooter and is a player reminiscent of Ali Berg on this year’s team.

Despite the loss of some key players, I think the new-look Ramblers are going to be one of the teams to watch in the Atlantic 10 this year. They now have some more size, look to have improved on both sides of the ball, and this could be the year they show everyone they truly belong in the league.

In year 3, both teams look to be adjusting well to the conference and setting themselves up for success in the future. It might be another six months until college basketball starts up again, but I’ve already got my clock counting the days down.

https://www.a10talk.com/2024/05/additions-and-subtractions-loyola-ramblers/

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In the most concise manner possible, Loyola-Chicago’s 2023-2024 team is a story out of one of those Disney sports movies from back in the 90s and 2000s. 

With a 64-54 win over the La Salle Explorers (15-16, 6-12 A10) – and a Richmond loss at the hands of George Mason – The Ramblers (23-8, 15-3 A10) officially went from worst to first and claimed a share of the Atlantic 10 regular-season title. 

During a postgame speech in front of a third consecutive sellout crowd, head coach Drew Valentine referenced a November loss to the UIC Flames as the turning point for the season. 

 “I went around [Gentile] and I was yelling at everybody, ‘stay with us, stay with us, stay with us,” Valentine said, with a breaking voice. “When you come in here next year, 2023 will be up there.”

The third-year head coach’s group still has much to play for at next week’s conference championship in Brooklyn. 

With that, I’d like to profile this team as best as I can, and dole out some end-of-season awards.

GREEN FLAGS

Depth – If I were any team going into the tournament, it would be the closest thing to a headache to have to game plan for the Ramblers. Most nights, they trot out a rotation of 11 men with stars like Braden Norris, Des Watson, and Philip Alston. That goes all the way down to an energy guy like Tom Welch. 

When one guy’s not going, no problem. They’ve got another waiting to beat you eight different ways. Drew Valentine might even take a gamble to go deeper and let Ben Schwieger or Trey Lewis play for a stretch of time should they need a fresh pair of legs. 

Defense – This is the heart and soul of what makes Loyola tick, and we know the Atlantic 10 is a league known for defensively responsible teams. Under Drew Valentine’s leadership as an assistant and head coach, the Ramblers have finished with an adjusted defensive rating within the top 25 three of the last four seasons, per KenPom. 

This season, opponents have made just 43.4% of their shots inside the arc. That figure stands as the fourth-best in Division One this season, per TeamRankings. Good luck trying to finish a game against them, because they’ve allowed just 34.6 second half points to opponents all season, which ranks inside of the top 30 in D1 as well. 

Smart Shooting – The Ramblers play a moderately fast game, clocking just around the top 100 in KenPom’s tempo metric. They’re right around collegiate average when looking at adjusted offensive efficiency, but both their three-point (35.5%) and two-point (52.5%) percentages rank inside the top 100 in D1. 

They have five or six competent three-point shooters, and a guy like Dame Adelekun who can shimmy and spin past any big man for a quick two if the Ramblers need it… more on him later, though.

RED FLAGS

Fouls – This is a big issue that remains unchanged from 2022-23. With a great defense DOES come aggressive play, but not overly aggressive to the point where, as a team, you pick up 19.6 personal fouls per game. That figure ranks 333rd out of 362 Division One teams. What’s more, they pick up fouls on nearly 25% of all possessions, 18th worst in D1. Sure, you have depth, but losing big men like Miles Rubin or Adelekun late in a big game could cause some headaches for Drew Valentine.

Turnovers – I know Drew Valentine doesn’t like to talk about fouls or turnovers, but they’re an inescapable reality with the Ramblers. They finished with 399 turnovers as a team this season, an honor they shared with the tenth place Fordham Rams. 17% of Loyola possessions ended with a turnover, teetering on the line of being bottom 50 in D1. 

Look at the co-champion Spiders, they turned the ball over 130 fewer times, and averaged 8.7 per game – which, shockingly, ranks as the 5th best per game across the NCAA. What they say is true, defense wins championships. As obvious as it sounds, I’d argue that ball security is another important aspect of a successful tournament team. 

Resume – Currently, the Ramblers sit at #84 on the most updated NET rankings for the tournament. Not bad by any stretch! If you recall my review of the Ramblers’ non-conference schedule, there were some games I felt they would have liked to have back or finish a bit better in. Their November loss against UIC is their lone blemish in Quad 4 games. An 11 point loss against Tulsa sits in Quad 3. It also begs the question; could their net be higher if they had won by than three points against New Orleans (Q4) or nine against D1 Independent Chicago State (Q4)? 

What helps the Ramblers slightly is the loss against South Florida moving up to Quad 1, putting the Ramblers at 1-4 in that sector on the year. Unless they steal a bid by winning the conference tournament, the committee is unlikely to put them in the field of 68 come Selection Sunday. 

I don’t want to give any predictions on this team, simply because they’ve proven myself – and many, many others around the basketball world to be able to accomplish anything. The Ramblers have a double bye in the tournament and will not play until Thursday evening.

They will play either La Salle, George Washington, or St. Bonaventure in their quarterfinal matchup in a 4:00 CST tipoff broadcasting on USA. 

To wrap this all up, here are some guys I felt were worthy of winning my end-of-season awards. 

Rookie of the Year: Miles Rubin 

The Chicago kid hit the ground running this year and was a great find for Drew Valentine. Currently, his offensive game is a bit limited, but his rim protection was otherworldly across 31 games. 2.2 blocks per game was good enough for 22nd in Division 1, and he also led the nation in block percentage. In a perfect world, Rubin bulks up and becomes more of an inside threat on the offensive end next year. 

“Glue Guy”: Braden Norris
I like this award a lot because it’s a term that gets thrown around a lot without any actual meaning. From two tournament teams, two conferences, and the many ups and downs in between, the fifth-year captain has been a true rock for the Ramblers. With more scoring options available for Valentine’s staff, he could do what he does best throughout his final year – be a floor general. Crisp passing, smooth ballhandling, and a guy who could go all forty minutes if you needed him to. 

Comeback Player of the Year: Sheldon Edwards

He saw few opportunities for meaningful playing time during the first half of the season, but became a folk hero when stepping up for the injured Jayden Dawson. The senior made eight starts and shined on the Ramblers’ early February road trip to DC. He was not honored on senior day and will likely use his COVID year to come back for one last season with the Ramblers. 

Transfer of the Year: Dame Adelekun 

The Ivy-Loyola connection continues to grow stronger every year, and a guy like Dame Adelekun could help bring some super-seniors to the team next year. As mentioned earlier, Adelekun was a reliable scorer for the Ramblers, and his game reminds me of a LifeTime fitness oldhead (in the nicest way possible). Congrats on a great career, Dame!

Defensive Player of the Year: Jalen Quinn 

The guard improved greatly from year one to year two, especially on the defensive end. He’s comfortable showing pressure for the length of the floor. He can sniff out what a player will do next – adjusting adeptly and giving his all when his team needs a stop or two. I like his game a lot and am excited to see what he will do next year with a bigger role for Loyola. 

Player of the Year: Des Watson 

In my view, he’s lined up to be the next captain of this team and became a force to be reckoned with here this season. He’s a fiery, two-way guard who can pull up from three, hit you with a mid-range jumper, and isn’t afraid to drive the lane when he has to. He strikes fear into the eyes of opponents, and sure as heck not afraid of whoever he’s matched up with. 

I can’t even begin to say how thankful I am to have been a part of this A10 Talk crew this season. I was welcomed with open arms and it is very rewarding to be surrounded by so many passionate individuals who care about this conference and its teams. I wanted to be able to give strong coverage to a newer team and I’m grateful for everyone who’s checked out my work in one way or another. This is not at all a goodbye by any means! I just wanted to take a minute to be personal and reflective of how much this opportunity means to me. 

If you’d like to connect with me further, feel free to follow me on TWITTER, (I will not call it X, Elon) or send me a request on LinkedIn. I’m happy to talk basketball with anyone, DMs are always open to you all. In the meantime, let’s have a great conference tournament, and may the best team win!

https://www.a10talk.com/2024/03/postseason-guide-loyola-ramblers/

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