Saturday night, the Creighton Bluejays take part in the BracketBusters event for the eighth straight year. However, for the first second time, their game has not been selected to be one of the TV games on the ESPN family of networks. Over the years the BracketBusters really has not helped Creighton like it has other teams that have participated. Playing Fresno State (twice), Drexel, Kent State, Chattanooga, George Mason, and Oral Roberts and going 5-2 in those games, most times Creighton has been able to walk about from the contrived weekend event with a win.
This year the Bluejays get Loyola-Chicago, a fellow Jesuit school that represents probably the best matchup for a CU team given the disappointing circumstances of this season. There are a lot of Creighton alumni in Chicago, which makes the return game that will occur next season or in 2011-12 a little more palatable.
With a non-conference game right during the stretch run of conference season, schools participating in BracketBusters don’t have a lot of time to prepare for these out-of-conference matchups. The same goes for White & Blue Review. Luckily, we have a Ramblers expert to help us out.
John Templon from Chicago College Basketball covers the five Division I basketball teams in Chicago. He took some time to get us up to speed on Loyola before the game on Saturday. We helped him out as well with a Q&A about the Bluejays which you can check out after reading this.
White & Blue Review: Can you tell us a little bit about the history of the Loyola Ramblers? Casual fans seem to get confused with so many different Loyola teams out there.
John Templon: Loyola University Chicago — not to be confused with Loyola University Maryland or Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles — has a rich tradition of basketball. The Ramblers won a national title in 1963 and went to the NCAA Sweet 16 in both 1964 and 1985. Loyola-Chicago also made it to the final of the NIT when that tournament actually meant something in 1939 and 1949. It is the only school in Illinois to have ever won the national title. Overall, the school has 5 NCAA Tournament appearances and 4 NIT appearances. Some names you might recognize for Loyola’s past are Alfredrick Hughes and LaRue Martin.
Since those days the Ramblers have fallen on hard times. Loyola has won more than 20 games once since 1993-94. They haven’t appeared in the NCAA Tournament since that Sweet 16 run in 1985.
Loyola is currently coached by Jim Whitesell. He has been the head coach since 2004. The Ramblers play in the Joseph Gentile Center, which you’ll get to see either next season or in 2011-12 season in the return game. It is going to receive a renovation soon. It has bleachers on all four sides of the court and is pretty functional as far as basketball venues go, but a nice place to watch a game.
WBR: The Ramblers, like the Bluejays, seem to have struggled to a 14-12 record, losing 10 out of their last 13 games. Why has it been so tough for this team after they started 11-2 (including a win against MVC foe Bradley)?
JT: Part of the reason Loyola had so much early success this season is because the Ramblers played an easy schedule. They started 11-2 because they didn’t play many tough opponents during their first 13 games. The Ramblers also pulled off some heart-stopping victories in the non-conference schedule. Victories at Holy Cross, at Bradley, and versus San Francisco and Western Michigan easily could’ve been losses.
The Horizon League features a slightly higher quality of opponent than what Loyola faced during the non-conference schedule, and Loyola has been on the other side of the luck coin for most of the conference schedule. The Ramblers lost a heartbreaker to Butler at home when a last-second shot came out of the rim twice. They also lost by 3 to Cleveland State and by a combined 9 points in a Cleveland State-Youngstown State road swing that really set the tone for the rest of the conference season.
Loyola doesn’t do anything particularly well on the basketball court. The offense isn’t electric and there are some good defenders, but it breaks down in places. Loyola turns the ball over too much and doesn’t force enough turnovers on the defensive end. The Ramblers’ strength is offensive rebounding, but in conference play teams have crashed the defensive glass hard and not allowed Loyola’s three post players to get many second opportunities.
WBR: There are three seniors on this team, but it appears only one starts along with some younger players. Is Loyola building into something more than just another team in the Horizon League or could it be another Butler someday?
JT: All three of those seniors — Andy Polka, Marcus Thomas, and Aric Van Weelden — contribute in some way. Polka is a senior in name only as he was granted an injury redshirt year after only being able to play sparingly last season. Polka is Loyola’s best player with a strong inside presence and a knack for grabbing boards and doing the little things. Thomas is more of an outside shooter and defensive presence off the bench. This will be Van Weelden’s second game back from injury and he’s a glue guy for Loyola off the bench.
The Ramblers have improved the overall talent in recent seasons. Young players like Walt Gibler, Ben Averkamp, and Courtney Stanley have been able to come in and contribute at a young age. Another sophomore Jordan Hicks has missed most of this season due to injury; he’s an athletic scorer when healthy. If Loyola can continue recruiting that level of player they could be a consistent upper echelon Horizon League team. Whether they can reach the level of a consistent national power like Butler is doubtful, but they could be a consistent NIT contender that can make the occasional NCAA run.
WBR: Loyola’s tallest player is John Benkoske at 6’9″. What type of offense does Loyola run and how well do they matchup with the Bluejays on the court?
JT: Benkoske is 6’9″, but he almost never plays. Loyola’s biggest presence in the post is freshman Averkamp at 6’8″. The Ramblers shoot a lot of threes and that typically determines how Loyola is going to play that night. If players like Geoff McCammon can get open looks then the Ramblers’ offense clicks. They use two distributors in Terrance Hill — who is also a tough perimeter defender — and Courtney Stanley.
From first glance it appears Loyola is going to have a bit of a problem matching up with Creighton. At 6’9″ Kenny Lawson seems like a difficult match-up for all of Loyola’s post defenders. If you take care of the ball against Loyola, which most teams do, you can score on them. It’s also worth noting that Loyola plays SLOW. Most of the games are mid-60’s in possessions. It’s because Jim Whitesell wants his team to move the ball and look for the best possible shot.
WBR: Creighton likes to rotate 10-12 players in throughout the game. How deep is Loyola’s bench?
JT: Loyola was supposed to have a lot of depth at the beginning of the season. A number of players were going to see extensive minutes, but as the season has gone on the rotation has gotten shorter and shorter. In the front court Loyola rotates Gibler, Averkamp, and Polka playing two of them at any moment. Along the perimeter it hasn’t been unusual for Stanley to play 35-plus minutes. It’s Hill, McCammon, Stanley, Thomas, and Van Weelden. Those are the 8 guys that will play. Loyola doesn’t have the depth that Creighton has at all. Most of the guys that come off the bench are defense and glue guys more than scorers. Gibler is the only player that provides consistent scoring off the bench and he’s more like a 6th starter anyways.
WBR: The last time these schools met was in 1981 with Loyola getting the win at home. Are there people still around that remember that game?
JT: I’m sure there are. Because of the great tradition referenced in my first answer there are a lot of fans that still remember the glory days that are very invested in the program. Loyola has an 11-5 advantage in the series overall, but since none of those games have been played since 1981 and the first was in 1926, I’m not really sure how much that matters for this game.
WBR: What has Loyola looked like on the road this season?*
JT: The road has been a terrible place for Loyola. It is mostly because the three doesn’t drop on a consistent basis. None of the road victories are particularly impressive. The best ones are at Milwaukee during the first weekend of conference play and at Bradley. Beating Bradley was a high point in the season for Loyola. A win in the BracketBusters at Creighton would give the program something to celebrate this season. Overall, though, the Ramblers are 5-8 on the road.
WBR: What is your final prediction for Saturday night?*
JT: Loyola has really struggled lately, but they have played teams tough. In the end I think Creighton’s depth will be too much for the Ramblers and the Jays will pull away down the stretch for a 75-65 victory.
