Is Loyola an NCAA Title Contender?

by **karndawg44** » February 28th, 2021, 4:25 pm

Loyola's numbers are up there with the best of the best this season. Is Loyola a true contender for an NCAA Championship?

https://cbbreview.com/2021/02/28/colleg ... retenders/

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by **MSUDuo** » February 28th, 2021, 9:17 pm

by **Blers42** » February 28th, 2021, 11:08 pm

I’d be happy if Loyola gets a couple wins. I haven’t heard anyone speak of Loyola as a title contender, and I never expected anyone to. Nobody thought Loyola was going to go to the final four in 2018 and they proved everyone wrong. It doesn’t really matter, nobody ever knows what’s going to happen. Loyola like majority of the teams outside of the major conferences are almost always going to be the under dogs. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a shot, it just means it’s unlikely and the odds are stacked against them. Everyone on this forum is well aware of this.

by **sivert** » February 28th, 2021, 11:38 pm

So you’re sayin’ there’s a chance!
-Lloyd Christmas

by **JoeTony** » March 1st, 2021, 12:01 pm

Not even remotely close.

Kenpom is not gospel this year - we're the best example of how a truncated non-conference slate (particularly for us) has broken the algorithms.

We're not the 11th best team in the country. We're not the best defense in the country.

We're a solid top 40ish team that is getting a lot of love based on becoming a name brand in 2018 and having expectations going in to the year based off a deep roster and Krut/Williamson being seniors.

As much as we were woefully underrated in 2018 (most experts said we would not have even made the NCAAT if we lost at Arch Madness), we are criminally overrated this year.

Minimal non-conference + crushing inferior MVC opponents = a broken Kenpom ranking.

That's before looking at how anemic our offense has looked the past 3 games against inferior (no offense, Drake fans - talking about injuries for you guys) opponents.

by **Blers42** » March 1st, 2021, 4:59 pm

JoeTony wrote:Not even remotely close.

Kenpom is not gospel this year - we're the best example of how a truncated non-conference slate (particularly for us) has broken the algorithms.

We're not the 11th best team in the country. We're not the best defense in the country.

We're a solid top 40ish team that is getting a lot of love based on becoming a name brand in 2018 and having expectations going in to the year based off a deep roster and Krut/Williamson being seniors.

As much as we were woefully underrated in 2018 (most experts said we would not have even made the NCAAT if we lost at Arch Madness), we are criminally overrated this year.

Minimal non-conference + crushing inferior MVC opponents = a broken Kenpom ranking.

That's before looking at how anemic our offense has looked the past 3 games against inferior (no offense, Drake fans - talking about injuries for you guys) opponents.

While I don't disagree with what you're saying I want to point out that close to the entire team has been in a 3pt shooting slump the past two games and they still found a way to win. you're not going to win by 20+ points when you shoot 8-45 from three over two games (I doubt they're going to keep shooting that bad). The Valpo game can be chalked up to Valpo being a tough team and Loyola still being tired from the Drake series. While the kenpom ranking may be broken, I think this team is a top 30 team.

by **squirrel** » March 1st, 2021, 5:33 pm

Final Four contender, yes. National Championship, probably not. But if they get to the FF, then they at least have a chance.

by **usmcsaluki** » March 1st, 2021, 5:58 pm

Loyola's defense is legit, and they just don't make mistakes, so yes, they are a deep tourney threat to me.

by **bleach** » March 1st, 2021, 6:10 pm

The thing is, probably anyone in the top 35 is a threat. Most of those lose in the first round! 3 years ago it took an insane amount of clutch buckets to get to the FF. This team is as good or better than that team but could easily lose in the 1st round.

by **Blers** » March 2nd, 2021, 10:57 am

bleach wrote:The thing is, probably anyone in the top 35 is a threat. Most of those lose in the first round! 3 years ago it took an insane amount of clutch buckets to get to the FF. This team is as good or better than that team but could easily lose in the 1st round.

This. So much of March Madness luck and matchups,, especially after the first round. The 18 team had special intangibles and hit big shots, but still... Custer got the best bounce of his life in round 2... Virginia beats UMBC 99 times out of 100.

I think this team is several degrees above the Final Four team, the defense is unreal, the bench is deeper, and our ball movement is great it's just been stagnated by poor shooting the last 4 games (I really feel like the dam's going to break in STL). That all said, if we get matched up with a team that has multiple stretch bigs I'd be a bit more worried.