He's a great add. Most All-American teams just regurgitate top recruiting lists, regardless of how well the players performed for their HS teams during the season. MaxPreps actually recognizes top performers. Saint Thomas came out of nowhere, during a COVID year, in a state that's not typically a recruiting hot bed....and he totally dominated. Absolutely legit, earned and deserved AA honors.

Part of his commitment speech mentioned that he played frosh hoops as a 9th grader, JV team as a 10th grader, and then varsity last year as a junior (not sure if his season was cut short or not. I suspect it already ended). That + the craziness of this year I think contributed to his being underrecruited.

His teammate going to Gonzaga, conversely, has been a varsity player since his freshman year. Meanwhile...Thomas didn't even play summer AAU hoops after his freshman season.

Late bloomer and a massive recruiting win.

Nebraska player of the year via Max Preps. 2nd Team All American via Max Preps. Best player on 11th ranked HS team in the country according to Max Preps. State Champion as senior.

That's a resume of a player that is coming to Loyola. Unfathomable just 5 years ago.

Right now, without any of the 4 seniors returning, there could be 11 players vying for playing time in what could/should be at least a 9 player rotation. That is why I hope none of the 4 seniors return; they gave us great years with stellar results, but now it is time for the new guys to develop.

His size, shooting ability, and athleticism have an Ingram-esque vibe. We’re putting together a big team, in many ways.

Good job by our new coach and a big get.

Chris Knight is officially coming in as a grad transfer from Dartmouth!

https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/20 ... ops-career

Article on the Loyola Athletics page officially introducing Knight, Schwieger, and Thomas. One interesting tidbits Valentine compares Knight to Aundre Jackson.

While I full expect some seniors to come back, even if they don’t I’m very happy with the roster next year and the future of the program

https://loyolaramblers.com/news/2021/4/ ... oster.aspx

I'm interested to see if we're still out there making 2021 offers. We technically have two more scholarships available. Even though the potentially returning seniors wouldn't count, we could see two of them back, which would give us the normal 13 scholarship players. And by the way, we would have an awesome roster.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

When is the last time we’ve had this much potential size at guard? Not just one player, but multiple. The program is truly reaching new heights.

And your attempts at humor are truly reaching new depths.