I'd think so. Unless there's knowledge that Welch or Hutty may be transferring. Hope not because I think both of them can give us some important minutes next year.

Will be kind of funny when Golden is the only guy honored on senior night.

So what now? We have 2 open scholarships left right? Will it be 2 transfers, or will add a late recruit into the mix? No idea where we stand right now regarding Klintman.

Three incoming freshmen is a pretty "full" class in today's world. Given we need experience on the squad, I think we round it out with a transfer/JUCO guard who can handle the ball and a transfer/JUCO wing type player (e.g. Sheldon Edwards).

I hate to sound too optimistic, but I am really liking what we’ve got going for us next year.

Norris, Kennedy. Thomas, Alston, and Golden give me immediate hope that we aren’t going to limp into the A-10 the way we did the Valley when we left the Horizon. No matter what happens this off-season now, we will have enough talent to win more games than we lose. Loyola basketball won’t DIE in 2022-2023. Great work from Drew.

Having a center with extensive Big East experience/productivity adds legitimacy to the team next season. With the opponent talent upgrade, we needed a big man BAD, and Drew delivered. Huge get. Golden gives Drew a lot to work with. This may not be bad for Hutson as it initially looks either. Hutson might not just be the backup at the 5… don’t forget Hutson has shown in the past, he can shoot the 3 if called upon. I could foresee some scenarios where we go big and run Golden and Hutty at the same time to see if we can overpower opponents. Hutty still might get 20 minutes off the bench in the 5 AND 4 spots to contribute.

Alston at the 4 is huge too. He’s D2 explosive for sure, and that’s not a bad thing. We can assume he’s going to be productive in some form, and - with Golden now our center - it frees up Welch to focus on playing his true position at the 4. I really like Alston and Welch (Hutty?)contributing in that spot and providing us 40 solid minutes, however those minutes are divided out between them, in the front court.

Norris is easily a premiere A-10 point guard. We are going to rely on him for 33-36 minutes per game. Hopefully he holds up, and the freshmen emerge to provide him some type of relief of 6-10 minutes. That will be a big question mark, but I like Jalen Quinn a lot, and our hopes should be high.

Kennedy’s position is the one I’m most worried about. He’s a phenomenal talent, but it’s undeniable that he spends the most time getting knocked out of the air and landing hard on the baseline as any Loyola player in recent history. The hits on him in the more-physical A-10 are inevitable, and I have serious concerns his body can hold up for 30+ minutes per game. This is where getting Sheldon Edwards would be huge. Edwards may not start his first year, but he’s bound to get 20-30 minutes of playing time per game at the 2 and 3 positions in the style Drew plays. At the very least, Edwards would shore up the 2 position, which would be great. I hope he commits NOW, because I’d he does - He’s gonna play!

I think right now, we must roll with Saint Thomas at the 3 position, and that’s not a bad thing. An off-season’s worth of work, and he’ll be ready and capable of starting. BUT - in a dream scenario for us - BOBBI KLINTMAN commits to the Ramblers. If that happens, the 3 position is shored up, Loyola runs 9 players deep of guys that can combine for an intense 40 minutes at every position, and we are competing for an A-10 title and/or an NCAA bid.

Dream scenario, when the dust settles:

C - GOLDEN - (Hutty, Welch)

PF - ALSTON - (Welch, Hutty)

WING - [KLINTMAN] - (Thomas, [Edwards])

SG - KENNEDY - ([Edwards], Thomas, Trey Lewis, Jayden Dawson, Jalen Quinn,)

PG - NORRIS - (Jalen Quinn).

THE SELL TO SHELDON EDWARDS - you’ve seen the program, what we do and how we do it. We have a need at and between the 2 and 3 positions, you will GET TIME, and you will WIN GAMES. Your likelihood of success on the team is much higher and lower than Grand Canyon or Santa Clara.

THE SELL TO KLINTMAN -
1. The high major offers you have now are offers to sit on the bench for your first year - which you don’t want to do.

2. Our current roster is composed of roll players and not superstars and other nba hopefuls (like P6 schools), and we have a need at your position (it’s not like you’re a point guard competing against Norris for playing time) so you will have the chance to immediately walk in and shine if you put the work in.

3. You’re in a respected conference that will likely get 3 bids - and your presence immediately puts us in the drivers seat for an NCAA tournament appearance.

4. With the first no-sit transfer rule, Loyola is a win-win for you. You either 1) lead Loyola to an A-10 title, raise your stock, and get your choice of where you want to play next year; 2) get your opportunity to showcase your talent (as opposed to sitting on the bench at Kansas), and pick wherever you’d like to go next year; or 3) fall in love with Loyola, dominate in the A-10, and be one of the next solid NBA players to come out of this conference. Any of those ways - you get to be in a world class city, for a relevant program i college basketball that people play attention to, playing for one of the biggest up-and-coming coaches who has proven in JUST ONE YEAR, that he can take a team to the dance and win 20+ games.

I’m a firm believer we are on the verge of greatness again for this year! Get EDWARDS! Get KLINTMAN - we are competing for an A-10 title. Everyone will be playing and we will be winning!

Speaking of Klintman, his recruiting is picking back up again. He just took an official visit to Colorado on the 6th. I know he said he wanted to make a decision quickly once the season ended.

I have no idea if we're still in the mix anymore. The last update, which came three weeks ago, said Loyola had a shot alongside Colorado, Arizona State, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico.

So it does seem like we made Klintman's final 6 yet again. We'll see if we get him in for a second official visit.

If I'm not mistaken, he has one more OV left after Colorado, would be huge to get it.

No one is mentioning Ben Schwieger in projections for next season. Does anyone have an idea what he may contribute this year?

I'm excited for him. I think he needed some overall refinement but he'll probably be our most athletic player this year.

Considering that he's one guy Drew named in some of the postseason comments, I think we can assume he's going to get a shot to play.

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