Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015 4:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago

In 2010, Green Bay Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk suddenly left the Green Bay program for Toledo, a Mid American Conference school. The move befuddled a lot of Horizon League observers, because it seemed like a lateral move, and Kowalczyk had just won 22 games with the Phoenix for two straight seasons. Why jeopardize a steady gig with a winning formula at work to risk it at a new school in a mediocre basketball league? First, although it’s not huge by all of D1 standards, Toledo has the second highest basketball budget in the MAC. Second, Green Bay was by far the lowest budget school in the Horizon League at the time and continues to struggle with athletic funding. And third, a large percentage of that basketball budget goes to... the coaches’ salary.

Since arriving at Toledo, Kowalczyk has settled in nicely, going 84-50 since his second season with the program, reaching the NIT with a 27-7 overall and 14-0 conference record in 2014, and projecting to finish a close second in the 2015-16 MAC West Division preseason poll. Toledo, along with Central Michigan and Akron, have helped revitalize the MAC in basketball as the Horizon has declined.

Coach Kowalczyk is running an up tempo style of game at Toledo, averaging in the top 60 in terms of possession pacing for the past two seasons. He is recruiting better athletes than he typically had at Green Bay, and he is getting almost all of his players from the rich talent areas of the Chicago and Detroit suburbs and Indiana. His teams work best when scoring in the high 70s to mid-80s, and struggle quite a bit when the pace is slowed to a grind. Last year, the Rockets were 3-6 when scoring less than 70 points, but 10-1 when they hit the 80 mark.

In 2015-16, the Rockets are starting 6’9”, 250-pound center Nathan Boothe, a Gurnee, Ill. native in his senior season. Boothe averaged 10 points and 5.7 rebounds per game as a junior, and ranks second in school history in blocks. What makes Boothe especially dangerous is his interior passing ability; he averaged 2.2 assists per game last season, and already has eight in two games thus far this season. In his last game at Youngstown State, Boothe led all scorers with 26 points.

Joining Boothe in the front court is highly-touted freshman Nate Navigato from Geneva, Ill. The 6’8” freshman forward has a high basketball IQ and energy on the court. In his two games this year he’s averaging 12.5 ppg.

The starting guard trio is composed of junior Jonathan Williams, sophomore Stuckey Mosley, and freshman Jaelan Sanford. With Toledo’s up tempo system and thin bench, all three are averaging in double figure scoring in their first two games against West Virginia Tech and Youngstown State.

The bench really goes only three deep. Freshman guard Nick Rodgers, 6’10” junior center Zach Garber, and 6’5” junior guard/forward Jordan Lauf are the only bench players likely to see more than five minutes.

The Ramblers would be wise to keep the ball out of Boothe’s hands as much as possible, similar to strategies employed against Seth Tuttle, for example. If Loyola can take advantage of the inexperience of the young players Navigato, Sanford and Mosley to get into the weak bench, their chances increase. Both Navigato and Sanford-- an Evansville, Ind. native-- are not your typical freshmen—they have a lot of poise and strategic thinking in their game, and Navigato has excellent physical abilities and a long reach. Loyola needs to dictate the tempo more so than most other teams, because the fall off in efficiency from the bench, or when the Rockets don’t run, is dramatic. Making sure the Rockets don’t get second chances on the boards is also going to be especially important.

Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... 120aaa.pdf

Toledo game notes: http://utrockets.com/news/2015/11/20/MB ... ath=mbball

TV/Streaming video: ESPN 3 http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id ... la-Chicago

Vegas odds: Loyola by 4

Didn't we recruit Navigato? I know we offered Rogers. Either way, it will be nice to see what they've got. Go Ramblers!

Navigator was a Bobby Hurley recruit at Buffalo, but reopened and landed at Toledo.

That set up nice for a rare Flight of the Navigator reference, until I realized it's just "Navigato" without the r.

01, you may Navigato nother chance to make that reference again.

I can't imagine this weather is help todays attendane. I know we are considering not going.

Well done.

I plan on being there, as long as my AWD and I-55 cooperate with each other.

Looks like there was heavy snow north and west. It's sloppy and a little gross over here by the lake, but there is very little snow on the ground.

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Meanwhile, UNI is hosting North Carolina today. UNI was down by 16 points early in the 2nd half, but now has a 5 point lead with 5 minutes left.

Fantastic comeback win by UNI over #1 North Carolina. 71-67 was the final, with the Panthers hitting 11 three pointers. Washpun and Bohannon combined for 40 points. Only three players saw time off the UNI bench, and their bench only contributed 2 points, so forcing the UNI starters to sit will be one of the keys to beating them.