Monday, November 25, 2019 12:30 p.m.
John Gray Gymnasium, George Town, Cayman Islands

I've been doing previews of each Loyola men's basketball game for Ramblermania since shortly after the Ramblers joined the MVC. I did a lot of writing and analysis of college basketball and other sports years before that. But this season has turned a lot of my experience, expectations, and evaluations on their heads. More than any other season I can remember, this year has been full of surprises, upsets, volatile team performances, and unforeseen performances.

Maybe it's the three point line being moved. Maybe it's a new set of officiating standards being applied unevenly from game to game. Maybe it's just my window on college basketball seen from a Loyola perspective, with a slew of newcomers playing heavy minutes. But it seems like a different, more volatile and unpredictable game, with offenses playing more loosely, with higher scoring, less clock management, and at a faster pace than we've been used to in the recent past.

Consider Loyola's first opponent in the Cayman Islands Classic, South Florida. The Bulls are 2-2 entering Monday's contest, all on their home court. They've shot as high as 55.3% in their win over Wofford, but shot only 36.1% from the floor in their loss to Boston College. Behind the three point line, they've had feast and famine, clunking all but 21.7% of their threes in their loss to IUPUI, and firing in 45.5% in their win over Wofford. On the defensive end, they've lost their two games where opponents shot better than 35% from three. In terms of tempo, the Bulls have lost two of their faster-paced games and decisively won their slowest-paced game against Wofford. Loyola lost to a Coppin State team at home while shooting 57.5% from two-point territory and going to the free throw line 34 times.

Coach Brian Gregory, formerly head coach at Dayton (2003-11) and Georgia Tech (2011-16), is coming off a 24-win season culminating in a CBI Championship over runner up DePaul. Almost all of the primary players from that team are back this season. USF was picked to finish fifth in a very competitive league, the American Athletic Conference (AAC) behind Houston, Memphis, Cincinnati and Wichita State; just ahead of UConn, Temple and SMU.

USF will likely start four guards and a 7'0" forward. Six-three junior David Collins, 6'1" senior LaQuincy Rideau, 6'6" junior Justin Brown, and 6'3"sophomore Ezacuras Dawson are the starters at guard, with Brown playing more like a small forward. Seven foot, 250-pound sophomore forward Michael Durr is the rim protector, more active and effective on defense than offense.

Despite coming off a season with 24 wins and a banner raising and bringing back four of their five starters, USF has had some woeful shooting games early in the season. As a team USF shoots 40.7% from the field, and even worse (29.7%) from distance. Collins leads the Bulls in scoring with 14.5 ppg, and Rideau adds more double figures at 12.5 ppg. Rideau is the primary three point shooter on the team, but he's been struggling at under 30% success on his attempts.

Not surprisingly Durr is the top team rebounder with an average of 5.5 per game overall, but also an impressive 2.5 rpg on the offensive end. Keeping Durr in check on the offensive glass and making USF earn their points on one-and-done attempts will be a key to Loyola success. Dawson recently replaced 6'6" guard Rashun Williams in the starting lineup; Williams in not the top player off the bench. Joining Williams as impactful reserves are Xavier Castenada ( a 6'1" freshman out of Chicago's Whitney Young) and 6'10" senior forward Antun Maricevic.

Last time out, Loyola beat IUPUI 85-62 at Gentile Arena on Wednesday, the same IUPUI team that beat USF 70-53 in Tampa the previous Wednesday. Loyola has averaged 53.6% shooting from the field on the season, 6th highest in all of DI, and on two-point field goal attempts Loyola shoots 62.9%-- 4th in DI. Where the Ramblers give up their exceptional advantages is on defending threes (294th in DI) and committing turnovers (224th in DI).

The winner faces the winner of the Colorado State vs. New Mexico State game, the loser faces that game's loser. George Mason, Old Dominion, Washington State, and Nebraska are also in the tournament, and one of those teams will face Loyola in the third round on Wednesday.

Take care of the ball, defend the three, get points from turnovers, use hard defense to spark your offense, and control the tempo. That's how the Ramblers win this tournament.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _20_19.pdf

USF game notes: https://gousfbulls.com/news/2019/11/24/ ... assic.aspx

Tournament bracket: https://caymanislandsclassic.com/docume ... .pdf?id=19

TV/Streaming video: Flohoops https://www.flohoops.com/signup

Live audio feed: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=7&type=Live

Live stats: https://caymanislandsclassic.com/sidear ... ll/summary

Vegas odds: Loyola by 1

You done good m'bpy !!!! Now rgwn--out on a limb I go----WE REACH THE FINAL TWO !! Maybe take the entire thing !!
GO RAMBLERS !!!!

Looking forward to the game tomorrow. Half the teams are staying at the hotel Loyola is staying at. It’s been interesting talking with fans from all those teams. Everyone is feeling their teams have underperformed so far, but that this tourney gives them a chance to rebound before conference season.

Hey 95_99, too cheap to subscribe to Flohoops so you fly down to the Cayman Islands instead?

Exactly. Refuse to pay for internet access. Way cheaper to see it live. And you can launder money while down here. It’s a win win

Seems like the perfect time to start “Ramblermania, LLC”

Looking forward to having Frank in today. Hopefully he can provide some extra energy off the bench and give us some good minutes and maybe neutralize Durr going for offensive rebounds.

Line started off Loyola by 1, and now it's up to 3.

This is a big game.... need to be on the winning side of the braxket.

FIFY

New Mexico State wins round 1 in overtime.

Just one overtime, but any extra time/energy taken from those teams is a win for us!