In completely ignoring the championship game, I just had to get some thoughts out about next year... I'm sure I'll reiterate them every so often for the next eight (UGH) months:

-Return 5 starting seniors.
-Return the sixth man of the year in Kennedy and an all bench team member in Kaifes
-Addition of Braden Norris who finished second in voting for the Horizon League FOY
-Return Pax and Tom... both of whom improved over the course of the year. And if Pip doesn't stick around
-Add a three level scorer in Hebb; and if redshirting as suggested... at the least another quality big for practice in Jacob Hutson
-Speaking of practice, minutes are gonna be at a premium, hopefully this means lots of hard work in practice and everyone really working their game.
-I've compared this team a lot to the 2016-17 junior heavy team that was junior heavy with only one senior... that's the only other time we've lost in round 1 of Arch Madness... they couldn't close out games and lost a lot of close ones... The next year they learned how to cut the head off the snake and put a team away early. Lets hope this group of juniors can do the same. The cultures in place, they know the expectations, and a good amount know this is the last ride.

I wanted this team to win so badly this year with the way they overachieved. But now we're at the starting block of what we've been looking forward to for the last calendar year.

Next year is an absolutely pivotal year for the program. It is the final season we will have any F4 guys left. The starting lineup could very well be 5 seniors (pending Uguak starting).

We have talked about building a sustainable program. A "Gonzaga of the Midwest." Well, you cannot go 3 straight years of missing the tourney and expect to build a high level program. We need to dominate from the start next year so we can build an at-large quality resumé and not have to be perfect for 3 days in StL. (Although with the trajectory of college basketball and the favoritism towards P6 teams, getting an at-large from the MVC will be very tough).

Valley isn't getting any easier. UNI returning Phyfe/Green (among others). JFL/Clay back for Valpo. SIU loading up. Bradley loses a bit but still has a ton of talent and Wardle will have them tough as ever.

OK, was gonna quote blers, but it did not work.

I agree with a lot of your post, but...

This team had one fatal flaw. It just could not make FT’s. We did just about everything else above average. Our 3 shooting could have been better but it was good enough most nights. It was our FT shooting which frittered away leads and let teams back into games. I think we had killer instinct, but it does you no good when you can’t make a FT.

I am not sure what our approach is in regards to FT, but it has to change. Way back when I was in HS we were undersized playing in the old SICA North and our coaches knew were going to have squeeze out points so they STRESSED FT shooting. They would run us like dogs until we were breathing hard and sweating and then they made us shoot free throws. Their favorite torture was was putting on the line until they we went through the group and we made 7-10 as a group. If we didn’t, back to running and try it over again. Needless to say, you concentrated through the agony and made FTs. Sometimes you need pressure even in practice. It has to be a lack of focus. Too many times we have guys that just brick a FT and then next one was perfect or vice versatility. The guys shooting the FTS are our skilled players who can shoot. There is not explanation other then focus.

OK, off the FTs and on to another point. I know this may sound sacrilegious, but Is it me or did we actually play better offense later in the season when Krut was on the bench and other guys were forced to play offense and not just watching Krut? Its great to have Krut, but with guys like Quise, Keith, Tate, Lucas and with what we got coming back and in next year...I would like to see a more free flowing offense which encourages these other options to participate more offensively. There were times when Krut, as good a passer as he is, forced up shots when guys were open. We can not be afraid to have our “shooters” take shots. The final four run was pretty basketball. Free flowing with no one afraid to take an open shot. We did not make perfect be the enemy to good looks. Players sense that if they take a shot and miss, they come out. Let them play free and easy. You can play smart and free.

Just some thoughts.

One other thought. I dislike Bradley. I don’t like rooting for them, but they need to win a game or two in NCAA. If not, it hurts the MVC. They did not beat MSU last year and without a program from the MVC doing some damage, the conference will suffer and be relegated to one bid status. I hate to say this and Bradley fans will be upset, but the best case for the Conference would have been a LU/NIU championship game with Loyola winning. I think a loss like that would not have hurt NIU. The two programs would have a chance to win 2 to 4 or more depending on match ups. I am not sure that NIU will get invited now.I think they dropped 11 slots or so in the NET rankings and maybe near 47 or higher. With the Power 5 sucking up all the at large bids, they may get aced out and losing first round in your conference tournament to a 7/8 seed is bad.

So despite my dislike for Bradley, they need to win in NCAA. No pressure. LOL

The Mid Majors will always be thought of as lesser likes willing to take the crumbs.
The power conferences refuse for the most part to play the mid majors unless it is on their court.
Someday, some bold AD or two or three will step forward and file a lawsuit for anti trust practices.
There is a lot of money at stake and by relegating six, seven, eight bids to a conference or two, the rich continue to get richer.
It is the refusal to level the playing field in terms of home/road games and playing the mid majors that continue to insure those at the top, stay on top.
The best example I can think of recently is Illinois State getting screwed a few years back when they went 17-1 in the Valley. They were certainly capable of cleaning Illinois and Northwestern clock particularly if in Bloomington.

I promise this will be my last long-winded post until next year. Feel free to blow by this post and read on, but I have a lot of thoughts about this year and, more importantly, next year, and I wanted to get them out to move on and look forward to the future!

TEAM EVALUATION

Cam Krutwig: A

He became the leader of the team this year. He stayed in shape (and then some), improved his passing (which I didn’t think was possible), and was the most consistent guy for us, game-after-game. He played great defense and was not a one-dimensional offensive player that the opposition could easily plan for. He’s going to go down as one of the greatest centers and winningest players in program history. If the team finished first - he’s player of the year in the Valley right now. It’s up to the team to get him that regular season title next year so he leaves Loyola with every accomplishment he rightfully deserves.

Improvement - the mid-range spot-up from just beyond the free throw line. If he adds that to his game, he’s going to be a nightmare for teams next year. Plus, it’ll open up his passing in the lane when guys have to come out to guard him. This season you could tell teams knew to protect the inside and dare him to shoot that 18-footer when he’d catch it near the top of the arc. If he makes teams pay for that next year, it’s gonna create serious problems.

Lucas Williamson: B

He was a defensive monster, and shut down numerous teams’ stars. He had one amazing three point shooting afternoon, but struggled to find consistent offense.

Improvement - offense / three point shooting. One of the big changes this year was the three point line. I think Lucas really suffered as a result of that change. His freshmen year he really seemed confident on the sidelines firing up threes. Lucas seems to have struggled by not being able to put himself in comfortable position in the corners with less room to plant his feet and shoot like he used to. I don’t know how you fix it but he definitely didn’t shoot as much on the far sidelines this year. He’s a capable shooter and I’m hoping with the influx of offensive talent next year, he gets a little less pressure and finds a consistent shooting rhythm in open spaces.

Aher Uguak - C-

Everything that needs to be said has pretty much already been said. Aher is great defensively, but his offense made him a liability on the floor all season, which I believe had a negative impact on Krutwig, by way of teams cheating on Uguak defensively to double our big man and protect the interior more in a zone. He never was a threat from the perimeter, but he caught the ball there all the time. I don’t HATE Uguak. I just don’t think he’s a 30 minute player and I think having him out there on offense contributed to some of our woeful scoring droughts.

Improvement - Aher needs to work on his free throws and be automatic so we can use him as a defensive stopper to close out games next year, but not run the risk when teams play the foul game. He needs to focus and be ready to play 16 to 20 minutes of intense defense per game next year and be a closer.

Keith Clemons - A-

Loved having him when we finally got him back this year. He was a true point guard who did everything that was asked of him, and showed what he can do offensively this past game if he’s in the zone.

Improvements - there’s not a whole lot more to work on. It would be nice to see him be able to drive the lane more, but that’s not really his job. I’d rather see him taking jump shots and continuing to keep the turnovers down.

Tate Hall - B

Tate had a year where he single-handedly won us or kept us in games. He’s a third team Valley player coming off a year of sitting and only a year Of D2 competition. I don’t think it’s something you necessarily work on, but consistency was the issue Tate had this year. He had games where he went for 20+ points, but also had games where he scored 3 points or less. There were also games where he would just be non-existent for an entire half. He needs to be more dependable next year in games.

Improvements - free throws. Tate likes to drive the lane, and even seems like he likes posting defenders up down low. He can draw fouls, but they are worthless if we can’t turn them into points. Tate shot 48% from the field, 42% from 3, and 57% from the line this year. It’s must be a mental thing for him, so I’m hoping he works it out in the off-season and comes back consistent from the line. 70 percent is reasonable. The consistency issue will be a non-issue next year that won’t hurt us - we won’t need to keep him in next year if he’s underperforming - if he’s successful great - but if not, it’ll be next man up. Much shorter leash, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Marquis Kennedy - A-

Kennedy was everything advertised when we recruited him. He showed this year that he’s going to compete for POY in the Valley the next three seasons. In the beginning of the season, we saw the speed but he wasn’t finishing at the rim. As the season went on, he looked smooth and his speed and finishing abilitywere amazing.

Improvements - could probably help to put on some more muscle. He’s going to be taking a lot of hits next year when driving the lane. It might help him to bulk up a bit, but not put on too much weight that his speed suffers. The one thing I worry about Kennedy is that he goes to the ground a lot when flying toward the hoop. Each time he falls on the baseline I’m scared he won’t get back up.

Paxson Wojcik: B-

Loved his intensity this year when he got on the floor. I did not have a lot of expectations for him his first year, but thought he did a decent job of giving fill-in minutes. He made a lot of mistakes with turnovers, which I think were a product of nerves, and I see that leveling out next year. He also passed up A LOT of open threes this year that I think he was more than capable of making.

Improvements - needs to put on some muscle and needs to build confidence. The confidence thing I think will come now that he has a year under his belt. He’s going to be on the second team scrimmaging all year and I think he’s going to be comfortable and capable of coming in for 10 solid minutes a game next year with confidence to shoot the open 3 immediately without hesitating.

Tom Welch - B-

His upside is huge. in fairness to Tom, he’s not a center and early in the season we tried to play him as a backup to Krutwig. He is better suited at the power forward position, and when he got more minutes, he was great this year in relief. What was particularly impressive about him was ability to put himself in position defensively to take charges. I’m excited to see what he can do with another offseason of preparation.

Improvements - I would love to see him backing guys down in the post. Working on his game down low will give us a great advantage for some plays down low in relief minutes while Krut sits. I’d like to see him and Frank tag team the inside while Krut takes a breather. I’m hoping we can get 4-6 points from him a game in relief, in addition to his already-solid defense.

Frank Agunanne - B

I was actually very happy with the way Frank performed this year. He definitely got better and I would have liked to have seen what he could do if he didn’t have the injury at the beginning of the season. Maybe he would’ve been incorporated a little bit more. Sitting behind Krutwig is probably a hard thing to do, and thank god Krutwig stayed injury free, but I actually liked his play when he got in and thought he did a fantastic job in relief. If he was on SIU’s roster I think he would probably have played 20-25 minutes a game. He starts on any horizon league team. Still a bit raw, but overall I hope he sticks with it next year, as I predict a lot more minutes coming his way after we build big leads in multiple non-con games and games agaInst the bottom five MVC teams.

Improvements - conditioning. He’s a step or two slow coming up and down the court. If he can get a bit faster he will be a huge asset next year. He needs to be able to pick up where Krut leaves off when Krut gets a breather.

Jalon Pipkins - C+

It looked like he might be a contributor for us this year but it never really materialized. I don’t know if it was strategy or outside of the court issues that led to him not getting more minutes. He looked great in the Ball State game and after that he never really got things going. I thought he might be a good substitute for Uguak, but I’ll admit that he didn’t exactly make the most of the playing time he got after Ball State to warrant more minutes.

Improvement - I don’t really know what he can do, or even how he will fit in if he comes back. I also don’t know if it’s even a viable option for him to transfer. Seems like he would be like the most likely suspect of someone who might want to try a different place to play.

Bruno Skokna - A

I liked everything Bruno did in a limited role this year. It seems like he took it in stride and made the most of the times he got in the game. I’m grateful for him and everything that he contributed to the program during his time at Loyola and I wish him the best. He goes out the winningest rambler in program history (for now).

Porter Moser - B.

Hats off to Porter on a third straight 20+ wIn season. Doing it again after having 6 new guys take the floor (Hall, Pipkins, Kennedy, Welch, Wojcik, Clemons), and having to replace 2 MVC players of the year, and losing his best three point threat (Kaifes) is impressive. Going 9-0 at home in conference play should also be applauded. The bad things are that Porter succeeded in his harder tasks (building a new-look team), but failed in significantly less hard tasks: 1) keeping the guys focused on the importance of free throws, 2) maintaining large second-half leads. Too many times were we up this year by 12, 14, 16 and even 18 point leads, only to squander them away. Some of it is on the players, but a lot of that needs to be placed on him. It happened too many times, and he never figured out ways to correct it this year. Same with free throws - they were an obvious problem from the start, and it never got fixed. He either knew it and chose to do nothing and hoped it would work itself out (like our three point shooting did), or tried to fix it and it didn’t work.

Improvements - Free throw shooting. He needs to have these guys mentally prepared at the beginning of the year and it needs to be a point of emphasis as we wind up everything this season. Everyone - EVERYONE - needs to understand the importance of getting to the line and building a lead with the clock stopped. He also needs to focus on creating different “lines” (hockey style) for different game scenarios. He must figure out how to balance the abundance of talent that we have next year. He couldn’t figure out how to stop scoring drought hemorrhages. Once or twice, it’s on the players. 5 or 6 times and it’s a failure to adapt to what’s going on in the game.


NEXT YEARS TEAM

We have 4 Players capable of 20+ point games on any given night, and can score at least 10, with proven history:

Krutwig
Kennedy
Hall
Clemons

We have three guys that I think are capable of having 10-15 point games on any given night, with proven history:

Williamson
Kaifus
Norris

That’s 7 guys you can look to for a hot hand when things get tough! We have not had an abundance of offensive weapons like this since the 80s.

We have 4 guys that are capable of providing 4 to 8 points, individually, in relief minutes consistently:

Agunanne
Welch
Wojcik
Pipkins

As a team this year we averaged 68.7 points per game. Three players averaged double digits in scoring and two players were over 9 points a game. If every one of those five from this year plays within their averages that’s at least 62 points a game. Adding two three point shooters in Kaifes and Norris who gave us 0 production this year is only going to open things up more. We should NEVER have a final score in the 50s next year. NEVER. On a bad night we should score 65.

In our losses we scored 63, 72 (Coppin State) 55, 60, 56, 62, 62, 63, 39 (Jesus...), 62, and finally 73 against Valpo. The scoring droughts demoralized us in too many games, and with what we have coming in and coming back, if it’s still happening, it’s because we aren’t subbing properly and giving fresh guys a chance to stop the bleeding.

I understand defense has always been our calling card, but next year’s roster looks like we can completely run teams out of the gym. We’ve got athletes to drive and kick to open three point shooters in transition, and plenty of bodies in the 1 through 4 positions to stay fresh all 40 minutes. Creating turnovers off of a press on made shots shoulf get us 10+ more points a game and wear less deep teams out, even if it means giving up more points defensively early. We should be trying to do it against every team we face in the first six minutes, and adjust accordingly based on its success. You can always fall out of a press if it’s not working.

MY EXPECTATIONS FOR NEXT YEAR

1. NO game where we score less than 60 points
2. 15-3 MVC record with an MVC regular season championship
3. Undefeated home record - we aren’t going to get anyone “amazing” in our gym next year and we’ve already proven we can go undefeated in the MVC with the players we have. If we have Furman again this year, avenging those two losses will just be another byproduct of the goal.
4. Krut wins POY (or one of our other players, like Townes did last year). I think Kennedy could do it too if he keeps improving. As long as we win the conference - one of our guys will get it.
5. Porter wins Coach of the Year.
6. 24-6 regular season record at least. We should have 3 mid-season tournament games against tough competition (which i would accept us going 1-2), and everyone else we should beat. If we can take a buy-game against a power school on the road - do it. We should not stutter out of the gate next year because we are one of the most veteran teams in NCAA basketball. 3 losses on the non-con side and 3 losses in the MVC (only two less than this year) seems more than attainable.
7. Arch Madness title and NCAA appearance- (easier said than done - see UNI) but our depth alone should carry us through 3 straight days. There’s too much talent for it not to.
7b. ALTERNATE GOAL - NIT trip to Madison Square Garden.

Non-Player/Game things I would like to see:

1. Student AND fan bus trip to an away game - make it extremely affordable to go. Do it for VALPO. I would love to flood their arena after what happened this year.
2. Return to the 2018 jerseys (I think the side stipe-arrow things are dumb.)
3. Alternate “gold” Loyola jerseys for important games.
4. Porter Moser publicly makes a the request on his official twitter account for DePaul to schedule us next year at their arena - or to come to Gentile for an open-to-the-public preseason scrimmage at Gentile. Put Chicago, and recruits, on notice that they are the one that’s scared of us and refuse to play.
5. Midnight madness event with as many of the 2018 alumni as we can get back, and any other alumni that wanna scrimmage the team (Doyle, Avercamp, Custer, Richardson, Ingram, Jackson, Shanks, Dokubo, Turk, White, James, Thomas, Crisman, or any of Porters old guys.).
6. Light the Los Lobos De Loyola (Wolf and Kettle) statue maroon and gold for wins only (one wolf maroon and the other gold) and keep it lit in the colors to signify the winning steak. Shut them off if we lose until we start another one. The culture of winning should be campus-wide.

Holy cow Toledo, that was fantastic and not sure anything else needs to be said. Im hoping this brutal end to this season is going to light a fire under them and we make it back to the dance. The talent is there, but as you said and what will have to be seen is the focus and killer instinct there? Great post though, this got me excited for next season. Is it November yet?

This is actually how I view our offensive issues this year. Too many guys were limited for whatever reason. Hopefully, we aren't going to count on a freshman to provide a three level threat.

I see a few other ways to achieve that:

1. Tate hitting free throws at 70%+ makes him a three level scorer.
2. Kennedy taking a step forward and also shooting 70%+ from the line.
3. Lucas hitting threes again would make him a three level scorer (or close to it, as he's ever been great from the line), but I think this requires another scoring option to be on the court and open things up for him (aka less PT for Uguak).
4. Krut hitting shots from the high post or playing more in the low post instead of relying on him to run the offense.
5. I also like Welch's potential to spread the floor and hit some threes.

Also, someone else mentioned this, but we had way too many shots blocked, and so many times it was on breakaway layups. Those plus the free throws makes a ton of points we left on the table.

So I guess my bottom line is shoot more threes and make more free throws.

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart

The threes are gonna come next year. We hit free throws and we are head and shoulders above the league. Bradley is going to take a step back and UNI is going to be good but shouldn’t have the horses we have.

Who wants to bet that UNI is magically the last game on our schedule next year?

Really enjoying all these posts. I agree that I hope we’re not relying on Hebb; honestly I’m curious how he'll fit in with how much depth we’ll have. But we lacked someone who could find their spot and hit a mid-range jumper a la Townes, Custer or even Ingram and Richardson occasionally. Those types of players were huge for teams in the conference this year (Key, Green, Brown) and help keep spacing. Lucas could hit it, but as you mentioned his 3 point shot really suffered this year.

Kennedy is so good at the rim and really improved his 3 point jumper throughout the year… if he could develop a pull up he’d be lethal. I think Welch is honestly where the future of basketball bigs are going. Better ball handlers who can hit some shots. I would honestly kinda hope he works on his handle and focuses fully on the four spot where he can be used as a hybrid wing/big like Elijah Childs is (obviously I don’t expect that kind of production though).

I’ll also say, in fairness to Hall (this is more for everyone, not just in response to the just player-reviews, which I really enjoyed reading btw!), outside of Krut he was probably our most reliable player night in night out throughout the year. He scored in double digits 22 times and had at least 8 points 26 times. That’s only 5 games with under 8 points. Meanwhile Lucas had 11 games with 6 points or less. Not trying to shift blame at all, just think it’s worth noting. Sure he had some offensive explosions that made you want even more, but you could almost always count on him getting at least 10 on any night (as well as a steal or 2). His free throws are baffling, and he was a non-factor in the last game of the season. But I don’t think that should paint his whole year!