Bracketology 2021: Creighton, Loyola-Chicago, Arkansas among big winners

Loyola Chicago

The times are changing in college basketball and programs are adapting to those changes. Conferences continue to realign on a yearly basis, though it hasn’t affected the power conference leagues for nearly a decade. At the lower levels of college basketball, not only is change and movement a regular thing, but it causes some of these great programs to slip through the cracks, especially of the public eye.

Loyola is not hiding from anyone this year. Three years after their Final Four run, the Ramblers are the best mid-major program not named Gonzaga and showed it in style with their 27-point win on the road against Drake, the other great team in the MVC. Loyola got 20 points from Aher Uguak and an all-around impressive effort, including hitting nearly 64% of their shots.

The Ramblers are now 18-3, 13-1 in MVC play, and are one of the hottest teams in college basketball. They’ll play at Drake again and will all but secure the regular-season title with another big victory. The only issue for the Ramblers is that MVC schedule has afforded them few opportunities to showcase themselves, as they lost their nonconference tests against Wisconsin and Richmond.

However, this Ramblers team is clearly a much better and developed squad than even two months ago.  They’ve now won 11 straight games and their final four are all very winnable, especially if they keep playing like this. They’re not going to shoot 64% in every game but have certainly proven not only that they are the premier team of the MVC, but they belong in the NCAA Tournament, regardless of what happens in a conference tournament setting.