A-10 Basketball: 7 positives and negatives from first month of 2021-22 season
By Tyler Cronin
Welcome Loyola!
The Ramblers are certainly remembered for being Final Four Cinderella’s and Sister Jean but this move could be a huge boost for the A-10 in the on-court product immediately. Per Kenpom, the Final Four squad of 2018 is actually Loyola’s third-best team of this century.
Last year’s team may have been an 8 seed but they were an analytics darling (Kenpom had the Ramblers #10) and their Sweet 16 appearance was absolutely not a fluke. Four of the five starters returned for this season and even after narrow losses to Michigan St and Auburn, Loyola sits at #30 in Kenpom, one spot ahead of 2018 and four spots ahead of St. Bonaventure.
The well-balanced roster features eight players scoring at least 6 ppg, led by an undersized wing/reigning Missouri Valley DPOY, Lucas Williamson (10.7 ppg), an Ivy League transfer/three-point sniper, Ryan Schweiger (11.3 ppg, 46.2% 3pt), and a scrappy bulldog point guard, Braden Norris (8.9 ppg, 4.3 apg).
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A few of these guys will never play an A-10 game but Loyola will enter the conference next year with a decent returning core and the nation’s youngest coach in Drew Valentine. For now, A-10 fans have another exciting team to watch and root for in March.