Loyola Chicago (8) vs. Georgia Tech (9), Friday, 4pm ET, TBS

[Adadu]

What a crock. Would have been better off losing and getting the 10th seed and playing UConn

Lets not go there

 

[Techster]

video of krutwig last season

Underestimate Krutwig at your own peril. Dude is legit. Don't judge him based on his dad bod because he can get up and down the court better than a lot of centers with prototypical NBA bodies. Great passer, and his understanding of space is incredible. Look how he does the little things to create space for himself off the ball. He's got a shot with his left and right hands, and he has a power and finesse game. He'll pop that shot if you give him space. ALWAYS moving...setting screens, moving off the screen, finding space to receive the pass...on and on. Moses and Howard are getting a good cardio workout Friday guarding him.

From a defensive standpoint, this may be our toughest center to defend all season. He literally leads his team in points, rebounds, blocked shots, and assists. If we can get him in foul trouble, Loyola is in world of hurt.

Outside of Krutwig, no other player averages more than 8 points a game...BUT, they have SIX guys outside of Krutwig who score at least 7 points a game. So they're balanced.

I think we are the far superior team in terms of athleticism and Loyola isn't a very long team overall...just like us. We need to harrass the guy with the ball (which we are VERY good at) and make them work to get Krutwig the ball. Easier said than done.

Should be interesting. If we can race out to a big lead from TOs and steals, it's gonna be a big hill to climb for Loyola. This is one of those games the style differential will be fun to watch play out.

 

[Sheboygan]

Tough opener for us, IMO. VERY defensive minded team that will be out to prove they were under seeded and can play with the ACC. Positive for us, they may actually be looking ahead to Illinois. We need to be ready to play or we could get smacked in the mouth to start the game, and have to dig out of a hole against a good defensive squad.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Underestimate Krutwig at your own peril. Dude is legit. Don't judge him based on his dad bod because he can get up and down the court better than a lot of centers with prototypical NBA bodies. Great passer, and his understanding of space is incredible. Look how he does the little things to create space for himself off the ball. He's got a shot with his left and right hands, and he has a power and finesse game. He'll pop that shot if you give him space. ALWAYS moving...setting screens, moving off the screen, finding space to receive the pass...on and on. Moses and Howard are getting a good cardio workout Friday guarding him.

From a defensive standpoint, this may be our toughest center to defend all season. He literally leads his team in points, rebounds, blocked shots, and assists. If we can get him in foul trouble, Loyola is in world of hurt.

Outside of Krutwig, no other player averages more than 8 points a game...BUT, they have SIX guys outside of Krutwig who score at least 7 points a game. So they're balanced.

I think we are the far superior team in terms of athleticism and Loyola isn't a very long team overall...just like us. We need to harrass the guy with the ball (which we are VERY good at) and make them work to get Krutwig the ball. Easier said than done.

Should be interesting. If we can race out to a big lead from TOs and steals, it's gonna be a big hill to climb for Loyola. This is one of those games the style differential will be fun to watch play out.

I agree 100%. On paper Florida State was the better team and when you look at the stats we found the one angle we could exploit to find a way to win. There is a reason Loyola is a top 10 team in KenPom and NET. They can win by 15 if we don't come with great energy and on our game.

 

[lv20gt]

nevermind

 

[Deleted member 2897]

lol seriously? How is whining incessantly on a message board over something everyone already understands for a month now showing you have spine?

Huh? What in the world are you talking about?

 

[lv20gt]

Huh? What in the world are you talking about?

I didn't see the posts between yours and mine.

 

[tsrich]

,,,

Loyola is a very good ballhandling team, they don't turn it over much and as a team they have a 1.3:1 A/TO ratio.

...

This will be a problem for us. Hopefully they haven't seen our level of defense much this season. If we can't force TOs, we will likely lose

 

[tsrich]

Here is Loyola-Chicago's NET Team Sheet

Loyola-Chicago Ramblers NET - Nitty Gritty Report & Team Sheet 2021 Men's College Basketball | WarrenNolan.com

NET - Nitty Gritty Report & Team Sheet for Loyola-Chicago Ramblers 2021 Men's College Basketball. This Is a Duplication of the report used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee to Determine At-Large Teams in the national championship tournament with quadrants

www.warrennolan.com

This is a program and a team that is not to be feared, but should be respected. Four straight 20+ win seasons (97 wins in the last 4 years). I do not expect this to be an easy game. I am expecting a low scoring, grind it out kind of game. This is a team that will be very confident.

Loyola is a very good ballhandling team, they don't turn it over much and as a team they have a 1.3:1 A/TO ratio.

Krutwig is not a great athlete but he is incredibly smart and has great hands.

They are a good but not great 3-pt shooting team. Mainly they look to score at the rim using their 5-out offense to create open cuts and runs to the basket.

Defensively they play a very tight m2m and seldom get called for fouls.

It will be interesting to see what they do with Krutwig on defense. He is going to be a liability in pick and roll type situations. I wonder if they will try to to use Uguak in those more and try to put him away from it. If they do that then we need to bring Usher and Moore as cutters from the wings.

12 quadrant 4 wins. That's half their total.

We played only 3 (wake, Del st, and Fl A&M)

 

[Northeast Stinger]

This is a weird, scary match up for us. We can’t think we will get by. Plus, Illinois is a bad match up for us, too.

why can’t we have nice things? I mean. Come on.

Well, we have to get our mind right and all that but....most of us know it takes a little luck to get to the final four. This is not a lucky draw for us. A lucky draw is when someone else opens a way forward for your team by upsetting a high seed or even just wearing them down. The teams that do the upsetting rarely advance but a team in their bracket always seems to advance based on the path that was cleared for them.

Yes, everyone has to win the same number of games to get to the final four but all games are not equal and all pathways are not the same difficulty. I would have preferred Tech get more of a “warm up game” for their first game to get used to the atmosphere of the tournament.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

12 quadrant 4 wins. That's half their total.

We played only 3 (wake, Del st, and Fl A&M)

Yep. On the flip side, there is an intangible with teams like this - they know how to win. They've won 22 out of 26 games. When teams have that in their DNA, they play with a certain comfort and confidence generally speaking.

Their top 7 players are 6 seniors and a sophomore. They probably always know what each other is thinking, their tendencies, and so on.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

But, I am excited about Friday and will look for Tech to pull off the upset.

 

[Sheboygan]

Huh? What in the world are you talking about?

Yes, please elaborate .......

 

[Sheboygan]

Yep. On the flip side, there is an intangible with teams like this - they know how to win. They've won 22 out of 26 games. When teams have that in their DNA, they play with a certain comfort and confidence generally speaking.

Their top 7 players are 6 seniors and a sophomore. They probably always know what each other is thinking, their tendencies, and so on.

Exactly. Overlook/underestimate them because they are part of the MVC will be a mistake. If Krutwig gets Wright in foul trouble early.....uh oh

 

[yjfan]

what the heck is this?

 

[Techster]

Because we are all rubberneckers...the other side:

Ramblermania.net • View topic - Ramblers an Eight Seed Will Face Georgia Tech in First Round

 

[bobongo]

This is a weird, scary match up for us. We can’t think we will get by. Plus, Illinois is a bad match up for us, too.

why can’t we have nice things? I mean. Come on.

I dunno about Illinois being a bad matchup for us. They look like FSU to me. They're good - big, imposing, good shooters, but not as quick and not as adept with the basketball as the Jackets. We'll just steal the ball from them and beat them. If we can get by Loyola.

 

[Vespid]

Tough opener for us, IMO. VERY defensive minded team that will be out to prove they were under seeded and can play with the ACC. Positive for us, they may actually be looking ahead to Illinois. We need to be ready to play or we could get smacked in the mouth to start the game, and have to dig out of a hole against a good defensive squad.

Chicago Sun Times already has an article out on how they, Loyola, match up with Illinois....so yeah....they might be looking past us. And yes, that's just one DA sports writer, but it seems to be the prevailing local sentiment.

 

[Tech93]

We can beat Loyola. Just need to remain focused and take care of business. Krutwig is their key guy, but one guy won’t beat a team like ours. We have a good team and good coaching staff that has done well with game planning. We can’t worry about our seeding. We haven’t been here in over 10 years, so now it’s time to take care of business. Let’s quit complaining about seeding and get ready to support the team come Friday. Go jackets!

 

[Tech93]

Also fitting we are playing where Hoosiers was filmed bc we have been the underdog all year!