Saturday’s Loyola-LaSalle game was sold out at Gentile Arena.
Photo by Mike McGrath
Most Chicago sports fans have probably done a Cubs-Sox, day-night, Red Line doubleheader at some point in their lives.
Saturday was the occasion for an extremely rare March Madness twinbill. Loyola played at home in the afternoon, at Northwestern at night for its final game of the regular season.
Both schools are hoping to make the NCAA Tournament. The two renovated their arenas with the intention of creating a more frenetic basketball atmosphere. Before Saturday, both teams were 14-2 at home this season.
How unique is this scenario? Well, there is a possibility that three state schools may participate in the tournament this year. Illinois is definitely in, Northwestern is probably in. Loyola has a good chance, but probably needs to win the Atlantic-10 Tournament next week.
The last time three state schools made the NCAA Tournament was 2006 (Illinois, Bradley, SIU). This has happened only eight times so far, and half of them happened in the 80s.
Four Illinois schools have not appeared in the tournament since 2004 (Illinois, DePaul, UIC, SIU), which was also the last time DePaul participated.
A week before Selection Sunday, here’s what was happening with the Sheridan Road non-rivals:
Stop 1: Devon Avenue
Full disclosure, did not use CTA for this particular trip, although it would have been convenient. The Loyola-LaSalle game was a sellout, but at tipoff Gentile Arena looked somewhat like a Miami Heat home game, with many empty seats. Anyone who has tried to get into the Loyola parking garage knows how it goes.
Anyway, Loyola won 64-54 to clinch the No. 2 seed in the A-10 tournament, which means the next game will be Thursday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Ramblers finished tied for first place with Richmond, but lost the only head-to-head meeting on January 9.
After the game coach Drew Valentine talked about how beneficial it was to go from 10 wins in the school’s A-10 debut last year to 23 wins and one this season.
“Nobody except us thought we’d be here,” Valentine said. “It’s a true testament to a team.”
Loyola cut down both nets after the game. Valentine took an extra pinch and handed the piece of net to Sister Jean, who is still a fan at 104 years old.
Northwestern students were packed for Saturday’s regular season finale at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Photo by Mike McGrath
How did the Ramblers improve so dramatically? Well, the struggles in the first year had nothing to do with the league change. Almost everyone on the Loyola roster except center Cam Krutwig decided to run it back in 2021-22. The Ramblers won Missouri Valley last fall, returned to the NCAA Tournament, and lost to Ohio State.
Since Loyola lost five of its top seven scorers, a step back was inevitable. This season they added some quality transfers, primarily guard Des Watson from Davidson and 6-8 forward Dame Adelekun from Dartmouth.
On Saturday, Loyola played inside-out, allowing Adelakun to move inside while 3-point shooters waited on the perimeter. Had he been 6 feet 4 feet instead of 6 feet, graduate student Braden Norris (43.8% from 3-point range) probably would have been a lock to get an NBA two-way contract.
Loyola fans cheered especially loudly when Naperville North graduate Tom Welch, who played his 146th career game, knocked down a 3-pointer. Welch couldn’t help but smile on the way back downcourt.
Everything is going well except the net rating of the team. As of Saturday afternoon, Loyola was ranked 87th, sixth-best among Atlantic-10 teams. Valentine was asked if he could understand the situation.
He said, “Yes, I’ll talk about our non-con schedule.” “We didn’t trouble people enough, the quad 4 we played. You have to win them by 10-15 plus. Then all our league games have been very tough. Our house got badly damaged and the road also got badly damaged, which really saddened us.
“If you come and see us in person, there’s no way you can tell we’re not a top 50 team in the country. If the NCAA Tournament committee really wants the 68 best teams in it, we’ll be in it.
Stop 2: Central Avenue
Northwestern coach Chris Collins played and coached at Duke, so it makes sense he would want to build a hyped student class.
Welsh-Ryan’s rebuild took place during the 2017–18 season. Words can’t describe how much more comfortable the field has become, and with the team’s success, the students have responded. Both baselines were filled long before tipoff against Minnesota on Saturday.
“I think it’s huge,” Collins said of the students’ enthusiasm. “We’re 8-1 here in the conference. I think three or four of those wins were games where our crowd really helped us. The energy of the crowd, the energy of the building, gave our people the life they needed to overcome this surge.
“When we built this building, it was everything we dreamed of. “We wanted to create an environment that was a very difficult place for teams to play, and I think that’s what happened this year.”
Saturday was Senior Night, which meant the departure of guard Boo Buie, one of the best players in program history. It was also a sign of the times for a Wildcats team struggling with injuries. Center Matt Nicholson left on crutches and guard Ty Berry limped to the court due to a season-ending foot injury.
Northwestern had a net rating of 52 before Saturday’s game, which is a bit of a stretch given the 90-66 win. But a win against the Gophers, as well as a loss to Wisconsin or Nebraska on Sunday, would give the Wildcats a top-four seed and a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament. So as long as a lower-seeded team doesn’t win the conference tournament, they’re probably in good shape.
If NU receives an NCAA bid, it would be the third of Collins’ tenure and the third in school history.
“This group has the toughness and resiliency to say, ‘This is who we are now,'” Collins said. “We have worked very hard to be a winning program. That’s the culture of Northwestern basketball.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever coached a tougher team. It’s been a really special group to train with and we hope to keep playing for a while.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports
