The best part of Loyola men’s basketball coach Drew Valentine’s Saturday?
Oh, that’s easy. It had to be the dinner he enjoyed with wife Taylor at RPM Seafood in River North. They had drinks. They split the miso black cod and a steak. Caesars salad, Brussels sprouts, charred broccolini and french fries also were involved. It tasted like victory.
On second thought, the few hours spent earlier in the day at Gentile Arena in Rogers Park may have been even better. Seniors were hugged, a ladder was climbed and a net was snipped down — piece by beautiful piece — after the Ramblers beat La Salle 64-54 to finish the regular season tied for first place in the Atlantic 10.
Valentine didn’t receive confirmation that Richmond had lost at George Mason — opening the door to a tie — until four minutes remained in a game the Ramblers were leading by 12.
“Holy [expletive], this is awesome,” he said right then on the sideline, taking it in.
An A-10 championship — a year after Loyola’s disappointing 15th-place debut in the league — still felt mighty fine as Valentine got his Sunday started. But his mind was moving quickly to Thursday, when his team will play its first game, after a two-round bye, in the conference tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The Ramblers (23-8) could open with seventh-seeded St. Bonaventure, the last team to beat them. Regardless of whom they play, the challenge likely will be the same: Win three games in three days at Barclays Center and cut down another net — or forget about making the NCAA Tournament.
Wedging in a morning phone call as he fed two-year-old daughter Hayden, Valentine hoped the tournament selection committee wouldn’t see things so matter-of-factly. The Ramblers’ NET ranking of 84 is far from ideal, and they have only one Quad 1 win — against Dayton — but they did just go 15-3 in the eighth-strongest conference according to the metrics. And they could have a chance to meet and beat Dayton again in the A-10 semifinals. If they get to the final but lose it, will their chance to Dance really go “poof” just like that?
“I think if we win two in Brooklyn, we’ll have an argument,” he said. “At some point, they’ve got to want to get the top 68 teams in the field. We’re clearly [no worse than] one of the top 50-60 teams in the country.”
Win no. 23🐺🏆 pic.twitter.com/IG0qD6D3lD
— Loyola Men's Basketball (@RamblersMBB) March 10, 2024
Loyola thought it was getting out of the one-bid-league business when it moved up from the Missouri Valley to the A-10, which put at least two teams into the NCAA field every year from 2006 to 2022. But last year’s regular-season champ, VCU, danced alone after winning the conference tournament. Dayton — easily the highest-rated team this year despite its third-place finish — probably will fly solo if it takes the crown in Brooklyn. If Richmond, Loyola or another team wins the automatic bid, the Flyers still will get in as an at-large selection.
For the Ramblers, coming so far but missing out on the tournament every player and coach longs to be in would taste like a bitter pill.
Still, what Valentine told his happy team in the locker room Saturday will always be true:
“All I know,” he said in a moment captured on video, “is the ’Blers are champs, baby!”
Three-Dot Dash
With 11 seconds to go Saturday, Valentine pulled Braden Norris from the game so the Ramblers’ four-year starting point guard could receive a standing ovation in his final home game. A nice moment for the fourth player to reach 500 assists at the school, joining Darius Clemons, Carl Golston and David Bailey.
Clemons, who played from 1978 to 1982, is the record holder, with 703. Golston, who came immediately after him, had 649 in only three seasons after transferring from Wisconsin. Both were South Siders from the high school now known as Phillips Academy, and, man, were they good. The 6-3 Clemons led the nation with 9.9 assists per game as a Ramblers senior. Golston, only 5-9 — and nicknamed “Go-Go” — averaged 9.2, second in the land, as a junior as the Ramblers were Sweet 16 bound. …
Northwestern, 12-8 in the Big Ten, is the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament and will — like second-seeded Illinois — receive a double-bye into Friday’s quarterfinals. But at least as far as one noted bracketologist had it entering Sunday’s college action, the Wildcats aren’t yet a shoo-in for the NCAA Tournament. CBS’ Jerry Palm had them as a 10 seed but still in his “on the bubble” section.
Upshot: An unusual volume of upset winners of conference tournaments could give fans reason to be (a little) nervous, especially if the ’Cats fail to beef up their record in Minneapolis. But don’t start sweating yet. …
“It just feels good to be a winner,” Northwestern’s star, Boo Buie, said after his final game at Welsh-Ryan Arena, a 90-66 blowout of Minnesota.
It must. As a recruit, Buie didn’t have any other major-conference offers. But after all the losing he endured in his early seasons in Evanston, he could have left and gotten a taste of something far more glamorous. Instead, he stayed and made his own place matter for the first time in quite a while. Who’s Mr. NU? Buie, that’s who.
Congrats to DePaul Prep for winning the Class 3A state title. For exactly 1.2 seconds, it almost made me forget about DePaul University going 0-20 in the Big East. OK, not even close. …
DePaul Prep is coached by Tom Kleinschmidt, a former Blue Demons star some alumni want to see hired by his alma mater. Others are being less specific, expressing simply their hope the job will be kept “in the family.”
“I’d like to see the best person get the job,” DePaul radio analyst and long-ago center Dave Corzine told me, “but, all things being equal, I’d rather see a DePaul person there.”
Folks, athletic director DeWayne Peevy is going to swing a lot bigger than that. Whether or not he connects, we’ll see. …
Kansas entered the season as the No. 1-ranked team in the country. After getting absolutely demolished by Big 12 champ Houston over the weekend, the massively disappointing Jayhawks lost eight times in conference play alone, by far the most in coach Bill Self’s 21 seasons. Insert this debacle up high on the “that’s why they play the games” list. …
My ballot for the new AP Top 25 poll, which comes out Monday: 1. UConn, 2. Houston, 3. Purdue, 4. North Carolina, 5. Tennessee, 6. Iowa State, 7. Arizona, 8. Auburn, 9. Creighton, 10. Marquette, 11. Illinois, 12. Kentucky, 13. Duke, 14. Baylor, 15. South Carolina, 16. Gonzaga, 17. Kansas, 18. BYU, 19. Utah State, 20. Alabama, 21. Nevada, 22. Saint Mary’s, 23. Texas Tech, 24. Boise State, 25. Florida Atlantic.
