Exquisite Loyola Leaves Stunned Illini Hanging Their Heads
First things first.
Terrific. Performance. Loyola.
What the Ramblers did against Illinois was a marvelous display of how entertaining and uplifting college basketball can be at its best.
What the 6-9, 255-pound Cameron Krutwig did on the offensive end was mesmerizing. Footwork worthy of Fred Astaire. Positioning for success on the order of Jeff Bezos.
19 points. 12 rebounds. 5 assists. A bunch more shots in his 9-of-18 stat line that could have gone in, but rolled off the rim.
Every time he got the ball in the low post—with poor little 7-foot, 285-pound Kofi Cockburn left all alone by his teammates—it was like an accident waiting to happen.
Why didn’t Illinois stick another hand in there? Another helping body in there? Another something?
If the NBA isn't interested in Krutwig, maybe he'll get an offer from the Marvel Superheroes.
It's easy to be happy for 101-year-old Sister Jean. But the Ramblers needed no special magic on the court. They just played basketball the way it's supposed to be played.
Meanwhile, when Illini star Ayo Dosunmu had the ball, the Ramblers had that figured out, too.
Actually, it was often Krutwig reaching in on defense, helping Lucas Williamson poke the ball away from Dosunmu.
You can almost hear Porter Moser and his staff telling their Ramblers during the scout: We can pick Ayo’s pocket if we do it right.
Final score: Loyola 71, Illinois 58.
Forget the Cinderella talk. The 8th-seeded-too-low Ramblers look like a good pick to reach the Final Four for the second time in four years.
Next up is 12th-seeded Oregon State, which knocked off No. 4 Oklahoma State. The winner of that game will face either No. 11 Syracuse or a No. 2 Houston that barely squeaked past Rutgers.
Oh, yeah. That’s the second thing.
How to explain No. 1 seed Illinois being behind the eight-seed-ball of the Ramblers from start to finish.
Officially, Illinois was a seven-point favorite in the eyes of some Las Vegas types. It sure didn’t look that way to the untrained eye.
Again, a lot of that was about Loyola. The Ramblers were uber-prepared and uber-pumped for this battle of Illinois.
Yes, they had emotion on their side. All of the teams from smaller conferences have that in the NCAA tournament. For them, each game is a Super Bowl. For teams like Illinois, it’s a tentative first step on a long road.
That’s part of the reason Illinois, Ohio State, Purdue, Virginia, West Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma State—apologies to anyone who was left out—are now on spring break instead of preparing for the Sweet 16 that the committee envisioned for them.
So how does an Illinois, which looked smoking-hot entering this tournament, look so confounded? The Illini had lost only once since Jan. 16, winning an impressive array of games against a supposedly loaded Big Ten.
One thing we’ve learned is that the Big Ten was over-rated. Hugely, amazingly over-rated.
Nothing will top the migraine-inducing troubles new Big Ten commish Kevin Warren encountered during the last football season. But this will long be remembered as a basketball season on the brink—barring an amazing turnaround when the second half of the Sweet 16 is chosen on Monday.
What stuck out for Illinois was this: Down the stretch of this season, after he returned from that broken nose, Dosunmu seemed to be doing a better job of trusting his teammates instead of relying too much on his own immense skills.
Against Loyola, Illinois’ offense reverted. The Illini were flustered and freewheeling and freelancing. The panic began in the first half, way too early. Some weapons were not involved. Others were trying too hard. Those hurtles to the basket by Andre Curbelo, a fine young player who's going to have a fine career, were painful to watch.
And on defense, the Illini didn’t seem know what was coming next.
All credit to the Ramblers. On offense. On defense. Wherever basketball is played.