'Race to maturity' will define Loyola's season

Loyola coach Drew Valentine is always teaching.

As he walks around the court, he keeps eyes on each of the four groups his team has dispersed to for varying drills at different hoops. It doesn’t take long for Valentine to notice something he wants a player to change. “Higher,” he yells to freshman guard Seifeldin Hendaw as he finishes a layup. In Hendaw’s next turn in the drill, he extends his right arm out and flushes a one-handed dunk.

Again, Valentine has some feedback. “Don’t one-hand it,” he yells. The minute details in an October practice are what separates a team from winning a championship or losing. Championship goals are on the mind of the Ramblers and that requires focus and precision.

“We've talked a lot this summer about ‘Race to maturity,’” Valentine said. “We're on this journey towards maturing. The faster that we can get to maturing into a championship-level team, that'll dictate where we can be.”

Valentine emphasized that he doesn’t want his team to be a finished product by December, but he doesn’t want his group to lose close games early on or succumb to mistakes due to freshman inexperience. Avoiding self-inflicted mistakes is huge for the team if they want to prove preseason prognosticators wrong.

“Preseason, they got us fifth this year [in the Atlantic 10],” senior guard Des Watson said. “We ready to just shock people again. That's just what we do. We're not really thinking too much of it. Our main goal is winning, and that's and that's what we're gonna focus on.”

The Ramblers are coming off a 23-10 campaign that saw the Ramblers lose in double overtime to St. Bonaventure in the Atlantic-10 quarterfinals. Despite the upset, the Ramblers bounced back from a rocky debut season in the Atlantic 10 to win a share of the conference’s regular-season championship, which was surprising as the team was predicted to finish eighth. Defense was the calling card for the Ramblers as they finished first in the conference in defensive efficiency (97.0).

The Ramblers reloaded through the transfer portal — adding junior guard Justin Moore, senior forward Francis Nwaokorie, senior forward Jalen Deloach and junior guard Kymany Houinsou — to a returning group that includes shot-blocker Miles Rubin, leading scorer Watson and guard Jayden Dawson. The improved athleticism is noticeable in this group.

“When you walk in the gym now, or when you come and watch a Loyola game and you see us, and you're like, ‘Wow, these guys are a big, physical team,’” Valentine said.

But the question mark is at point guard. Braden Norris held that spot down for 127 starts throughout his four years with the Ramblers. His high-IQ play style and ability to organize lineups into the right offensive sets made him an indispensable part of the program. Moore transferred to Loyola to help fill that void left by Norris. But whereas Norris was more of a distributor and steadying force, Moore is more dynamic with the ball in his hands and a better shot creator. The Ramblers needed a dynamic guard to improve an offensive efficiency that finished 10th in the conference (104.9).

With four transfers and three freshmen, the team has been working off the court to build chemistry. Despite rampant player movement across college basketball, the Ramblers lost just two players [forward Ben Schweiger and guard Trey Lewis] to the transfer portal and returned seven. Retaining players is critical to Valentine’s vision for the Ramblers because he has players who have played under him for multiple years and know what he expects from his team.

“We got young guys on our squad and a few vets, but it's just [about] trusting,” Watson said. “Because you got a new team, you got to trust people. You can't try to put everybody on your back. You got to trust everybody to do their job.”

In the seven seasons Valentine has been with the Ramblers — as an assistant and head coach — the program has won at least 20 games in six of those seven seasons. Sustained success is what elevated Loyola to national prominence and what this current group aspires to do. How quickly the team develops chemistry will play a large role in their success this year.

“It definitely pushes us,” Dawson said. “We thought we should have won the A-10 tournament. We’re trying to make the NCAA Tournament.”