I only have six words to describe the way I'm feeling about the men's basketball team crashing out of the Horizon League Tournament at the hands of UIC on March 7 in Indianapolis:
Thank God this season is over.
To be nice, this chapter in the storied history of Loyola men's basketball was ugly from beginning to end. There was that 31-point loss to Purdue in November in the midst of a five-game skid, dropping three games to UIC, and the sad fact that two of our 12 measly wins came against Division II teams (not to mention that seven wins were against Horizon League teams, which is just as bad). Ten of the 19 losses were by 10 or more points and five were by 15 or more points.
As easy as it would be for me, as a Rambler fan, to say that this season was an aberration and that next year will be much better, I just can't do that because it's not true. The Ramblers' problems this year - especially on offense - were systematic breakdowns, like an engine trying to run without fuel. This was a team without any playmakers, without any pure scorers and without a legitimate outside threat, problems that don't solve themselves over the course of one off season.
This year was a big test for head coach Jim Whitesell, as it was his first year without Blake Schilb and Majak Kou, players he did not recruit but rode to three successful seasons. For the first time, the roster was mostly made up of his own players playing in his system. Needless to say, the results were not good. Our Ramblers finished second to last in the league in scoring, second to last in field goal percentage, last in 3-point shooting and last in assists. Thirteen times this year, they failed to score 60 points.
Look, there's nothing wrong with emphasizing defense in your system, but sooner or later you need to score points to win. In fact, it works for a lot of teams. Take Wisconsin, for example. They play the most boring basketball I've ever had the misfortune of watching, but they win because they get ahead with good defense and stay ahead by sucking out the clock.
The thing is, they can hit 3-pointers, which gives them the ability to score points. The Ramblers, on the other hand, have a very hard time putting the ball in the basket no matter where they are shooting from, resulting in most games being tough, hard-fought and stressful. A team simply can't play every game like that and expect to make it through a full season playing at a very high level.
If Whitesell is going to play this style of basketball, he needs to change his recruiting philosophy. There's nothing wrong with bringing in a Leon Young or an Andy Polka to anchor the frontcourt and dominate the boards, but you need some playmakers to power this lawn-mower engine of an offense when the wells go dry. Granted, we don't really know what kind of player Geoff McCammon is going to turn out to be, but even if he ends up being a stud he won't reach his full potential until further down the road.
And if I were athletic director, Whitesell wouldn't have the luxury of waiting to keep a place on my bench because once again I'm watching coverage of Selection Sunday and not hearing my school's name in the 64-team field. How many years has it been now? Twenty-two? That's a shame. Needless to say, someone would be in trouble for that kind of failure. Come to think of it, if I were A.D. with the way things are going right now, a lot of people would be in hot water.
Then again, if I were A.D., maybe I would be one of them.
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