What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 6/17/2021

St. Bonaventure, Colorado State, Loyola Chicago headline early mid-major top 10--The Athletic

3. Loyola Chicago

Projected starters: Braden Norris, Keith Clemons, Lucas Williamson, Aher Uguak, Jacob Hutson

Two key figures from the Ramblers’ recent run of success have moved on: coach Porter Moser, who left for Oklahoma, and the brilliant Cameron Krutwig, who chose not to use his extra year of eligibility. And who could blame Krutwig for chasing his pro dreams after he finished his career with a Final Four, a Sweet 16 and All-American recognition?

Those two men won’t be easy to replace. But Loyola Chicago isn’t about to fall off a cliff. That’s because every other notable contributor from a team that finished No. 10 in KenPom is back, with some formidable reinforcements.

Clemons, Williamson, Uguak, sixth man Marquis Kennedy and Tate Hall are all super seniors. They are joined by a pair of 6-foot-7 Ivy League transfers in Chris Knight, a second-team all-Ivy performer at Dartmouth two seasons ago, and Ryan Schwieger, a former starter at Princeton. The staff is high on incoming freshmen Ty Johnson and Saint Thomas, and upperclassmen Tom Welch and Damezi Anderson bring depth.

That’s a wealth of experience for a program that has won at an elite level the past four years. The ceiling of this club may come down to the progression of Hutson, who served as Krutwig’s understudy as a freshman and shot 58 percent from the floor. The offense likely will have to adjust without Krutwig’s unique playmaking skills from the high post. Still, a team that ranked second nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency last season should remain a force on that end. Will 29-year-old first-time head coach Drew Valentine be able to keep the good times rolling on the Lake Shore? And will we see Sister Jean again in March?

ShanQuan Hemphill and Drake are looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament. (Albert Cesare/IndyStar via USA Today)

7. Drake

Projected starters: Roman Penn, ShanQuan “Tank” Hemphill, Tremell Murphy, Darnell Brodie, D.J. Wilkins

It’s time to retire the Seinfeld references and jokes about the Canadian rapper when mentioning Darian DeVries’ Bulldogs. Because this team has proved it can play.

Even after losing arguably its best two players in Penn and Hemphill to injuries late in the season, Drake rallied to reach the First Four and beat Wichita State for some of those sweet NCAA Tournament units. That happened in large part because Joseph Yesufu emerged off the bench into a sudden scoring star, which he leveraged into an offseason transfer to Kansas.

His loss hurts, but Yesufu was averaging a little more than eight points after the first 18 games — and the Bulldogs were 18-0. The five starters who keyed that run all return, along with valuable sub Garrett Sturtz. That means the team’s top six players will all be seniors. Not a bad place to begin, huh? DeVries also welcomes his son, Tucker, who was a four-star recruit and one of the top prospects in Iowa. Omaha graduate transfer Ayo Akinwole, who led his former team in scoring, can fill the backup point guard role that Yesufu held before he went supernova.

This will be an extremely mature team full of guys who went to prep school or transferred in, meaning they’re even older than your average seniors. Don’t expect another magical, undefeated-into-February start, but the Bulldogs should challenge Loyola Chicago once again for Missouri Valley supremacy. They’re also in the same Orlando tournament as Belmont in November. Hey, ESPN, just don’t match up these two standout mid-majors against each other in the first round, OK?