What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 3/15/2022

The Other Top 25: Richmond skyrockets with A-10 title run--Mid-Major Madness

The Other Top 25: March 14, 2022

Rank Team (First Place Votes) Record Points Previous

7 Loyola Chicago 25-7 55 8

Also receiving votes:

Norfolk State 10; San Francisco 9; Louisiana Tech 8; Bryant 7; Drake 7; Akron 6; Longwood 5; Santa Clara 4; Winthrop 3; Northern Iowa 3; Wagner 2; Montana State 1

Rank	Team (First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Previous
7	Loyola Chicago	25-7	55	8

Four Valley Teams Playing Postseason Hoops--Valley Hoops Insider

MVC Basketball Postseason Preview--Missouri Valley Beat

MVC WOMEN'S TOURNEY: Redmond, defense carry ISU to improbable title--Dispatch Argus

'So much potential': How Bradley basketball plans to improve its roster for next season--Peoria Journal Star
Roberts and Mast Earn NABC All-District Honors--bradleybraves.com

Final Bracketology of 2022 Wrap-Up--Happening Hoops

College Basketball Invitational (16 Teams Daytona Beach Florida March 19-23)

Northern Colorado (20-15 Big Sky)
UNC Asheville (16-14 Big South)
UNC Wilmington (23-9 CAA)
Middle Tennessee State (23-10 CUSA)
Rice (16-16 CUSA)
Florida Atlantic (19-14 CUSA)
Fort Wayne (21-11 Horizon)
Ohio (24-9 MAC)
Drake (24-10 MVC)
Boston (21-12 Patriot)
VMI (16-15 SoCon)
UNC Greensboro (17-14 SoCon)
Troy (20-11 Sun Belt)
California Baptist (18-14 WAC)
Abilene Christian (22-9 WAC)
Stephen F Austin (22-9 WAC)

Drake men's basketball extends season with No. 1 seed in College Basketball Invitational--Des Moines Register
Men's Basketball Earns Top Seed in College Basketball Invitational--godrakebulldogs.com
DeVries Named to NABC All-District Second Team--godrakebulldogs.com

Women's Basketball Accepts At Large Bid to WNIT, Play Thursday--godrakebulldogs.com

Antonio Reeves Named Second Team All-District--goredbirds.com

Illinois State Women's Basketball 2022 NCAA Tournament Capsule--College Sports Madness
Watch now: Illinois State rallies late to capture first MVC Tournament title since 2008--The Pantagraph
Watch now: Illinois State women to face Iowa in first round of NCAA Tournament--The Pantagraph
Watch now: Maya Wong delivers in the clutch as Illinois State makes NCAA Tournament--The Pantagraph
Redbirds hold on 50-48 for first MVC Championship since 2008--The Vidette
ISU set to take on Iowa in first round of NCAA tournament--The Vidette
Illinois State Punches Ticket to NCAA Tournament with 50-48 Victory Over UNI--goredbirds.com
Brawner-Henley Selected to WBCA’s Thirty Under 30 List--goredbirds.com

NCAA Basketball: Breakdown of all 32 autobids for 2022 NCAA Tournament--Busting Brackets
March Madness 2022: 10 best potential games we’re looking forward to watching--Fansided

Top potential March Madness games
10. South Region First Round – No. 7 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Loyola-Chicago
The only Round of 64 game to make the cut here is the first game of the day on Friday with Ohio State taking on Loyola-Chicago. The Buckeyes spent a ton of time in the Top 25 this season and have a bona fide star in E.J. Liddell as they look to redeem themselves after getting upset in this round a year ago by 15-seed Oral Roberts.
That task won’t be easy against the Ramblers, who made the NCAA Tournament despite Porter Moser’s departure for Oklahoma and Cameron Krutwig’s graduation. Lucas Williamson is the leader of a battle-tested group that has all the experience necessary to create a thrilling showdown at the start of Day 2.

South Region Breakdown: Is an Arizona–Tennessee Rematch on the Horizon?--Sports Illustrated

Team that could bust your bracket: No. 10 Loyola Chicago
You knew this was coming, right? The Ramblers are a household name at this point after winning at least two games in each of their last two tournament appearances and have tournament-darling Sister Jean in their corner. First-year coach Drew Valentine’s squad is constructed of everything that makes March “mad,” with a host of blue-collar workers led by Lucas Williamson, one of the best two-way guards in the country. The Ramblers have the perfect setup game in the first round against an Ohio State team that has lost four of its last five games, including an upset loss to Penn State in the second round of the Big Ten tournament. The Ramblers don’t have great size, but they’re skilled and scrappy, a dangerous combination come March.

Ohio State or Loyola Chicago? How to pick the 7 vs. 10 matchup in 2022 March Madness bracket--Sporting News
March Madness 2022: South Region boasts No. 1 seed Arizona, intriguing matchups--USA Today

The sleeper: Loyola Chicago always makes sure we don’t forget about the Ramblers — and Sister Jean — in March. Though the Ramblers are merely the 10th seed here, they’re the 24th-ranked team in the country per the Pomeroy ratings and have been particularly stingy on defense under first-year head coach Drew Valentine. Though it's a much different cast of characters than the Loyola that went to the Final Four a few years back, and even last season when they upset No. 1 seed Illinois in the second round, guard Lucas Williamson is a 40 percent 3-point shooter this season and one of the players you would trust most in March to make a big shot. Loyola’s culture is all about confidence, and the Ramblers got a pretty favorable first-round matchup against No. 7 seed Ohio State. If they can get it rolling again, look out.

NCAA Tournament bracket revealed--Mid-Major Madness

Loyola Chicago is pitted against Ohio State in the No. 7 vs. No. 10 matchup. The Ramblers look to make another run in March, something that’s almost been expected of them. Meanwhile, Delaware found its way back to the Tournament for the first time since 2012 as it faces off against second-seeded Villanova.

Roddy vs. Diabate, Branham vs. Williamson and more: The best NBA prospect matchups in the NCAA Tournament’s first round--The Athletic

2. Malaki Branham, Ohio State | 6-foot-5, 180-pound freshman wing | Rank: 20 vs. Lucas Williamson, Loyola Chicago | 6-foot-4, 205-pound senior wing | Rank: NR

This is probably my favorite, pure one-on-one matchup of the first round. Branham, the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year, has been an outstanding offensive guard since the start of conference play, averaging 16 points per game while shooting 52.3 percent from the field and 47 percent from 3. More of a slasher than pull-up artist, Branham isn’t a wildly explosive athlete, but he does a great job of getting defenders off balance and driving in a straight line using long strides and finishing at the rim with his length. Part of why he’s able to get to the rim is that opponents now really have to account for the threat of his jumper, especially off the catch. Scouts love his mix of length and scoring prowess and see him as an eventual first-round pick, be it in 2022 or 2023.

Having said that, Branham really needs to improve at a drastic level on defense. Ohio State is about seven points per 100 possessions worse defensively, per Pivot Analysis, when Branham is on the court versus when he’s off it, and you can actually really feel why that’s the case. The tape matches the numbers. Branham’s focus on defense can waver, especially off the ball. He needs to be fully engaged against Loyola Chicago because Ohio State desperately needs whatever defense it can get on the floor.

That’s a particular problem against Williamson, one of the toughest, most experienced guards in college basketball. He was on the Loyola Final Four team back in 2018 as a sixth-man freshman, and he’s still here doing exactly what his team asks of him. Williamson is never going to beat himself, and he’s really developed over the years as a pull-up shot creator, averaging 14 points and shooting nearly 40 percent from 3. On top of that, he’s going to get right in your face and make your life miserable on the defensive end. He’s aggressive, and he’s about as disruptive a guy as you’ll find. The back-to-back Missouri Valley Defensive Player of the Year, Williamson has been right on the edge of my top 100 for the entire season despite being a 23-year-old senior and will assuredly be on that list by the time players decide to return to school as opposed to entering the 2022 draft. I think Williamson is one of the most underappreciated players in the country, a genuine star whose numbers would look way better if he didn’t play on one of the slowest-paced teams in the tourney.

If Branham can score on Williamson, it would say a lot to scouts about how ready he is on the offensive end to be a contributor and potentially set him up with a first-round grade from many teams before the pre-draft process starts. This is an enormous test for him and will tell scouts a lot of what they need to know.

NCAA Tournament best bets: The Athletic’s model highlights 3 games with betting value and 8 more picks for the first round--The Athletic

Loyola Chicago -1.5 (-105) vs. Ohio State

The Ramblers have become kind of a staple in the college basketball world in March as they reached the Final Four in 2018 and upset No. 1 seed Illinois in the second round of last year’s tournament. I think they can make some noise again this year. The Ramblers are very efficient on offense but their defense is even better. Stylistically, they match up very well with the Buckeyes. Ohio State’s defense this season has ranked outside of the top 100 and, honestly, there is an argument that they might not even be in the top 150. Loyola should be able to score here and with an expected gameplan to slow down E.J. Liddell and this Buckeyes offense (easier said than done), it’s not hard to see why the Ramblers are favored here. Also, Ohio State is banged up as Kyle Young and Zed Key could miss or be limited in Friday’s game.

2022 NCAA Tournament Bracket: South Region analysis of No. 1 Arizona, No. 2 Villanova, No. 3 Tennessee and more--The Athletic

No. 10 Loyola Chicago Ramblers

First round: vs. No. 7 Ohio State on Friday in Pittsburgh (12:15 p.m., CBS)

Record: 25-7, 13-5 Missouri Valley

How they got here: By continuing the excellence established under former coach Porter Moser thanks to a seamless transition to the next Loyola coaching star, Drew Valentine, the youngest coach in Division I basketball at 30. Valentine, older brother of NBA player and former Michigan State star Denzel Valentine, took a solid roster facing some losses and question marks and led the Ramblers to a better-than-solid season. This team fell in hard-fought losses to Michigan State and Auburn in the Bahamas in November, but improved and was again the class of the league it is soon departing – Loyola steps up to the Atlantic 10 next season. This is Loyola’s first back-to-back NCAA appearances since the early 1960s.

What you need to know: It starts with defense for Loyola, as usual, and this team is No. 22 in defensive efficiency. It no longer leads the nation in scoring defense, as it did last season (56.1 points per game allowed), but the Ramblers have gotten especially stingy since February. That includes holding Evansville to 31 points – the fewest since allowing 26 to Beloit in 1952 (!) The defense starts with Lucas Williamson, the 6-4 super senior guard who was part of Loyola’s 2018 Final Four run. Actually, everything starts with Williamson, who is tops in scoring (14.0 per game), rebounding (5.0), 3-pointers (72 at 39.6 percent), steals (41) and is second with 95 assists. Loyola shoots 38.3 percent from long range as a team, led by Braden Norris (64 for 1487, 43.5 percent).

Spotlight on: Princeton transfer forward Ryan Schweiger has been a key addition, and his performance off the bench often helps tell the story of how Loyola plays overall. His 13-point effort in a 64-58 MVC championship game win over Drake improved Loyola to 12-1 when he scores in double figures and 12-3 when he hits two or more 3-pointers. He averages 9.2 points a game and is 39.3 percent (46 of 117) from long range.

March Madness Cinderellas: Mid-major stars with potential as double-digit seeds--Heat Check CBB

Braden Norris, Loyola Chicago

Lucas Williamson is the biggest “known commodity” on the Loyola Chicago roster. He is the Ramblers’ best player, a two-time All-Conference selection, a two-time MVC Defensive Player of the Year, and was a freshman when the program made the Final Four in 2018. The biggest X-Factor for first-year head coach Drew Valentine, though, will be the play of point guard Braden Norris. The former Oakland guard was an unsung piece last season but emerged as an All-MVC caliber talent this time around.

Norris averaged a career-high 10.3 points per game while displaying his usual clean stroke from beyond the arc. He shot a blistering 64-for-147 (43.5 percent) from three while leading the Ramblers in assists. He pairs with Williamson as the top two offensive weapons for one of the most balanced squads in America. Loyola Chicago remains defensively-oriented this season but ranks seventh nationally in effective field-goal percentage; Norris ranks 111th in true-shooting percentage and 277th in assist rate.

More importantly than anything else, though, Norris always seems to show up in the biggest games of his career. Over three collegiate seasons, the 6-0 guard is…

36-for-72 (50 percent) from three in 14 KenPom Tier-A games
75-for-167 (44.9 percent) from three in 33 KP Tier-A/B games
27-for-54 (50 percent) in 11 career conference and NCAA Tournament games

If he keeps it going in big games, the Ramblers are tough to beat.

Ohio State vs Loyola Chicago: 2022 NCAA Tournament game preview, TV schedule--Busting Brackets
March Madness 2022: Predicting every First Round upset in the NCAA Tournament--Fansided
Ohio State basketball to play Loyola Chicago in opening round of March Madness 2022 as a No. 7 seed--Cleveland Plain Dealer
4 things to know about Ohio State basketball’s opening-round NCAA Tournament opponent Loyola Chicago--Cleveland Plain Dealer
2022 NCAA Tournament Preview--The Northerner

Intriguing First Round Games
Ohio St./ Loyola

OSU is looking to bounce back from last year’s loss to 15-seed Oral Roberts. Behind one of the top defenses in college basketball, Loyola is now a perennial favorite to win at least one tournament game. And you can’t forget about Sister Jean, Loyola’s 102-year-old good luck charm.

Loyola is the No. 10 seed in the South Region. The Ramblers will play No. 7 Ohio State on Friday in Pittsburgh.--Chicago Tribune
Welch, Loyola poised to make another run in NCAA tournament--Daily Herald
Loyola to Bachata with the Buckeyes in First Round of 2022 NCAA Tournament--Loyola Phoenix
Loyola Draws Ohio State In NCAA Tournament First Round--loyolaramblers.com
Williamson Named NABC First Team All-District 16--loyolaramblers.com