Players commit to play for a team. They play for said team. Then⊠the portal giveth, the portal taketh away⊠Itâs the cycle of life in NCAA basketball.
Yesterday marked the deadline for players to enter the NCAA transfer portal and the high school recruits have two weeks to sign their letters of intent.
With that in mind, letâs take a look at where both Rambler teams stand with their departures and new acquisitions.
MEN:
2023 Record: 23-10 (15-3 A10) â A10 co-regular season champions
Final Status: Lost NIT First Round vs. Bradley (77-62)
It was a heartbreaking end to a storybook season for the Ramblers, but they have a lot to hang their head on for next season. A new era has officially been ushered in with the graduation of several key players from yearsâ past. Luckily, their transfer damage has been minimal compared to other teams in the Atlantic 10. With the portal window officially ended, this is my breakdown of the current roster that Drew Valentine and his staff have built up.
Graduated:
G: Braden Norris, Greg Dolan, Will Smythe (WO)
F: Tom Welch, Philip Alston, Dame Adelekun, Patrick Mwamba
C: None
Others Outgoing:
RS-SO F Ben Schwieger (Northern Iowa), RS-FR G Trey Lewis (Purdue-Fort Wayne)
Current Roster:
G: Jalen Quinn, Jayden Dawson Des Watson, Sheldon Edwards, Jr., Caleb Reese (WO), Sam Yurasek (WO), Matthew Mortensen (WO)
F: None
C: Miles Rubin
Incoming Recruits:
G Jack Turner (St. John Bosco, Bellflower, CA)
Turner has been locked into Loyola for just about 18 months now, as previously reported by Andrew Bucholz of A10 Talk. Turner had a dominant senior season at SJB. They started the preseason ranked as the #1 boyâs basketball team in the LA area per the Los Angeles Times and he led the Braves to a state championship on a game-best 20 points. He has a nice touch from 3 and has a lot of nice finishing moves at the rim. Based on the roster construction for next year, I could see him taking a redshirt year and picking up steam in the 2025-26 season.
C Brayden Young (Cypress Falls, Houston, TX)
Currently ranked inside 24/7âs Top 50 centers of the 2024 class, Young led the Cypress Falls Eagles to a 26-5 record in his senior season. At 6â9/195, he looks to be a great pickup for the Ramblers. He has nice ball-handling skills for a big man and can get up there when blocking shots or dunking the ball. I think he could be a nice bench piece in his first year, though heâd be the best fit at the 4 spot rather than the 5.
F Seifeldin âSeifâ Hendawy (NBA Academy Africa, Egypt)
Hendawy follows a similar lineage as Patrick Mwamba, coming to Loyola out of the NBA Academy in Africa. Iâve seen conflicting reports of his height at 6â6 or 6â7, but I think the quality of his game isnât going to come down to an inch of height. Heâs a forward with keen playmaking abilities and can score from all three levels. He held his own in the Egyptian professional ranks by averaging almost 9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game for Al Ahly. I like his game a lot and could be someone who could get starting minutes in a pinch for Drew Valentine.
G Daniil Glazkov (IMG Academy, Russia)
I truly donât have much to gripe about with the IMG product. Out of the four signees we have in this class, Daniil looks the most collegiate-ready of the bunch. His crisp passing and strong confident shooting abilities will translate to some success in the A10 and I really liked what I saw on tape. I didnât see much of his defensive work on film, but he is the one guy who could get some starting minutes in his freshman year based on his offensive ability alone. Iâm excited to see how he develops into a more complete player.
Transfers:
G Justin Moore (Rising junior â Drexel)
The Philly native averaged 12/3/3 in 31 games for the Dragons this past season and was named to the all-CAA third team. When watching his tape, Iâd his biggest comparison on the current roster is Des Watson â sans the three-point shooting ability. He has a nice midrange jumper and is not afraid to get to the basket.
Twitter user âJon Dunnâ (@jonathandunlea6) coached Moore at the AAU level and said that he shot 40% from beyond the arc. However, that has ânever been the main partâ of the way he plays.
âHe flashes as the main conductor g(e)tting to his middy and exploiting mismatches,â he added in an April 3 Twitter post . âYouâll see a lot of plays drawn up for him where heâs moving towards the rim, hence the lack of volume and % from 3â
Based on his scouting report, the 6â3 Moore will round out the defensive-minded backcourt with Watson and Jalen Quinn. This could end up being a sneaky good pickup by Drew Valentine.
G Kymany Houinsou (Rising junior â Washington State)
Well, well, a P6 transfer to Loyola! And he played with Victor Wembanyama in Europe? Tell us more, they say! Well, Houinsou looks to be a pretty solid pickup for the Ramblers who can contribute on both sides of the ball.
Because he just committed on Monday, I donât have too much scouted on him. This is not a name I ever saw tied to the Ramblers, but it looks like heâs the real deal. Heâs represented France at the national level and played with some top prospects, including the aforementioned Wemby.
His three-point ability might be lacking, but he more than makes up for that with his ability to attack the basket and get some nice looks in transition. His tape shows heâs unselfish and can be a really nice orchestrator with the basketball when his game is on.
What stands out to me the most is that he comes from a Washington State team that finished very similarly to Loyola in defensive efficiency in KenPom. I was hoping Drew Valentine would go out to recruit players from teams with a strong defensive philosophy, and that he did. My assumption is heâll be a specialist off the bench and provide some energy when needed.
F Jalen Deloach (Rising senior â Georgia & VCU)
The Ramblers managed to swipe up another player from within the conference, albeit a year after he transferred to a P5 school. Before leaving, Deloach was a 3rd-team All-A10 member and averaged 9 points and 7 rebounds per game for the Rams. Thereâs a chance he could be another Des Watson type of story and make it back on that list in his final year.
At 6â9, Deloach becomes a true #4 guy for the Ramblers. He crashes the glass like crazy, and for a Rambler team that struggled to grab offensive boards last season, he could be a huge help. Itâs worth noting he averaged almost 1.5 blocks in 2022-23 as well, which was 5th best in the league. Having him and Miles Rubin playing in the frontcourt creates a potential headache for a lot of conference opponents.
One final thing that shouldnât be overlooked is Deloach has played postseason basketball in all three of his collegiate seasons. Two NIT games in 2021-22, an NCAA tournament game in 2023, and, most notably, a NIT final four this past season. Having that type of experience on a roster is invaluable, and I think it was a slam-dunk acquisition by Valentine and his team.
F Francis Nwakorie (Rising senior, UC San Diego)
Like Houinsou, Nwakorie is not a name I had seen associated with Loyola outside of a few Tweets. However, I really think he fits the team scheme well. With the addition of Nwakorie to the roster, the debate now shifts to who starts. Is it Nwakorie, a stretch-four similar to last yearâs roster, or a true #4 like Deloach?
If heâs the man they choose to start, heâs got some big shoes to fill. He might not be as physically imposing as Philip Alston was (though not many people are) but heâs very confident dribbling the basketball and can score at the rim with ease. What stands out to me was a jump in his three point volume from his sophomore to junior year. The Tritons ran a fast-paced, efficient offense last year and he took about 40 more jumpers beyond the arc at 35% clip. Heâs also averaged no fewer than 5 rebounds per game in his three seasons with the Tritons, so itâs nice to see Drew Valentine continuing to invest in guys who are aggressive on the glass.
I like what I see so far from the Ramblers, and have easily had the best off-season outside of SLU. They recruited a lot younger, which helps build the roster for the next few years rather than a âwin nowâ mentality. Iâm not in the game of fortune-telling, but Loyola seems to be in a really great spot going into the summer months.
WOMENâS:
2023-24 Record: 15-16 (8-10 A10)
Final Status: Lost A10 Quarterfinal vs Richmond (70-54)
I felt that Allison Guthâs transformation of the womenâs team was just as impressive as Drew Valentineâs. For a team that was projected to finish DEAD LAST in the standings this year (winning just one conference game last year), they turned a lot of heads in the conference towards them. Similarly to the men, they will have a lot of turnover from last season. They have lost eight of their 13 players to graduation or the portal, but the impact may be minimal with some new recruits and transfers on the way.
Graduated:
G: Alyssa Fisher, Sam Galanopoulos, Ali Berg
F: Sophia & Emma Nolan
C: None
Others Outgoing:
SO G Mallory Ramage (Lewis â D2), SR F Aaliyah Moore (Omaha), FR* G Maddie Petrolije (TBD)
*Petrolije will likely remain a freshman through a medical redshirt. She played 2 games and spent most of the season injured.
Current Roster:
G: Audrey Deptula, Kira Chivers, Thoranna Kika Hodge-Carr
F: Destiny Jackson (WO), Sitori Tanin
C: None
Head coach Allison Guth has six new recruits coming into the program for next year. They are:
G: Alexa Kinas
F: Holly Dolny, Kendall Hendrix, Yasmyn Palmer, Brooklyn Vaughn
C: Roison Grandberry
I like the fact that she added some size into next yearâs roster, which was a big weak spot for the Ramblers last year. Vaughn is 6â and Palmer is 6â2, though Grandberry is the centerpiece of the recruiting class. Coming in as a 6â4, 4-star recruit from nearby Rolling Meadows, she was ranked 75th in HoopGurlzâ Top 100 prospects for the class of 2024. She will likely take over at the 5 and give Sitori Tanin some much-needed help on the interior.
There may be a redshirt or two for next season because the Ramblers have also added another three transfers to fill out their roster: Forward Emma Theodorosson joins the Ramblers from Bucknell, and guards Naelle Bernard from conference rival Duquesne and Jess Finney out of the University of San Diego.
Bernard has to play out and itâs another rare in-conference transfer for the Ramblers. Although sheâs âundersizedâ at 5â5, Rambler fans are quite aware that size isnât the most important thing in a player. What IS an eye-popping stat is how much of a punch she packs from beyond the arc. She finished 8th in the A10 averaging 1.9 3PTFG/game.
Duquesne beat writer and PGHSportsNowâs Zachary Weiss said that this transition is a good fit for Bernard.
âHer threes can play and her improvement as a defender and with how low she can get [it] will frustrate opponents,â he told me via Twitter.
Theodorsson, on the other hand, is a 6â1 native of Pittsburgh. She was a star in her two seasons in the Patriot League, making the all rookie-team in 2022-23 and the second all-conference team this past season. She averaged just about 13 points and 6 rebounds in 30 games, which fills the teamâs need for a true point forward.
Jess Finney was just signed yesterday and it goes down as one of the bigger transfers the Ramblers have made. Sheâs a former top-100 prospect and Pac-12 signee who played her first year at the University of Washington. Sheâs listed as a redshirt junior (likely receiving a medical in her sophomore season), but like the two other signees, she may have two years left to play if she takes her COVID year.
I can see both Theodorsson and Bernard cracking the starting lineup and I think Finney would be a great spark off the bench. Sheâs a great three point shooter and is a player reminiscent of Ali Berg on this yearâs team.
Despite the loss of some key players, I think the new-look Ramblers are going to be one of the teams to watch in the Atlantic 10 this year. They now have some more size, look to have improved on both sides of the ball, and this could be the year they show everyone they truly belong in the league.
In year 3, both teams look to be adjusting well to the conference and setting themselves up for success in the future. It might be another six months until college basketball starts up again, but Iâve already got my clock counting the days down.
https://www.a10talk.com/2024/05/additions-and-subtractions-loyola-ramblers/
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