In Part 1 of this two part series, I spoke about Loyola’s offense needing some more passion and charisma. When looking at the other side of the court, the men’s basketball team seems to be lacking the power and strength that is needed to stay inside the paint and to keep other teams from penetrating and scoring. Also, it seems that the Greyhounds are not doing a great job at rebounds, which is a skill in which any nationally ranked team excels.
Although they have All Americans and NBA Prospects, it does not take away from the fact that you need big men in the middle as well as fast guys covering the outside perimeter. The big men have to absolutely get the ball and keep others from scoring, a feat that is proving somewhat difficult for Loyola. For example, when looking at the lead rebounder for Loyola, Erik Etherly has 7.5 rebounds per game. That is a statistic that can be somewhat appreciated and praised, but let’s take a deeper look into the rest of the rebounders. Only two players, Etherly and Shane Walker who has 7.2 rebounds per game, have an average above 5. No one else from the bench has an average above 3. I place this emphasis on rebounding because when a team can keep the ball out of the opposing team’s hands, it creates more time of possession for that time and keep’s the other team from having open opportunities to score. Loyola has also not been doing a good job of keeping opposing teams from ranking points. Teams have been pushing it to 70 or even 80 points in a game. This is something that the Greyhounds will have to continue to find ways to stop and work on with their practice squads.
However, Loyola Fans, do not lose faith because this team still has talent, an aspect that cannot be practiced or gained. This team just needs to continue the rhythm it has developed these past weeks and make a push into the MAAC Tournament. Once in the tournament, they will have to find a way to defeat Iona and Fairfield, 6-1 in MAAC Play respectively. Once they do so, Loyola may finally receive its first seed in the NCAA Tournament in almost 16 years. Also, another plus would be not having to watch the madness of March on CBS but instead actually live it.
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