Get to Know a Final Four Team: Loyola Chicago Ramblers

*Over the next couple days we’ll take an in-depth look at each Final Four team. We’ll see how they got here, their scouting report and some of their go-to plays. Most of these stats are thanks to Synergy and KenPom.* 

Team: Loyola Chicago Ramblers
Record: 32-5
Made Tournament: Won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament – automatic bid
Path: 64-62 win over No. 6 Miami, 63-62 win over No. 3 Tennessee, 69-68 win over No. 7 Nevada, 78-62 win over No. 9 Kansas State
Leading Scorer: Clayton Custer (13.2 ppg)
Leading Rebounder: Donte Ingram (6.3 rpg)
Starters: Clayton Custer, Donte Ingram, Marques Townes, Ben Richardson, Cameron Krutwig
Key Reserves: Lucas Williamson, Bruno Skokna, Aundre Jackson, Cameron Satterwhite
Head Coach: Porter Moser

Offense: While this isn’t a team that many think of an offensive juggernaut, the Ramblers are actually pretty damn good on the offensive side of the ball. They rank 60th in KenPom’s AdjO, but Synergy ranks them in the 95th percentile scoring 1.007 points per possession. If you watch them, that number isn’t necessarily surprising. This is a team that works for the extra shot, really drags out the shot clock and makes the extra pass. I mean, this is a possession that just sticks out to me:

That’s just flat out beautiful basketball and a large part as to why they rank 24th in assists per field goals made. Arguably more important, this is an incredibly balanced team. They have five guys scoring between 10.3-13.2 points per game. We’ve seen Clayston Custer hit big shots, we’ve seen Donte Ingram hit a game winner, we’ve seen Ben Richardson lead them in scoring. There’s no go-to guy that you need to shut down, though I’d vote Custer is the leader here. It’s sort of a played out term, but Loyola really does look for the hockey assist. They pass up a good shot for a great shot and there’s a reason 40% of jump shots come ‘unguarded’ according to Synergy. They do an excellent job of blending ball screens with drive and kicks. It’s all part of what Porter Moser wants to run and part of his background learning under Rick Majerus. Working under Majerus at St. Louis they worked on not letting the ball stick, meaning you shoot, pass or dribble within a second. Make the defense constantly move. It also helps that Loyola shoots 40.2% from three as a team, which ranks 11th in the country and an effective field goal percentage of 50.5%, which is fifth in the country. Here’s a couple different possessions that stood out to me going back and watching their NCAA Tournament games.

This possession shows a set that they do like to run along with just how well they move without the ball. You get the high ball screen and as Krutwig gets to the wing he then turns again and there’s an elevator screen for Custer to run through. That’s the first option here. After the screen, which gets busted by Nevada’s defense Krutwig dives to the post, Jackson goes to the corner and Custer completes the triangle. This motion also creates a switch as Hall is now on Custer and Martin is on Krutwig. As Hall gets lost with the switch the ball goes back out to Custer. It’s a gorgeous design.

Loyola will put you in ball screens quite a bit. In fact, the Ramblers run a ball screen on about 27% of possessions. One of the things Loyola will do though is look to get out and run as they are excellent in transition. But, if the easy layup isn’t there you’ll see them immediately go into a slow secondary transition. If Krutwig is on the floor, he’s typically following the play and will come set a screen at the top of the key. Everything that Loyola wants to run with here is to get towards the lane and disrupt the defense. They aren’t necessarily going to look to attack baseline as they prefer to rotate wing to wing.

Defense: Now comes the part that everyone knows about. Loyola is an excellent defensive team by every measure. They rank 18th on KenPom and in the 94th percentile nationally per Synergy giving up .84 points per possession. They aren’t necessarily going to force a ton of turnovers, but they are above average in that category. They rank 102nd in the country forcing turnovers on 19.5% of possessions. This is a defense that runs man to man almost every possession and it’s really just a halfcourt defense. Loyola has ran a press on just 2.5% of possessions all year. They will switch on ball screens, especially between positions 1-4. If you go back and watch their game against Miami you’ll see they will switch off ball screens too. Miami ran a lot of curls and down screens, which was just an automatic switch. That’s going to be important to watch against Michigan’s offense. Michigan obviously runs an offense that is predicated on ball screens and cuts. In order to stop that you need to be excellent at communicating defensively and switching tends to help. However, Michigan will put Krutwig in those ball screens as the Wolverines like to run that set with Mo Wagner out on the perimeter. When Krutwig is put in the high ball screen, it’s a hard hedge. He tends to slide low on the screen, giving space to the ball handler and allowing his guy to recover. That’s going to be important to watch against Michigan. In the post they 3/4 front with weakside help. When it comes to on ball defense, they do apply some pressure on the ball, but will also give space. They are set on not being beat off the dribble, forcing teams into jumpers.