Ramblermania.net

goodknight wrote:

ahunte1 wrote:
JD is a tough loss. We need a couple of big time scorers and we need Moore to be fully healthy.

For certain we need scoring with JD gone.
Drew made it clear players entering the portal would not be doing so for financial reasons.
Makes me curious.
Drew really has to do his magic again with the portal.

I'm guessing JD wants to make the tourney and has a pretty good P5 offer. Will be interesting to see where that is, if he's going to start, etc.

RAMBLOR wrote:

goodknight wrote:

ahunte1 wrote:
JD is a tough loss. We need a couple of big time scorers and we need Moore to be fully healthy.

For certain we need scoring with JD gone.
Drew made it clear players entering the portal would not be doing so for financial reasons.
Makes me curious.
Drew really has to do his magic again with the portal.

I'm guessing JD wants to make the tourney and has a pretty good P5 offer. Will be interesting to see where that is, if he's going to start, etc.

Have seen Texas Tech, Wake Forest and, of course, hometown Creighton all rumored on Twitter.

tough to blame him if those places are calling. I think Creighton and TT are riding some long streaks of consecutive NCAA tournaments made.

3-pt shooting was a big hole to fill, and the task just got a lot tougher with JD leaving. Other than Jack Turner who shot 43% in limited attempts (remember that he initially redshirted), none of our returning players breaks even 30% in 3 pt. percentage, or even comes particularly close:

Glazkov: 25%
Moore: 23%
Quinn: 23%
Houinsou: 19%
Hendawy: 17%

Meanwhile all of our top shooters are leaving:

Edwards: 38%
Dawson: 36%
Nwaokorie: 36%
Watson: 34%

Basically, I don't think we can afford to add any guard or wing who can't shoot, and ideally we add a couple guys who are 37%+.

Kind of thought this one was coming. Moore’s going to be the lead guard again, Kymany proved to be a suitable backup, and Seif hopefully improves enough to get some minutes. Could see JQ being a great lead guard for a Valley school next year.

I'm surprised to see them both go. JD is the first player we've had leave in my memory who has transferred up. If you take Drew at his word that it is not about money then he is probably leaving to play in the tourney. That makes sense to me but it's a little disappointing that we can't offer that to him here.

I'm sad to see JQ go as well. If someone plays 3 years here I'd hope for them to finish their career here. I am old fashioned in that way I guess.

The JQ Transfer gives me shades of the Marquise Kennedy transfer, long term member of the team who ostensibly wanted/hoped for a starring role in their last year and maybe was told that wasnt going to happen.

It is unfortunate. I wanted to see JQ and JD comeback. This may be an indication of what type of players Coach Valentine is recruiting. I do agree this may be similar to the Marquis Kennedy situation. JQ may not be happy with his playing situation and what is on the horizon. In any event, good luck to both of them.

I agree we need better 3 point shooting. IMO, the main reason we struggled this year was our 3 point shooting. Last year, we had collective 35.4% compared to 34.6% this year.

Norris - 42.9%
Edwards - 40.2%
Watson - 38.6%
Dawson - 36.9%
Dolan - 35.0%

It may not seem like a lot, but one or two shots here or there can change the moment in a game. We seemed very streaky as opposed to consistent, but that may be too observational.

Drew's first two recruiting classes will not reach senior year or graduation at Loyola. I think those days are now gone with the portal for everyone.

Agreed with all on JQ as well. Sad to see him go but not too surprised. With Moore presumably coming back and Houinsou doing well as a primary ball handler, and Hendawy likely due for playing time next year, it was going to be a slog for minutes. Hopefully this opens up room for another shooter in the portal.