COLLISION COURSE
No. 1 seed Illinois, Loyola lined up to meet for first time since 2011 in second round
Can it be? Will it really happen? Illinois vs. Loyola in the NCAA Tournament?
Basketball gods, make it so.
A good many college basketball fans undoubtedly disapprove of the selection committee’s decision to put No. 8 seed Loyola in the same Midwest Region bracket as No. 1 seed Illinois. So much for having two Sweet 16 stories to rally around, right? What a buzzkill.
I see an even better story in a clash of the Illini and the Ramblers. For one thing, they haven’t played on the court since Nov. 11, 2011, in Champaign. The Illini won 67-49 in — wait for it — Porter Moser’s first game as Loyola’s coach.
Illini center Meyers Leonard was late for shootaround and didn’t get to start, but he ended up leading Illinois with 15 points. The visitors were led by Walt Gibler’s 19. It was a four-point game midway through the second half, but, well, why am I even talking about this? Those Ramblers finished the season 7-23. The Illini were bad enough that Bruce Weber got fired.
The point is — and just think about it — let’s try it again when both teams are at the very top of their games. How wildly exciting would that be? Who would dare to miss the heavyweight championship fight of college basketball in Illinois?
There have been too many seasons when we didn’t even get two Illinois teams into the Big Dance. We certainly haven’t seen Chicago schools get there often. When was the last really big game between two ‘‘locals,’’ such as Illinois and Loyola? We don’t even have a real college basketball rivalry to speak of. Man, that’s lame.
But we might get Illini-Ramblers, and it’s hard to think of anything better.
But will they get there?
Oh, yeah, Illinois and Loyola each must win a game first.
There are two things you need to know about No. 16 seed Drexel, the Illini’s opening opponent. One, the Dragons don’t shoot many threes, meaning they’re going to have to try to score in the teeth of a monstrous defense. Lots of luck with that, fellas. Two, their big guy, James Butler — a Mr.
Double-Double type in the Colonial Athletic Association — is a chiseled 6-8, but 7-0, 285-pound Illini center Kofi Cockburn eats chiseled 6-8 for breakfast.
It’ll be much more daunting for the Ramblers against No. 9 seed Georgia Tech, which is on an eight-game winning streak — in a weaker-than-usual Atlantic Coast Conference, but still — and has beaten Florida State twice, the second time in the ACC title game. The Yellow Jackets don’t shoot the three well, but — unlike the teams Loyola beat in the 2018 tournament — they’re a terrific passing team that doesn’t turn the ball over.
Loyola’s best player is senior center
Cameron Krutwig. Georgia Tech’s 6-9, 235-pound Moses Wright passes from the high post like Krutwig, is great at driving the ball and is as prolific a rebounder as there is in the country. He is every bit Krutwig’s equal and might be just plain more to handle.
A final four
1. Illinois-Oklahoma State in the Sweet 16 will be an instant classic. The No. 4 seed Cowboys are, like the Illini, crazy-fun to watch. Freshman guard Cade Cunningham might be the top
pick in the NBA draft this summer, but this team throws a heck of a lot more at you than just Cunningham. Ask Baylor, which couldn’t stop the Cowboys in the Big 12 Tournament.
2. East No. 1 seed Michigan will miss injured guard Isaiah Livers, but the narrative that the Wolverines are cooked without him is silly. It’s not like they’ll be playing four-on-five out there. Major program, next guy up.
3. The Big Ten has two No. 1 seeds, No. 2s Iowa and Ohio State, a No. 4 in Purdue and four other teams — nine total — in the field. And the ninth is play-in team Michigan State, which is always capable of a deep run. What a conference this is.
4. If Gonzaga is going to lose, it’ll happen in the Round of 32. Oklahoma and Missouri are dangerous. Sometimes they’re more dangerous to themselves than they are to their foes, but that’s why they’re seeded eighth and ninth.
If the Zags get past the second round, who’s going to stop them? They’ve already smoked the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds in the West — Iowa, Kansas and Virginia — this season.