Eye-popping start by Loyola
When Loyola takes a road trip, the team always leaves the day before the game.
The exception to the rule occurred last week, when the Ramblers left Thanksgiving morning for their Saturday date with San Francisco.
Instead of their customary dinner with relatives at home, they found themselves with their basketball family cruising past Alcatraz on a boat tour.
Later, they took a bus for additional sightseeing. When they reached the Golden Gate Bridge, they hopped off the bus to take pictures and attracted no small amount of attention from other tourists.
“When a bunch of tall guys in matching sweatsuits are walking around together, we could be the Lakers,” said senior guard Geoff McCammon. “They don't care or know the difference.”
Actually, it's tougher than normal to distinguish Loyola from the Lakers these days what with all the winning the Ramblers have done.
They're off to the school's first 7-0 start since the 1962-63 NCAA championship season.
The streak gets put to the test tonight when Butler, last year's NCAA runnerup, comes to Gentile Center (7 p.m., Ch. 56) for the Horizon League opener.
“We're fired up,” McCammon said. “Everyone could say it's a normal game, but that wouldn't be the truth.”
And everyone could say veteran coach Jim Whitesell has handled this team normally, but that wouldn't be the truth.
For example, McCammon and fifth-year senior forward Andy Polka started every game last year. McCammon led the Horizon in 3-point shooting (43 percent) while Polka shared the league's rebounding title (8.9 rpg).
Whitesell turned them into Loyola's first two guys off the bench to accommodate junior post Walt Gibler (the Horizon's sixth man of the year last season) and junior swingman Jordan Hicks (who missed much of last year with an Achilles' tendon problem).
The top seven Ramblers average 22-31 minutes per game. Not too many, not too few.
“What it does, it forces you to go all-out,” Polka said. “You play like you're only going to get two minutes, then you come out for a little bit and go back in. I think it has paid off.”
Polka still grabs a rebound for every three minutes he's on the floor. McCammon still leads the team in scoring (14.4 ppg) even though he plays just 23.3 minutes per game.
“Our guys understand what it takes to be successful,” Whitesell said. “They're pretty unselfish. It's like, ‘Look, let's just win. It doesn't matter who scores.'”
The Ramblers feature five double-figure scorers as McCammon, Gibler, Hicks, senior guard Terrance Hill and sophomore power forward Ben Averkamp each have taken roughly the same number of shots.
“Each player on this team, they're winners,” McCammon said. “We just want to win very badly. We're all on the same page.”