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Jim O'Donnell: Cam Krutwig recalls calm of Kyiv while projecting another March for Loyola

IF CAM KRUTWIG HAD OPTED for a fifth, "super senior" season at Loyola, he'd be in St. Louis this weekend.

That's where the fourth-seeded Ramblers (22-7) hope to assure themselves of an NCAA tournament berth with a championship in the Missouri Valley Conference's "Arch Madness."

But Krutwig also wouldn't have firsthand perspective of Kyiv, Ukraine.

The 6-9 Algonquin Jacobs alum (Class of '17) is plying his apprentice pro basketball trade in Belgium, where he has taken his fluid big-man talents to the Antwerp Giants.

IN DECEMBER, THE GIANTS played a nonleague event in Kyiv.

Which makes the current carnage that much more troubling to the 23-year-old.

"It's really terrible what's going on over there," Krutwig told The Daily Herald. "We were there less than three months ago. Now it's crazy. There's a war - a war - going on.

"When we went, it was only rumors about an invasion. I would have never thought it was actually going to happen. Guys we played against, people just like us, are now in the middle of a shooting war.

"Awful. Just absolutely awful."

KRUTWIG REMAINS IN Antwerp. The BNXT League - a year-old combination of professional associations from Belgium and The Netherlands - is on a FIBA break before entering its extended postseason. A champion will be crowned in May.

He continues to closely follow the Ramblers, whom he helped lead to the NCAA Final Four in 2018 and the Sweet Sixteen last March.

"Actually, I've been doing a regular podcast with Will Alcock, who's a fourth-year walk-on for Coach (Drew) Valentine," Krutwig said.

The podcast is called "Bears. Blers. Belgium." That represents the beloved Chicago Bears of "Krut," the Ramblers and his current basketball port 'o call.

AS FOR VALENTINE and LU, they're strong favorites (+120) to win the 10-team MVC tourney despite a balky close in regular-season play.

After only losses to Auburn and Michigan State blotting a 14-2 start, they finished 8-5 in The Valley. That included losses to: No. 1 seed Northern Iowa, No. 2 Drake (twice) and No. 3 Missouri State.

All three higher seeds, according to Vegas, are +475 to cut the nets on Sunday.

No. 5 Bradley (+800) also beat 'em in Peoria. That's who Lucas Williamson and crew will open against Friday (NBCSCH, 2:30 p.m.).

FROM AFAR, KRUTWIG will be streaming.

"'Arch Madness' is never easy," he said. "But it's nothing that these guys haven't been through before.

"When we made our runs in the tournament, we never looked too far ahead. We always just focused on the next game in front of us and for them, that's Bradley.

"It's all about their preparation and focus going into this time of the year.

"I got faith that we will get it done."

IN A YEAR OF SORDID SHOCKS, a pricey "independent investigation" and imperious meltdowns, the Blackhawks performed to expectations with the announcement that Kyle Davidson will be the sacrificial puck atop hockey ops.

The fellow has less chance of succeeding than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) moving to Wyoming and running for governor.

Biggest spit-taker along the Wirtz family's blue line to nowhere was the idea that Eddie Olczyk might take on the role of GM.

The supremely affable Olczyk is 55 years old, a cancer survivor and skating away with a dream exacta of TV gigs in hockey and thoroughbred horse racing.

And he's going to shift shticks for a prime pressure role inside The Bleak-Hawk Triangle of Rocky Wirtz, Danny Wirtz and Jaime Faulkner?

STREET-BEATIN': From the Lazerus file, Washington's Ron Rivera is taking a long look at Mitch Trubisky as a "second-tier veteran" solution at QB. "The Baffling Biscuit" is a free agent after a one-year deal with the Bills (and 29-25 as a starter in the NFL with three postseasons in five years.) ...

Strongly recommended seamless mix of sports and global crisis by Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins with "Knocking Putin's teams off the sports stage leaves him exposed to his own people." (Her work continues at Pulitzer Prize-level, a sportswriting rarity.) ...

IHSA girls state basketball coverage begins on "The U" (WCIU-Channel 26 and all) Thursday, with the 3A Carmel-Bethalto semi Friday at 10 a.m. followed by 4A matches between Stevenson-Benet (2:30 p.m.) and Barrington-Bolingbrook (4:15 p.m.). Daily Herald alum Patricia Babcock-McGraw is working color on all 1A and 3A games. ...

And column headline of the week on the MLB quartering from Jay Mariotti at substack.com "Can we just let baseball die and move on with our lives?" (Anyone younger than 50 want to argue the other side?)

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.

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