Loyola’s quick recovery shows Valentine is the real deal
Loyola's bounce-back season was obviously a great step toward keeping the basketball culture rolling in Rogers Park.
But there's more to it. To borrow social media slang, this year's success suggests coach Drew Valentine is that guy.
Loyola showed plenty of faith in Valentine by naming him head coach in 2021, roughly a month before his 30th birthday. The Ramblers won the Missouri Valley Conference title in his initial season. Then after posting a 10-21 record in the school's first year in the Atlantic-10, Valentine has rebuilt quickly, this time with no leftovers from the 2018 Final Four squad.
Valentine is someone who expects success, which he repeated after clinching a share of the regular-season conference title.
“For me it's not validating because I've coached in the NCAA Tournament before,” said the Lansing, Michigan, native. “I don't really doubt myself at all.
“Sorry, I'm probably coming off really arrogant. But that's just how I feel. I have to feel that way as a 32-year-old Black man. Being a head coach, you've got to be a little messed up in the head. But it's extremely validating for the program.”
The speech sounded familiar. On the day he was named head coach, Valentine talked about when he was a graduate assistant at Michigan State, he'd ask people in the video department if they would join his staff when he became a head coach.
He was half-joking, but also completely serious. While younger brother Denzel was destined for the NBA, Drew knew coaching was his calling.
As the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic-10 tournament, the Ramblers will face No. 7 St. Bonaventure at 4 p.m. Thursday in a quarterfinal matchup.
“We have to have the mindset we haven't done anything yet,” Valentine said. “Or there's more to accomplish, because we have done something. So let's lean into that confidence, let's lean into our identity, but let's still be hungry for more.”
The fact remains, this stretch of Loyola success began during Valentine's first year as an assistant under Porter Moser. The Ramblers went to the Final Four in 2018, returned to the Sweet Sixteen three years later, then were back in the tourney in 2022.
Heavy graduation losses contributed to the down year, but Valentine found the right pieces in the transfer portal, mainly guard Des Watson from Davidson and power forward Dame Adelekun from Dartmouth. Loyola has an interesting recruiting class lined up for next season.
“I think it's very well-documented that we're having a lot of success recruiting right now,” Valentine said. “We're getting it ready for Monday when the (transfer) portal opens up. We know our interior in particular, we're going to have to go out and get some guys.
“Then Braden (Norris) been a stud in the backcourt for us and somebody we trusted with the ball in his hands for years. So those are a couple of the positions we'll be looking for.”
There were rumors this week Moser could return to Chicago and take the vacant DePaul job, which would be interesting. Moser went on Twitter to claim the rumors are false and he loves Oklahoma. The Sooners were knocked out of the Big 12 Tournament by TCU on Tuesday, so we'll see what happens.
Valentine mentioned a couple times this week Denzel will be in Brooklyn helping cheer on the Ramblers. The former Bulls first-round pick spent this season playing in Australia for the Sydney Kings.
Since Valentine brought up his brother, it's worth asking if there's a possibility of Denzel joining the Loyola coaching staff down the road. Brothers don't always work well together.
“I would never say never,” Drew said. “He'd be an amazing player development coach and he'd be awesome to have on the bench and he'd have awesome ideas. But I don't know how much of a recruiter he'd want to be in college.
“He could change his mind. We were only teammates for three games in high school. We both got hurt, so it would be fun to be teammates for once finally.”
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports