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  "path": "/college-sports/2026/03/01/loyola-chicago-ramblers-basketball-drew-valentine-atlantic-10",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-02T02:57:19.699Z",
  "site": "https://chicago.suntimes.com",
  "textContent": "<p>Keep these Three Pointers in mind with one week to go in <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/college-sports\" target=\"_blank\" >college basketball</a>’s regular season:</p><p><b>1. Maybe next year, Ramblers</b></p><p>Is coach Drew Valentine still happy at Loyola?</p><p>‘‘I’d definitely be lying if I said I’m waking up as happy as I’ve been in the past,” he said Sunday, a day after the Ramblers’ 69-66 victory against Richmond.</p><p>Yeah, well, you’d be grumpy, too, if your team were 7-22 overall and in last place at 3-13 in the Atlantic 10.</p><p>But the losing and aggravation are only temporary, Valentine said.</p><p>His explanation for how it has gone so wrong this season is pretty simple: The Ramblers started out with pretty close to an all-new team, then everybody started getting hurt. Second-leading scorer Justin Moore has missed seven games and third-leading scorer Xavier Amos 14. In all, nine players have missed a combined 83 games because of injuries.</p><p>Walk-on Caleb Reese was needed for 16 minutes — and nailed two must-have free throws with 25 seconds left — for Loyola to squeeze past struggling Richmond.</p><p>‘‘Been a bizarre year,’’ Valentine said. ‘‘But my family’s healthy, and I guess that’s all that matters.’’</p><p><b>2. Mighty Michigan</b></p><p>Things can change awfully fast in the college game now that the line between it and pro basketball is essentially nonexistent. Take No. 3 Michigan, which has gone from last place in the Big Ten two seasons ago — Juwan Howard’s flameout as coach — to first at an eye-popping 17-1 under Dusty May.</p><p>It isn’t just May, of course. His team is so big, tough and talented, it pantsed No. 10 Illinois 84-70 on Friday in Champaign and stopped just short of stuffing the whole Illini team into a locker.</p><p>The Illini might be a Final Four kind of team, as many have said throughout the season, but Michigan is — even without guard L.J. Cason, who tore an ACL on Friday — a national-championship kind of team. And there is a mighty big difference.</p><p><b>3. No offense, Billy Donovan</b></p><p>Defending national champ Florida, getting ready to wrap up first place in the SEC, is extremely dangerous, too, having just handed Arkansas coach John Calipari his worst career loss in a 111-77 obliteration. Might the Gators go back-to-back? If so, should the <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/bulls\" target=\"_blank\" >Bulls</a> hire Todd Golden?</p>",
  "title": "Loyola's Drew Valentine addresses 'bizarre' 7-22 season",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-02T03:16:18.722Z"
}