We’ll be doing NCAA Tournament profiles for all automatic bid conference winners leading up to Selection Sunday, for links to others, see bottom of this post.

Conference: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (24-8)

Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Famous Alum: Novelist Tom Clancy and ABC Sports anchor Jim McKay.

They’re Back! This is only the second time Loyola has made the NCAA Tournament. The only other appearance was in 1994, when they were a 15 seed and lost to Arizona (the team with Damon Stoudamire and Khalid Reeves that reached the championship game) 

Resume: They have wins over Bucknell and Iona. Loyola also lost at Kentucky by 24.

Notable Player(s): Honestly, the coach, Jimmy Patsos, is going to be the star of the show. Patsos was a former bartender at the Third Edition near Georgetown University, and a long-time assistant with Gary Williams at Maryland. He is famous for double teaming Stephen Curry for an entire game in 2008 as his team lost by 30 to Davidson.

The Greyhounds have four players averaging between 11 and 14 points (Dylon Cormier, Erik Etherly, Robert Olson, and Justin Drummond)

Team Style/Strengths: The Greyhound nickname is a bit ironic as they play at a deliberate pace and will look to slow down and frustrate the higher seed they draw. They have pretty good size along the front line, and can bring in four different players at least 6’7″. Not a great shooting team, they will rely on getting on the boards and getting to the free throw line.

All-Important Rankings: 81 (RPI), 133 (Pomeroy)

Projected Outlook/Seed: Loyola is going to be right on the 14 seed/15 seed cut line, and could fall in either slot based on their current RPI. They’ll be rooting for upsets in the MAC, Horizon, Sun Belt, Patriot and Big Sky to move solidly into the 14 seed slot.

[photo via US Presswire]

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