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Indiana State star Robbie Avila is transferring to Saint Louis, he announced Saturday. Avila will follow his head coach Josh Schertz, who was hired by Saint Louis following the end of the season.
Avila, a sophomore, averaged 17.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game for the Sycamores last year, leading the team to a 32-7 record and an NIT championship game appearance.
The Billikens went 13-20 last year before firing head coach Travis Ford.
Coming out of high school, Avila was a 2-star prospect according to 247Sports, but his outstanding play during the 2023-24 season made him one of the top transfers. He was considered to be a 4-star transfer prospect and the No. 43 overall player in the portal by 247Sports.
While Avila likely had his choice of Power 6 schools, he said his relationship with Schertz ultimately led him to Saint Louis, per the St. Louis-Dispatch's Stu Durando.
"I believed in him when he recruited me to Indiana State and it went well there, so I didn't see a reason to change it up," Avila said. "I was convinced from the beginning to follow him here. The biggest thing that draws me to him is he's up front and honest and we've had a good deal the last few years."
The fan favorite among college basketball fans will be a big part of Saint Louis' rebuild. He was the runner-up for the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and will have a good chance to take home the A10 Player of the Year award in 2024.
The news of Avila's transfer comes after the Billikens' star player from last season, Gibson Jimerson, announced he would return for his final season after entering the transfer portal. Jimerson averaged 15.8 points per game last year.
With Jimerson returning and Avila joining, Saint Louis could make a run at the NCAA tournament next season.
After the departure of head coach Josh Schertz, the exodus of Indiana State players continued on Tuesday.
According to Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde, Indiana State center Robbie Avila plans to enter the transfer portal, making him the fifth Sycamores starter to do so.
Forde noted that "it would make sense" if some of the players followed Schertz to Saint Louis.
Avila became a national sensation this year during his breakout season in which he averaged 17.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists and earned first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors. He was nicknamed "Cream Abdul-Jabbar" for his trademark goggles and his skills in the low post.
Rick Semmler of Sports 10 noted that Avila will be "in the NIL open market at his next school" and is "looking at a minimum of $250K" in NIL money going forward.
Indiana State fell short of the NCAA tournament as one of the first four out, and the team went on a run to the NIT Championship before falling to Seton Hall in the title game.
Schertz was hired by Saint Louis shortly after Indiana State's season came to an end. He received a contract worth $2 million annually, making him one of the highest-paid coaches in the Atlantic 10, per Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.
In addition to Avila's planned departure from Indiana State, guards Ryan Conwell, Isaiah Swope, Jayson Kent and Julian Larry also have entered the transfer portal.
Each player averaged over 11 or more points this season, so they should receive a solid amount of interest from other schools.
The Seton Hall Pirates are NIT champions for the first time since 1953.
Senior guard/forward Dre Davis made a clutch layup Thursday night to seal Seton Hall's 79-77 NIT championship game victory over Indiana State.
It was part of a wild end to the game for Seton Hall:
After heading into halftime tied 39-39, Seton Hall fell into a late deficit.
The Pirates then went on a nine-point run to finish the game, leading to senior Seton Hall guard Al-Amir Dawes tying the score at 77-77 with a three-point jump shot with just over one minute left.
After the win, Dawes was named the NIT MVP.
The tight game between the two teams, as well as the highlight-reel plays in crunch time by Davis and Dawes, led fans to question why Seton Hall wasn't granted an NCAA tournament bid.
The snub was a surprise for the Pirates, who won six of their last seven games, made it to the Big East Tournament quarterfinals and ranked No. 32 in the NCAA's NET rankings before being listed as one of the "first four out" of the Round of 68.
The Pirates finished the season with a 25-12 record and an NIT crown for head coach Shaheen Holloway.
Holloway was hired as the program's head coach in March 2022 after leading No. 15 seed Saint Peter's on an upset-packed run to the NCAA tournament's Elite Eight.
Now Holloway will look to guide Seton Hall on a similar journey next season as the program fights for a ticket to the next Big Dance.
Once Indiana State's NIT run concludes, college basketball fans might continue to see plenty of Sycamores center Robbie Avila.
Avila told TMZ Sports he has seen his NIL profile grow significantly after becoming a breakout star of the 2023-24 season.
"Obviously, I've had a couple of eyewear companies reach out to kinda brand with my goggles," he said. "Being able to take full advantage of this is, you know, something I'm able to do here."
Avila is averaging 17.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists this season with Indiana State notching its most wins (31) since finishing as the national runner-up in 1979.
The sophomore's performance on the court would've inevitably garnered some attention on its own. His signature goggles helped him become a viral sensation, one spawning as many nicknames as Shaquille O'Neal.
When the NCAA ushered in the NIL era, the top stars in a given sport stood to benefit in a big way. Proportionally speaking, the likes of Avila might be the bigger winners, though. In a previous time, the 6'10" big man wouldn't have been able to cash in a period when his mainstream popularity is at its zenith.
Now, Avila can have something tangible to show from his time in the limelight.
Sister Jean brought the heat at The Friendly Confines Monday night.
The famous nun from Loyola Chicago turned 104 this August and got a chance to show off at Wrigley Field as she threw the first pitch before the Chicago Cubs matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Sister Jean wound up and fired the ball to Cubs Mascot Clark the Club and it appeared to be a solid strike.
This isn't her first rodeo with throwing out the first pitch at Wrigley as she also celebrated her 103rd birthday in similar fashion.
She came to fame during the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball tournament as a supporter of the Loyola Chicago basketball team that reached the Final Four.
No. 7 seed Ohio State is moving on to the Round of 32 after a 54-41 victory over No. 10 seed Loyola Chicago in the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament on Friday.
Ohio State limped into the tournament with seven losses in its last 13 games after starting the season 13-4. The Buckeyes ranked 263rd in the nation in defensive rating (103.9), per Sports Reference.
The Ramblers had won at least two tournament games in each of their last three appearances, dating back to 1985. First-year head coach Drew Valentine led his team to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament title on the strength of a defense that allowed 50.3 points per game during its three wins.
Neither team put their best foot forward in this game. Ohio State was able to do enough on offense to get the win, but it's not one that will likely go on the season highlight reel.
Both teams combined for 41 points in the first half, with the Buckeyes leading by five points.
Ohio State started to look better in the second half. It was still a slog for both sides, but E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham did everything in their power to lift the Buckeyes to a win. They combined for 30 of the team's 54 points.
Braden Norris was the only Ramblers player who had anything going on offense. He had 14 of the 29 points scored by the starting five.
Notable Game Stats
Buckeyes' Stars Shine in Victory
Coming into the tournament, Liddell felt like the Buckeyes were being underestimated because of how their roster looked down the stretch in the regular season.
Both Zed Key and Kyle Young were able to play. Key played sparingly off the bench after playing just seven minutes against Michigan in the Big Ten tournament.
Young returned to the starting lineup after sitting out three games with an illness and a concussion. He had a solid impact with nine points and seven rebounds.
There are plenty of areas for Ohio State to clean up moving forward, but its best players stepped up huge on Friday against Loyola Chicago.
Liddell made an impact on both ends of the court. He led all players with 10 rebounds and had three blocks.
The junior forward is averaging 19.0 points per game over the past three games.
Malaki Branham remains the most efficient scorer on the Buckeyes roster. The freshman went 5-of-7 from the field.
One thing that wasn't working for Ohio State was three-point shooting. The team missed all nine of its three-point attempts in the first half and only went 1-of-15 behind the arc in the win.
The most notable difference between the Buckeyes on Friday and during their late-season swoon was on the defensive end. They were fantastic at staying in front of the ball and helping when Loyola Chicago tried to attack the basket.
If this is the kind of defensive effort Chris Holtmann can expect from his team on a nightly basis, they have all of the pieces in place to win multiple tournament games.
Ice-Cold Shooting Spoils Ramblers' Tournament Hopes
It's going to be hard for any team in the tournament to sink as low as Loyola Chicago's offense did against Ohio State.
While the Buckeyes certainly deserve credit for showing more effort on the defensive end of the court than they have in weeks, the Ramblers did a lot to hurt themselves.
They made just three of 10 free-throw attempts and shot 27.3 percent from the field overall. There was nowhere on the floor they could find success putting the ball in the basket.
There was no indication coming into this game that Loyola Chicago was going to have issues putting the ball in the basket.
Friday's shooting performance was historic, though not in a way that Loyola Chicago will want to remember.
The Ramblers ranked 31st in the nation in offensive rating (110.5), per Sports-Reference.com.
Norris was the one Loyola Chicago player who was making anything. The junior guard was the only player on the team who broke double-digits in scoring. He made four of the team's eight three-pointers in the loss.
The Ramblers had an 11-8 advantage in offensive rebounds and had nine steals, but would routinely struggle to turn those extra chances into points. This is a game that they will look back on with frustration at all the opportunities they missed.
Despite the difficult ending to the season, the 2021-22 campaign was a success on the whole. Their 25 wins were tied for the sixth-most in school history.
What's Next?
Ohio State will play the Delaware-Villanova winner in the Round of 32 on Sunday.
This article will be updated shortly to provide more information on this game.
Loyola of Chicago became the latest university to shift its conference allegiances Tuesday, announcing it plans to leave the Missouri Valley Conference for the Atlantic 10 beginning in 2022-23.
Loyola President Jo Ann Rooney issued a statement about the decision:
I am excited to announce that Loyola University Chicago will be joining the Atlantic 10 Conference beginning in the 2022-23 academic year. The A-10 is widely regarded as one of the top leagues in the country for its success in competition and in the classroom. This move will continue to grow our visibility at a national level, while at the same time placing us in a league with three other Jesuit institutions. We are confident this is a move that positions Loyola for even greater success, both athletically and academically, in the future.
Loyola has emerged as one of the best mid-major men's basketball programs in the country in recent seasons. The Ramblers reached the Final Four in 2018 and the Sweet 16 last season under Porter Moser, who left the program for Oklahoma in April.
New head coach Drew Valentine has Loyola off to a 2-0 start this season.
Oklahoma and Texas kicked off the recent trend of realignment, announcing plans to leave the Big 12 for the SEC in 2025. The Big 12 then added BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston, which led to the American Athletic Conference landing Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA, all of which came from Conference USA.
C-USA rebounded by picking up Liberty, New Mexico State, Sam Houston and Jacksonville State. It also lost Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss to the Sun Belt.
Nearly all of these moves were centered around football; Loyola's move is basketball-centric. The Atlantic 10 has not sponsored football since 2006.
Loyola's departure was the latest blow for to the Missouri Valley Conference, long a mid-major staple that has been weakening over the last decade. Creighton departed for the Big East in 2013, and Wichita State departed for the AAC in 2017.
The MVC has seemingly become a stepping stone for programs to turn themselves into mid-major powers before finding greener pastures elsewhere.
The players won't be the only ones jumping if Loyola-Chicago advances to the Final Four in the 2021 NCAA men's tournament.
"I'll be jumping around, literally, not figuratively, I'll be jumping around as much as they are," Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt said, per Adam Rittenberg of ESPN. "It will just be a great thrill if they get to the Final Four again, or even go up a couple steps more. I will hardly believe that it happened. Last time, I thought to myself, 'I will never see anything like this again.'"
The 101-year-old team chaplain was in attendance for the Ramblers' first-round victory over Georgia Tech and second-round stunner over top-seeded Illinois.
She certainly knows what championship basketball looks like considering she saw the Ramblers take home the 1963 national championship.
"I waited since 1963, because I saw that game too," she said. "If we got this, it would be perfect. They're working toward it, and I believe they still can do it. One never knows what's going to happen in a basketball game on the floor that night."
If Sister Jean really is jumping around after a Final Four run this year, the basketball won't be the only appointment viewing.
The 2020-21 Loyola of Chicago Ramblers had no business being a No. 8 seed.
Within moments of the final buzzer sounding on a dominant 71-58 victory over No. 1 seed Illinois, the word "Cinderella" had already been uttered multiple times by announcers and studio analysts alike.
But this time around, the glass slipper simply doesn't fit.
The Ramblers went 21-4 during the regular season, steamrolling their way through the Missouri Valley Conference and winning their three conference tournament games by a combined 50 points to secure an automatic bid.
The most recent AP poll, released on March 15, shows Loyola-Chicago at No. 17 ahead of the likes of Villanova, Creighton, Purdue, Texas Tech, Colorado, BYU, USC and Virginia Tech.
All of those teams were seeded higher than the Ramblers—some by as many as four seed lines.
Simple math says the No. 17 team in the nation should be a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament, and while the selection committee does not adhere to the AP poll by any means, a disparity of three seed lines is still a bit of a head-scratcher.
The KenPom rankings paint an even clearer picture of just how good this Ramblers team has been.
They rank No. 7 overall, behind only Gonzaga, Michigan, Houston, Baylor, Illinois and Iowa, and lay claim to the No. 1 ranking in adjusted defensive efficiency.
That pesky defense was on full display Sunday.
The Illini turned the ball over 17 times, six of which came from All-American guard Ayo Dosunmu, and they never found any sort of rhythm aside from a solid two-minute stretch to close out the first half. The 58 points scored by Illinois were its lowest point total of the season.
Meanwhile, with a patient half-court attack and the versatility of big man Cameron Krutwig, the Ramblers put on a clinic on the offensive end.
They shot 51 percent from the floor, a mark exceeded by only three teams against the Illini defense this season, and they found easy basket after easy basket late in the shot clock.
It all starts with Krutwig.
The Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and a holdover from the 2018 Final Four team when he started as a true freshman, he filled up the box score with 19 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Beyond the counting stats, his ability to play on the perimeter and run the offense pulled Kofi Cockburn out of the paint, opening things up underneath offensively.
And while the 6'9" senior center was the focal point Sunday, this is far from a one-dimensional attack.
Senior guard Lucas Williamson averages a modest 8.6 points per game, but he dropped a season-high 21 on 8-of-13 shooting against Georgia Tech in their opening-round win. The MVC Defensive Player of the Year is another holdover from the 2018 squad.
Guards Braden Norris (8.4 PPG, 52 3PT, 40.9 3PT%) and Keith Clemons (38 3PT, 45.8 3PT%) are both knockdown shooters from the outside, and Norris leads the team with 3.1 assists per game as the starting point guard.
Even when Krutwig needs a breather, the team can turn to 6'10" freshman Jacob Hutson, who has played his way into the rotation as the season has progressed. He tallied five points, two rebounds and one block in seven minutes of action Sunday.
There is no future lottery pick or 5-star recruit on this roster.
It's just a deep, talented, fundamentally sound team that has fully bought into the philosophy of head coach Porter Moser. They executed a well-crafted game plan to a T on Sunday to send a really good Illinois team packing in lopsided fashion.
So save the Cinderella talk for teams like North Texas and Oral Roberts.
This Loyola-Chicago squad is a bona fide Final Four threat, and it has been since before the NCAA tournament ever began.
All stats courtesy of Sports Reference.
