Loyola Chicago’s Cameron Krutwig Is The NCAA Men’s Tournament’s Nikola Jokic

Loyola Chicago entered the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament as a favorite Cinderella pick for many, not because they were truly plucky underdogs, but because they were wildly under-seeded as an 8-seed. The Ramblers were a top-10 team in the KenPom rankings, and them being placed as an 8 felt more like the committee trying to create a highly anticipated showdown with top-seeded Illinois in a battle for state supremacy than them accurately placing the Ramblers into the field.

On Sunday, we got that showdown and the Ramblers dominated the Illini, 71-58, behind an historic performance from star big man and fan favorite of college hoops fans everywhere, Cameron Krutwig. Krutwig finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, and four steals, becoming the first player on an 8-seed or higher to put up that stat line against a 1-seed and win.

Krutwig isn’t the first of his kind, as there’s a long lineage of burly white guys who become March legends. There have been plenty of others, from Kevin Pittsnogle to Matt Stainbrook and many more, but Krutwig is the modern iteration of this archetype, playing as much with skill and finesse as he does brute strength. He is college basketball’s Nikola Jokic, a player you can’t believe dominates the game at a high level given his appearance, but when you watch him you can’t help but be enthralled by how a mostly floor-bound big man manages to take over in just about every aspect of a game.

To be clear, Krutwig isn’t the caliber of player Jokic is. He’s not a shooter and isn’t even a super efficient finisher at the rim, and while Jokic’s athleticism has long been the butt of jokes among NBA fans, Jokic is a better athlete than the Loyola big man. The similarities, however, are more than just aesthetic. And it’s hard not to make the comparison when you see how the Ramblers run so much of their offense through Krutwig, both on the block and at the elbow. His patience and refusal to play at any speed other than his own is quite Jokic-like, as he’ll simply stand at the elbow with the ball for three or four seconds, waiting for the teammate he wants to come get the ball on a dribble-handoff. His vision, touch, and timing as a passer is as good as you’ll find from a center at the collegiate level, slipping passes to cutters between defenders and hitting them in stride. While not an elite finisher, his offensive game is predicated on footwork, skill, and if those fail to get him right to the rim, off-rhythm push shots and floaters.

Look at this highlight package from Sunday’s win over Illinois, in which he was up against one of the most dominant physical forces in the country in Kofi Cockburn.

It’s all very Jokic-y. The passing, the footwork, the awkward finishes, even the strip at the end, just knowing Ayo Dosunmu wouldn’t be expecting it and taking advantage just feels very familiar. He doesn’t play above the rim, but he carves out space with that big body and uses leverage as well as anyone to get himself space to put a layup off the glass without being blocked. The play that I think solidified this comp for me more than any other was this touch pass early in the first half, where most players would need to grab the ball and take a beat, he simply bats it back to his teammate in the paint before the defense can recover.

If the Ramblers are going to make another Final Four run, it’ll be on the back of Krutwig’s funky play. We’ve seen the advent of the point forward in the post-LeBron era, as 6’8 creators become far more common and teams simply call on their best players to also initiate the offense. The next evolution is going to be more big men possessing these skills as the offensive orchestrators, not in the sense of bringing the ball up the floor, but once in the halfcourt, they’re the ones dictating and initiating from the elbow or top of the key.

Krutwig, despite looking like a 40-year-old who holds the record for most Portillo’s dogs eaten in one sitting, is that kind of player. The Ramblers have handed him the keys and the results speak for themselves, and as this tournament rolls on we all reap the rewards of watching one of the country’s most unique players dominate.