Week 1 Games

[Salukimadness86]

Congrats to Evansville. They shot the lights out tonight. Seventeen threes! Curtis is a high quality player, and you have a solid experienced coach. Mullins needs to learn from this one.

[Dansen]

Back to back 30 point wins for Loyola against ISU-R.

Bench got to play a bunch of minutes for Loyola. ISU-R has some nice young pieces, Strong and Reeves both look solid. Krutwig is probably in the drivers seat for Valley POY

[Blers]

Back to back 30 point wins for Loyola against ISU-R.

Bench got to play a bunch of minutes for Loyola. ISU-R has some nice young pieces, Strong and Reeves both look solid. Krutwig is probably in the drivers seat for Valley POY

DJ Horne can play too...where do ISU fans stand on their year so far? I know their still super young...

In regards to POY worth keeping an eye on Penn from Drake as well.

[Bulldog2323]

So after the first round of double games:

-Loyola meets expectations blowing out Illinois State
-UNI & Indiana State both brought completely different efforts today. Drake was able to come back while MSU wasn't able to recover from a 16-0 start disaster.
-The SIU/Evansville matchups were absolutely surprising. Hats off to the Aces. Hopefully illinois State will do better against non-Loyola competition and we'll have 10 teams that can win any game on a given night.
-No info yet on Bradley/Valpo. We know from the last two years not to count Bradley out until they're on the losing side in March. How/if Valpo can recover from their outbreak will likely determine their success if any.

Outside of the Loyola-Illinois State games, it was re-affirmed/confirmed that just because you win the first game doesn't mean the second is automatic by any stretch.

[Blers]

Outside of the Loyola-Illinois State games, it was re-affirmed/confirmed that just because you win the first game doesn't mean the second is automatic by any stretch.

For what it’s worth game two against ISU felt much different. ISU played a completely different game. Way more physical, blitzed the ball screens hard. Loyola won by more but it felt closer. A lot chippier. Kinda fun getting to go back to back.

[Mac13]

Very impressed with Drake and Loyola. Those two would be fun to watch in the Valley championship!!

[usmcsaluki]

Congrats to Evansville! Curtis is the real deal - wow; the rest of the Valley better be able to guard the 3 when they play the Aces.

[JustPlainNormal]

The Redbirds will struggle most of the season until they develop an inside game, both offensively and defensively. The loss of Fisher hurts offensively. No real threat yet has emerged, though Mahorcic may get better as the season goes on, so a lot of pressure on the perimeter people presently. Horne and Strong have been solid and the freshman Fleming has shown flashes of good play. Defensively we give up way too many points in the paint. Realistically , this will be a tough season for Illinois State. Hopefully lessons will be learned this year and they come back much better next season. Though HC Dan Muller has a few more years on his contract, Redbird Nation is, understandably very frustrated.
With a new AD just hired you never know what will happen!!

[municup14]

Walter McCarty is looking for a coaching job.Are your sororities open.