Welcome Loyola - Part 2

[iSASO]

Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Doug Elgin said Loyola will provide natural rivalries, pointing out Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Bradley and Indiana State all are in proximity.

"We have alumni fans up here who have been bugging me for years to bring in one of the local schools as a member," Elgin said. "We're going to help Loyola as much as Loyola is going to help us."

Loyola last made the NCAA Tournament in 1985.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/04/19/276925 ... rylink=cpy

Welcome Ramblers!

[rlh04d]

I know I've been very negative about the add, but on the positive side, the 2-7 record in one possession games I believe is pretty encouraging. Over time you'd expect that to even out, so they were probably better than their record says last year.

Might be wrong on that record, but something close to that.

[ahunte1]

Lost 7 conference games by a combined 12 points, including the first round of the tournament. Painful.

[uniftw]

I know I've been very negative about the add, but on the positive side, the 2-7 record in one possession games I believe is pretty encouraging. Over time you'd expect that to even out, so they were probably better than their record says last year.

Might be wrong on that record, but something close to that.

Lost 7 conference games by a combined 12 points, including the first round of the tournament. Painful.

Kenpom does a "Luck" metric...I don't know the exact formula, but it takes into account avg margin, pace, a other things and decides how "lucky"/"unlucky" teams are...it's kind of interesting.

Loyola was 321st out of 347 in the luck category...looking into that it's pretty clear that they could have 4-7 more wins.

Let's just play a game..I know it's all hypothetical and doesn't mean anything but...

If Loyola won 4 of those conference games (including the tournament game) that puts them at 19-12, top half of the conference and likely in the CIT/CBI.


For comparison here is how the MVC finished in luck...


SIU 61ST
Bradley 68th
Indiana State 72nd
MSU 124th
Drake 171st
WSU 184th
Creighton 206th
Eville 212th
UNI 269th
Illinois State 335th


Shows how different the season could have turned for a couple teams, good and bad, if the ball had bounced just a touch differently..

[MVCfans]

Good article by Kirk Wessler:

So the presidents considered four schools: UIC, UMKC, Valparaiso — and Loyola University Chicago, which Friday was officially introduced as the Missouri Valley’s newest member.

Got better ideas?

There aren’t any. Creighton has become a regular NCAA qualifier and gained national recognition. Other Midwestern schools with Creighton’s basketball profile in the 21st century play in the Big Ten and Big XII, or will join (or hope to join) the Bluejays in the re-formulated Big East.

The Valley sought potential. What available institution is best positioned to commit the resources necessary to eventually compete for MVC basketball championships?

Loyola — the largest Jesuit university in the nation, its campus located on the Lake Michigan shoreline in the nation’s No. 3 television market, with an endowment reported in excess of $600 million and the basketball-rich playgrounds of Chicago on its doorstep — has potential.

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/wessler/x1 ... a-plan-yet

[rlh04d]

Got better ideas?

There aren’t any.

I'm tired of hearing this. Yes there were better ideas. You can argue that Loyola was the best of the four considered, but you cannot argue the four that were considered were the best options.

[uniftw]

Got better ideas?

There aren’t any.

I'm tired of hearing this. Yes there were better ideas. You can argue that Loyola was the best of the four considered, but you cannot argue the four that were considered were the best options.

Yes....Dayton, SLU, Cinci, etc... are all better choices.....I'm sure conversations were had with pretty much every school possible....

[rlh04d]

Got better ideas?

There aren’t any.

I'm tired of hearing this. Yes there were better ideas. You can argue that Loyola was the best of the four considered, but you cannot argue the four that were considered were the best options.

Yes....Dayton, SLU, Cinci, etc... are all better choices.....I'm sure conversations were had with pretty much every school possible....

And Denver, ORU, Murray State, Belmont, etc., etc., etc.

You can argue that none of our choices were PERFECT, but is there one single person here who wouldn't argue those schools would be better adds than UMKC, who DID make the final cut of four schools we were considering?

[uniftw]

And Denver, ORU, Murray State, Belmont, etc., etc., etc.

You can argue that none of our choices were PERFECT, but is there one single person here who wouldn't argue those schools would be better adds than UMKC, who DID make the final cut of four schools we were considering?

Denver said no a long time ago.

ORU has a lot of other issues that HAVE to be taken into consideration. I know as sports fans we didn't want too, but the fact is if our universities were going to associate with them they were going to be considered.

Murray State was a decent option. We don't know if they wanted it. They have good natural rivalries and history in the OVC. Seriously, look at how tight the OVC is.They have a lot in common institutionally with other OVC schools. We don't know if they wanted to leave that behind. There is also the football issue. The MVFC really doesn't want to add more schools...the non-football schools didn't really want a public school WITH FOOTBALL to add into the mix.

Belmont would have been very nice, I don't disagree. However, some of the same things with Murray State apply there as well. Belmont is within 2 or 3 hours of 6 conference mates in the OVC (same with Murray State). They just joined the OVC 8 months ago... Would I have liked to see Belmont? You bet. Second largest private institution in the state, behind only Vandy, in a decent market size, etc... We don't know what they said/wanted though


There is a lot more to all of this other than the simplified version we all want to play out in our heads on on this forums...

[rlh04d]

Denver said no a long time ago.

What I've heard is that Denver said no because the Valley wanted to force them to start up baseball (it's almost May and still snowing in Denver ...) and pay for travel costs for the conference. If an offer of membership was made to Denver on the same rules it was made to Loyola, they likely would not have said no. If that discussion we had with Denver is true, that's insulting and I wouldn't blame Denver for never wanting to talk to the Valley again about membership.

Your argument is essentially that the Valley isn't good enough to attract those programs I just mentioned, other than ORU. If we're now at the point where we can't take programs from the Summit League or the Ohio Valley, that says a lot about this conference.