Loyola's Rival?

[Veritas]

This?

There's been some chatter in Evansville today about the old rivalry with Loyola back in the 80s and 90s when both were in the MCC

So these two teams competed for league titles back in the 80s and 90s and developed quite the rivalry?
I didn't know that.

[siufan4life]

SIU really hasn't had a massive rivalry since [he who name shall not be uttered] ran the program into the ground. I think Loyola could end up being that rival for SIU, but they probably develop a regional rivalry with Bradley and ISUred or maintain one with UIC if the Flames get added.

[Tom Servo]

Evansville had a pretty good rivalry with them when Dick Walters was the coach from what I've heard from other Aces fans. However, once Crews got there, it wasn't much of a rivalry. Crews was 16-3 against Loyola.

[pafan]

So these two teams competed for league titles back in the 80s and 90s and developed quite the rivalry?
I didn't know that.

This happened twice, as far as I can see in the records: 1982 and 1987. Both years Evansville won the MCC and Loyola was runner-up. Loyola was really a bottom feeder in the MCC starting about 1990, when Evansville was having its best years under Coach Crews.

[Aargh]

Why is UE getting votes? What's the connection between Evansville and LuC?

Projected W/L records for the forseeable future?

[Wufan]

Not that I see Loyola and WSU as rivals, but in the 1960's, when both teams were national top 10, WSU played and beat Loyola twice, once in 1962-63 when they won the national title.

[Veritas]

It must be mostly UE fans voting for their own school. They might have had a connection a few decades ago, but it is hard to imagine that LuC would choose UE as their main rival. Probably not a lot of LuC fans on this board???

OTOH, I'm not sure who is the current UE rival, so perhaps it's a good thing that they can circle the date when LuCUE match up. That's good for the MoVal I suppose.

[Sir Sci]

It must be mostly UE fans voting for their own school. They might have had a connection a few decades ago, but it is hard to imagine that LuC would choose UE as their main rival. Probably not a lot of LuC fans on this board???

OTOH, I'm not sure who is the current UE rival, so perhaps it's a good thing that they can circle the date when LuCUE match up. That's good for the MoVal I suppose.

Normally you don't "choose your main rival, it'd be as fake as KC Royals fans who for whatever reason think they are rivals with Cardinals fans, but Cards fans really have no animosity towards the Royals at all (apart from a singular World Series).

Loyola's fans will end up hating a team through playing them and having negative experiences with that team or that team's fans. It doesn't happen any other way.

[squirrel]

This conversation starts and stops at Bradley. While yes, they were in the same league with Evansville for a few short years, only Eastern Illinois (1912-13) is a longer-running non-conference series for Bradley.

The Bradley-Loyola series dates back to 1928 and the two teams have met 47 times.

Both teams participated in the 1939 NIT, and nearly met in the final, but Bradley lost to LIU who ended up winning. They did meet in the 1949 NIT semifinals. In other words, we were playing in major national tournaments when everybody else was still in diapers.

Both programs helped bring about the integration of college basketball. Bradley's 1957 NIT Champions started 4 black players. 6 years later, Loyola's NCAA Champions did the same.

They were previously in the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference ("Little 19") together and have played in-season home-and-homes in 1928-29, 1931-32, 1941-42, 1952-53, 1979-80, 1984-85, 1985-86 and 1989-90.

A number of the meetings in Chicago were showcase games in the 1950's-70's were part of double headers at Chicago Stadium, and they met once in Evanston.

Outside of Illinois in 2005, the two programs combine for 3 National Championship game appearances and are the only programs in-state with title game appearances.

[squirrel]

The two most logical schools would be Illinois State or Bradley, but the problem is they both already have their main rival as each other.

The BU-ISU rivalry is a manufactured one, though.