today's games in the MVC (11/24)

[Black]

have only watched Loyola once but don't tell me I need to see them play every game to say they are struggling.

Well, you must have only watched one half of that game. In each of the games that LU has lost this year, they have looked particularly good in one half and bad in the next. Do they have problems that need to be addressed? Absolutely. Are they as hopeless as you seem to be implying? Not even close.

When you've blown multiple big leads against some really bad teams, I sure have lost hope. Squeaking by a historically bad D1 newbie in SIUE doesn't help your case. Loyola has one of the worst non-con schedules in thee country and they are 3-4 against it so far (1 of them a gift win over SIUE).

Fact is, Loyola has been highly disappointing and are headed the way the majority of people have picked them preseason - a Thursday night destination. If you're picking Thursday night teams right now, you'd be a fool not to have Loyola included in that scenario.

[GoRamblers]

I'm not arguing that there aren't problems. But I'm curious

Loyola has one of the worst non-con schedules in thee country and they are 3-4 against it so far (1 of them a gift win over SIUE)

How do you figure? Is it merely conjecture?

I only ask because Live RPI (which is up to date) has our SOS as 231. Now, unless I'm missing something, we've only played non-conference games. Please explain to me how our non-conference SOS is in the 340-350 range. I'm anxious to hear your response.

[AndShock]

I'm not arguing that there aren't problems. But I'm curious

Loyola has one of the worst non-con schedules in thee country and they are 3-4 against it so far (1 of them a gift win over SIUE)

How do you figure? Is it merely conjecture?

I only ask because Live RPI (which is up to date) has our SOS as 231. Now, unless I'm missing something, we've only played non-conference games. Please explain to me how our non-conference SOS is in the 340-350 range. I'm anxious to hear your response.

RPIForecast.com has Loyola as an expected 350th OoC SoS. There are 351 D1 teams.

[GoRamblers]

I'm not arguing that there aren't problems. But I'm curious

Loyola has one of the worst non-con schedules in thee country and they are 3-4 against it so far (1 of them a gift win over SIUE)

How do you figure? Is it merely conjecture?

I only ask because Live RPI (which is up to date) has our SOS as 231. Now, unless I'm missing something, we've only played non-conference games. Please explain to me how our non-conference SOS is in the 340-350 range. I'm anxious to hear your response.

RPIForecast.com has Loyola as an expected 350th OoC SoS. There are 351 D1 teams.

The Patriots were expected to play it close with the Broncos. That hasn't happened, now has it?

Tell me what HAS happened, not what will. Or, conversely, if you can predict the future, predict the lotto numbers for me. At least that would do some good.

Further, let me add...RPIforecast is updated as of yesterday, not today.

[BradleyBrave]

On paper Loyola looks to have one of the worst schedules I have ever seen, right up there with ISU of a few years back. Ours last year was pretty terrible, but it at least had a couple BCS teams on it...and we won our cupcake Division I games.

Doyle is decent and I like Jeff White, but what else does Loyola have, and what the hell is Porter doing to blow every game in the last 5 minutes?

[Black]

Wow.

You're right. Looking through your list of teams on your schedule, you definitely have proven your point. I guess it's hard to discuss when one of the members of the discussion isn't looking at anything objectively at all.

Obviously, Loyola has already earned our respect and it's up to us to disprove otherwise. Not the reverse.

[GoRamblers]

:roll: Wow.

You're right. Looking through your list of teams on your schedule, you definitely have proven your point. I guess it's hard to discuss when one of the members of the discussion isn't looking at anything objectively at all.

Obviously, Loyola has already earned our respect and it's up to us to disprove otherwise. Not the reverse.

So you have no facts to support your claim. Who's being objective now?

Apparently providing a current SOS to support my claim was not sufficient. I'm not sure what they teach down in Kansas, but we've always been taught to provide sources to support our claims.

Now, at least your brethren, AndShock, provided a 3rd party prediction. He and I may argue about the legitimacy of it, but at least it is a source. All you've provided is "look at the teams." Yea. Really objective.

[AndShock]

The Patriots were expected to play it close with the Broncos. That hasn't happened, now has it?

Tell me what HAS happened, not what will. Or, conversely, if you can predict the future, predict the lotto numbers for me. At least that would do some good.

Further, let me add...RPIforecast is updated as of yesterday, not today.

Sites like RPIForecast are actually pretty accurate within a couple of standard deviations because of the way they balance the numbers and run thousands of simulations. You use the Pats/Broncos example but it's one isolated game, not 10+ games. The Broncos might blow out the Pats 1/10 times, but I doubt they would blow them out every game if they played 10 times. It's possible that Northern Illinois or Fordham will way outperform expectations and end up being solid teams. It's not likely that NIU, Fordham, SIU-E, Tennessee Tech, Tulane, Campbell, UIC, and UC Davis all outperform expectations by 100+ RPI spots. Will Loyola finish with the 350th ranked OoC SoS? Probably not. Will Loyola finish with a 300+ non-con SoS? Probably.

[GoRamblers]

The Patriots were expected to play it close with the Broncos. That hasn't happened, now has it?

Tell me what HAS happened, not what will. Or, conversely, if you can predict the future, predict the lotto numbers for me. At least that would do some good.

Further, let me add...RPIforecast is updated as of yesterday, not today.

Sites like RPIForecast are actually pretty accurate within a couple of standard deviations because of the way they balance the numbers and run thousands of simulations. You use the Pats/Broncos example but it's one isolated game, not 10+ games. The Broncos might blow out the Pats 1/10 times, but I doubt they would blow them out every game if they played 10 times. It's possible that Northern Illinois or Fordham will way outperform expectations and end up being solid teams. It's not likely that UNI, Fordham, SIU-E, Tennessee Tech, Tulane, Campbell, UIC, and UC Davis all outperform expectations by 100+ RPI spots. Will Loyola finish with the 350th ranked OoC SoS? Probably not. Will Loyola finish with a 300+ non-con SoS? Probably.

Generally, I do agree with you. I do highlight the Pats/Broncos as an example given that there has been some statistical analysis showing that the odds of the current result being highly unlikely.

I don't think you'll find me defending this schedule. It sucks, absolutely. Sadly, there are some realities that Universities must face (i.e. honoring existing contracts, rescheduling with short notice) Loyola is currently in that situation.

All of that said, I'd like to thank you for this discussion. I do appreciate when logic dictates response. Clearly that is not to be expected from all posters.

[Black]

Murderer's Row:

Milwaukee
Tennessee Tech
Tulane
Rockhurst
Portland State
UC Davis
SIU-Edwardsville
Mississippi State
Illinois-Chicago
Campbell
Northern Illinois