MSU vs Loyola 3 pm Jan 5th

[Brot4britu]

RAMBLERS have re-joined the BIG TIME--

Bears not that bad--Ramblers not that good--BUT better than most have thought--

Was just a matter of jelling for our young team--The future is now not so bleak-BUT playing next month in Springfield-?? UGH !!!

[Saluki2009]

as someone said earlier road games are tough in the valley lets see how loyola does after traveling to some of the other stadiums. Just look at how many games siu lost last year on the road but were still able to beat a ranked team at home. I would venture to say that it isn't a pleasant experience for any away games for any teams in the valley, because all our teams pride ourselves on having a good home advantage.

[glm38]

I'm disappointed that the Bears lost. But the worst part is how we lost. Loyola was better than I thought and props to them for the W. Losing on the road happens occasionally to the best Valley teams. But the Bears effort and focus was pitiful. A 30 point blowout? Not the team I saw a month ago.

This next game will tell if we are truly a contender (to finish in the top 2/3) or a pretender.

[Snaggletooth]

RAMBLERS have re-joined the BIG TIME--

LOL. You must be talking the Big Time MVC party that starts on a Thursday

[rlh04d]

Both teams are about what I thought. MoSt was overrated based on their SOS, and Loyola has been playing enough close games to play the Evansville role of making the entire conference worse while winning games they shouldn't.

And this idea that people here need to be nicer about Loyola to help them integrate is ridiculous. I don't care what team you're cheering for ... If you're hurting conference RPI and having laughable attendance figures, I don't like you. SIU has been in the Valley for years, and none of us like them right now, either. It's not about being the new kid on the block. It's that your team sucked to this point and now can't do anything but hurt the conference.

You're not going to beat WSU. I just don't want you costing us top 100 RPI wins to get a better seed.

[rlh04d]

as someone said earlier road games are tough in the valley lets see how loyola does after traveling to some of the other stadiums. Just look at how many games siu lost last year on the road but were still able to beat a ranked team at home. I would venture to say that it isn't a pleasant experience for any away games for any teams in the valley, because all our teams pride ourselves on having a good home advantage.

Apparently road games are just tough everywhere, because I wouldn't be putting Loyola as a true Valley road game in their first ever home game.

[Rambler63]

Yes, Loyola fans understand the importance of building a non-con resume and establishing RPI before conference play. We were in the same conference with Butler for 32 years, and watched as they rose in stature as a program. In 1998, we were in a mid major conference that got 3 out of 8 teams in the tournament.

We've been playing basketball for 100 years. We have 2 NIT runner-up finishes, 1 Sweet 16 appearance (two Sweet 16s if you include the 1964 season, which was before the nomenclature and current definiation of Sweet 16), a National Championship, one undefeated season, a coach in the National Basketball Hall of Fame, a #1 NBA draft pick, and a former player who is the father of a future NBA Hall of Famer. We didn't just slip off the back of a turnip truck into the laps of the MVC without any college basketball knowledge or pedigree.

We were officially added to the MVC on April 20, 2013. Our weak non-con schedule was 75% complete by that time, because of prior commitments made while we were in the fading Horizon League. The anticipation is that we will be able to improve our non-con schedule (and home attendance) in the very near future because of our membership in a more prestigious conference. Even so, we beat UW-Milwaukee, who beat Bradley and UNI.

We understand all these things. We know these things. Yes, we sucked in the non-con season--- no doubt about it. We feel bad and very embarrassed about it. So what do you all expect us to do now, lay down and die at every conference game tip-off for the rest of the year?

[Play Angry]

Nope.

We expect you to not be royally butthurt that the rest of the league isn't cheering for you. That's pretty much it.

[Saluki2009]

Both teams are about what I thought. MoSt was overrated based on their SOS, and Loyola has been playing enough close games to play the Evansville role of making the entire conference worse while winning games they shouldn't.

And this idea that people here need to be nicer about Loyola to help them integrate is ridiculous. I don't care what team you're cheering for ... If you're hurting conference RPI and having laughable attendance figures, I don't like you. SIU has been in the Valley for years, and none of us like them right now, either. It's not about being the new kid on the block. It's that your team sucked to this point and now can't do anything but hurt the conference.

You're not going to beat WSU. I just don't want you costing us top 100 RPI wins to get a better seed.

lets just be honest here, no one likes illinois state either

[Rambler63]

If you're hurting conference RPI and having laughable attendance figures, I don't like you. SIU has been in the Valley for years, and none of us like them right now, either. It's not about being the new kid on the block. It's that your team sucked to this point and now can't do anything but hurt the conference.

You're not going to beat WSU. I just don't want you costing us top 100 RPI wins to get a better seed.

Please describe how attendance figures affect the rest of the conference, especially when revenue can be made up in television.

Following our win against MSU, their RPI is 84. Ours went up by 30, and is now higher than your non-con opponent Tennesse State or your first conference win against SIU.

The only way Loyola could possibly affect WSU at this point was if we beat you, which is an extremely remote possibility. You guys could go a lacklustre 10-6 the rest of the conference season, and lose on Sunday at Arch Madness, and you'd still get an at-large tournament spot with a 7 seed or better. Please explain to me how our performance could possibly affect 15-0 WSU at this point. How does beating MSU by 2 points or by 32 points affect WSU now? I don't see how Loyola losing to MSU would be any better-- when you beat Loyola twice, it would will just be chalked up to beating a totally inferior team rather than a below-average team.

On February 15, 2009, a pretty bad Loyola team (12-15 overall, 4-11 in the Horizon at the time) travelled to Indianapolis to play #19 Butler (22-2, 13-1 in conference) and beat them 71-67. Butler then lost the next game at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and lost the conference tournament final at home to Cleveland State. Despite all that, Butler got a #9 NCAA tournament seed at large out of the Horizon League. The following two years they made the National Championship game each year, and got the hell out of the league that bent over backwards to make them into a top program.

There's not really any rationality or logic in rooting for Loyola's failure at this point-- unless you're playing us, or unless you're going to fall way off your expected performance. As for getting multiple teams in the tournament, should we be expected to lay down? If getting multiple teams in the tournament is a goal, why shouldn't WSU lay down in the conference tournament final? See how absurd the prospect is when it's presented to you?