MSU vs Loyola 3 pm Jan 5th

[ACECARD]

I watched that game.

I saw Loyola do some really nice things. I thought their bigs played better than MSU's bigs. I thought they were aggressive on offensive and passed the ball around well. I don't think this game was just MSU not showing up.

Thought the JUCO kid for MSU had a few nice moments, Marshall seemed solid when he played but seemed like he got in the dog house the second half with the coach or something. Thurman seemed to have a nice 5 minute stretch or so. The little guard from Maryland, I think, had some very nice moments as well. Sorry can't think of the names right now.

I was rooting for MSU simply due to the RPI thing but am also happy that Loyola got their first MVC victory. At least now for the moment the Valley no longer has any 300 RPI teams.

The way the Aces are playing right now, they are a 300 RPI team. Two Valley games, two beat downs, and a loss to a SWAC team at home. What, me worry?

[BEARZ77]

What we saw in this game is the reason at least some of us MSU fans are still very concerned as to whether Lusk was a good choice. I had been taking some heat at our fan board because I was not overly enamored with our 11-2 record, but there are others as or more concerned than I've been. I try to give credit for the things I like and be direct about what I don't, and Lusk has been an easy to compile list of both for me.

I like the fact he's tried to rebuild primarily with HS kids , and while he's missed on a couple already, overall I like the talent he is assembling. He also seems to be building some balance and depth across multiple positions and classes. He seems to be a genuine person and concerned about the type of young man he recruits and their overall success. He sticks to what he believes philosophically.

I hate his offensive and defensive systems. Offensively he relies too much on individual talent and does not adjust well to what teams do to take things away or limit us. He's dependent on each individual winning their battle with the guy guarding them and does little to tilt the field. He does seem to have a good grasp of what his players strengths are, but just doesn't help them much. Our offense is based on a lot of people standing while someone else dribbles a lot; a whole lot of both.

Defensively I have not figured out what we want to do for 6 years now as Lusk seems to have just continued what Zo implemented. Collectively we don't pressure, jump passing lanes, front the post, trap or basically try to take anything away that I can tell. Sometimes teams have bad shooting nights or are sloppy with the ball and we consider ourselves to have had a good night defensively. We have one truly great defender [Pickens] playing in a bad system with maybe 2-3 other guys who have some defensive abilities.[ Gulley has good instincts on jumping passing lanes, Williams is a strong/physical guard, McCullough shows some promise]

Lusk is conservative in approach and in most in-game decisions. He seems slow to develop his personnel and makes decisions too much on what someone can't do instead of maximizing what they can. Typical of that thinking he is always trying to adjust to what the other team is doing instead of making them adjust to our strengths. We hear an awful lot about how good the other team is and why we had trouble guarding them.

I think in general Bear fans are hopeful Lusk is smart enough as a young coach to recognize his deficit areas and learn and adjust as our roster improves. Another concern is he has surrounded himself with guys from the exact spawning ground as himself, and therefore has a very limited brain trust for change or modification in place.

We won two games we shouldn't have and were way too satisfied with the result instead of focusing on the level of play. Now we got thoroughly embarrassed as a result, and are entering a really tough stretch in the MVC schedule. My guess is it gets ugly for a bit and then we see if Lusk can adapt of not.

[moshock]

We won two games we shouldn't have and were way too satisfied with the result instead of focusing on the level of play. Now we got thoroughly embarrassed as a result, and are entering a really tough stretch in the MVC schedule. My guess is it gets ugly for a bit and then we see if Lusk can adapt of not.

What two games should you have lost ?

What is the problem with Gavin ? I'm reading on your board that "Gavin will have to earn his time". Is he giving the coach problems or ???

Hopefully - the Loyola loss is not the start of a downward spiral for you guys.

[matter_of_fact]

Attendance of 1,024 for the first home game against a conference opponent in your new conference is absolutely unbelievable! At least, there is a lot of room for improvement.

[shocktheheart]

Attendance of 1,024 for the first home game against a conference opponent in your new conference is absolutely unbelievable! At least, there is a lot of room for improvement.

I went to a high school tournament at Koch arena on Saturday that had more people there than that.

[Cdizzle]

Attendance of 1,024 for the first home game against a conference opponent in your new conference is absolutely unbelievable! At least, there is a lot of room for improvement.

Not that much. Their arena isn't that big.

[shocktheheart]

Attendance of 1,024 for the first home game against a conference opponent in your new conference is absolutely unbelievable! At least, there is a lot of room for improvement.

Not that much. Their arena isn't that big.

Holds 5,200 correct?

[AndShock]

Attendance of 1,024 for the first home game against a conference opponent in your new conference is absolutely unbelievable! At least, there is a lot of room for improvement.

Can we really be too hard on them when ISUr only drew 1,060?

[shocktheheart]

Attendance of 1,024 for the first home game against a conference opponent in your new conference is absolutely unbelievable! At least, there is a lot of room for improvement.

Can we really be too hard on them when ISUr only drew 1,060?

Both numbers are pathetic. High school gyms hold more than that.

[CaliRdBrd]

Sounds like your anger should be placed toward Creighton for leaving, or at the very least toward some other longtime member of the conference for not stepping up to replace Creighton's RPI, attendance and SOS-- since 8 MVC teams were in a much better position to do that since April.

Now that we're a member of the MVC, it will be much easier for us to compose a schedule that helps to protect everybody's RPI. Take a look at Horizon League non-con schedules to see what kind of scheduling deals were possible for us before we joined the MVC.

No, we're never going to match Wichita State's attendance, and probably not even Bradley's attendance. Yes, we're a different and unfamiliar animal for MVC fans-- an urban, private school, very few of which are able to take over the imagination of a city that has multiple major league pro sports teams.

It's not our fault that there wasn't a ready-made, successful, high-attendance, basketball-oriented school within the league footprint that was willing to join the MVC. The other alternatives, as I understand it, were Belmont, UIC, Valpo, and UMKC. Denver never considered membership, and Belmont passed. We were not only willing to join, but wildly eager to do so. We paid off the Horizon to get the hell out, and paid admission to join. We made significant future financial commitments to join. We've made substantial facilities upgrades in the multiple tens of millions of dollars to create an infrastructure that was acceptable to the league, with more upgrades on the way. We are academically and financially at or near the top of the conference. We are in a market with the best transportation in the midwest and the largest market size in the midwest.

I'll accept the barbs about how much we sucked in the non-con, and apologize to everyone else in the league as a longtime Loyola fan and graduate. But when it comes to us not "deserving" to join, or being expected to replace Creighton in every respect out of the box, that's just an unfair and unreasonable expectation.[/quote]

Not that matters what I think, but I like the addition of Loyola for all the reasons stated. Welcome aboard.