starting point guard and best player was out for the conference road game in a fairly unfriendly arena

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

A shame after such a great season they wont make the big dance

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Probably because of big conference bias. They are in the upper 40s in RPI and mid 50s in the other ranking so they should be pretty close to in on the top 68

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Damn shame what happened to Hank

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Love that he had the championship shirt on the whole game. That is the smile of a man who finally be able to leave Loyola for greener pastures next month.

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Missouri Valley Conference Champions!

That is pretty good that they stepped up in the quality of conference, competed pretty quickly and then won it within five years. It is a little less impressive that they won it when Wichita State left.

24-5 with an RPI of 41.

Home game against third place Illinois State to close out the regular season. Hopefully it is not a let down game sandwiched between winning the conference and the start of the conference tournament.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

on the UIC front, they sit in third place but one game out of first. They place the two teams in front of them to close out the regular season so a conference championship is still a possibility. This is a nice rebound year for the Flames. Either way they will be a darkhorse for the conference tournament. It would be cool to get two Chicago teams in the NCAAs, even if they are not the big boys.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Missouri Valley is similar to the Horizon league at this point.

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Missouri Valley #10 based on BPI. Horizon #22. That is out of 32 conferences and as of January 18. Obviously the MVC is a true mid major in the top third of all conferences, including just a few ticks below the big, bad Pac 12 who is #7. Horizon is in the bottom third below conferences like the Ivy.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

closed out the regular season by beating the #2 and 3 teams in the conference.

25-5 with an RPI of 32. That really should be enough to be a lock for the tourney. I don't think they are.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

MVC MVP, Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year

Two of those three are back next year. They have an excellent freshman class that will mature into sophmores including, for RR's enjoyment, a player from Morgan Park. I read somewhere that they have some 3.5 star, 6'9" recruit from Florida coming in next year as well. They are well poised for another run next year and should have the benefit of the doubt they haven't been getting in rankings this year. I look for them to open with top 25 votes.

I expect Moser to parlay this season into a better gig but I think this job would now be an attractive first job for a top assistant in a nation wide search.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Very, very good book:

Ramblers: Loyola Chicago 1963 — The Team that Changed the Color of College Basketball

I just want to know if our Dolphin is going to be making a game appearance for their opening round weekend?

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

You also have to worry about power 5 teams coming in and convincing kids to transfer up.

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They aren't THAT good of players. The MVP will be a senior next year. No way he transfers. In fact, he talked one of his friends to transfer in to LU. The freshman is one of those big, burly guys who wouldn't impress with athleticism. The other rising sophomores had minimal roles that wouldn't stand out but should be pushing for playing time. They wouldn't sniff the court until senior year in big time programs

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Moser runs a good system that doesn't rely on a single great scorer - as long as he continues to stick to those principles, he will be successful there.

Ramblers escape in a close one. On to round 2 against Bradley or Drake. I expect them to have gotten rid of their anxiety and roll in round 2.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

So are you going full meatball and making plans for the Big Dance? Inquiring minds want to know

_________________
There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

No. I have professional things to do during round 1. Then I have to coach on the weekend. The title defense begins in one month.

I would bet university will have a watching party somewhere. I might go to that.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Hopefully not an NIT watch party. Everything I see online says they have no real shot at an at large despite the RPI. Low SOS and a couple of bad losses and only one real win.

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Semi final game this afternoon - Loyola vs Bradley; Loyola RPI now at 31; still think a win today and a close loss in the championship game gets the Ramblers an at large bid ( probably one of those play in games, but better than nothing)

How Loyola-Chicago built a March Madness dark horse out of thin air

At least the state of Illinois will produce one team for sure....

Looks like they are going to be in the big dance.

I watched that MVC championship game and they are pretty impressive on D and transition pretty well too -- I wouldn't want to face them in the first round.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

Yep; put the hurt on ISU.

First invite in 33 years.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

I really hope they make the round of 16. I grew up loving DePaul, but oddly I really liked Loyola almost as much. Especially with teams loaded with Chicago kids.

_________________
There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

It is nice to see 2 local programs (Northwestern and Loyola) make a rare tourney appearance the last 2 years.

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Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

The Demons were all this city had for a while

Yep remember watching them on WGN on the weekends

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Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."