So here is how another Valley Team looks at LU and its situation
"Loyola has the starting five to compete with anyone. Depth, which seems to be an eternal problem for the Ramblers, is the main question mark.
— Attendance was announced at 1,406, but it seemed like far less. It had the vibe of a high school game.
One of the reasons why Loyola was invited into the league in 2013 was because of the money it said it intended to spend on athletics. I don't know what Loyola's financial situation is at present, but it badly needs to spend some money on marketing (for starters, having a home-and-away radio deal) and making fans aware of its games.
It will never be easy in Chicago with a million things to do there, but Loyola also has access to a population base the rest of the league would kill for, even if you just count Chicago's population on the far north side. Rogers Park, the Chicago community area Loyola is located in, has nearly 55,000 residents alone. Edgewater, directly south of Loyola's campus, has another 56K.
Loyola needs to do a better job of maximizing some of the assets it has, because right now, those promises of athletic ambition made in 2013 ring pretty hollow four years down the line."
Sour Grapes or the Ripe Truth?

I think it’s a little bit of both. We’ve talked about attendance and atmosphere issues here, and understand it’s not as good as it should be each and every game. At the same time, I feel that other fans and reporters around the Valley still feel that Loyola is a bottom dwelling, never has been, never will be school. I’ve had a nice encounter with at least one fan from every school who like Loyola in the Valley, but in trying to keep up with all Valley schools this year, I have noticed a large number of opposing fans who fall into the next paragraph or two. I guess that’s the problem moving up in conferences and replacing a team like Creighton.

Many WSU fans have an elitist mentality where they think that they can do no wrong and everyone else likes to see them lose, so they make fun of Loyola for everything. Other places just see us as an inferior basketball school. They like to chalk us up as an easy W because “it’s just Loyola” as though we haven’t won a conference game in the past 4 years. When you lose to what in your mind is the worst team or a team that “doesn’t belong in the Valley,” how can you show that you’re still better than them?

This writer and many fans chose to pick on attendance. Like I said, it is an issue, and I hope that it rises, but I feel that when most schools realize that we’ve got talent and beat them, they use attendance as a way to make themselves feel superior. I guess it’s part of being the new kid on the block. I don’t know if we’ll get the respect until we put together a full season where we lead the conference from game 1 through the last game in St. Louis, but that’s not my concern. I’ll stand by us being a Valley school regardless of the standings, home attendance, or what others say.

While attendance is an issue we've discussed here at length, this type of criticism from one school town conference foes rings hollow to me. Yes, there are a lot more people in Chicago, but there are also a lot more schools we have to compete with for attention. Not just to schools in the city/burbs themselves, but the alumni bases from other schools, especially Big 10, who dominate the population of the city. In contrast, Indiana State has to compete for advertising and local coverage with....Rose Hulman. A lot easier task.

I think the commentary is fair and accurate. It barely rises to criticism. No offense taken here.

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