Few things make me happier than beating Drake.

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Cigarboy sucks!

Drake is a pretty good team. Even without Norton, they might be better this year than they were last year when they were a 3 or 4 seed in the MVC. I think they're going to win just about every game at home besides this one and maybe SIU.

Townes was just magnificent. Custer played his best game this year. Budjoso got a lot of valuable minutes, and received some good coaching from Custer (as did Kaifes). Uguak added some quality minutes and didn't make too many mistakes. Krutwig played some hard minutes up against one of the better scoring forwards in the league.

The irony of being 2-0 in conference for the first time since 2003-04 (Larry Farmer's last season) is weird. After Loyola started that season 2-0 in the Horizon, they lost the next SEVEN conference games in a row (eight overall), and 13 of their next 14 conference games. In 2001-02 (the year Loyola went to the Horizon League conference tournament final), the Ramblers started the conference season 6-0.

If that was the last second 3 by UIC, it crushed my soul.

Nope. That was the following year in the last home game. The loss in conference game 7 of 2001-02 came at Butler, in a 30-point smackdown. Later that season at home, we beat Butler 60-56 by trapping their guards against the sidelines. UWGB used some of those tactics to upset Butler in the conference tournament so we didn't have to play them again.

The Aaron Carr three pointer was the following year in the last home game. It was yet another bad call against Loyola by Horizon League officials, in what became an unmistakable parade of decisions against Loyola by the HL. It was also the first year that the tournament format had been changed to prevent a three seed (or worse) from reaching the conference tournament final.

In my opinion, that was the mortal blow of the Horizon League. Pumping up some favored teams and installing barriers to others based on a frustrating outcome the one year Loyola reached the Final told everyone that the league was a sham--- that sportsmanship and fair play and an even playing field was stinking bullshit--- they were only in it for the NCAA shares and pumping up the team that had the best chance to get a better seed. Anyone who got in their way toward that end was going to get the raw end of the whip.

It ended up favoring Butler SO MUCH that Butler had to leave the conference, and it hurt the other teams so much that when Butler left the conference, it was nothing but a fragile hodge-podge of anyone who would agree to be there or had no other choice.

First of all....great game at Drake......thought since Norfolk St....things have been improving and we are getting close to at least playing to our full potential but still room to improve...
Now for the Horizon League,,,,yep,yep, yep..Should have been renamed the BUTLER LEAGUE........which really is too bad as I think this conference made up of teams from major cities in the Midwest had potential if it had worked together to improve all teams ..good discussion for a rainy day.

I hope Agunanne and Bruno will still be part of the rotation. Agunanne because he is a physical match for tall players in future games. Didn't seem like he fit against anybody on Drake. Bruno because he is a way better shooter than he has shown this year and is bound to break out.

A few thoughts from the game:

Townes - Wow. So nice to see him break out after the loss of his grandmother. He was awesome.

Custer - Thank god we have him this year. He really is a great leader, solid ball handler, and when his shot is on, he looks like one of the best point guards in college basketball.

Krutwig - Mr. Consistent. It is nice to be able to depend on him night-in and night-out, with strong post-play and great defense.

Uguak - not the offensive outing i hoped for after the last game, but more importantly, he doesn't seem to be making as many mistakes, and is providing solid minutes.

Kaifus - I did not know he could dunk like that.

The most impressive thing from the team in the Drake game was the fact that they kept their composure when Drake couldn't miss to start the game. They had 30 points before they even missed a shot, but our team stuck with it and just kept grinding. If teams can go 7 for 7 from 3, and start off the game scoring 30 points before missing, but still lose by 11 - you know we are a solid team that will take a lot to get a victory against us.


It really looks like we have figured thigns out as a team, and I'm predicting we go on a serious winning streak. Things are certainly looking up!

I do think Bruno isn’t as poor of a shooter as he’s shown, but at what point is enough, enough? We’re 15 games in and he’s still shooting nearly 14% from 3 and 50% from the line. I think he’s a decent defender, but I think he occasionally gets lost on defense. Additionally, I think it becomes a minutes crunch when Lucas comes back. He’s going to play 30 a game pretty much every night. I think Kaifes has shown enough to be a spark plug off the bench and Isiah has been extremely active defensively and recently has been making much better decisions with the ball. Unfortunately Bruno has played extremely poorly recently and might find himself with the short end of the stick. Curious to know what others think.

Wouldn’t consider it the short end of the stick. Lucas comes back and gets the 30 minutes. Cooper and Isaiah are just better players. Cooper shoots. Isaiah penetrates and defends. And both are better passers/ playmakers. Bruno is a good player but needs to maje 3s to earn minutes. He’s been passed by both.

Awesome game. Coming back like we did and dominating (similar to last years game at Drake...) the last 30 is huge in growing the proper mindset for guys like Aher, Cooper, and Isaiah. Would be so easy to shut it down and just calling it "one of those games" like Indiana State did. Townes and Custer seem to have a big mental edge in Valley play which is huge as well.

Aher's stats don't pop but I thought he was big. His defense the last month has been really impressive. He's so active and his length and hustle is huge. Getting Lucas back will be big, his last two games with a clean bill of health he went off for 23-5-2 and 13-6-3 and was scoring from all over the floor. I believe also was our leading rebounder (7.1 a game!!). It'll probably take a couple games before he's a huge offensive threat as he builds up his hand strength but what a boost. Having Cooper be first off the bench is also such a help.