You're not making much sense here. Loyola won't fire Drew for sucking so bad because we also used to suck? Like... it's our natural state to suck, and have no fans, and Drew is just returning us to our natural, historically accurate, sucktastic ways? So we should actually give him a raise I guess?

You seem to be under the impression that we're not spending enough on players -- but everything I've heard is that we're pretty competitive. Drew himself talked a big game about it last year -- remember? "Nobody who's leaving is going to because of money." He said that. And the actual talent/prestige of the current roster is probably the highest it's ever been. To be over 300 in KenPom with this group just tells you that Drew can't coach. I don't know if it was Dwyer doing all the heavy lifting before, or what, but another season of Drew is just spinning our wheels in dogshit.

I am not willing to walk away from Drew Valentine. Up until this year, he was on pace to become our winningest coach, even with the first A10 year.

I am not sure what to make of this season. My feeling was that we were going to be good offensively this year. We were going to be giving up some on defense, but our offense would pressure the other teams to play to score more.

It is clear that there is not the commitment to defense, which makes the emphasis on offense more importantly. Offensively, we don't make shots. The ball does not move like it should, All of the new players are having their worst shooting seasons. It is not even close. Their three point shooting is way off. Tavarez, JOJ, Amos, Dotson - are all shooting well below last year's average, like dropping from 40% to 30%. Some of these shots are not contested. Rubin's shooting percentage is off by 10%. It may be a change in leagues for some players, more shots or lack of confidence. It may be contagious. It is brutal to watch a three point shot go up - you expect it bang around the rim and fall out. Was our scouting wrong? Why are they shooting so poorly?

I am not sure what is going on behind the scenes, but I think we will know pretty quickly after the season. It will be interesting to see who will be here next year. I have faith that Coach Valentine can fix it, but it can not happen soon enough.

The above is where I sit - as bad it's been, Drew has shown the ability to pivot and adapt and improve. Because of that, you give him one more year. We may have a complete roster turnover, but that's the name of the game these days. I've seen many young coaches over the years attempt to level up and they go for pure talent guys vs. culture guys and it almost always bites them in the ass.

Should he revamp his support staff? Probably. I still wonder how much losing Dwyer so close to the season played a role in the way this team looks.

The shooting thing is interesting. My thoughts...1. We do not get a lot of quality looks because spacing and ball movement is poor and there is little double teaming of any of our players cuz few can finish at the basket. )This has resulted in a lot of contested 3s.(not that we have not had some real good looks, but overall) .2. We have a lot of low release guys, where the shot starts below or at the shoulders, requiring more time to get to the shot release point. and this can be attributed to poor scouting and better D in the A-10. Amos is the only player who has a high quicker release. 3. We are almost always playing from behind putting more pressure on the shot....and misses lead to misses. We had a chance to take the lead against Fordham , down 2 with a 3 from the corner...not to be.
Question is can this % be improved?

Look, this a poorly constructed team. We have no true low post scorer which effects everything. It's why we cannot get good spacing. The offensive movement is sporadic and when a teams wants to turn up the heat we melt like butter in a microwave. This is the first team since 2018 that has not had a bona fide low post scorer. We are not a particularly big or physical team and our on the ball defense and defending of the high screen is terrible. Just a bunch of thrown together guys that don't fit. No real stars on it, and I include Rubin in this statement. His development through three years has been, to put it mildly, disappointing.

Now consider what I just stated. Who gets the blame for this poorly constructed roster? It falls on Drew and his staff. The rumors I have read on here regarding medaling parents, guys partying too much, coupled with a bad attitude and failure to correct obvious weaknesses is shocking. Shows these guys are not well coached or are not team players willing to get into the "culture". Again, a failure in recruiting and coaching.

Loyola is at the proverbial cross-roads. You either clean house and make splash and bring someone here to re-ignite the program or you take a leap of faith that Drew will make the necessary course corrections in recruiting, coaching.

While Drew has had some success, our records for the most part with him at the helm when it matters, in A10 tournament, MITs , NCAA is overall horrible. I am sure the newness of the NIL/Portal era plays a part, but it is not a free pass. Loyola is expending a lot of money on facilities, travel, NIL, etc. and this product is unacceptable. College basketball is a business now. We all lament the fact that the romantic nature of college basketball that we all grew up with and love is all but dead, and what's left the incompetent NCAA is trying to kill in the pursuit of $$$.

Loyola either needs to embrace the new world of college basketball and the business it has become or be relegated to irrelevance. This means tough decisions like potentially firing Drew and overhauling the basketball program, including cutting some players loose.

Rubin would look a lot better, and so would his numbers, if we had guards who could shoot. Or penetrate. But we don't. And on top of that, they're small and they can't guard anyone. Why Drew thought this would work, I don't know. But it's obvious that the roster construction is the biggest problem. Luckily, times have changed, and you can rebuild in a blink.

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Disagree. Maybe in the 1990's when the institution was completely tanking and bad in everything, yes that was the culture. The last 10+ years of success, no way an anomaly.



Steve Watson has never been afraid to make swift changes across all programs to right the ship or give them a needed upgrade.

Women's bball has had 2 coaches under Watson. Swoopes was a basketcase, good riddance. Achter drove out her top recruits, she gone. Current coach seems to be a keeper.

He recently fired and re-hired former men's volleyball coach and proven NCAA winner. Bigtime move there.

Watson also fired the winningest soccer coach in women's program history (Bimbi) over whatever the hell happened in summer 2024.

There's been a lot of smart firings and very good hirings under Watson. Zero worries about his leadership and hirings if he were to pull the plug on Drew, if that ever happened.

Does not being afraid include firing Drew and re-hiring Porter?