I thought Shannon’s best bet would be Florida State, followed by us. DePaul decision makes me scratch my head. Hope nothing comes from that Rick Pitino “DePaul offered a player $200,000 thing,” or else he might not even get the chance FOR A CHANCE to play in the tournament before he even gets there.

I don't know why he chose them, but I will wish this kid luck. Wouldn't surprise me if he backs out of this commitment in a few months.

In a recruiting video a month back you could tell he was digging DePaul. He mentioned they wanted him to play some point if memory serves... and I mean he hasn’t played much point to my knowledge so i hope they follow through on that.

Edit: https://www.prephoops.com/2018/07/terre ... n-video-2/

He also said in the Sun Times “I felt like with the other schools they would be good with me or without me,” says Shannon. “I felt more needed at DePaul, and I want to help build the program back up.”

He’s not wrong.

First, DePaul's venue is a huge draw. When Marquette or Butler or Villanova plays there, it's going to be full and raucous. The Big East is a great league, with top competition.

Second, DePaul has money. DePaul spends money. DePaul oozes money in their athletics program. At one point, I think it was around 2005, DePaul had THE highest men's basketball budget in the NCAA. I think they were the first to break the $7 million barrier in men's basketball budgets, or something like that. Nobody knows what it bought.... (maybe some bad coach buyout? It wasn't wins or tournament appearances).... but DePaul has spent BIG, BIG MONEY on men's basketball every year since the late 1990s. DePaul is around $5.5 million these days, which is the lowest they've been relatively to other teams for a while. This compares to Loyola's $2.8 million, Wichita State's $6.38 million and Bradley's $3.36 million (the current highest in the MVC in 2016-17 numbers). So money doesn't buy wins, but it does serve as a pretty good correlation with tournament appearances, revenue, and other important metrics.

Third, nobody is going to be "THE undisputed focal-point STAR" on a Loyola team, at least not until the philosophy changes to match an exceptional talent. So a player like Shannon would get a lot of time as a starter, but wouldn't have any opportunity for a one-and-done first or second year.

At this point, I'm cool with the philosophy that if players go somewhere else, they're probably not our kind of player. What we need to do, however, is work on elevating the talent and athleticism and buy-in from recruits. That's how Butler rose from a team that couldn't win the HL tournament in 2002 to back-to-back NCAA Finals appearances and Big East members.

Let's make Loyola The Big Time like Gonzaga, Xavier, Dayton, and Butler did. Let's help make the MVC The Big Time like Xavier, Dayton, Temple (and VCU) did for the A-10.

The MVC is already just about on par with the A-10 performance-wise (based on SRS conference rating). Last year is the first time in a while we rated better than the A-10.

17-18 SRS:
MVC 2.43 (9th)
A-10 2.26(10th)

16-17 SRS:
A-10 3.80 (9th)
MVC 3.48 (10th)

15-16 SRS:
A-10 4.96 (8th)
MVC 2.02 (11th)

14-15 SRS:
A-10 4.43 (8th)
MVC 2.25 (10th)

13-14 SRS:
A-10 6.55 (8th)
MVC 1.53 (11th)

What am I missing here? Why are a number of you thinking this way?

DePaul's recent history with top rated recruits. Particularly with local ties, e.g. Tyger Campbell.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

With Shannon off the board, who is the next best recruit we are after and still in the running for?

Kennedy is the guy for me that is still out there.

Need a PG as Bujdoso will be the only true PG on the roster after Custer graduates (with Tate Hall, Skona, Williamson, Kaifes and Wojcik all technically SGs...but a few will probably get some PG experience this year). Marquise Kennedy is probably our top target but tough competition (recent offers from Florida State and Wichita). Other popular names are Tyler Bertram, Andre Gordon and Yuri Collins, among others.

Christian Braun may be our most realistic 'high major' quality target as he has the Custer/Richardson/Kaifes connection. He has high major offers from Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, Mississippi State, Texas Tech, Minnesota, Wake Forest, Kansas State and Ole Miss. We were the first team to offer him in June 2017.