I'm sure we can all figure out most of the top 5, but it has been a pretty solid decade.

Thank you for this. Truly enjoyed watching each video. I could watch the last 10 minutes of the MVC championship over and over again. The crowd, the energy, the feeling, the announcers...just awesome. Watched that game with a few other alums at a Loyola bar and the energy in that place was surreal. Especially when the game was out of reach and it really hit everyone that the Ramblers were going dancing.

Magnificent Joe!!!!

Nice work, Joe. Really thoughtful list.

That list about covers it. I would consider Williamson’s forced turnover against Miami as a 1b or the defensive moment of the decade.
Unfortunately for me, being there and feeling like a I was hit by a truck, still haven’t been able to watch the final four game on tv.
Maybe a goal for the next decade, or the Ramblers can just help me forget about it, with new and improved moments!

Thanks Big Joe, great stuff!

First game of the decade: https://loyolaramblers.com/news/2010/1/ ... troit.aspx

THANKS BIG JOE!
You are the best.

This list is absolutely perfect! I am in agreement with with all ten and don’t have any argument with even the order.

I would add that the best off-court moments of the decade for our program are:

1) the grand re-opening of Gentile. We Went from an oversized high school gym to an actual, legitimate mid-major D1 arena in this decade. If this doesn’t get done, I don’t think we attract the talent we did to achieve all the on-court success.

2) The official announcement that we were joining the Missouri Valley Conference. This finally showed that the University was willing to actively try to elevate the basketball program’s status and was willing to commit to its improvement.

3) Sister Jeans ambassadorship during the NCAA tournament run. She made the world fall in love with our team.

4) Porter’s recommitment letter to Loyola after being offered the St. John’s job. We could have went into the next decade rebuilding instead of continuing to build if he left.

5). The announcement of the new practice facility. This was another affirmation by the university that they want sustain success for the program.



At the end of 2009 we had a no-frills gym, a lackluster coach, a terrible AD, no conference championships, no post-season appearances, no practice facility, and very little hope. At the end of 2019, we had state-of-the art facilities, a respectable conference affiliation, a CBI championship, an NIT appearance, an NCAA appearance, a sweet 16 appearance, a national regional championship trophy, a final four appearance, two regular season conference championships, a Valley tournament championship, 2 conference players of the year, a legitimate, capable head coach, multiple 20 win seasons, multiple 3-star recruits, top student-athlete academic performance, vibrant student interest in the program and a healthy optimism about our program going forward.

There were no sanctions. No major suspensions. No controversy. Everything we did, we did the right way. The last decade was nothing short of amazing when you look back at it.

300-some-odd games, and it's fascinating how many of them I remember in detail. The losses make an impression, and there certainly were many to choose from, especially early on. It's also interesting how many of the losses had a similar character. Early on we would get close in games but not get over the hump. Then we had a period of blown leads. Now you can almost tell from the beginning of the game if we are going to win--if we're playing well, we usually close it out.

These aren't all bad losses, but they all hurt. Here's my take on the:

Toughest Losses of the Decade

Honorable Mentions: Robbed at NC State (11/26/16); Nearly upset Wichita State at Arch Madness (3/4/16); Couldn't get over the hump vs Northern Illinois (12/18/13) and dropped to 5-6 in Doyle's freshman year; Ugly, slow paced 48-45 loss to Illinois State at home (1/31/15) that put us at 3-7 in conference; Home loss to DePaul in the new arena. The crowed lent itself to come good pictures. Unfortunately you can see the scoreboard in them.

10. Wright State (1/11/13): We went 10-3 in the nonconference with a win over DePaul and a good showing at Michigan State. We opened league play with an upset win at Valpo, then proceeded to lose four straight including a two point loss at home to Youngstown and a demoralizing one point loss to Wright State. Ben Averkamp came up short with time running out. We never got the season back on track and lost by two at Youngstown in the HL tourney. I wanted to kick something on my way home.

9. @New Mexico (11/18/15): We thought we were going to have a good year coming off the CBI title, and we traveled to The Pit in the third game of what turned out to be a fairly dismal season and got destroyed 75-51.

8. @Boise State (11/28/17): We looked bad, lost by 34, but of course we all know now that it didn't matter.

7. Arch Madness Quarterfinal vs SIU (3/3/17): Nobody could get anything going, and we left St. Louis without a win for the first time. Totally frustrating experience, and you never felt like we were going to win.

6. Arch Madness Semifinal vs Bradley (3/9/19): One of the most infuriating and worst-officiated games I have ever witnessed. Most of these games were demoralizing; this one was infuriating.

5. Furman (11/9/18): We lost to a good team by two points, but it was an absolute punch in the mouth coming off the Final Four run. This game repeated itself several times last season.

6. Bradley (1/13/16): The Braves were ranked 323 in Kenpom. We lost 54-53 on a last-second three, and there we were, 0-5 in conference coming off the CBI title year.

4. Cleveland State (12/16/15): Just an inexcusable 60-54 loss. We did not show up for this one. It did make me wonder if Ramblermania is more fun when we are bad or when we are good?

3. Coppin State (11/12/19): Lost at home to a team that riding a 75 game nonconference losing streak? What can you say?

2. @Missouri State (1/23/19): This one was bad. Humiliated, bullied, doubled up. 70-35. But, you could almost see it coming. We played ugly basketball in Baltimore vs Maryland, then even uglier at St. Joe's, then, it didn't seem possible, but we played even worse at Evansville. Then this happened.

1. It's obvious, but we had a double-digit lead on Michigan in the second half in the Final Four, and we couldn't pull it off. Hard to be too mad about it though.

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