My take is simple. I will wait to the end of the year. Tired of hearing every year how talented and athletic we are. Either we have overrated the talent that is here or Drew is not a good coach at this point in his career or both.

In any of the three scenarios above, its a failure if we flop in the A10 again. We were on the cusp of becoming a National level program and that is sliding away. College basketball is a business and you have to win games. Its how you attract the talent you need, energize your fan base and donors, and generate NIL money. You can only ride the Final 4 and Sweet 16 trip for so long. Its great that we are scandal free and our kids graduate, but we are not winning.

Drew cant recruit or coach, one has to be true given the results we have on the court. Don't shoot the messenger, true is true friends.

No one is shooting anyone. We're having a civil discussion.

Totally agree, mostly just a figure of speech. I can understand the Porter took a long time, and buy-out arguments.

IMO, Drew is not close to being on the hot seat. I think our talent would play well at the MVC level, but the A-10 level is a step up and it shows.

Remember many of Porter's players moved down from a bigger program, were passed over or could have played at a higher level to play at Horizon or MVC level - It started with Milton Doyle, Clay Custer, Krut, Lucas, etc. They chose to play at a lower level so that they would play. We don't have that yet. We don't have any Big Ten or Big 12 players transferring to play at Loyola -yet.

Porter had time to develop. His two best assistants were with him for more than 5 years. We don't have that yet.

Let's look at Drew's results on the court. He had one fantastic season and one sub-par season. We are still dealing with the residue of Drew's first success - keeping the 20-21 players. we have a ton of players age out which has created roster problems for the last two years. This year's team has been inconsistent, but it is over 500, improving and competing. Admittedly, I would have thought we would have won the UIC game. The other losses were expected or were toss-ups.

Drew has been able to attract quality high school players (Rubin, Dawson, etc.), transfers (Alston, the Ivy kids, etc.) and new coaches. He has maintained the school's profile as nationally known mid-major. The national press is still positive. You see it in the lines.

We need to be able to compete in the A-10. If the team is not competitive, then we need to reconsider Drew. Let's see where we are at the end of the year.

The last thing we need to do is lose our identity, Drew is our identity and future for the next few years. I am not sure if there is anyone who is available who is in better position for success than Drew.

We only need to look across town at Depaul and realize how easy it is to get off track and stay off track. I am not sure if they have had anyone worthwhile since Joey Meyer - and I thought Joey was terrible.

Northwestern has stuck with Chris Collins and it has panned out.

Our current team stats vs the rest of the A10.

13th 3 point defense
9th 3 point FG percentage (currently 35%)
12th Free Throw percentage (currently 69%)
12th Offensive rebounding
3rd Defensive rebounding
4th Rebounding margin
6th Assist/Turnover ratio
11th Turnover margin
8th Scoring defense
11th Scoring offense

Offensive Rebounding, Free throws, and defense wins A10 championships. It's what separates the top from the bottom.

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Loyola '86
St. Bona '83