OK, out there--Time to get up from your naps !! ITS GAME DAY !! How are going to do ?? I have little to go on except our big improvement since the onset of the season----Doyle gets his and Keke and Thomas rip it up with big help from the rest How about---

LUC 74 NIU 66

A majoirty of the posters on Northern's message board have picked LUC to win by 4-6 points.

We're eight point favorites in Vegas.

Loyola and Northern have had one common opponent this year, Milwaukee. The Panthers won by 13 in DeKalb in the title game of the NIU Invitational tournament.

Northern's three wins have all come at home: a 60-59 win over San Jose State, a blowout win over Division II St. Joseph's (IN), and a 64-57 win over Dartmouth. They played Nebraska well on the road in a 63-58 loss, but they're coming off an 80-54 drubbing at #22 UMass on Saturday.

Individually, the players to watch are 6'9" 255-pound junior center Jordan Threloff (9.5 ppg/5.1 rpg), 5'10" sophomore point guard Travon Baker (6.4 ppg/3.0 apg), and 6'6" sophomore wing forward Darrell Bowie (10 ppg/6.6 rpg). The Huskies also have 6'11" junior center Pete Rakocevic coming off the bench averaging 5.1 ppg and 3.3 rpg.

Expect Christian Thomas to have his hands full with Bowie and interior help, and Osborne and O'Leary will have to keep out of foul trouble matching up with the NIU big men. In the backcourt, there aren't really any especially deadly three point threats (NIU shoots only 25% behind the arc as a team), but 6'1" guard J.J. Cravatta shoots 37% from three terrritory in limited minutes. If you're going to put them on the line, Bowie, 6'2" shooting guard Dontel Highsmith, and 6'7" wing Aksel Bolin all shoot below 55%. It should be an interesting test to see if our ostensibly superior guards can offset NIU's substantial interior height advantage.

My guess is Loyola 71, NIU 66.

Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... 217aaa.pdf

NIU game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... aa_niu.pdf

NIU message board: http://www.csnbbs.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=468?fid=468

Watch live: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Loyola-Ramblers-Athletics

Threloff used to play in the MVC. Can't remember if it was Bradley or Illinois State at the moment, but I thought he showed a lot of promise. He was a solid player anyway. That's all I know about NIU though. Protect your home court and string together some wins so you can head into MVC play on a positive note.

Good luck guys.

_________________
The Roundhouse

14 point lead at the half. We'll see how long it takes for Loyola to let them back in the game. Already down to a 9 point lead as I type this.

And here come the pretzels... er, turnovers....

We can not lose this lead.

Oh..we can. And...more than likely, we will.

Already down to 4 points. Unreal!

We look terrible. No one is doing anything

Andddddd, we're losing. To a terrible NIU team.

Oh well. Why should I expect anything different?