Some Ramblermaniacs have accused me and others of being anti=MVC. This is most definitely untrue and unfair. I am, however, indifferent to the MVC, as are, obviously, most of the Loyola students, alumni, neighborhood folks, and the Chicago community-at large. Has anyone checked out the demographics (mostly female) of the student body who are frequently from Eastern states? The schools of the MVC (with the exception, I think, of the Illinois contingent)have little cachet for most of the Loyola community. Talk to some students. Talk to some neighborhood people. Nobody is impressed, or even knows about the MVC, which appears to be only marginally better than the old Horizon League. Saying these things is not being against the MVC. It reflects the reality of our situation.
The only thing which will bring out the crowds en masse is a rollicking season of consistent winning against whomever those opponents might be.
Go Ramblers!

"....most of the Loyola students, alumni, neighborhood folks, and the Chicago community-at large." Same thing could have been said while we were in the HL. MVC..., longer tradition, higher RPI, SOS and average attendance. Also have much better fan bases.

Gal makes a point as does Jake. The trouble is our students appear to be clueless re School loyalty--Men's Hoops is our flagship sport--Always was==These students should KNOW this and support it.
Nate is correct--the students should know this following as well. The VALLEY is a great Conference that will likely send TWO teams dancing this go round.--
Gal says --or at least intimates, I think , that we have little in common with Valley--or so the Students think this-- Well. in another post I asked if these students would come when we played A-10 teams ( St Joe Bonny, Duquesne--Eastern and large city teams ---I think not.

We have a long history with Valley teams--Bradley. WSU et al--Played them off and on for years. ( WSU beat us in 63 )

Now then our present team is a winner and will be even better next year---I am hoping these kids will show up to follow a winner---I am skeptical, sad to say !!

BTW I like our league --We will own it shortly

I don't want to disagree with a top-notch and very loyal Loyola fan. So I'll just make a couple of points that maybe have been lost or not really considered in the enthusiasm/attendance/conference change discussion.

1. If Loyola wins Wednesday at Drake and Saturday vs. Missouri State, the team will have a 8-10 conference record, an RPI of better than 130, and and a 18-12 record overall (16-12 against D1 opponents). In the Horizon League, an 8-10 conference record and 16-12 D1 record will get you an RPI of about 175-190 and (probably, but not definitely) a home first round HL tournament appearance before having to win three more tournament games at a road site to get to postseason play. No postseason tournament birth will be forthcoming unless you win four conference tournament games against favored teams on the road. It's win four games in a row at various home/road/neutral venues or go home for another long offseason.

In the MVC, it gets you a first round tournament bye at a totally neutral site, and most probably a postseason tournament birth regardless of the league tournament outcome.

2. We have already played five games against ranked opponents this season, the most for a Loyola team since 1985, when our fifth game against a ranked opponent came only after getting to face #1 Georgetown in the Sweet Sixteen. If we end up facing UNI or WSU in the tournament in St. Louis, it will be our most games against ranked opponents in a season since the year before the creation of the MCC/Horizon League. In other words, the second we joined what became the Horizon League, it dramatically reduced our number of games against top notch competition, and less than two years after getting out of the HL we're back to where we once were.

If you are a basketball recruit, don't you think having the opportunity of playing against the best in the nation might be a deciding factor on which school you might pick? Loyola was known for playing ranked teams extensively before joining the Horizon League, but as our games against ranked opponents declined, the level of talent we attracted (in general) followed suit.

3. There is a thing called ESPN. It's a national cable sports network, and quite popular. It is seen in 85.6% of American households that contain a television set. Sports fans like to watch it. ESPN likes to show basketball games featuring Missouri Valley teams. Since Butler left the HL, just about the only Horizon League game they show is the conference tournament final. In the MVC, the tournament final is broadcast on CBS, a notch up even from ESPN. On Saturday, a full squad of ESPN hosts and analysts (something like nine of them) will be in Wichita for six hours of national TV coverage of the final MVC regular season game between #11 Northern Iowa and #13 Wichita State on a program called College Gameday. That one day might very well account for more national TV coverage and discussion of the MVC than the Horizon League gets ALL YEAR combined. The coverage of the MVC and HL on ESPN isn't even close-- especially after Butler left the HL.

Again, if you're a basketball recruit choosing between an HL, MAC or other mid-major school, aren't you more likely to choose a school in a conference where you'll be seen on national TV? It is a very big selling point for recruits. If Loyola ever got to the MVC tournament final, maybe it would finally shock some of our more apathetic or oblivious students and alumni-- used to our sports as a well-kept secret-- into realizing that Loyola sports is worthy of their attention and interest.

4. For what it was, the HL was a cozily unambitious league. It was easy to make road trips to Milwaukee, UIC, Valpo, and Indianpolis. The basketball was pretty competitive. But with the departure of Butler, it became a much different league. Today's HL has only one team that didn't come from the lowly-regarded Summit League. There are only two private schools, and the lopsided public/private balance creates rules, structures and policies that tend to put private schools at a disadvantage. A lot of the smack-talking HL crowd from schools like Wright State and Milwaukee claimed that the Horizon would actually be better off without Loyola, and our exit would be a net plus. Well, they're now ranked 16th (below the Ivy League-- which doesn't even offer scholarships-- and below the MAC and the one Independent team, NJIT). That's down from 12th in our last year (the one without Butler). UIC, who was 17-16 in our last season in the HL and who used to relish playing against Loyola, has gone a combined 9-47 against D1 teams since we left the conference. It's almost like not competing directly against us has taken away their will to exist.

The bottom line is, the Horizon League doesn't have Butler any more. They have added Oakland. They didn't like us, didn't want us, didn't appreciate what we did for them (co-founding the league, sticking with it when the best teams left and through losing their automatic bid, etc.), they changed their tournament rules after we had success, they added a local team to compete against us in our own market, they bent over backward to favor our biggest rivals, and they trash-talked on us when we left-- quite literally saying "good riddance." The HL wasn't a bad league in 2010, but that league doesn't exist anymore.

Updated my GIF with something more relevant:

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Well. fortunately we are out of a league that , in another field might be called a cadaver. 63 as always drives a point home-- But more good fortune came to us in the guise of the MVC !!
I rather suspect that Valpo and Detroit will be next to move. AND if they do , it will be curtains for a league that did not know how lucky they were to have us.
I would venture a guess that Detroit, Cle St and Valpo might just move east to say the Canisius conf with Holy Cross Siena et al. A fine league but not on a par with the nationally known VALLEY. Just sayin' !!

I feel for the above three--the others not so much.

BUT now to real business--Win these last two games with Milt playing a tad in both.

I personally think the Horizon gets a pretty tough rap at times. It is definitely down in the past few years - Butler leaving obviously hurt, but there used to always be a couple of very good teams and was fairly competitive top to (almost) bottom. These days that isn't really the case. I did think that when Valpo was added that the future of the league was bright, but that proved inaccurate.

Doubt it'll happen, but if WSU decided to bolt from the Valley, then this league could end up looking similar to a post-Butler HL.

We could soon see what kind of respect the Horizon gets from the selection committee. If Valpo gets knocked off in the conference tourney, they will have a potential record of 25-5 and not make the dance. Knowing they're probably a one-bid league, the HL likes their conf tourney format because it rewards their top team with a clear path to an automatic bid. It doesn't make for a good tournament but does reward consistent play all year long.

Compare that to the MVC, which could get 3 teams in if someone other than UNI/WSU can find a way to win the tourney. Unlikely but if that happens, the MVC probably has two 4/5 seeds and one 12/13. A real chance to be pulling for a conference foe to make the second weekend, which is great.

John - agree with many of your comments but before we left the Horizon, the balance of public/private was the same as it is in the Valley today.

MVC currently has Loyola, Bradley, Evansville, and Drake as private schools; Drake is a founding member (1907) and Bradley joined in 1948. We have a long history of playing against all three of those fellow private schools.

HL has Detroit and Valpo-- talk of adding Oakland (a state school, created as a branch of Michigan State University in 1957 to serve suburbanization and flight from the city of Detroit) began before we actually left the conference, as a replacement for Butler. As soon as we were gone (we might have joined Detroit in voting to prevent their addition), poor Detroit got the state school in their own market to compete with.

Supposedly, there's an HL rule (presumably created after the UIC addition) that an HL school is allowed to veto addding another school within 25 miles. Oakland is 27 miles from UDM by car, but just barely within 25 miles as the crow flies-- you see which measure was applied.

Here's an article that says Detroit was on record opposing the addition. http://pressrowsports.com/2012/05/18/oa ... -win-move/

Always forget Evansville is private.

I don't think student attendance is down because of the conference selection. I dare say the attendance was higher for home games
when we were in the Horizon League. Student attendance is down due to a lack of interest in a program that has been mediocre way too long.
In addition there have never been more options for student recreational activities, ever. Non of these kids remembers " the glory days". If we compete successfully, they will show up and THEN we can build a base going forward. Everything hinges on developing a winning tradition. That tradition has to start with a few good breaks, which will get media coverage, which will get recruits, on and on and on....
Certainly the coaches and players are key. I am very comfortable with the players on board, and with the coaches work ethic, game day plans, etc. Moser has played in the MVC, coached in the MVC> Right man in the right place. I wouldn't have said that three years ago, I don't doubt it now.
There are a lot of pieces in place. We need to support the program, talk up the program, and get lucky in a few crucial moments during the very tough games. I see this conference as a true midwest basketball conference. Four schools in Illinois, all with good alumni interest, as seen by their attendance at our home games. The media coverage is way better than HL days. I wouldn't go back, ever.
Keep the faith folks.
I believe in this team! They need to believe in themselves. They have talent and work very hard. Something good is due to come in for us.
Ramblerguy