Well, I surely do admire the absolute faith you guys and Rog Gal have in this team, but if I can speak for ( I know I should not) JCT and 86 who have been there with me through the years, this season is a complete and utter disaster. I had high hopes for Whitesell and even higher for Moser--especially how his teams did improve over his tenure--but his abject failure this year has destroyed my late in the race hopes. Am I bitter ?? You bet. Now that I have settled down a bit, I realize the blame stands fully and completely with LUC's Administration. A Coach can only perform to his capabilities , maybe plus a little bit. They once again FAILED to bite the bullet as other Jesuit schools have done--You know whom they are. We are now on the way to less than mediocrity--down there with St Peters. Holy Cross Fordham and others.
What hurts is THAT WE WERE THE BEST,WITH THE BEST, and we FAILED TO maintain that level and the Admin decided to ACCEPT mediocrity--SHAME ON THEM.

BUT despite all of this , I shall NEVER forget the day the LUC Athletic Dept gave me two seasons ago--never. I am grateful for that--In spite of everything, LUC and you people have CLASS !!

Just got back, long ride home for obvious reasons,
1. This team played very hard tonight.
2. Their man to man defense is extremely good. The exception was when BU switched to a high pick n roll to isolate their big guy on one of our smaller guards. In trying to fight back and have Montel on thier big we got lost a couple of times. Other wise the D was very good and took a lot of hustle
3. They actually do not play oxen ball.....They push the ball up the court as fast as they can but their lack of rebounding and having to send all 5 players to the boards prevents them from having an effective outlet pass and transition. ALso other teams are playing zone against us which prevents us from using our best offensive asset which is the driving ability of Milt and Earl. So we work our asses off to get a decent 3. Most good teams work inside to out..we have to try and work outside to in and if our 3s are not dropping then we will struggle. We get no easy baskets. It takes a lot of work to get a good shot. All this is due to a lack of size.
4. 10 offensive rebounds for BU.......
5. The team seems well prepared.......they do a lot of little things like force the ball out of the best ball handlers hands......
6. My only real complaing was that PM went with a really small line up down the stretch.
7. If we had made our free throws we would have won. Doyle was 3-7. Also we gained our 11 point lead while Milt was on the bench for more than 10 minutes in the 2nd half
Conclusions.....This team plays really hard and do many things correctly. They execute fairly well. Dont know if it is the right strategy. IF they continue to play good defense they will be in games but they have to do everything well on offense if they are going to win. As disappointed as I am it is hard for me to be angry after watching their effort and their pain after the final horn. This team simply does not have the correct combination of players to be good.
THe kids deserve our support...they are not slackers...It will be hard to keep up the effort with out the wins however....could snowball even faster down hill.

Nate says the correct things==BUT that is just the point==we are NOT good enough--not big enough--Nothing we can do about this bunch as gutsy as they are--we still simply do not have the weapons we need.
This team IS what it is ! It IS a team with heart--no quit but---

We just lost to one of the worst teams in the country...at home. This means that, as we are playing right now, we are one of the worst teams in the country.

I'm off the fence and firmly on the 'Fire Porter' team. He is a great guy, a great recruiter and seems to really want to be a winner. But, it is clear that it just isn't working. There is a decent likelihood we only win 2 or 3 games in conference this season. Heck, maybe we go 0-18.

Yes I will remain a season ticket holder and try to remain a Varsity Club member, but this is so sad. This team is in disarray. It has to start at the top and it seems to be Porter's MO. He comes on strong, makes some good recruiting but cannot go any further. I thought last year he broke the mold but he has talent and cannot get them to perform. I don't know where the failure is coming from but it is failure. Other MVC alumni thought we were going to have a good year and were on the road back to respectability. I am not going to Arch Madness and hope they can turn it around. Tonights game was a perfect reminder why we are not respected in Chicago. We don't deserve it! I see why the Joe is empty. We reap what we sow!

Zeke has it about right except--He has it about right for THIS level--ABOUT is key word--His recruits are not even big enough to beat teams at this level--AND tyhis level truly is NOT so hot. No size equals few wins !
Last year truly WAS an anomaly .

Devastating comment.

I just took a look at the box score. Rajala, playing against freshmen front court players, had 4 points and 5 rebounds... in only NINE minutes. Imagine if he played 10-12 minutes of the second half instead of 4. Maybe we don't get out-rebounded 37-24 for the game. Barker and Van Bree combined for 15 points and 12 rebounds in the second half alone. Despite Loyola having +5 in the turnover comparison, Bradley's offensive rebounding helped them to be able to take seven more shots from the field. Us missing seven free throws didn't help much, either.

I did not get to see the game. How did it end? Did we lose on a last second shot or did we miss a last second shot to win? What did Doyle do out there?

With so many expectations this year and now the LOUSY performance,it has to be the biggest disappointment that I have had as an alum and fan for any season.
1. Lack of acquiring TALENTED Big Men
2. Not being able to combat zone defenses
3. Not many players improving over their 4 years or so.

What does this point to? You plug in the answer.

When will we be consistently good year after year? It gets more frustrating as the years pass by.1985- wow,the last time we were in the Big Dance.

Help,help,help!!!!!!!!!

Toledo - LU led the entire game but it was close throughout. Bradley was down 2 and hit a drive and kick three with 11 seconds left. Loyola came down and got a good look plus two putback attempts, but it wouldn't fall.

I find it interesting that several people who are on Porter defend his ability to recruit. In 5 years he has had success with 2 post players, CT and James. I suppose it could all be lack of development but it starts with recruiting the right players and it is evident that this hasn't happened.

After watching yesterday I think Doyle is playing hurt. I have nothing to substantiate this but he doesn't look like himself.