Games of Interest - 2023-2024 MBB

[reef]

The best time was when they hosted the Davis Cup. McEnroe was playing and his wife then Tatum set up camp outside our maintenance shed. We kept everyone away from her and her child. My co worker and I were walking the grounds and lo and behold, Cam Neely was walking down. He was in a brace as it was right after Samuelsson took his knee out. We brought him and his friend back to the maintenance shed and we got so freaking drunk. It was so awesome. Cam never saw one match. Just stayed with us and drank all day long.

Great story Blueram thanks for sharing

The best was when I told Tatum I auditioned for Bad News Bears. I thought I had it but didn't get selected. She had a good laugh at that one.

One of my all time fav movies! Bad News Bears !

[reef]

Dayton was down 11 wins 94-79 @ Joes

[ramster]

Wednesday A10 Games:

• St Louis (8-14) @ LaSalle (-3.5) (11-11) ESPN+ 6:30pm

• Davidson (12-9) @ Duquesne (-5.5) (13-8) ESPN+ 7pm

• Loyola (15-7) @ George Mason (-4.5) (15-7) ESPN+ 7pm

• UMASS (14-7) @ St Bonaventure (-4.5) (13-8) 7pm

A10 NET:
1. Dayton - 16
2. St Bonaventure - 67
3. Richmond - 74
4. VCU - 80
5. George Mason - 89
6. UMASS - 90
7. St Joseph's - 92
8. Duquesne - 98
9. Loyola - 115
10. Davidson - 128
11. George Washington - 178
12. URI - 182
13. Fordham - 184
14. LaSalle - 208
15. St Louis - 256

A10 Standings:
1. Dayton (9-1)
2. Richmond (8-1)
3. Loyola (7-2)
4. VCU (7-3)
5. UMASS (5-4)
6. St Joseph's (5-5)
7. URI (5-5)
8. George Mason (4-5)
9. St Bonaventure (4-5)
10. Fordham (4-6)
11. Duquesne (3-5)
12. George Washington (3-6)
13. Davidson (2-6)
14. LaSalle (2-7)
15. St Louis (1-8)

[ramster]

Big Friday Night A10 Game to look forward to:

• #18 Ranked Dayton (19-3) @ VCU (-TBD) (15-8) ESPN2/ESPN+ 7pm

Dayton goes for win #20 having won #19 Tuesday night at St Joseph's

[Jersey77]

Big Friday Night A10 Game to look forward to:

• #18 Ranked Dayton (19-3) @ VCU (-TBD) (15-8) ESPN2/ESPN+ 7pm

Dayton goes for win #20 having won #19 Tuesday night at St Joseph's

Should be a good game. VCU now with Sean Bairstow back and they won 7 of their last 8 games.

[theblueram]

Great story Blueram thanks for sharing

The best was when I told Tatum I auditioned for Bad News Bears. I thought I had it but didn't get selected. She had a good laugh at that one.

One of my all time fav movies! Bad News Bears !

I auditioned for the role of Tanner. I was in the finals but got beat out. I so wanted that role. Would have been awesome. Still love that movie as well Reef!

[ElmCityRhody]

who knew we have a movie star on this board..
good stuff..

[theblueram]

who knew we have a movie star on this board..
good stuff..

Never made it ECR. Not a movie star. After not getting Bad News Bears, I also lost out on being the Kitner kid in Jaws. That was the end for me. I was on tv however in many commercials. Actually quite a few.

[ElmCityRhody]

who knew we have a movie star on this board..
good stuff..

Never made it ECR. Not a movie star. After not getting Bad News Bears, I also lost out on being the Kitner kid in Jaws. That was the end for me. I was on tv however in many commercials. Actually quite a few.

awesome.. any ones in particular that we would recognize ?

[reef]

The best was when I told Tatum I auditioned for Bad News Bears. I thought I had it but didn't get selected. She had a good laugh at that one.

One of my all time fav movies! Bad News Bears !

I auditioned for the role of Tanner. I was in the finals but got beat out. I so wanted that role. Would have been awesome. Still love that movie as well Reef!

Wow ! I thought you were kidding ! Kelly Leak was something else driving that motorcycle and smoking cigs @ age 12 could really hit the ball far !

[theblueram]

who knew we have a movie star on this board..
good stuff..

Never made it ECR. Not a movie star. After not getting Bad News Bears, I also lost out on being the Kitner kid in Jaws. That was the end for me. I was on tv however in many commercials. Actually quite a few.

awesome.. any ones in particular that we would recognize ?

Depends on how old you are. I was the red headed kid with a sheepdog in all the Canada Dry ads in the 70's. I was actually on the six pack holders for bottles of Canada Dry. In one commercial I got a kiss from Susan Lucci. I did a singing commercial as a pirate for Long John Silver. Also did a Devil Dogs commercial. My brother did a commercial for Fruit Float with Anthony Hopkins. My brother and I did a print ad for Voit with Dave Cowens back then as well.

And for all you old school marketing folks, I was on the front cover of Madison Avenue.

[bigappleram]

Pretty cool Blue. I’ll have to go back and look at some of those old spots! This Don Draper wannabe fraudster loves it!

[damram]

Kelly Leak was cool, real cool.

[theblueram]

Pretty cool Blue. I’ll have to go back and look at some of those old spots! This Don Draper wannabe fraudster loves it!

Here's something you will remember. Remember Hey Mikey, He likes it? Well me and my brothers didn't get that one, but those dudes competed against us on every commercial.

[RI_Bred]

I went to high school with one of the kids playing the actual game in the Hungry Hungry Hippos commercial. About as close I have gotten to stardom.

[theblueram]

We win this game against UMass and we are in 5th place in the A10.

[reef]

Never made it ECR. Not a movie star. After not getting Bad News Bears, I also lost out on being the Kitner kid in Jaws. That was the end for me. I was on tv however in many commercials. Actually quite a few.

awesome.. any ones in particular that we would recognize ?

Depends on how old you are. I was the red headed kid with a sheepdog in all the Canada Dry ads in the 70's. I was actually on the six pack holders for bottles of Canada Dry. In one commercial I got a kiss from Susan Lucci. I did a singing commercial as a pirate for Long John Silver. Also did a Devil Dogs commercial. My brother did a commercial for Fruit Float with Anthony Hopkins. My brother and I did a print ad for Voit with Dave Cowens back then as well.

And for all you old school marketing folks, I was on the front cover of Madison Avenue.

Nice post one of those commercials here ! Let’s see Keaney blue represented in a 70s commercial !

[Rhody15]

Since people were so quick to judge Loyola being a bad add after their last place finish last year, thoughts on them being one of the best teams in conference in Year 2?

Like me, Jersey and few others said, impossible to judge after one season.

Need to give them more than a year to say whether it was a good or bad addition.

[Rhody_NYCT]

It's really awesome to watch the George Mason rebuild in full effect. Is the coach getting an extension tonight? Very impressed with them. I'm kidding of course, but some of our forum members were ready to bow down to that coach a week ago. Go Rhody!

[Brian]

Never made it ECR. Not a movie star. After not getting Bad News Bears, I also lost out on being the Kitner kid in Jaws. That was the end for me. I was on tv however in many commercials. Actually quite a few.

awesome.. any ones in particular that we would recognize ?

Depends on how old you are. I was the red headed kid with a sheepdog in all the Canada Dry ads in the 70's. I was actually on the six pack holders for bottles of Canada Dry. In one commercial I got a kiss from Susan Lucci. I did a singing commercial as a pirate for Long John Silver. Also did a Devil Dogs commercial. My brother did a commercial for Fruit Float with Anthony Hopkins. My brother and I did a print ad for Voit with Dave Cowens back then as well.

And for all you old school marketing folks, I was on the front cover of Madison Avenue.

Very cool

[reef]

STL blows out LaSalle
Davidson wins @ Duq
Loyola wins @ GMu
Bonnie’s win v mass

[PeterRamTime]

STL blows out LaSalle
Davidson wins @ Duq
Loyola wins @ GMu
Bonnie’s win v mass

Every single game in the A-10 is pretty much a coin flip unless it involves Dayton lol.

[reef]

STL blows out LaSalle
Davidson wins @ Duq
Loyola wins @ GMu
Bonnie’s win v mass

Every single game in the A-10 is pretty much a coin flip unless it involves Dayton lol.

Yeah that Duquesne laying an egg tonight surprised me

That PC Creighton OT game was a really good one

[PeterRamTime]

STL blows out LaSalle
Davidson wins @ Duq
Loyola wins @ GMu
Bonnie’s win v mass

Every single game in the A-10 is pretty much a coin flip unless it involves Dayton lol.

Yeah that Duquesne laying an egg tonight surprised me

That PC Creighton OT game was a really good one

Yeah Pink Providence got it done. Rhody Vault is especially excited

[Rhodymob05]

PC has more prayers answered than anyone.

[ramster]

Wednesday A10 Games:

• St Louis (8-14) @ LaSalle (-3.5) (11-11) ESPN+ 6:30pm

Visiting SLU won by 18!!

• Davidson (12-9) @ Duquesne (-5.5) (13-8) ESPN+ 7pm

Visiting Davidson won by 13!!

• Loyola (15-7) @ George Mason (-4.5) (15-7) ESPN+ 7pm

Visiting Loyola won by 6

• UMASS (14-7) @ St Bonaventure (-4.5) (13-8) 7pm

. St Bonaventure won by 6 beating the 4.5 PS by 1.5 points

3 visitor underdogs not only beat the point spread but outright won the game

[ramster]

Big Friday Night A10 Game to look forward to:

• #18 Ranked Dayton (19-3) @ VCU (-TBD) (15-8) ESPN2/ESPN+ 7pm

Dayton goes for win #20 having won #19 Tuesday night at St Joseph's



Saturday A10 Games:

• Loyola (16-7) @ George Washington (-TBD) (14-8) ESPN+ 12pm

• St Louis (9-14) @ St Joseph's (-TBD) (15-8) USA Net 12:30pm

• LaSalle (11-12) @ Richmond (-TBD) (16-6) ESPN+ 2pm

• Duquesne (13-9) @ St Bonaventure (-TBD) (14-8) ESPNU/ESPN+ 2pm

• George Mason (15-8) @ Davidson(-TBD) (13-9) USA Net 12pm

[Obadiah]

Since people were so quick to judge Loyola being a bad add after their last place finish last year, thoughts on them being one of the best teams in conference in Year 2?

Like me, Jersey and few others said, impossible to judge after one season.

Need to give them more than a year to say whether it was a good or bad addition.

Sorry, don't need a year. Loyola is a good addition because of several important factors: a substantial school in size and endowment, a credible history/tradition in MBB, nice BB facilities, A-10 exposure in the large media market of Chicago and environs, and the addition improves the geographic balance of the A-10 as the Ramblers pair well with Saint Louis, and Dayton.

[Jersey77]

Since people were so quick to judge Loyola being a bad add after their last place finish last year, thoughts on them being one of the best teams in conference in Year 2?

Like me, Jersey and few others said, impossible to judge after one season.

Need to give them more than a year to say whether it was a good or bad addition.

Sorry, don't need a year. Loyola is a good addition because of several important factors: a substantial school in size and endowment, a credible history/tradition in MBB, nice BB facilities, A-10 exposure in the large media market of Chicago and environs, and the addition improves the geographic balance of the A-10 as the Ramblers pair well with Saint Louis, and Dayton.

Absolutely correct Obadiah.

Most of us felt they were a positive addition to the conference.
The A10 presidents, AD's, sports insiders, publications, etc, all thought adding Loyola/Chicago was a no-brainer for the A10 and of course it was a unanimous yes vote.

[Blue Man]

Since people were so quick to judge Loyola being a bad add after their last place finish last year, thoughts on them being one of the best teams in conference in Year 2?

Like me, Jersey and few others said, impossible to judge after one season.

Need to give them more than a year to say whether it was a good or bad addition.

Sorry, don't need a year. Loyola is a good addition because of several important factors: a substantial school in size and endowment, a credible history/tradition in MBB, nice BB facilities, A-10 exposure in the large media market of Chicago and environs, and the addition improves the geographic balance of the A-10 as the Ramblers pair well with Saint Louis, and Dayton.

Substantial school size and endowment is largely irrelevant. None of those translate to a successful program. There are numerous examples.

Credible history/tradition is an interesting way to say they had one nice F4 run under a coach who isn't there any more, after not making any postseason tournament for 50+ years. Oh and they won a "national title" 60 years ago.

Nice facilities - OK? How does that translate to a good add for the conference?

The "media market" thing doesn't matter at all any more. No one is buying newspapers. Everything is streaming. And Chicago doesn't care about college basketball as a whole, including the Loyola fans in that major metropolis that could barely manage 3400 to go see them play their "regional rival" St Louis last week.

For this "great season" they're having, who have they beaten?

In OOC play they had one decent win. BC at #91. Including that they had only one other OOC win in the top 250. The top 250! And people are complaining about our schedule? How is that something to be celebrated?

Our best win is Yale - 84 NET.
Loyola's best win is UMass - 89 NET.
We have more headscratching losses in year 2 of a rebuild, yet they still had a Q3 and Q4 loss in year 3 of their non-rebuild.

I'm not sure why everyone is so incensed on declaring them a "success" and a great season with plenty to go, and the fact they didn't really do anything of note in the OOC, and have beaten Q3 and Q4 conference opponents thus far.

Loyola would've been a "good" add to the conference had the conference not been carrying perennial dead-weight in high school gyms across our membership. Yes, if we could've traded one of our basement dwellers for Loyola? Great deal. Adding a 15th team did nothing but dilute the conference and provide one more mouth to feed at the table of diminishing returns.

[section(105)]

This comes up from time to time, in absence of any known A10 eligibility criteria, what should be the criteria for acceptance into the A10, not just basketball programs?

[Jersey77]

Since people were so quick to judge Loyola being a bad add after their last place finish last year, thoughts on them being one of the best teams in conference in Year 2?

Like me, Jersey and few others said, impossible to judge after one season.

Need to give them more than a year to say whether it was a good or bad addition.

Sorry, don't need a year. Loyola is a good addition because of several important factors: a substantial school in size and endowment, a credible history/tradition in MBB, nice BB facilities, A-10 exposure in the large media market of Chicago and environs, and the addition improves the geographic balance of the A-10 as the Ramblers pair well with Saint Louis, and Dayton.

Substantial school size and endowment is largely irrelevant. None of those translate to a successful program. There are numerous examples.

Credible history/tradition is an interesting way to say they had one nice F4 run under a coach who isn't there any more, after not making any postseason tournament for 50+ years. Oh and they won a "national title" 60 years ago.

Nice facilities - OK? How does that translate to a good add for the conference?

The "media market" thing doesn't matter at all any more. No one is buying newspapers. Everything is streaming. And Chicago doesn't care about college basketball as a whole, including the Loyola fans in that major metropolis that could barely manage 3400 to go see them play their "regional rival" St Louis last week.

For this "great season" they're having, who have they beaten?

In OOC play they had one decent win. BC at #91. Including that they had only one other OOC win in the top 250. The top 250! And people are complaining about our schedule? How is that something to be celebrated?

Our best win is Yale - 84 NET.
Loyola's best win is UMass - 89 NET.
We have more headscratching losses in year 2 of a rebuild, yet they still had a Q3 and Q4 loss in year 3 of their non-rebuild.

I'm not sure why everyone is so incensed on declaring them a "success" and a great season with plenty to go, and the fact they didn't really do anything of note in the OOC, and have beaten Q3 and Q4 conference opponents thus far.

Loyola would've been a "good" add to the conference had the conference not been carrying perennial dead-weight in high school gyms across our membership. Yes, if we could've traded one of our basement dwellers for Loyola? Great deal. Adding a 15th team did nothing but dilute the conference and provide one more mouth to feed at the table of diminishing returns.

Blue Man, adding Loyola was a good move regardless of them having instant success or not.

Besides playing Loyola and adding them to the conference gives us another quality opponent and helps to balance out our schedule because of some of the lesser opponents we seem to schedule every season.

Besides that, let the presidents be concerned about the financials since they control the purse strings not us.
Obviously, they saw it differently than you.

Aside from all that it is geographically friendly to Dayton and SLU with our Midwest footprint.
In addition, adding the Chicago market doesn't hurt in media negotiations or recruiting.

[RhodyKyle]

Sorry, don't need a year. Loyola is a good addition because of several important factors: a substantial school in size and endowment, a credible history/tradition in MBB, nice BB facilities, A-10 exposure in the large media market of Chicago and environs, and the addition improves the geographic balance of the A-10 as the Ramblers pair well with Saint Louis, and Dayton.

Substantial school size and endowment is largely irrelevant. None of those translate to a successful program. There are numerous examples.

Credible history/tradition is an interesting way to say they had one nice F4 run under a coach who isn't there any more, after not making any postseason tournament for 50+ years. Oh and they won a "national title" 60 years ago.

Nice facilities - OK? How does that translate to a good add for the conference?

The "media market" thing doesn't matter at all any more. No one is buying newspapers. Everything is streaming. And Chicago doesn't care about college basketball as a whole, including the Loyola fans in that major metropolis that could barely manage 3400 to go see them play their "regional rival" St Louis last week.

For this "great season" they're having, who have they beaten?

In OOC play they had one decent win. BC at #91. Including that they had only one other OOC win in the top 250. The top 250! And people are complaining about our schedule? How is that something to be celebrated?

Our best win is Yale - 84 NET.
Loyola's best win is UMass - 89 NET.
We have more headscratching losses in year 2 of a rebuild, yet they still had a Q3 and Q4 loss in year 3 of their non-rebuild.

I'm not sure why everyone is so incensed on declaring them a "success" and a great season with plenty to go, and the fact they didn't really do anything of note in the OOC, and have beaten Q3 and Q4 conference opponents thus far.

Loyola would've been a "good" add to the conference had the conference not been carrying perennial dead-weight in high school gyms across our membership. Yes, if we could've traded one of our basement dwellers for Loyola? Great deal. Adding a 15th team did nothing but dilute the conference and provide one more mouth to feed at the table of diminishing returns.

Blue Man, adding Loyola was a good move regardless of them having instant success or not.

Would you rather play Loyola or maybe another Div.2 team like J & W, and do you consider them an upgrade over Wagner, CCSU, and Fairfield?
We have a difficult time filling out our OOC schedule as it is.

Besides that, let the presidents be concerned about the financials since they control the purse strings not us.
Obviously, they saw it differently than you.

Aside from all that it is geographically friendly to Dayton and SLU with our Midwest footprint.
In addition, adding the Chicago market doesn't hurt in media negotiations or recruiting.

I'm on your side here but this argument is apples to oranges as adding Loyola didn't change the number of conference games so with or without Loyola, URI still plays Wagner and CCSU

[Jersey77]

Substantial school size and endowment is largely irrelevant. None of those translate to a successful program. There are numerous examples.

Credible history/tradition is an interesting way to say they had one nice F4 run under a coach who isn't there any more, after not making any postseason tournament for 50+ years. Oh and they won a "national title" 60 years ago.

Nice facilities - OK? How does that translate to a good add for the conference?

The "media market" thing doesn't matter at all any more. No one is buying newspapers. Everything is streaming. And Chicago doesn't care about college basketball as a whole, including the Loyola fans in that major metropolis that could barely manage 3400 to go see them play their "regional rival" St Louis last week.

For this "great season" they're having, who have they beaten?

In OOC play they had one decent win. BC at #91. Including that they had only one other OOC win in the top 250. The top 250! And people are complaining about our schedule? How is that something to be celebrated?

Our best win is Yale - 84 NET.
Loyola's best win is UMass - 89 NET.
We have more headscratching losses in year 2 of a rebuild, yet they still had a Q3 and Q4 loss in year 3 of their non-rebuild.

I'm not sure why everyone is so incensed on declaring them a "success" and a great season with plenty to go, and the fact they didn't really do anything of note in the OOC, and have beaten Q3 and Q4 conference opponents thus far.

Loyola would've been a "good" add to the conference had the conference not been carrying perennial dead-weight in high school gyms across our membership. Yes, if we could've traded one of our basement dwellers for Loyola? Great deal. Adding a 15th team did nothing but dilute the conference and provide one more mouth to feed at the table of diminishing returns.

Blue Man, adding Loyola was a good move regardless of them having instant success or not.

Would you rather play Loyola or maybe another Div.2 team like J & W, and do you consider them an upgrade over Wagner, CCSU, and Fairfield?
We have a difficult time filling out our OOC schedule as it is.

Besides that, let the presidents be concerned about the financials since they control the purse strings not us.
Obviously, they saw it differently than you.

Aside from all that it is geographically friendly to Dayton and SLU with our Midwest footprint.
In addition, adding the Chicago market doesn't hurt in media negotiations or recruiting.

I'm on your side here but this argument is apples to oranges as adding Loyola didn't change the number of conference games so with or without Loyola, URI still plays Wagner and CCSU

The point is adding Loyola adds another quality opponent in the conference to the mix, which is an upgrade to some of the lower conference and Div.2 teams we are forced to play because of scheduling difficulties.
Also goes in line with why we should keep an 18 game in-conference schedule rather than going back to 16 games like some have previously mentioned.

[theblueram]

awesome.. any ones in particular that we would recognize ?

Depends on how old you are. I was the red headed kid with a sheepdog in all the Canada Dry ads in the 70's. I was actually on the six pack holders for bottles of Canada Dry. In one commercial I got a kiss from Susan Lucci. I did a singing commercial as a pirate for Long John Silver. Also did a Devil Dogs commercial. My brother did a commercial for Fruit Float with Anthony Hopkins. My brother and I did a print ad for Voit with Dave Cowens back then as well.

And for all you old school marketing folks, I was on the front cover of Madison Avenue.

Nice post one of those commercials here ! Let’s see Keaney blue represented in a 70s commercial !

Hey Reef, I found one online. The commercial starts at 4:52. I'm the red headed kid lol.

[ramster]

Blue Man, adding Loyola was a good move regardless of them having instant success or not.

Would you rather play Loyola or maybe another Div.2 team like J & W, and do you consider them an upgrade over Wagner, CCSU, and Fairfield?
We have a difficult time filling out our OOC schedule as it is.

Besides that, let the presidents be concerned about the financials since they control the purse strings not us.
Obviously, they saw it differently than you.

Aside from all that it is geographically friendly to Dayton and SLU with our Midwest footprint.
In addition, adding the Chicago market doesn't hurt in media negotiations or recruiting.

I'm on your side here but this argument is apples to oranges as adding Loyola didn't change the number of conference games so with or without Loyola, URI still plays Wagner and CCSU

The point is that not having Loyola we would be adding more lower conference teams or another Div 2 team to our OOC schedule.

No. We played 18 games before Loyola was added to make 15 teams and we still play 18 Conference games.
We play 4 teams home and home.
The quality of those 4 teams is considered upon where we finish in the standings the prior year.

The Top finishing teams play higher level teams the next season twice - home and away
The bottom finishing teams play lower level teams the next year twice.

That practice lets the High Tier Teams play a stronger NET Conference schedule.

The addition of Loyola had nothing to do with URI scheduling Johnson & Wales.

[Jersey77]

I'm on your side here but this argument is apples to oranges as adding Loyola didn't change the number of conference games so with or without Loyola, URI still plays Wagner and CCSU

The point is that not having Loyola we would be adding more lower conference teams or another Div 2 team to our OOC schedule.

No. We played 18 games before Loyola was added to make 15 teams and we still play 18 Conference games.
We play 4 teams home and home.
The quality of those 4 teams is considered upon where we finish in the standings the prior year.

The Top finishing teams play higher level teams the next season twice - home and away
The bottom finishing teams play lower level teams the next year twice.

That practice lets the High Tier Teams play a stronger NET Conference schedule.

The addition of Loyola had nothing to do with URI scheduling Johnson & Wales.

I understand that and edited my post, because I wasn't clear, my fault Ramster I didn't express myself well.

I just feel that Loyola is a quality opponent, and it helps balance out our schedule because of the lower OOC teams we seem to be forced to play.

Regardless Loyola was a good add.

[Blue Man]

The point is that not having Loyola we would be adding more lower conference teams or another Div 2 team to our OOC schedule.

No. We played 18 games before Loyola was added to make 15 teams and we still play 18 Conference games.
We play 4 teams home and home.
The quality of those 4 teams is considered upon where we finish in the standings the prior year.

The Top finishing teams play higher level teams the next season twice - home and away
The bottom finishing teams play lower level teams the next year twice.

That practice lets the High Tier Teams play a stronger NET Conference schedule.

The addition of Loyola had nothing to do with URI scheduling Johnson & Wales.

I understand that and edited my post, because I wasn't clear, my fault Ramster I didn't express myself well.

I just feel that Loyola is a quality opponent, and it helps balance out our schedule because of the lower OOC teams we seem to be forced to play.

Regardless Loyola was a good add.

We'll never agree on this lol.

Firstly, what makes them a quality opponent? They're a ticking timebomb of garbage scheduling, bad losses, and a schedule that could easily have them trending closer to a 200-ish opponent by the end of the year rather than the 100 range they currently find themselves.

No matter what the A10 schedule is 18 games - so whether we play Loyola once or twice, versus any of the other garbage pile teams or the couple of good teams is irrelevant.

In my opinion - a good program would be a program that can win good OOC games for the conference. Loyola either got beat by the good teams they scheduled, or beat up on teams outside of the top 200. They were 2-5 against top 200 teams. How does that help the conference? How is that any different than anything anyone else did...including URI.

Why would you add more mediocrity and be excited about it? Because it was a "name brand" for a hot 15 minutes of fame 7 years and a coaching change ago?

All we did was add another team incapable of being an at-large, capable of beating in-conference foes, and chopping up the ever-dwindling pot of TV contracts and NCAA money.

They have zero fans. If this is a "good" season for them - why can't they come anywhere close to selling out their 4500 seat arena with a student population larger than URI's, in a city 90x the size of South Kingstown?

If we averaged attendance like Loyola does at their best, people would be rallying to fire the coach tomorrow. But instead we're praising them as some bastion of basketball glory? K.

[Jersey77]

No. We played 18 games before Loyola was added to make 15 teams and we still play 18 Conference games.
We play 4 teams home and home.
The quality of those 4 teams is considered upon where we finish in the standings the prior year.

The Top finishing teams play higher level teams the next season twice - home and away
The bottom finishing teams play lower level teams the next year twice.

That practice lets the High Tier Teams play a stronger NET Conference schedule.

The addition of Loyola had nothing to do with URI scheduling Johnson & Wales.

I understand that and edited my post, because I wasn't clear, my fault Ramster I didn't express myself well.

I just feel that Loyola is a quality opponent, and it helps balance out our schedule because of the lower OOC teams we seem to be forced to play.

Regardless Loyola was a good add.

We'll never agree on this lol.

Firstly, what makes them a quality opponent? They're a ticking timebomb of garbage scheduling, bad losses, and a schedule that could easily have them trending closer to a 200-ish opponent by the end of the year rather than the 100 range they currently find themselves.

No matter what the A10 schedule is 18 games - so whether we play Loyola once or twice, versus any of the other garbage pile teams or the couple of good teams is irrelevant.

In my opinion - a good program would be a program that can win good OOC games for the conference. Loyola either got beat by the good teams they scheduled, or beat up on teams outside of the top 200. They were 2-5 against top 200 teams. How does that help the conference? How is that any different than anything anyone else did...including URI.

Why would you add more mediocrity and be excited about it? Because it was a "name brand" for a hot 15 minutes of fame 7 years and a coaching change ago?

All we did was add another team incapable of being an at-large, capable of beating in-conference foes, and chopping up the ever-dwindling pot of TV contracts and NCAA money.

They have zero fans. If this is a "good" season for them - why can't they come anywhere close to selling out their 4500 seat arena with a student population larger than URI's, in a city 90x the size of South Kingstown?

If we averaged attendance like Loyola does at their best, people would be rallying to fire the coach tomorrow. But instead we're praising them as some bastion of basketball glory? K.

Yes Blue Man we will never agree on this addition. But in the end it was what the entire A10 wanted. I guess they felt all the pluses outweighed any of the negatives and thought it was a win, so did most of the basketball community.

With all that said, I hope we kick their ass at the RC.
We can both agree on that.

[theblueram]

I understand that and edited my post, because I wasn't clear, my fault Ramster I didn't express myself well.

I just feel that Loyola is a quality opponent, and it helps balance out our schedule because of the lower OOC teams we seem to be forced to play.

Regardless Loyola was a good add.

We'll never agree on this lol.

Firstly, what makes them a quality opponent? They're a ticking timebomb of garbage scheduling, bad losses, and a schedule that could easily have them trending closer to a 200-ish opponent by the end of the year rather than the 100 range they currently find themselves.

No matter what the A10 schedule is 18 games - so whether we play Loyola once or twice, versus any of the other garbage pile teams or the couple of good teams is irrelevant.

In my opinion - a good program would be a program that can win good OOC games for the conference. Loyola either got beat by the good teams they scheduled, or beat up on teams outside of the top 200. They were 2-5 against top 200 teams. How does that help the conference? How is that any different than anything anyone else did...including URI.

Why would you add more mediocrity and be excited about it? Because it was a "name brand" for a hot 15 minutes of fame 7 years and a coaching change ago?

All we did was add another team incapable of being an at-large, capable of beating in-conference foes, and chopping up the ever-dwindling pot of TV contracts and NCAA money.

They have zero fans. If this is a "good" season for them - why can't they come anywhere close to selling out their 4500 seat arena with a student population larger than URI's, in a city 90x the size of South Kingstown?

If we averaged attendance like Loyola does at their best, people would be rallying to fire the coach tomorrow. But instead we're praising them as some bastion of basketball glory? K.

Yes Blue Man we will never agree on this addition. But in the end it was what the entire A10 wanted. I guess they felt all the pluses outweighed any of the negatives and thought it was a win, so did most of the basketball community.

With all that said, I hope we kick their ass at the RC.
We can both agree on that.

Well Jersey, If we were above 500 in conference, we would be in 4th place. Says a lot about this great conference. One team, 1, has an At Large shot. Better rethink how you feel about this conference.

[reef]

Depends on how old you are. I was the red headed kid with a sheepdog in all the Canada Dry ads in the 70's. I was actually on the six pack holders for bottles of Canada Dry. In one commercial I got a kiss from Susan Lucci. I did a singing commercial as a pirate for Long John Silver. Also did a Devil Dogs commercial. My brother did a commercial for Fruit Float with Anthony Hopkins. My brother and I did a print ad for Voit with Dave Cowens back then as well.

And for all you old school marketing folks, I was on the front cover of Madison Avenue.

Nice post one of those commercials here ! Let’s see Keaney blue represented in a 70s commercial !

Hey Reef, I found one online. The commercial starts at 4:52. I'm the red headed kid lol.

That’s hysterical Blueram great job !

[RI_Bred]

No. We played 18 games before Loyola was added to make 15 teams and we still play 18 Conference games.
We play 4 teams home and home.
The quality of those 4 teams is considered upon where we finish in the standings the prior year.

The Top finishing teams play higher level teams the next season twice - home and away
The bottom finishing teams play lower level teams the next year twice.

That practice lets the High Tier Teams play a stronger NET Conference schedule.

The addition of Loyola had nothing to do with URI scheduling Johnson & Wales.

I understand that and edited my post, because I wasn't clear, my fault Ramster I didn't express myself well.

I just feel that Loyola is a quality opponent, and it helps balance out our schedule because of the lower OOC teams we seem to be forced to play.

Regardless Loyola was a good add.

We'll never agree on this lol.

Firstly, what makes them a quality opponent? They're a ticking timebomb of garbage scheduling, bad losses, and a schedule that could easily have them trending closer to a 200-ish opponent by the end of the year rather than the 100 range they currently find themselves.

No matter what the A10 schedule is 18 games - so whether we play Loyola once or twice, versus any of the other garbage pile teams or the couple of good teams is irrelevant.

In my opinion - a good program would be a program that can win good OOC games for the conference. Loyola either got beat by the good teams they scheduled, or beat up on teams outside of the top 200. They were 2-5 against top 200 teams. How does that help the conference? How is that any different than anything anyone else did...including URI.

Why would you add more mediocrity and be excited about it? Because it was a "name brand" for a hot 15 minutes of fame 7 years and a coaching change ago?

All we did was add another team incapable of being an at-large, capable of beating in-conference foes, and chopping up the ever-dwindling pot of TV contracts and NCAA money.

They have zero fans. If this is a "good" season for them - why can't they come anywhere close to selling out their 4500 seat arena with a student population larger than URI's, in a city 90x the size of South Kingstown?

If we averaged attendance like Loyola does at their best, people would be rallying to fire the coach tomorrow. But instead we're praising them as some bastion of basketball glory? K.

Basically like adding another Fordham.

[reef]

I was actually for the addition @ the time and still OK with it

[Obadiah]

The essence of a good discussion is avoid the use of hyperbole and exaggeration.

"And Chicago doesn't care about college basketball as a whole, including the Loyola fans in that major metropolis that could barely manage 3400 to go see them play their "regional rival" St Louis last week."

"They have zero fans".

I watched part of their game versus Saint Louis and rather than focus on the fact the arena was not filled for this midweek game, I noted the Loyola student section is not located behind the basket as is the case with URI, but stretches the entire side of the court opposite to the team benches. The student section was packed (about 8-900 students), animated and stood for the entire game. Different than URI and certainly different than the mausoleum we witnessed at GW's Smith Center Tuesday night. Also, to say Loyola is just another Fordham is a ludicrous observation given the state of Fordham's basketball facilities.

[ramster]

Big Friday Night A10 Game to look forward to:

• #18 Ranked Dayton (-1.5) (19-3) @ VCU (15-8) ESPN2/ESPN+ 7pm

Dayton goes for win #20 having won #19 Tuesday night at St Joseph's

2 key transfers playing against one another tonight:

Nate Santos 6'7" Junior Transfer from Pittsburgh led Dayton vs St Joseph's Tuesday night with a game hi 36 minutes played (tied) a game hi 21 points (tied) on 8-12 FG, 3-3 FT, 2-4 3P. Plus 5 Rebounds 2 assists, 2 steals and zero TOs

Max Shulga 6'4" Senior Transfer from Utah State is from Ukraine. Shulga led VCU to beat Fordham Tuesday night as he was the best player on the floor for either team.
34 minutes - game hi
10 rebounds - game hi
7 assists - game hi
4-7 FG, 3-5 3P, 2-2 FT for 13 points - tied for team hi

In the last 4 games @ Fordham, Richmond, @ St Bonaventure, @ Davidson Shulga has the following for VCU:
Averaged 33 mpg
22-42 FG = 52.4%
15-27 3P = 55.5%
71 points = 17.5 pug

[ramster]

Dayton @ VCU Comparison heading into tonight's game at VCU:

Rankings Dayton (VCU):
NCAA NET: 16 (79)
RPI: 3 (86)
KenPom: 23 (85)
BPI: 23 (86)
Barttovik: 21 (88)

[ramster]

[Blue Man]

The essence of a good discussion is avoid the use of hyperbole and exaggeration.

"And Chicago doesn't care about college basketball as a whole, including the Loyola fans in that major metropolis that could barely manage 3400 to go see them play their "regional rival" St Louis last week."

"They have zero fans".

I watched part of their game versus Saint Louis and rather than focus on the fact the arena was not filled for this midweek game, I noted the Loyola student section is not located behind the basket as is the case with URI, but stretches the entire side of the court opposite to the team benches. The student section was packed (about 8-900 students), animated and stood for the entire game. Different than URI and certainly different than the mausoleum we witnessed at GW's Smith Center Tuesday night. Also, to say Loyola is just another Fordham is a ludicrous observation given the state of Fordham's basketball facilities.

I definitely won't cosign that Loyola is Fordham. Loyola is significantly better than Fordham in investment, program stature, facilities, fans, everything. Everything. If the A10 said we're adding Loyola to replace Fordham as we've relegated them to the Patriot league...I 1000% cosign that move. It's a laughable comparison. I think we all know that.

Hyperbole and exaggeration is 2/3 of my entire communication style OB, so unfortunately, I won't be able to turn that off.

I'm sorry the obvious hyperbole and sarcasm of saying they have "zero" fans caused you to short circuit. Yes, very literally they have 3400 fans who will buy tickets to their arena. If you look at the 3400 people, yes, it's a much larger number than zero. However, if you juxtapose that number relative to the available population in the immediate vicinity it's much closer to zero than 100%.

What isn't hyperbole is that Loyola's student body is 30% larger than URI's. They play in a city that is 90x larger than where URI is located. The sheer amount of people would tell you that if the general population were fans of Loyola basketball, or if they cared even the littlest amount, that at least 1/10th of 1% of the population in the area would find the $12 to go to a game there.

The arena size is 4400. The population of Chicago is 2.7 million. 0.1% of the population would need to care to spend $12 to go to their arena, and they can't even get that.

The entire city is ambivalent to basketball. There are 5 schools - and people don't care about any of them...relatively speaking. Northwestern is in their golden era. For the last 10 years of Chris Collins, they've been to their first 2 tournaments and have been ranked, they're a built program in the midst of what looks like another NCAA at large birth. They have a similar sized arena to URI, are in a metropolis, and have a decent sized enrollment.

Northwestern's average attendance in the midst of this great season wouldn't be even top 6 for what URI has done historically in the Ryan Center. That's the pinnacle of Chicago collegiate basketball.

Loyola is at best 3rd of the 5 programs in this massive city that clearly couldn't care less about the sport. The 900 or so super active nerds who go to the Loyola games sometimes aren't indicative of the overall fanbase. They're indicative of a bunch of Loyola bookworms who have literally nothing better to do because they live on campus and it's 4 degrees outside so they might as well go to the game. If it really mattered, that fanbase would be considerably growing year over year considering they are also in their "golden era."

So if we're not adding a "program" that brings fans like people are saying we are...then what do they bring?

Until they become an at-large team they contribute nothing to the A10. If they win the autobid, they just take a spot, they didn't add anything extra - while they add another mouth to feed and share money with.

I can't imagine when the Battleaxe went to negotiate that super awesome streaming contract (sarcasm), that they said oh wow - we can broadcast Loyola games nationally? Here's an extra million dollars per team.

No one cares (except for 3400 people) about Loyola basketball. Not the students. Not the population of Chicago. Not the national audience. They captured America's hearts during a cinderella run almost a decade ago under a different coach. That was it.

It's not a VCU. They were a name brand addition that came with their coach who made their cinderella run and kept it going.

It's not even a Davidson. They had the same coach that made their cinderella run, even though they haven't come close to landing the kind of player that made the run nor had the tournament appearances to back it up.

Loyola's star had already faded and their coach had changed before Loyola joined. You're not getting Porter Moser final four Loyola. You're getting single NCAA appearance and embarrassing blow out Drew Valentine Loyola, who came into the conference last year and took last place. This year they have certainly improved, but have played a soft schedule and will still probably be a middle of the pack team for years to come.

Adding a middle of the pack to lower end team without dispatching of a lower end team was pointless. Period.

[TruePoint]

The essence of a good discussion is avoid the use of hyperbole and exaggeration.

"And Chicago doesn't care about college basketball as a whole, including the Loyola fans in that major metropolis that could barely manage 3400 to go see them play their "regional rival" St Louis last week."

"They have zero fans".

I watched part of their game versus Saint Louis and rather than focus on the fact the arena was not filled for this midweek game, I noted the Loyola student section is not located behind the basket as is the case with URI, but stretches the entire side of the court opposite to the team benches. The student section was packed (about 8-900 students), animated and stood for the entire game. Different than URI and certainly different than the mausoleum we witnessed at GW's Smith Center Tuesday night. Also, to say Loyola is just another Fordham is a ludicrous observation given the state of Fordham's basketball facilities.

Hyperbole and exaggeration is 2/3 of my entire communication style OB, so unfortunately, I won't be able to turn that off.

Same. People are going to have to live with hyperbole and exaggeration.

[Obadiah]

The essence of a good discussion is avoid the use of hyperbole and exaggeration.

"And Chicago doesn't care about college basketball as a whole, including the Loyola fans in that major metropolis that could barely manage 3400 to go see them play their "regional rival" St Louis last week."

"They have zero fans".

I watched part of their game versus Saint Louis and rather than focus on the fact the arena was not filled for this midweek game, I noted the Loyola student section is not located behind the basket as is the case with URI, but stretches the entire side of the court opposite to the team benches. The student section was packed (about 8-900 students), animated and stood for the entire game. Different than URI and certainly different than the mausoleum we witnessed at GW's Smith Center Tuesday night. Also, to say Loyola is just another Fordham is a ludicrous observation given the state of Fordham's basketball facilities.

Hyperbole and exaggeration is 2/3 of my entire communication style OB, so unfortunately, I won't be able to turn that off.

Same. People are going to have to live with hyperbole and exaggeration.

Sorry, Truepoint, but I’m a fact based person and never use hyperbole, distortion, and exaggeration to make a point. That maybe OK with you, but it is definitely not my mojo