Final: Bradley 55 Loyola 38

[Da Coach]

3 games left on the schedule- Next is Loyola at Bradley on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 7:00 PM.
Loyola is 9-17, 4-10, and tied for 9th place in the MVC with Evansville. Both those teams will play Wednesday, Feb. 19.
Bradley is now 11-17, 6-9, and in 7th place in the MVC.
This game will be highlighted by the unveiling of the Bradley gargoyle mascot.

This is a battle of the 2 lowest scoring teams in the MVC. Bradley is 10th, and Loyola is 9th.
Loyola, however, is the top field goal percentage team in the MVC, while Bradley is 9th.
Loyola has 2 of the top 10 scorers in the MVC- Freshman Milton Doyle is 6th, and junior Christian Thomas is 10th.
Thomas is also 4th in rebounding. Their 3rd leading scorer is Peoria Manual grad Jeff White.

Loyola website-

http://www.loyolaramblers.com/sports/m-baskbl/loyc-m-baskbl-body.html

Loyola roster-

http://www.loyolaramblers.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/loyc-m-baskbl-mtt.html

Loyola schedule/results

http://www.loyolaramblers.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/loyc-m-baskbl-sched.html

Loyola stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/LUC.HTM

Bradley stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/BU.HTM

Overall MVC stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/CONFLDRS.HTM

MVC conference only stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/CONFONLY.HTM

Here are the standings in the MVC-

[tornado]

those who predicted Bradley in the upper half of the MVC need to go to work for these guys (NOAA)...
..who expertly predicted warm to very warm winter all over the upper midwest and east

one more bit of bad news - as the non-con opponents of the MVC also are doing poorly - the MVC's Conference RPI is about to slip yet another slot...

[Da Coach]

t...as the non-con opponents of the MVC also are doing poorly - the MVC's Conference RPI is about to slip yet another slot...

The MVC has been the 11th ranked conference in RPI almost all season. But I have noticed that the difference between The MVC and the 12th place MAC has been slowly diminishing over the past couple months, and now the difference is a tiny 2 thousandths of a point (0.5140 vs. 0.5120)-

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2014/conferencerpi

For comparison, the MVC ranking over the past few years-
2012-13 9th
2011-12 8th
2010-11 12th
2009-10 9th
2008-09 9th
2007-08 8th
2006-07 6th
2005-06 6th
2004-05 8th

[Bradleyfan1]

;(

[jasonpeoria911]

Great game to release the new mascot. It's likely to be Bradley's smallest home conference crowd this season. They should of done it on Tuesday against the Shockers.

Jason

[Chico]

Great game to release the new mascot. It's likely to be Bradley's smallest home conference crowd this season. They should of done it on Tuesday against the Shockers.

Jason

Makes too much sense.

[Braves2006]

No kidding. Now is NOT the time to be debuting a mascot or anything until they field and debut a competitive TEAM...

[Buesch N Chips]

those who predicted Bradley in the upper half of the MVC need to go to work for these guys (NOAA)...
..who expertly predicted warm to very warm winter all over the upper midwest and east

one more bit of bad news - as the non-con opponents of the MVC also are doing poorly - the MVC's Conference RPI is about to slip yet another slot...

What was your prediction for us this year?

[Da Coach]

Here is tornado's preseason predictions- he was quite detailed, though maybe slightly optimistic, along with a few others -

https://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=23002

Looks like you predicted a 20 win season-

http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=285628#post285628

There were several other "prediction" threads, and I'll look them up if I get more time. My prediction, similar to most fans, was for us to go 10-3 in the non-conference part of the schedule and go 10-8 in the MVC, and 1-1 in the MVC tournament. I also expected with our weak SOS that would leave us looking for a CIT buy in again.

[tornado]

wow- I think we are way below most people's expectations..but some expected more than 9-10 MVC wins...
but it would take a miracle run for us to finish with 9 MVC wins - so we have definitely not met expectations

btw - I predicted the long stretch of losing, poor play, unmet expectations, and attendance declines.
I also predicted the unpopular hike in ticket prices would cause a further drop in attendance
There's not much we're seeing that wasn't predicted by some.

[BUBalum05]

There's not much we're seeing that wasn't predicted by some.

Not sure who said it first, but the good thing about being a pessimist is that you're either always right, or pleasantly surprised...

[tornado]

now you are funny - I consider myself a realist --
for years I was labelled overly optimistic and rose-colored glasses....now suddenly I am a pessimist - perhaps if you correlated my posts with what's really going on you'll see that I am neither pessimistic nor optimistic, just right on most of the time - calling it like it is

[molar50]

I predicted that last season's team would finish 8 in the MVC. I earlier predicted that this team would finish 8. So far, it looks like it will happen again. I expect the same next year. Sorry, I am not an expert, but I know bad basketball. Geno is a nice guy, but if he cannot recruit, we will have more of the same

[battlebasset]

I predicted that last season's team would finish 8 in the MVC. I earlier predicted that this team would finish 8. So far, it looks like it will happen again. I expect the same next year. Sorry, I am not an expert, but I know bad basketball. Geno is a nice guy, but if he cannot recruit, we will have more of the same

You are assuming that after March 10 he will be in a position to recruit?

[Da Coach]

You are assuming that after March 10 he will be in a position to recruit?

There is nobody questioning that Geno will be here and will be recruiting. But I see a pattern developing that may be part of the problem why we can't land many quality talented recruits who step in and contribute like they are expected.
We will be spending most of our time, effort, and resources this March and maybe into April, recruiting for more 2014 recruits to fill scholarship openings (some of which will not likely become open until spring). Most other teams have already finished their 2014 recruiting and have moved on to 2015 & 2016. This creates a pattern where we are always chasing a dwindling pool of less talented players, mostly jucos and overlooked project-types, and then falling behind with the next recruiting cycle while other schools make their inroads. Thus the cycle keeps repeating itself each year. We simply aren't making those early inroads on enough high-quality recruits, staying with them, and signing them early like other schools focus on doing. Most of the top talent is recruited that way, and not by late scrambling to land marginal juco players to fill the slots created by booting your own recruits.