I would have guessed more than that. Great crowd!

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I think you can view the fact that Loyola's men's volleyball team outdraws the men's basketball team in one of two ways.

Negatively, it's a telling indictment of the sad state of Loyola basketball.

Positively, it's an indication that the students (and alumni?) will support a winning team in games against name opponents.

I can't believe we're on track to lose EVERY ROAD GAME in a season. The last time such a thing happened was 2000-01. I thought we were over that kind of crap. We've had double-digit leads well into the second half, we've had overtime leads, we've had missed free throws that would have iced the game, and now we've had a missed free throw AND a foul with one second left AND a technical foul that produced five points.

Three and seven in conference, including two completely unnecessary losses to SIU. A 15-game road losing streak, and counting. I don't understand how that's even possible with the players we have and the schedule we've played. And a 9-35 conference record over the past three seasons is the worst three year string for Loyola teams since going 6-28 from 1991-94.

This one pisses me off probably more than any of the losses we've had over the past decade. Last year's home loss to Youngstown State was probably second, and this year against Tulane was probably third (or the SIU loss at home). Mississippi State comes next. Then Tennessee Tech. Then either one of the losses in Portland. The loss at Detroit last year was pretty hurtful, also.

I guess what I'm saying is the crapola about "changing the culture" is a new and virulent kind of refined crapola, much more dangerous and addictive than the weak-ass street crapola that we used to get. This is high-grade stuff, the kind that brings you to your knees and erases all rationality. You want to walk away, but you can't; the guy selling it to you knows just what buttons to push. Crapola kills, kids.

Metaphor out! *drops mic*

Is PM's seat getting warm at all?

The way I look at: If we are going to start really investing in our basketball program, it should start up top. We can afford a better coach. We shouldn't have to settle for a coach who was fired just a few years ago by another program in our conference.

There is only so much of this we should take.

I do not think Porters chair is getting warm--NOW then this time next year may be a totally different story. We lose games now I THINK because we are young--really young. This will NOT be the case next year--If little or no improvement next go round, he may be toast.

I feel however next season we shall be winning those we lost this year--We are young snake bitten but have talent. Bench and BIGS, anyone ???

Thursday game against Brad will tell me a lot--

I think you're mostly right, Brot. There are probably no question marks surrounding Porter's future right now, but the technical foul in this close one might have caused more than just head scratching. It's one thing when you've got "young players," but when they've been at the precipice of breaking the road losing streak many times, and now the coach himself is getting in the way, maybe there will be some scrutiny.

According to the box score, we only played seven players in the game, and yet three of them fouled out. I think Dokubo was in for five seconds or so at the end when Crisman fouled out, but he's not listed in the box score. Of course, nobody fouled out for SIU, and the two key things to beating SIU I mentioned in the opening post on this thread-- getting some fouls on Jackson and limiting Beane-- didn't happen.

In fact, it was Beane's second half explosion that turned a five point halftime lead into an eight point deficit at one point, as he scored 16 points in the 12 minutes between the 15:53 mark (when he cut Loyola's lead to two) and the 3:53 mark (where his layup put SIU up by 7). Beane was held scoreless for the last 3:53 of the second half, when we outscored SIU 11-4.

Jackson got an early foul in the game, at the 18:31 mark in the first half, and only scored one basket over the next 14 minutes, and only two more baskets for the rest of the half. After halftime, he scored eight points by the time he got his second foul, at the 7:26 mark, and for the rest of regulation he only scored two points as we outscored SIU 22-16.

Yes, Thursday will indeed be a big game-- our first time facing Bradley, who is the only other team in the league besides us that is winless on the road. If we flub up like we did against SIU, providing the Salukis with their only road win on the year, we probably won't be able to stay out of last place. And if that turns out to be the case, given our talent level, I would hope there would be some honest examination of whether Porter's seat is toasty.

I think Brot is right as well.

As much as we all want to see more wins, I think it's only fair to give any coach a few seasons to turn things around. Add in the move to the new conference and I don't don't think the seat will be warm for awhile.

One frustrating thing about this season is that we aren't building off of the games in which we play well. We played a really nice game against Milwaukee to open the year, and then we lost two in a row. We blew out Missouri State, and then lost two in a row. Played great against Drake and lost two in a row. Played the best game I've seen us play in three years against Northern Iowa, and now we have lost two in a row. We only have one winning "streak" (two games) on the season. Since that streak, we are 3-9.

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It's not just that we're losing, it's that we're losing so many close games and that's most frustrating. At least 10 of our losses have to be by 5 or 6 points or less, right? Like the great philosophers Hall & Oates once said, we're so close, yet so far away.

I agree. We could have been 11-1 in non-con, and we should have four -- if not five -- conference wins. 16-6 (5-5) would look a hell of a lot better than 8-14 (3-7). We'd be tied for third in conference, with two wins over tied teams.

A lot of teams can play that game, though. In the end, as they say, you are what your record says you are.

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Next should be one hell of a year according to the adage. Two straight years of close losses...and not just one or two. This team should be "learning" from these experiences.

The one problem I have...who is teaching them? Certainly not Porter.

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Cigarboy sucks!