I didn't see him, but the arena wasn't empty. It was a pretty good crowd, save the small student turnout.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

On the broadcast CT said they are just not putting in the effort. NIL makes them employees. Wish they could be fired mid-season.

Wow.
Hard to say if this is effort, chemistry, talent,experience or a combination of. What could appear as lack of effort could just be shock that they are overmatched as a team. I thought NIU was bigger,
stronger, quicker. Everyone just looks scrawny. Last year Dez, Dawson and Quinn and even Edwarda
provided a tough physical presence, all the guards were able to rebound. this group looks like they expect someone else to get the ball for them...We get pushed around , jumped over and manhandled.
Best years and even ok years we have been a physical team. I think this is an example of how basketball is a team game and some of the guys that we brought in this year might have looked great as pieces on the teams they were on but this group can all be guarded . My favorite play from last night was the illegal screen set by Brayden Young, just for its physicality.
This could be a loooong year. Only hope left is that Amos provides some physical presence and rebounding when he gets back.
My real concern is that Drew will loose the team...He really threw the team under the bus in an article in the Phoenix, might have been his attempt to get more out of them but I thought it was a bad look.
In the end I think this was a poorly put together group and now it is up to the coaching staff to do something different. He has mentioned several times that they run the same offense, well it doesnt work with this group, last year Quinn, Dawson and Dez could all get to the rim. not these guys. they are mostly stand and shoot guys..and to open up room for them you need someone who can get to the hoop and open up space....Man that was hard to watch last night.

Blaming NIL/transfers is a copout. I don't love it either, but literally every other team is dealing with it too, most of them with way less resources than we do, and I can't imagine there is another team underperforming and completely shitting the bed as bad as we are. Even the teams that have had complete roster overhauls, a few we've already faced, look like well-oiled machines compared to us.

This is 100% on Drew and his incompetence. It's obvious he was lucky to have been bailed out by good upperclassmen and good assistants in the last two seasons, now they're gone and he gets to do things his way, it's a complete disaster, and he's being a little baby about it and predictably throwing his players under the bus.

I think you hit on some points, but I see it a different way. To say Drew's been bailed out by good upperclassmen, that he recruited and developed is crazy. That's like saying Phil Jackson was bailed out by Jordan and Kobe. That said, our best teams have had a good core of upperclassmen guards who have been here a few years. I think our defensive system is more intricate and takes time to learn. It's also why we consistently play better at the end of the year compared to the start. This year, Kymany is the most experienced guard despite only being here a year.

Do we need to change our scheme in this new era? Maybe, and that is up to Drew to figure out. Porter's Oklahoma teams look different than his Loyola teams. He's adapted as best he can, with mixed results. We've been fine the last couple years incorporating new guys into the system, but maybe that's because we've had enough returning minutes. Listening to CT, in the post game last night, we've hit on ~80% of our transfers under Drew. That's a high mark. This year, looks like we missed on some guys. You're right that the portal isn't totally at fault for this year. Other teams play different systems and maybe that's how they are able to adjust so quickly with new players. Again, Drew needs to figure out the balance between building up with core guys and getting the right guys in the portal.

I'm extremely disappointed in this season. I had hope even after a few losses, but it's dwindling. Right now, let's just get it figured out for conference play and see what happens. I think there's a lot of overreaction to firing Drew. Yes, it's been rough this year. Yes, he hasn't been great this year, but we've been top 4 in the A-10 the last 2 years. Drew learned from his first year in the A-10 adjusted and then we tied for the regular season championship. Who's to say we don't have a big rebound next year.

I know there hasn't been a NCAA tournament those years, but it's a different era of basketball. Prior to 2020, A-10 consistently got 3+ bids. Now, it's lucky to get 2 bids. The conference hasn't gotten worse. The system is just different. If we have 1 bad year followed by 2 good years with a shot at the tournament, honestly, I'd be content with that. At large for mid majors are near gone. I think A-10 is having a good non-conference season so far. Hypothetically, it should be in a position for multiple at large bids. In the end, it might get 1, probably 0. We'll find a way to beat someone like SLU, and all of a sudden they will become a team that needs to win the conference tournament to get in.

I kind of view it differently. The transfer portal is actually one of Drew’s great strengths. He’s a great recruiter too. The team is talented, in some metrics maybe the most talented we’ve ever had (obviously not showing in the on-court performance).

I just don’t think Drew has the chops between the lines to make it as a head coach. The first couple years I thought he could develop those chops, but I’m throwing in the towel. Every game I see long stretches of the opposing coaches consistently exploiting mismatches, finding exploits in our schemes, or riding a hot hand that we can’t stop.

Drew never does anything about it, he just lets it happen, let’s team rack up 10+ point runs, makes 50 seemingly random substitutions, and forces us to run the same labored offensive sets that the other team no doubt has scouted fully.

Then in the postgame he says, we’re running the same stuff as always, why is it not working? Must be the players… not quite. You’ve got to be more dynamic as a coach if you wanna compete in D1. Drew thinks he can just plug and play, obviously that doesn’t work. The other team is actually trying to win too, they don’t care about your system. It’s up to you to adjust and try to get the upper hand. I just don’t think he has the coaching motor to match other D1 coaches strategically.

Drew has no doubt done well with transfers and recruiting guys. Despite the coaching flaws I still wouldn't want anyone else leading us thru the current portal marketplace other than Drew. We just don't have the staff whatsoever to supplement Drew with to make up for it. Where I am at a total loss on this current staff is with Andrew Cobian. Tasked as lead recruiter & scout per the team's page. Were these guys some of his finds ?

I don’t really give a shit what we run or who we recruited! It doesn’t take talent or a next level scheme to box out. I thought drew was the culture hire? Where’s the culture?! Drew has had success that can not be attributed to porter or porters recruits. That makes this season all the more flabbergasting. I don’t think it can be chalked up to an exhaustion of the porter years. But how did we get so many guys who seem so lackadaisical about the basics of basketball at any level, much less at the level Loyola is trying to be at?

This is kind of where I am. We have had plenty of teams that were severely outmatched talent-wise but still gave 100% effort, boxed out, went for loose balls, etc. Think the Joe Crisman teams. This team just doesn't seem to give a crap. They light jog up and down the court. They watch loose balls. They barely jump for rebounds. It is astounding. If you can, go back and watch their "effort" getting defensive rebounds after NIU shots. I've never seen anything like it.

Drew had solid seasons with guys like Alston, Dawson, Watson, Sheldon, etc. None of those are "Porter Guys". Drew recruited them and developed them.

I saw someone online say that we stopped focusing on "winners" and just went for "talent". Many of our transfers were good players on bad teams. In the past, we have succeeded with guys from winning cultures, even if they weren't the MVP of their winning team. Maybe there is something to that? I don't know.

Article referenced and from the student paper a couple of days before our latest loss

https://loyolaphoenix.com/2025/11/colum ... e-culture/