Loyola

[HOF Coach]

Sure. I mean imagine how big the ear of corn would have to be for him to hide behind it!

 

[Saboteur II]

This is a special team Loyola has this year. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to see them in the Final 4. But what makes them special moving forward? It requires $$ and big-time support to keep a program at an elite level.
Have you ever heard of Villanova?
It would be like saying St. Joe’s should have been a dominant program on the East Coast when they had Jameer Nelson or UMass under Calipari. These things aren’t sustainable for programs at that level.

 

[ameoba defense]

Since you like to throw around "facts", why don't you tell us when the last small conference mid-major won the national championship. I'll save you some time--it was 1966 when Texas Southern officially broke the color barrier in college basketball. Loyola won it 3 years before that with 4 black starters. Then UCLA and Wooden went out and signed the best African-American players in the country and changed college basketball forever. A mere 55 years ago.

They don't have the players necessary to go all the way. There's always a mid-major that makes a run. The run never gets them all the way. At some point they run out of gas and the deeper, more talented opponent knocks them off. Pretty much every national champ in the modern era has had multiple future NBA players on its roster. Loyola doesn't have any, maybe Krutwig gets a cup of coffee before he goes to Europe.

that said, if there was ever a year a team like that could do it, this might be it. This is a bizarre year and the most watered down the field has ever been, and Loyola's bracket has worked out nicely for them. But it aint gonna happen.

UNLV in 1990 won out of a mid major league. Marquette won as an independent, but that was back when Indys like Duquesne, St. Bonaventure, and Holy Cross were still seen as majors. UNLV is certainly the exception though.

 

[thebadby2]

UNLV in 1990 won out of a mid major league. Marquette won as an independent, but that was back when Indys like Duquesne, St. Bonaventure, and Holy Cross were still seen as majors. UNLV is certainly the exception though.

Come on now. UNLV of that era did not qualify as a mid-major. They were buying the best talent in the country, filling a 20,000 seat arena to the rafters every game, were a huge TV draw, sold more merch nationally than any other program, and had more fans across the country than just about any other program.

They were no more a mid major than a Georgetown, Villanova, or Houston.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

Come on now. UNLV of that era did not qualify as a mid-major. They were buying the best talent in the country, filling a 20,000 seat arena to the rafters every game, were a huge TV draw, sold more merch nationally than any other program, and had more fans across the country than just about any other program.

They were no more a mid major than a Georgetown, Villanova, or Houston.

They were what we'd call a mid major conference though. All your points are fair. So that's sort of the question, is it based on the school or their conference?

I think both Memphis or Houston could become a national champion pretty easily from the AAC (and Cinci could sneak up); and of course the Big East contains teams like Nova and UConn who have won it all recently, which is why I hate when people use the term P5 in basketball. It's not football, Gonzaga is indeed possible.