The Other Top 25: Here comes the Thundering Herd--Mid-Major Madness
The Other Top 25 Week 4
Rank School Record Change Our reasoning 6 Loyola University Chicago 3-0 -1 Loyola handled a pair of in-state opponents last week and have decided to turn their sights towards bigger fish. The Ramblers procured a matchup against Wisconsin this Tuesday. Also receiving votes: UAB, Liberty, Mercer, Austin Peay, New Mexico State, Drake, Georgia State, Davidson, UNC Greensboro, Santa Clara
Derrick Alston Jr. is taking Boise State to new heights: This Week in Mid-Major--The Athletic
How Loyola-Chicago landed two big games in a weekend
Loyola-Chicago was one of the last teams in the country to release a nonconference schedule, mostly because the Ramblers didn’t know who they were going to play. It also looked as if Porter Moser’s veteran team would not get a chance to take on any high-profile opponents. But on Saturday, the program announced a matchup against No. 19 Richmond in the Indianapolis Convention Center on Friday. The next day, shortly after a victory against UI-Chicago, the Ramblers announced they would play at No. 13 Wisconsin on Tuesday. I caught up with Loyola assistant Matt Gordon, who handles the team’s scheduling, to find out how these games came together. “It’s been a whirlwind 24 to 36 hours here,” Gordon says. “But so is life in 2020.”
How did the Richmond game come about?
We’ve tried to get this Indy thing for a while. We were originally scheduled to do an MTE there with Cincinnati and Duquesne after our Myrtle Beach tournament got canceled. Then we got shut down with COVID. We stayed in touch with Duquesne to play in Indy, because they have a bubble going there and want to have as many trial runs as possible for the NCAA Tournament. So we were set to play Duquesne there on Wednesday, and then we saw that Richmond lost a game. Porter and (Richmond coach) Chris Mooney have been great friends for a long time. So we called Chris, and he was all for it. It came together within 24 hours.
Wisconsin had an opening after Northern Iowa canceled its visit there. How did you guys swoop in on that?
I’ve reached out to Wisconsin throughout the year and have said, hey, if you ever need a game, we’re only 2½ hours away. And they were like, we’ll keep you in mind if something happens. They reached out to me Saturday morning and said we need a game this week. I had Duquesne and Richmond scheduled, so I didn’t have a shot. But we’re close with Northern Iowa’s staff, and they told me there was a chance that might have to cancel. Then two hours later, I get a call from the people in Indy saying Duquesne had a positive test. We had already started practice, so I ran up to Coach and said, hey, I’m going to be out a little while because I’m going to circle back to Wisconsin. I called them and had to wait until they finished practice, and Porter and Coach (Greg) Gard talked. It came together between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, and we signed the contract Sunday morning. So I lost a game with Duquesne and turned right around and got Wisconsin. I was lucky to get that one.
What was it like trying to schedule nonconference games this fall?
We were having a real hard time getting games. It’s just hard to get teams to agree to play you. One part is, we have a team people aren’t eager to jump up and play. And this is the bigger part of it: No one really wants to commit to anything too early right now, because if you do, you could miss out on a great opportunity. Had we done the Duquesne game early, we could have missed out on Wisconsin. You’re kind of playing chicken a little bit, like, hey if we don’t sign up for anything too early, something good could fall in our lap at the last minute. But you also run the risk of being caught without a game, so it’s a tricky road to navigate.
Is there anything we can take out of this for when times are normal? Like, would more flexibility be good in helping to arrange good nonconference matchups for mid-major programs like yours that have trouble getting them?
It worked out with this one, but it hasn’t every other time I tried it. It looks good when Loyola is playing Wisconsin, but I can give you a list of every other school that didn’t work out. I don’t know if I would always want to schedule this way. It’s very stressful. The one good thing about it is, we usually schedule these games during the summer, and nobody really knows what their team is going to look like. So sometimes people are more cautious or particular with their scheduling. Then all of a sudden, the season got started, and Richmond and Wisconsin know they’re good and want to continue to build their résumés. So they jump in and say, we’ll play Loyola because that’s going to be a good game for us.
It must be a crazy time to be a scheduler.
Scheduling is the Wild West right now. It’s an absolute free-for-all. You’ve just got to be on your toes and be ready to pivot at any moment.
Mid-bits
• Things have gone from bad to a worst-case scenario for Northern Iowa. The Panthers announced on Sunday that reigning Missouri Valley player of the year A.J. Green would undergo season-ending hip surgery. The team canceled its remaining nonconference games against Wisconsin and Marshall to put “the overall health and well being of our guys at the forefront,” Ben Jacobson said in a statement on Twitter. UNI still plans to play its conference schedule, but the team will be a shell of what it was expected to be.
Opportunity knocks
During nonconference season, we’ll highlight the best résumé-building games featuring prominent mid-major teams.
(All times ET; AP rankings as of Monday morning. And because this is 2020-21, all games are tentative.)
Loyola Chicago at No. 13 Wisconsin, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Big Ten Network. Pick up Wisconsin on a Sunday, scout the Badgers quickly and play on the road two days later. No sweat, right?
The Mid-Major Top 10
5. Loyola Chicago (3-0): There’s not a whole lot to go on here. The Ramblers beat Division II Lewis in their opener, then pounded Chicago State, 88-51, on Wednesday and beat UIC, 77-66, on Sunday. But Moser’s team entered Sunday with the nation’s best effective field goal percentage (65.6) and shot 52 percent from the field against the Flames. Luckily, we’ll know a lot more about them by the end of this week. LW: 5
12/14 Women's Basketball Players of the Week--College Sports Insider
Missouri Valley Lasha Petree G Bradley
Petree's 30 Helps Braves Rally For 79-71 Win Over Northern Illinois--bradleybraves.com
Lasha Petree Named MVC Player Of The Week--bradleybraves.com
Drake men's basketball begins season 6-0 for first time since 1979-80--Des Moines Register
Wilkins’ Career High Leads Men’s Basketball To An 81-53 Win Over Air Force--godrakebulldogs.com
Bulldogs Week In Review - Dec. 7-13--godrakebulldogs.com
Women’s Basketball Adds Home Game with Lewis University--godrakebulldogs.com
Women’s Basketball Travels to South Dakota State Tuesday Evening--godrakebulldogs.com
Men’s basketball resumes play on Tuesday versus SEMO--gopurpleaces.com
Watch now: Illinois State names four finalists for athletic director job--The Pantagraph
Watch now: Illinois State women's basketball cruises past Western Illinois --The Pantagraph
Redbirds fly past Leathernecks in first road win--Vidette Online
Newcomers essential in Redbirds' first road win--Vidette Online
Illinois State Cruises to Victory Over Western Illinois--goredbirds.com
Women’s Basketball Adds Game with Omaha--goredbirds.com
Essy Latu Named MVC Newcomer of the Week--gosycamores.com
Krutwig scores 22 to lead Loyola of Chicago past UIC 77-66--Associated Press
News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Dec 13th--Hoops HD
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT UIC. Loyola Chicago is a team that we think will be a Missouri Valley frontrunner, but they haven’t had that many opportunities to play yet. UIC is off to a good 3-1 start and is looking to keep that going against their crosstown foes.
12/14 Men's Basketball Players of the Week--College Sports Insider
Men’s Basketball Defeats Longtime Rival UIC--Loyola Phoenix
Missouri Valley Cameron Krutwig C Loyola Chicago
Men’s Basketball Cancels Game, Adds Two More Against Ranked Team--Loyola Phoenix
Loyola Stays Unbeaten, Knocks Off UIC, 77-66--loyolaramblers.com
Loyola Adds Another Ranked Team To Schedule, Visits No. 13 Wisconsin Tuesday--loyolaramblers.com
Ramblers Face Tough Test Tuesday, Travel To No. 13 Wisconsin--loyolaramblers.com
Krutwig Named MVC Player Of The Week--loyolaramblers.com
Morris, Held rally No. 24 DePaul women past Loyola 76-67--Associated Press
Loyola Women’s Basketball Can’t Hang On Against No. 24 DePaul--Loyola Phoenix
No. 24/23 DePaul Uses Late Flurry To Fend Off Gritty Loyola, 76-67--loyolaramblers.com
Salukis head to UT Martin for Tuesday night tilt--siusalukis.com
MVC Women's Basketball Weekly Notebook - Dec. 14--The Missouri Valley
No comments:
Post a Comment