Gregggggggggg

[VUGrad1314]

No but your final four team was better than Gonzaga's undefeated team.

[ABC]

You’re better than using tournament results to predict 18 game conference results. Don’t tell me UMBC is better than every school that lost in the first round. I don’t know who would’ve won the Valley or won H2H but let’s not start spouting crazy talk just because it fits our narrative.

You're not entirely wrong, but good teams rise to the occasion in the tournament and overcome the adversity that march madness brings. Crazy things happen, but you can't just chalk up Wichita as an unlucky victim to the madness. You took an L from a 13 seed when everything was on the line. Loyola keeps finding a way to win tough matches, and just dominated a team in the Elite 8. They are the better team, its that simple.

Exactly. And That's how most rational people would compare the two teams. Loyola is better and it really isn't even close.

" and it isn't even close." That's just dumb.

[musiccitybulldog]

And folks give me a hard time for talking up the final four Drake team!
Where is the Indiana State folks?

Loyola has the sports worlds eye. They could be game changers.

[glm38]

[/quote]

You're not entirely wrong, but good teams rise to the occasion in the tournament and overcome the adversity that march madness brings. Crazy things happen, but you can't just chalk up Wichita as an unlucky victim to the madness. You took an L from a 13 seed when everything was on the line. Loyola keeps finding a way to win tough matches, and just dominated a team in the Elite 8. They are the better team, its that simple.[/quote]

Exactly. And That's how most rational people would compare the two teams. Loyola is better and it really isn't even close.[/quote]

" and it isn't even close." That's just dumb.[/quote]

WSU despite their flaws was a very good team this year. I never said they weren't. But Loyola is a level above that. They've gotten better and better as the year went on. WSU didn't. Pretty simple to me but if thats "dumb" then you are entitled to that opinion.

[AndShock]

No but your final four team was better than Gonzaga's undefeated team.

Disagree. Gonzaga probably wins 6-7 if we played that matchup 10 times. We were the better team that day and that’s what mattered. We 100% wouldn’t have won the WCC that year.

[VUGrad1314]

That was more meant to be a joke playing off your previous post to kind of lighten the mood and break the tension of the argument.

[AndShock]

That was more meant to be a joke playing off your previous post to kind of lighten the mood and break the tension of the argument.

I have nothing against glm, I just think he’s wrong on this one. I’ve certainly beeen wrong on basketball matters a time or two over the past year.

[BirdsEyeView]

That was more meant to be a joke playing off your previous post to kind of lighten the mood and break the tension of the argument.

I have nothing against glm, I just think he’s wrong on this one. I’ve certainly beeen wrong on basketball matters a time or two over the past year.

AndShock, I agree in theory with you. One game typically does not reflect a normal outcome over the course of multiple matchups with said team.

However, in this case, Wichita lost to the 4th place team in Conference USA.

Conference USA finished the season as the 15th ranked conference in the country. And Marshall was 4th place! This was not a scenario where you played a run away winner of a conference that got under-seeded or anything.

Marshall was 12-6 in a bad conference. One can argue, a team (Wichita) that is "better" than Loyola would never, ever lose to Marshall given the information above and the stakes at hand.

Meanwhile, Loyola was 1st in the 8th best conference (one behind your AAC) and won our conference regular season by 4 games, then again won Arch Madness.

[AndShock]

That was more meant to be a joke playing off your previous post to kind of lighten the mood and break the tension of the argument.

I have nothing against glm, I just think he’s wrong on this one. I’ve certainly beeen wrong on basketball matters a time or two over the past year.

AndShock, I agree in theory with you. One game typically does not reflect a normal outcome over the course of multiple matchups with said team.

However, in this case, Wichita lost to the 4th place team in Conference USA.

Conference USA finished the season as the 15th ranked conference in the country. And Marshall was 4th place! This was not a scenario where you played a run away winner of a conference that got under-seeded or anything.

Marshall was 12-6 in a bad conference. One can argue, a team (Wichita) that is "better" than Loyola would never, ever lose to Marshall given the information above and the stakes at hand.

Meanwhile, Loyola was 1st in the 8th best conference (one behind your AAC) and won our conference regular season by 4 games, then again won Arch Madness.

And then we consider Virginia who won the 2nd best conference by 4 games, and then won their conference tournament, lost to the 2nd best team in the 25th best conference. It’s basketball. Stuff happens. Using one game to predict future results is futile.

If you replace Marshall with Loyola, sure, we lose that day. We lose to teams even worse than Marshall that day. Replace @ Cincy with @ Loyola the same day, we beat Loyola. Replace home vs Houston with home vs Loyola, we beat Loyola that day. We would’ve beat anyone in the country that day. It’s basketball. Stuff happens.

[BirdsEyeView]

I have nothing against glm, I just think he’s wrong on this one. I’ve certainly beeen wrong on basketball matters a time or two over the past year.

AndShock, I agree in theory with you. One game typically does not reflect a normal outcome over the course of multiple matchups with said team.

However, in this case, Wichita lost to the 4th place team in Conference USA.

Conference USA finished the season as the 15th ranked conference in the country. And Marshall was 4th place! This was not a scenario where you played a run away winner of a conference that got under-seeded or anything.

Marshall was 12-6 in a bad conference. One can argue, a team (Wichita) that is "better" than Loyola would never, ever lose to Marshall given the information above and the stakes at hand.

Meanwhile, Loyola was 1st in the 8th best conference (one behind your AAC) and won our conference regular season by 4 games, then again won Arch Madness.

And then we consider Virginia who won the 2nd best conference by 4 games, and then won their conference tournament, lost to the 2nd best team in the 25th best conference. It’s basketball. Stuff happens. Using one game to predict future results is futile.

If you replace Marshall with Loyola, sure, we lose that day. We lose to teams even worse than Marshall that day. Replace @ Cincy with @ Loyola the same day, we beat Loyola. Replace home vs Houston with home vs Loyola, we beat Loyola that day. We would’ve beat anyone in the country that day. It’s basketball. Stuff happens.

True. Lightning in a bottle theory.

Loyola has narrowed the gap in KenPom since the tournament began (20th vs 30th). https://kenpom.com/

I always look at AdjD when rankings like this are closer together between two teams.