2018 General NCAA Tournament Games Thread

[Eric]

That was fun! Now for Duke to crush KU tomorrow and this will have been a decent weekend!

[ShockerPrez]

I think it's great!

[Singeril]

One of the symbols of St. Ignatius Loyola is a Wolf.

[another shocker]

a hah ha lolz im lovin it.

f*** dan muller. who cares what that nimrod says?
f*** k-state. still haven't seen the day when they could beat the mvc champs.
f*** the aac board knuckleheads that try to put down wsu because they came from the mvc.

so loyola assures themeslves of at least a top-5 final ranking while wsu, who fielded their worst team in six years, got kicked to the curb by a sub-mvc marshall team (yuck... grrr..) and will be lucky to be ranked top-25 in the final poll.

from this we can deduce that wsu would have ran roughshod over the valley? 18-0? or: surely cincinnati, who lost to nevada, would have beat loyola.

[AndShock]

Decided to read some Facebook comments and was quickly reminded how stupid the average college basketball fan is. Multiple people saying Loyola will lose by 30 as soon as they play a real team. People saying Loyola is a fraud because they didn’t test themselves throughout the season. I should know better but it still always baffles me how dumb people are.

[wusphlash]

Why are you baffled?

[SHOCKvalue]

they don’t event get the best players in Chicago. They play in a middle school gym, and they don’t even have a radio team. Anyone that thinks they are the next Gonzaga is crazy. They are George Mason 2.0

Absolutely. The reasons AGAINST Loyola becoming the next... whomever... are objective and quantitative in nature. The reasons FOR are almost entirely subjective in nature. It’s not hateful to note and point out such.

Loyola has X academic budget and Y athletic budget. Have they just been keeping Z war chest sitting in an IRA for 50 years waiting for this moment to fall in their lap again? Are the 250 season ticket holders going to suddenly start stroking huge checks that enables a doubling of their budgetary allowances?

The mid-majors (whatever that term encapsulates) that have staying power on the national stage year-in and year-out spend and otherwise look a lot like a high-major. That ain’t Loyola. It could be argued that Loyola still looks more like a Horizon program than they even do a Valley program.

I’m not saying at all that this isn’t a very special moment for Loyola, and that we shouldn’t be happy for them, just that this tournament has been a statistical improbability for the Ramblers, and for them to duplicate WSU/Butler/Xavier/VCU/whatev moving forward is likewise a statistical improbability, because: math.

[Shocker Mama]

I enjoyed watching Loyola win. Tired of all the people who think I should cheer for KU and KSU because they are located in the same state.

[WuDrWu]

Boom.

[ShockingButTrue]

Looks like Lootz is going to have to take a detour on his flight of nostalgia.

Absolute poetic justice, considering the Valleys most faithful, to the point of stupidity, hater is none other than the Boob himself. He came of as sure that the b12 would upend the Valley, as if he hasn't watched the tournament the last 10 years. He should pay attention to Self a little closer the next time the Chicken Coach claims the Valley is a good conference.

[ShockerFever]

Great. Now I have to hear about Sister Jean's bowel movement cycles for the next 7 days.

[ShockingButTrue]

Better than hearing fond nostalgia of the last time k-state won a region in the NCAA's. Any day!!!

[Horn28Clem30]

I'm in such agreement, i'm so sick of seeing her on my TV screen!

[shoxrox89]

Safe to say loyola is the new flagship of the mvc?

[ShockerPrez]

Loyola is good, no question. Just another reason the NCAA,needs to stop rewarding mediocre power schools.

Wonder what Forbes' team might have done...

But, at least we got to see all those great middle of the road teams. I know it enhanced my March Madness experience.

[1972Shocker]

Safe to say loyola is the new flagship of the mvc?

I don't think you can make that declaration after one season. Let's see where they are after a few more seasons. Not sure the Valley is even interested in having a flagship. They don't seem to hang around.

[AZ Shocker]

Loyola to the AAC!!! Lol

[N Crestway]

I wouldn't knock Weber or KSU...they had a good year. Too bad Wade was injured and out of the tournament for all intents.

Loyola's run reminds me of WSU's first run to the Final Four in 1965. We limped into the tournament without Dave Stallworth or Nate Bowman but with the "luck of the draw" were in the weakest of the four regionals...the Midwest regional. That was a time when regionals were made up of only teams in their respective region. In the regional final, we defeated a more physically talented Oklahoma State team with ball control and good shot selection, but then went on to get hammered in the Final Four. The positive is that we took it to the limit in terms of our talent level. Great to see mid-majors like Loyola do that.

[another shocker]

c'mon, man. loyola , who won ooc at florida, has been better than k-state, who lost ooc to tulsa, all season long. wade or no wade.

[ShockingButTrue]

Yeah, but if wade would have played against Kentucky they would have won by 15-20 easily instead of 2, or 3, or whatever it was.. Then beat the Ramblers by 20-35, thus denying the Mid-major Ramblers a shot at their second Natty. right?

I'm just trying to figure if I'm talking to an intelligent basketball fan or not.

[SHOXAAC]

I could care less about he said, she said about any MVC team saying shat about our Shockers, this is a great story regarding Loyola...I'm on board...Go Ramblrrs.