MVC Off Season News

[UNIdad]

He's staying...an interesting, but noble decision nonetheless

Noble? Or common sense? St. John's is a job that is ripe to rip the next coach apart. They just got rid of Chris Mullen! All of the benefits-of-the-doubt of that fan base have been used up.

[UNIdad]

Fred Hoiberg just hired Matt Abdelmassih out of St. John's and made him the second highest paid assistant coach in the Big 10. $380k! Unbelievable.

[MNpanthers]

He took a mid major team to the FF. He was able to recognize and sign higher ceiling recruits, including several with length and athleticism that’s a bit rare at the mid major level (also partially explains the FF run). Also, look at his teams’ MVC road record. His teams are mentally tough, which good analysts will tell you is the key to road wins. If all that doesn’t at least equal top three, then I don’t know what the hell does.

I don't disagree with any of that. I think he's a good coach, strong charisma, and is perfect for the valley. I also think he fell far short of expectations this season returning Krutwig, Townes and Custer, and really didn't move the needle for years before that F4 season. Time will tell if he has really built something there or if that run was aberration.

[SteinPizza]

The Score (Chicago sports talk radio) had a writer on this morning who seemed to have some inside info on Loyola. While he didn’t know at the time what Porter would do, he said there were strong indications that Krutwig and Williamson would transfer if Porter left. The MVC needs to keep players of that caliber to have better chances at defeating nationally relevant P5 teams in the non-con.

He also said the Hausers were potentially headed to Virginia, and I’ve seen that reported elsewhere.

[CyCarp]

Noble? Or common sense? St. John's is a job that is ripe to rip the next coach apart. They just got rid of Chris Mullen! All of the benefits-of-the-doubt of that fan base have been used up.

He likely gave up a million dollars a year. A lot of people would have left for that, no matter where they were going. Heck, look at the new UCLA coach. He had a great thing going at Cincinnati and took off to a school that chews up and spits out their coaches every few years. I get that UCLA is way above St Johns, but it's still been a revolving door. Porter has a good thing going at Loyola and job security. Good for him on recognizing that.

[BCPanther]

The Score (Chicago sports talk radio) had a writer on this morning who seemed to have some inside info on Loyola. While he didn’t know at the time what Porter would do, he said there were strong indications that Krutwig and Williamson would transfer if Porter left. The MVC needs to keep players of that caliber to have better chances at defeating nationally relevant P5 teams in the non-con.

He also said the Hausers were potentially headed to Virginia, and I’ve seen that reported elsewhere.

Yep. Have heard its either Virginia or Michigan State. Their games fit great in both places.

[clenz]

He took a mid major team to the FF. He was able to recognize and sign higher ceiling recruits, including several with length and athleticism that’s a bit rare at the mid major level (also partially explains the FF run). Also, look at his teams’ MVC road record. His teams are mentally tough, which good analysts will tell you is the key to road wins. If all that doesn’t at least equal top three, then I don’t know what the hell does.

I'm pretty meh on Porter.

All this talk about how great his HS classes are and his 1 actually good season was built on transfers that we're mostly recruited in by another transfer on the roster, and then Krutwig

Townes and Custer now join Jackson, Richardson and Ingram (along with 2 other seniors) from that F4 team that are now gone.


It took UNI losing both games in the final week of the season, and Drake/MSU falling late for Loyola to win a share of the conference title in the worst year the MVC has seen in 20 years.


Loyola had a magical final 4 run, absolutely. They caught every break they could on that run.

They followed it up with a massive step backwards. 18 regular season D1 wins, 19 total D1 wins. RPI outside the top 130. Drake was the only top 100 win. First round NIT loss.

Good for Porter for believing in what he has been working on at Loyola, but I don't think it lasts. I think he grabbed the right lottery ticket for one year and rather than cashing it in for the lump sum he is taking the annuity. Everyone knows the annuity is the wrong decision long term.

[06panther10]

I'm pretty meh on Porter.

All this talk about how great his HS classes are and his 1 actually good season was built on transfers that we're mostly recruited in by another transfer on the roster, and then Krutwig

Townes and Custer now join Jackson, Richardson and Ingram (along with 2 other seniors) from that F4 team that are now gone.


It took UNI losing both games in the final week of the season, and Drake/MSU falling late for Loyola to win a share of the conference title in the worst year the MVC has seen in 20 years.


Loyola had a magical final 4 run, absolutely. They caught every break they could on that run.

They followed it up with a massive step backwards. 18 regular season D1 wins, 19 total D1 wins. RPI outside the top 130. Drake was the only top 100 win. First round NIT loss.

Good for Porter for believing in what he has been working on at Loyola, but I don't think it lasts. I think he grabbed the right lottery ticket for one year and rather than cashing it in for the lump sum he is taking the annuity. Everyone knows the annuity is the wrong decision long term.

Wow, the mental gymnastics that need to be performed to avoid simply acknowledging a guy is a good coach.

Loyola has been on an steady incremental incline as a program from the minute they joined the Valley and Moser was behind every step.

2 straight Valley titles, a tourney title, a FINAL FOUR, and an NIT just the last two years. We haven’t won the Valley in 10 years, have never been to the final four, and haven't been CLOSE to the NCAA’s the last three years.

The man can obviously coach, get over it.

[MNpanthers]

Wow, the mental gymnastics that need to be performed to avoid simply acknowledging a guy is a good coach.

Loyola has been on an steady incremental incline as a program from the minute they joined the Valley and Moser was behind every step.

2 straight Valley titles, a tourney title, a FINAL FOUR, and an NIT just the last two years. We haven’t won the Valley in 10 years, have never been to the final four, and haven't been CLOSE to the NCAA’s the last three years.

The man can obviously coach, get over it.

For what it's worth, if the Shocker's had stayed in the Valley, I don't think Loyola gets any of those accomplishments, maybe an at large last year. We are also forgetting Moser was a valley head coach before and got fired after some abysmal seasons.

Take away that final four and I think we are arguing about whether or not Moser is a bottom 3 Valley coach. Obviously you can't take that away from him but that's 1 really good season in ~14 years of head coaching. Coach Jake has been head coaching for a very similar amount of time.

And UNI was extremely close to the NCAA's this year. Obviously we shouldn't be proud of that nor should Loyola be proud of their season this year either.

[95UNIGRAD]

Wow, the mental gymnastics that need to be performed to avoid simply acknowledging a guy is a good coach.

Loyola has been on an steady incremental incline as a program from the minute they joined the Valley and Moser was behind every step.

2 straight Valley titles, a tourney title, a FINAL FOUR, and an NIT just the last two years. We haven’t won the Valley in 10 years, have never been to the final four, and haven't been CLOSE to the NCAA’s the last three years.

The man can obviously coach, get over it.

Agree with most of what you say in regards to Moser, but it's not fair to say Jake hasn't won the Valley in 10 years when they had a 31 win season in which they went 16-2, were ranked in the Top 10 in the country for a period, and won the autobid. Let's be honest: finishing 2nd to a 17-1 WSU team coming off a Final Four is a technicality when making your point. And to say we haven't been close when we had an 18 pt. second half lead in March in St. Louis is just silly.

[UNIChippewa]

For what it's worth, if the Shocker's had stayed in the Valley, I don't think Loyola gets any of those accomplishments, maybe an at large last year. We are also forgetting Moser was a valley head coach before and got fired after some abysmal seasons.

Take away that final four and I think we are arguing about whether or not Moser is a bottom 3 Valley coach. Obviously you can't take that away from him but that's 1 really good season in ~14 years of head coaching. Coach Jake has been head coaching for a very similar amount of time.

And UNI was extremely close to the NCAA's this year. Obviously we shouldn't be proud of that nor should Loyola be proud of their season this year either.

It's really too bad that people never, ever improve in their chosen careers even as grown adults...

[UNIChippewa]

I also don't understand this argument that Loyola caught every single break they ever could hope for in their Final Four run.

Every single team they beat on their run was a higher seed than they were.

I know some Panther fans (GonzoCat, cough) feel that you have to hate and trash every single other Division I program in order to be a true Panther fan, but 06 is absolutely right; the hoops some people jump through in order to trash Loyola and Moser is ridiculous.

[achrist70]

Yes the teams they were playing were seeded higher but they also caught many breaks, buzzer beater to beat Miami, snuck past Tennessee, play a #7 seeded Nevada team in the sweet 16 and barely squeaked by them and then got a #9 Kansas State team in the elite 8 without their best player, yes they beat who they had to but if you look at recent Cinderella runs to the final four Thur run is no where close to what Butler did twice, VCU did, or what George Mason did.

Im not saying Porter is a terrible coach, but coming off of a final four he should of been able to get a team that returned a very solid core to finish with a better record then 11-7 in this years Valley. When it comes down to it Porter did not stay at Loyola because it is the greatest place ever to be, though they have shown a big time in basketball, it is because he knows that he would not be successful at St Johns no different then Jake with A&M or any other mid major coach who turned down a bigger paycheck.

[GonzoCat]

Let's be honest: finishing 2nd to a 17-1 WSU team coming off a Final Four is a technicality when making your point.

How does that compare to finishing 2nd to a team that's won 7 of the last 8 national championships or whatever in football, which is deemed completely unacceptable?

[06panther10]

Yes the teams they were playing were seeded higher but they also caught many breaks, buzzer beater to beat Miami, snuck past Tennessee, play a #7 seeded Nevada team in the sweet 16 and barely squeaked by them and then got a #9 Kansas State team in the elite 8 without their best player, yes they beat who they had to but if you look at recent Cinderella runs to the final four Thur run is no where close to what Butler did twice, VCU did, or what George Mason did.

Im not saying Porter is a terrible coach, but coming off of a final four he should of been able to get a team that returned a very solid core to finish with a better record then 11-7 in this years Valley. When it comes down to it Porter did not stay at Loyola because it is the greatest place ever to be, though they have shown a big time in basketball, it is because he knows that he would not be successful at St Johns no different then Jake with A&M or any other mid major coach who turned down a bigger paycheck.

Welcome to sports.

If Illinois State makes 1 more shot in ‘09 MVC title game, no NCAA for us. If Ali doesn’t hit a 30 foot jumper with 1 sec left against UNLV in ‘10, we don’t even get to play Kansas, and no sweet 16. If Wes’ shot doesn’t get a lucky bounce in MVC title game in ‘16, no NCAA for us.

Look at that, it took me like 2 seconds to diminish the last decade of UNI basketball down to a couple lucky bounces. You can play this game with anybody, its called sports.

Lucky Final Four, lmao