Hovering over Chi-town area college hoops

 Impotent Evansville scored 12 +19 in an 82-31 MVC loss at Loyola of Chicago. L of C is tied with NIU for the MVC lead and I'm sure they'd like another MVC title before they join the Atlantic 10 next season. SIu rolled Illinois St 90-69 in other MVC action.

Earlier blog on Chicago hoops: https://busterother5.blogspot.com/2021/02/chicago-hoops-weak-depaul-and-more.html

Feb 25, 2022

Zion Griffin had 21 points as UIC turned back Green Bay 81-77 in Horizon action , and Clev St fell to Detroit Mercy, which used to be the U of Detroit when Spencer Haywood and Dick Vitale were there. 

Feb 27, 2022

NIU outscored LoC 15-9 in OT for a 102-96 win and the MVC regular season title.

Feb 28, 2022

Javon Freeman-Liberty scored 39 points as DePaul(14-14, 5-13 Big East) turned back St. John's 99-94  while UConn kept GTown winless in the Big East. 

March 2, 2022

 Kevin Johnson scored 21 points for UIC in an 80-69 win over Milwaukee in the first round of the Horizon League Tourney. Flames won their final three regular season games in the Horizon and could be a spoiler.

March 3, 2022

That Liberty kid went off again for DePaul again last night in a win over Marquette. If they beat UConn, a loser to Creighton last night, on Saturday, you can expect the Blue Demons(15-14, 6-13) to upset someone in the Big East T.

Chicago St(WAC) follows up its upset of NMST with a 62-53 loss to Cal Baptist in conference play.

MARCH 4, 2022

UIC lost to Purdue- Fort Wayne in the HorizonT

Ill St beat Indiana St to advance in the MVCT

March 5, 2022

MVCT: Loyola of Chicago cruised by Bradley so we may see the nuns in the stands at Dance again. Ill St lost to UNI and SIU lost to Drake.

LoC faces UNI, and Drake faces Missouri State today.

March 6, 2022

DePaul gave UConn a tough game but could not stop Sanogo (26 PTS 11 REB 1 AST) under the basket.. UConn 75 DEP 68

Lookout for the nuns : Loyola of Chicago handled UNI easily and will face Drake in the MVCT final.

March 8, 2022

 WAC tournament tips of at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, NV.  B. Betson(14.3 ppg)  and his Chicago St(7-24, 3-15) teammates face UVU in what  may be one of its last one WACT s as they look for a conference closer to Chicago.

Wright State(20-13, 15-7) faces Northern Kentucky(20-11, 14-6) in the HorizonT final

March 20, 2022

Wright St won the play in game over Bryant and gave Arizona a hard time in the first half before  getting rolled.

Loyola of Chicago lost to Ohio St.

Illinois played a ragged game and was lucky to survive Tenn-Chattanooga

In the NIT, UNI got rolled by BYU

Sean Miller escaped the mess in Arizona and reportedly turned down South Carolina to return to Xavier(Big East)

March 21, 2022.

Houston rolled Illinois, who looked ragged.

Missouri is reportedly close to hiring Dennis Gates of Cleveland State(Horizon). He's had some solid seasons but not awesome for a smaller conference.

March 22, 2022

Ryan Pedon , ex Ohio State assistant coach, who was the No. 2 pick for the Cincinnati job a year ago, is the new Illinois State HC. I didn't recall him being that close to Cincy job last off-season.

May 23, 2022

After stumbling at Georgia, Tom Crean could be headed back to the state of Indiana. Evansville has him on its list. He compiled a 190–66 record at Marquette (.664) and 166–135 record at Indiana (.551). 

July 9, 2022

Chicago St remains in limbo since leaving the WAC. It won't survive in 1A hoops as an Independent.

Crean didn't get the Evansville gig. David Ragland joins Evansville following a 1-year stint as an assistant coach at Butler University.

Chicago hoops, weak Depaul and more

 I've had a long distance interest in Chicago-area hoops since the Mark Aguirre/Ray Meyer days of the late 1970s when they were an Independent program.  In 1991 they joined the  Great Midwestern Conference then moved on to the CUSA from 1995 until to 2005 when they joined the Big East, and became basically cellar dwellers . Their last NCAA Dance appearance was in 2004 as a member of the CUSA.

Obviously most of the great Chicago city player have not chosen  to stay at home and play at DePaul, and what probably hurts a little more is that Loyola of Chicago (MVC) has become media darlings in the last few years.

Last night  LoC edged Valparaiso to stay in first in the MVC with Drake who beat UNI 77-69.

DePaul(3-10, 1-10 Big East) lost to Seton Hall 60-52.Pauly Paulicap had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the slumping Blue Deacons.

Some earlier blogs on the Chicago area hoops scene: https://busterother5.blogspot.com/2019/12/chi-town-area-pre-xmas-2019-hoops.html    https://busterother5.blogspot.com/2019/01/chi-town-area-saturday-jan-13-hoops.html

Feb 19, 2021

Depaul/Marquette rivalry goes back over 100 hundred years when both were usually Independents. BTW, McGuire owned Ray Meyer. from 1970-76.  Since the late 1990s  they've been in the same conference most of the time. Dwayne Wade played for Marquette when they were in the CUSA in the early 2000s.

Feb 27. 2021

 Loyola Chicago(20-4, 15-2 MVC) moves closer to a dance ticket with a 60-52 win over Southern Illinois

(11-12, 5-12 MVC). Regardless of what happens in the MVC tourney, I think they're in.

March, 8, 2021

Loyola of Chicago fed their big man Cameron Krutwig(20 PTS, 8 REB, 4 AS), and punched their Dance ticket with a 75-65 win over Drake in the MVCT final.

One of their starting forwards, ABAHER UGUAK, is from Edmonton, AB

March 11, 2021

Javon Freeman-Liberty and Charlie Moore each scored 21 points for  DePaul in a 70-62 upset of Providence in the Big East tournament. Next up UConn.

March 16, 2021

For the second time in this century Leitao is out at DePaul. He left there for UVA in 2005 and was fired yesterday.

MVC news: Loyola of Chicago faces a hot Ga Tech squad in rd1 of the Dance. Drake got an at large bid and has a play-in against Wichita St.

March 20, 2021

MVC is on a nice roll. Drake  beat the Shockers in the play-in game and LoC beat Georgia Tech in rd1 with Lucas Williamson providing 21 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST.

March 23, 2021

LoC handled with Illinois with smart, aggressive play and a solid O  so at this point I'm not writing them off against Oregon St.(Pac12)

March 28,2021

Beavers found a way to handle the LoC. Defense! Oreg St 65 LoC 58. It was the second meeting in their histories. Loyola won 31-19 in Chicago on Dec. 31, 1927

April 1, 2021

DePaul hired longtime Oregon assistant Tony Stubblefield. I don't see any clear Chicago connections in his past.

He was also Cincinnati's recruiting coordinator from 2006 to 2010 under Mick Cronin, who has UCLA in the F4.

April 5, 2021

I'm mildly surprised:  Moser leaves LoC for the job to coach the Oklahoma Sooners. I thought he would stay in the Midwest if he took another job. It looks like Loyola will promote Drew Valentine to fill the spot.

May 13, 2021

Milwaukee is about 90 miles from Chicago, and 5 star basketball recruit Patrick Baldwin Jr. will join his father Patrick Baldwin Sr., the Panthers' head coach since 2017 at the U of Milwaukee of the Horizon League.

July 20, 2021

Just when I thought Chicago St (WAC) was going to toss in the towel on hoops, they hired Samford assistant Gerald Gillion  to be the men’s basketball head coach, Samford , a member of the Southern Conference, hasn't had much hoop success lately. Gillion is known as a great recruiter.

Nov 15, 2021

I'm getting prepped for college hoops and found this name, JAVON FREEMAN-LIBERTY, a PG for DePaul. He's had solid games against C.Michigan(MAC), and Coppin St, a Baltimore school in the MEAC. The kid must've legally changed his last name.

Dec 4, 2021

Coach Moser is at OK, but Loyola (Chicago) handed DePaul its first loss of the season.

This not a mistype: Chicago St(WAC) beat Tennessee St(Ohio Valley) 59-49 on Saturday.

Dec 11, 2021

DePaul recovered and roared back to beat Louisville last night 62-55. Loyola of Chicago beat Vandy, coached by Jerry Stackhouse and featuring Pippen Jr.

Jan 8, 2022

I'm reading a story on Murray St leaving the OVC for MVC and discover Loyola Chicago is leaving the MVC for the Atlantic 10 in July 2022. The A10 has been a solid hoops conference for a long time. St Louis will have at least one close conference game now.

Feb 6, 2022

Courvoisier McCauley scored 21 points and Jalen Terry had 13 as short-handed DePaul upset # 21 Xavier by a score of 69-65. I was surfing from game to game and stopped on this one to see if Depaul could retain a small lead in the final minutes. With about a minute to go, Xavier had the press on to close a four point gap, and looked like they might cause a 10 second violation when they opted to foul a Blue Demon. The announcers were praising the analytics, and I was shouting it's too soon and very stupid.

Feb 10, 2022

DePaul won its second in a row. This time they beat GTown who is winless in the Big East. David Jones had led DePaul with 22 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assist in a 82-74 win.

Feb 15, 2022

Damaria Franklin and Jace Carter scored 12 points each in Illinois-Chicago 57-54 win over IUPUI, but they still trail Cleveland St by a few games in the Horizon League.

Robert Morris is near the cellar again in its second season since leaving the NEC in most sports.

Feb 16, 2022

 DePaul fell 73-71 to Butler. Simas Lukosius hit a 3-pointer with six seconds remaining for Butler. 

Domask (25 PTS 3 REB) led SIU to a 65-57 win over Bradley in MVC play.

Feb 23, 2022

Huge Huskies win over Nova last night, but they still trail Nova by a game and Providence by 3 games with three to go in the regular season. They finish with Creighton, Depaul,, and GTown.