(03-18-2021 09:11 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  

(03-16-2021 01:37 PM)esayem Wrote:  It looks like DePaul and Loyola are both in the North Side, UIC is in the West Side, while Univ. of Chicago and poor ol’ Chicago St. are in the South Side.

I’m not sure what separates DePaul from Loyola. Good question.

DePaul generally is a little wealthier since Lincoln Park is a pretty affluent part of the city. Loyola is closer to Northwestern and the suburbs so while they're on the same train line it's more difficult for them to build a fan base then DU all things being the same. It's not like they're complete equals but there's a lot more in common between them than Villanova and Drexel.

UIC has a lot of potential in theory but less so in practice. Great location in a hot part of the city, but they're a commuter school with traditionally limited fan or financial support. UC is DIII and irrelevant in athletics. CSU is the poster child of administrative incompetence and shouldn't be in DI altogether.

Aside from Loyola, the Chicagoland school with the most potential to contend in their conference is perhaps NIU. Nice arena and the MAC is pretty flat in terms of resources, it's been a pretty lousy program historically but a good coach could change that.

Chicago is a weird college sports market overall. Relatively small support for local or in-state teams compared to other big cities but you do have a lot of fans who went to Big Ten or other big midwest schools who are into their team without being local. Most of that is because the local programs mostly suck, but also since geographically speaking all of the DI programs in the entire area about besides NIU are within a 15x2 mile stretch between Evanston and downtown. Millions of people out there are at least half an hour away from the nearest major college program.

I had no idea Loyola was located right on the lakefront ala Northwestern! Honestly, it's a VERY nice campus and as someone who's always loved visiting different schools, I'm ashamed I didn't check it out sooner!

I've only been part of the DePaul family since January (and everything is remote) so my understanding of the school's recent troubles is in its infancy. With that said, it's a school that appears quite wealthy, very well respected academically and features a really nice, dare I say bucolic, urban campus in Lincoln Park along with a significant presence downtown.

I'm pretty well connected to Fordham and with that point of reference DePaul really reminds me of the NYC institution. Their both very good, urban Catholic universities that are a step down from the Big 4; Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College and Villanova (I don't include liberal arts Holy Cross). Twenty years ago Fordham was held in higher regard academically than Villanova but times have changed thanks to Jay Wright. Boston College experienced a similar academic renaissance due to the "Flute Effect" in the mid 1980s. Unfortunately for Fordham, their administration has mismanaged basketball in epic fashion. You could write a Phd dissertation on the multitude of errors that have led to the Rams nearly 30 years of ineptitude in the A10. Their president Father McShane (who I got to know a bit due to his ties to the University of Scranton; PJ Carlesimo too) is about as apathetic as it gets when it comes to college athletics.

Hopefully Depaul is able to put the pieces in place to turn men's basketball around. Once I get on campus I want to immerse myself in its athletic/institutional culture.

I had a job lined up at North Dakota State before Covid hit; talk about a well oiled machine. From the administration/faculty, to the local/regional community to their booster organization (Team Makers) that is a top-flight athletic department.