(03-21-2021 12:57 PM)J.B. Wrote:  As much as I want to see Illinois (another Big 10 team) go down to a mid-major, it would make Drexel look bad that they got completely annihilated against a team that lost to a mid-major the next round.

Not true at all. I assume you watched our game. Then you know we fought for 30 of the 40 minutes and were level with them despite our abysmal shooting. The 10 minutes we lost focus and went against the gameplan they destroyed us and opened it up. Loyola literally played the exact same way defensively we did, they just are better (duh) and never lost their focus. Hitting some shots to put pressure on Illinois goes and went a long way. I am not saying we could have maintained for all 40, not hitting shots gave Illinois extra confidence. If we hit some shots that first half, that is a completely different ball game. Loyola had been there, they didnt play scared. We did.

Illinois was never a good shooting team from 3 or the FT line, we just werent fast enough on our switches throughout to make them fire them up. This game was encouraging to me because Loyola achieved what we were trying to do and showed that we just dont have the talent of ranked teams. It was not because Illinois wasnt beatable. It wasnt because we had the wrong game plan. That is encouraging.