Too bad this was such a blowout. But Saturday in The Valley was a classic illustration of what contrasts in college sports -- especially at the mid-major level.
SIU vs Loyola --- a game between two decent MVC teams in the middle of a race for 3rd place and as usual at Loyola the gym was practically empty -- stats showed a couple of thousand there .....maybe. How do college teams at this level operate with that kind of support ? ? ? Anyone watching on TV would have thought it was a Div III game.
Then you have close to 11,000 at Wichita and a national TV audience. Not a great game to watch after the first 10-12 minutes, but man its like a different universe ! Is Loyola really in the same conference with WSU ? ? ?
Of course you have schools with decent, long time fan bases like Bradley (which you would like to have hoped we would have had after '79, but ......).
I'm just perplexed about how long these huge differences can continue -- and that's not even looking at the contrast with the big boys.
Somethings gotta give in the next few years .................
silenced