In Game: at Loyola Chicago

[cats10c9]

Aside from the post disappearing Jarvis Moss and Jack Gibbs.

And Josh Heyliger

[Dr. Bliss]

The drive up to Chicago was uneventful. Lake Shore Drive had little traffic and we parked in a garage less than a 5-minute walk from the Gentile Center. My wife (Jewish) found the arena's name amusing. She looked very smart in the black Davidson sweatshirt Bagel gave me about 15 years ago. Lots more seatbacks since the pre-COVID game that Davidson won. The Chicago/Davidson folks were placed off the corner of the home bench. Connor's Crew (I heard he needed 90 tickets) were behind the Davidson bench. I stood and applauded on Bobby's backdoor cut-and-basket. It was one of the few off-ball highlights. We generate a meager number of looks out of our stagnant motion. Does Matt not see that?

Took a photo with classmate Jim McConkey at halftime. The team could have used him. My wife and I wandered around the arena at halftime, finding ourselves at the Davidson locker room door as the team returned to the court. I urged them on by name ("How do you know all their names?" my wife asked), slapping five with several as they ran by, bumping fists with Jack Gibbs as he and Will Riegel walked by.

I counted four airballs on 3-point attempts. The home crowd must have felt sorry for the visitors as they chanted only half-heartedly on the fourth airball. Des exorted the crowd when he subbed out with about 5 minutes to play. I think Loyola had rambled out to a double digit lead. He played pretty well. The transfer has worked out well for him.

My wife grew up on the Hudson River and loves the water. No trip to Chicago is complete for us without a walk along Lake Michigan. In the summer, amenities abound along the lake, but in the winter, no concessions or bathrooms are open, so desperate for relief, I peed on a tree in a bird sanctuary, about four miles into our walk. Not long after, we stumbled upon a group of birdwatchers (recognizable by their hushed tones and enormous zoom lenses). After walking in the midwinter sun, it took a few minutes to adjust our eyes to the dim light of the thicket, but we spotted the birdwatchers' quarry: a long eared owl, sitting quietly, blinking back at us as we peered at this mysterious creature, whispering so as not to annoy it while we admired it.

Our next quarry was the elusive urban park portapotty, which was proving to be rarer that long eared owls. We set off for the masts of boats we could see in the distance. The boats were in drydock, each wrapped in glossy white plastic, their masts like a collection of church spires, their hulls like a huge pod of beached whales. The marina indeed had a portapotty, which my wife was quite happy I had found. She deferred to a Russian woman who arrived at about the same time. They joked about the state of the toilet and agreed it beat the alternative.

The walk back to the car a bit chilly, with a slight breeze in our face and the sun setting behind the high-rises But I handle most challenges better on an empty bladder. It's easy to imagine that the expanse of water stretching to the horizon is an ocean. For a moment, I'm not in Illinois, but in Pawley's Island, Kitty Hawk, or Cape Cod. Waves undulate and lap the shore. As we walk along the sea wall, water smacks against it, like a Davidson guard vainly hurling himself into the lane, over and over.

Lovely.

[ScootCat]

We better up our recruiting game soon, or this program’s in deep trouble.

[MLC67]

Sorry 85Wilcatsky, but the racist post by hodeho did not ask the question you posed. Sure we would have been a better team yesterday had Des played for us. The only reason he didn’t is the fact that he voluntarily chose to transfer. Had this poster simply shared your conviction that Davidson has to do a better job in recruiting African Americans, we would all agree with that undeniable assessment. Nonetheless, you chose to ignore the hodeho’s implicit accusation that our college intentionally does not want to do a better job of such recruitment. Calling us, even supposedly joking, the Davidson Confederates colors that post malicious and not the benign racial observation you characterize it to be.

[i77cat]

I was chatting with a Wildcat yesterday, trying to remember Oskar Mikelsen's name. My friend was complaining about the general decline in our roster in terms of athleticism. I pulled up the 2016-17 roster. Those guys would mop the court with the 2023-24 Wildcats. Study this roster for a moment:

https://davidsonwildcats.com/sports/men ... er/2016-17

We must find players.

[Wildcat92]

Sorry 85Wilcatsky, but the racist post by hodeho did not ask the question you posed. Sure we would have been a better team yesterday had Des played for us. The only reason he didn’t is the fact that he voluntarily chose to transfer. Had this poster simply shared your conviction that Davidson has to do a better job in recruiting African Americans, we would all agree with that undeniable assessment. Nonetheless, you chose to ignore the hodeho’s implicit accusation that our college intentionally does not want to do a better job of such recruitment. Calling us, even supposedly joking, the Davidson Confederates colors that post malicious and not the benign racial observation you characterize it to be.

Yet the issue remains obvious for all to see. And it's not going unnoticed by other teams or recruits, I promise you.

[85Wildcatsky]

I was chatting with a Wildcat yesterday, trying to remember Oskar Mikelsen's name. My friend was complaining about the general decline in our roster in terms of athleticism. I pulled up the 2016-17 roster. Those guys would mop the court with the 2023-24 Wildcats. Study this roster for a moment:

https://davidsonwildcats.com/sports/men ... er/2016-17

We must find players.

I77- You nailed it on the head. On most of the Peyton era teams, you would have a tough time deciding who would take the last shot because you had so many solid options.

Currently you would have a tough time deciding who should take the last shot because of so few options.

[MLC67]

Sorry Wildcat92, but there is a substantial difference between seeing an obvious skin color issue and implying that our men’s basketball program is unwilling to rectify that situation. Of course rival recruiters might denigrate us, claiming that we are the Davidson Confederates, but that blood libel should not be implicitly accepted by this Board. As Fan Chat Room posts can and are shared with recruits on social media, it appears to me that we all have a responsibility here to be precise and accurate that Camelot is emphaticly not a hostile environment for anyone.

[wildforthecats]

I was chatting with a Wildcat yesterday, trying to remember Oskar Mikelsen's name. My friend was complaining about the general decline in our roster in terms of athleticism. I pulled up the 2016-17 roster. Those guys would mop the court with the 2023-24 Wildcats. Study this roster for a moment:

https://davidsonwildcats.com/sports/men ... er/2016-17

We must find players.

Mop the floor is a bit of a ridiculous statement. I seem to recall many on this board were complaining about how the 2016-2017 team was underachieving back when the season was unfolding.

[wildforthecats]

Davidson basketball has hit a rough patch, what a surprise, here comes all of the conspiracy theories.


.

[i77cat]

Okay, how about "win easily"? That roster is simply better.

[stevelee]

Haven’t we seen Oskar in Belk in some recent week, or did I mistake some other tall guy for him?

[slowcat95]

we all have a responsibility here to be precise and accurate that Camelot is emphaticly not a hostile environment for anyone.

that would be dishonest

[ac3983]

More NIL money = better players. Welcome to 2024.

I have no inside information on recruiting nor idea how much NIL money Davidson has.

Totally guessing here. But logically, if I'm a recruit and I'm told hey we can give you $20K a year and another school says hey I can give you $85K a year, simple math says that's a quarter of a million dollars more to go to school B, and many if not all families are going to take it.

Then layer on the fact that it's still seemingly much tougher to get into Davidson than other places.

Then layer on the fact that there is no grad school, greatly limiting transfer portal opportunities.

Pretty tough environment to be successful in. It's not an excuse, just how I see it.

What Davidson needs is a $5-10 million donation to NIL.

[quickcat]

I was chatting with a Wildcat yesterday, trying to remember Oskar Mikelsen's name. My friend was complaining about the general decline in our roster in terms of athleticism. I pulled up the 2016-17 roster. Those guys would mop the court with the 2023-24 Wildcats. Study this roster for a moment:

https://davidsonwildcats.com/sports/men ... er/2016-17

We must find players.

Mop the floor is a bit of a ridiculous statement. I seem to recall many on this board were complaining about how the 2016-2017 team was underachieving back when the season was unfolding.

It is interesting that 77 chose 16-17. Until last year, that was our only losing season in the A-10, and by far our worst 3 point shooting year (34.1%, 213th in the nation) until the last 2 years.

Using kenpom ratings, that team ended up #85 in the country. Here's how we've fared this year against teams in the 50-100 range:

Maryland 52, win by 3
Richmond 81, lose in OT after missing a floater to win
VCU 88, lose by 5 after leading by 9 with an 89% chance to win with 9 minutes left

Our 2 other games where the opponent was anywhere near 100 are Charlotte (103, win by 4) and Loyola (115 lose by 13).

So this year's team would definitely give 16-17 a spirited game, but they'd probably come out on the short end.