How soon we forget....

I know from personal experience that it is so easy to get caught up in the hype.

The high expectations for the men's basketball team this year have everyone scratching there heads with the slow start. But is it that slow?

The Hounds are 5-5 overall and 1-1 in the MAAC. The small crowds in Reitz are a disgrace. The atmosphere for the games should be that of excitement but instead you could hear a pin drop at times (no music at halftime?) Remember where you were Loyola not that long ago - Scott Hicks 6 wins, 5 wins, 4 wins and then 1. You have a great group of players that are learning how to win.

Patsos has come in and in the past few years brought a fresh attitude to the entire program. He can only do so much to create excitement (and he works his ass off getting the level to a fever pitch.) But here is where you come in - The fans need to show up. The students are so pandered to at Loyola that they can't get out of bed to root on their schoolmates.

Just to prove it to you that the team is doing pretty well, here are the starts for the past few seasons -

2006-07 Started 5-3 - Finished with a record of 18-13 (MAAC: 12-6)
N10 Navy L 61-73
N11 North Florida W 65-50
N14 at UMBC W 69-56
N20 at American L 74-81
N29 Delaware W 75-63
D02 Mount St. Mary’s W 83-66
D08 Saint Peter’s L 55-66
D10 at Manhattan W 77-58

2005-2006 Started 5-2 Finished with a record of 15-13 (MAAC: 8-10)
Coach: Jimmy Patsos
N19 at Towson W 80-67
N27 UMBC W 71-64
N29 American W 68-60
D03 at Mount St. Mary’s W 76-71
D09 at Fairfi eld W (ot) 90-85
D11 Manhattan L 73-85
D23 at Virginia L 59-98

2004-2005 Started 1-6 Finished with a record of 6-22 (MAAC: 5-13)
Coach: Jimmy Patsos
N19 at Virginia Tech L 58-81
N21 Navy L 86-89
N27 at Pittsburgh L 57-93
N29 Delaware L 60-63
D02 at Saint Peter’s L 83-99
D05 Niagara W 97-89
D11 Mount St. Mary’s L 55-69
D21 at UMBC L 53-58

2003-2004 Started 0-8 Finished with a record of 1-27 (MAAC: 1-17)
Coach: Scott Hicks
N21 UMBC L 50-72
N22 Coppin State L 65-82
N29 Towson L 62-66
D02 at Iona L 60-77
D06 at Duquesne L 61-70
D08 Saint Peter’s L 66-80
D10 at Delaware L 71-76
D13 at Mount St. Mary’s L 71-75

So get to the games and root for your team. They work hard for you. We ran into two teams desperate for wins (Mount was 0-fer and Iona had only 1 win) We obviously took a beating in the Iona game but we look like we learned our lesson.

Now it is time for the fans to learn their lesson. If you did not come to the Men's Basketball game on Sunday, you missed one of the most dominating performances in years (maybe decades) by the team. You missed a home game or two, it is time to make a resolution to be at every home game in the Spring semester.

If you are a fan - prove it. Peace.