Often a mid-major basketball fan doesn't have a video to watch for road games. When you're a die-hard, you spend a lot of time trying to look for some host school's video package that you often have to pay for. If you don't, you're stuck listening to the radio and hoping your play-by-play commentator can paint a good picture of what's going on.
It takes effort to be a fan, but it's okay because the team puts in the effort to make you care. Until they don't.
Milwaukee's fan base listened from 2,000 miles away as their Panthers dropped their third and fourth games in the Hoops for Hope classic down in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Milwaukee lost a disappointing 71-66 decision to Jacksonville, only to follow that with a 74-60 shellacking from Rider that was probably closer to 84-60.
In the post game, assistant coach Chad Boudreau called the game "Disappointing and embarrassing," telling listeners on the radio that "Defensively we were just awful."
This isn't a team void of talent. The Panthers are 1-4 against D-I competition, and the one victory is over the absolute best team out of those five, Davidson. That's not even up for debate.
So where is the team that beat Davidson? The team that destroyed South Carolina in the first half? The truth of the matter is that the Milwaukee program is too reliant on the three-ball, too sloppy handling the ball, too weak defending the post and too sieve-like to defend period. The losses of Ryan Allen and Kaylon Williams have hurt, but on the defensive end is where they've hurt the most.
On Monday, Milwaukee turned the ball over 19 times and only picked up 10 assists in the 16-point blowout loss at UALR, a team they beat last season in the same building. Did the lessons of practice trying to fix that problem take hold? Milwaukee had 14 assists and 15 turnovers today, but only 12 assists and 20 turnovers yesterday. Obviously the brain's need to create memories from snorkeling and driving ATV's are taking greater importance in some players' minds heading into the disastrous weekend.
On Thursday, I sat down to write my annual piece on what I'm thankful for in Milwaukee Athletics. I don't know anymore. I didn't have enough to publish.
But there's enough to publish today, oh boy is there ever. Do we want to talk about the turnovers? How about the defense that's giving up a depressing 71 points per game against D-I competition. What about the average of 15.6 turnovers per game (that includes the Mary game)?
The truth of the matter is that this song and dance is getting old. Milwaukee picks up a big victory only to squander the good will engendered by dropping a game (or three winnable games) in quick succession.
When will Milwaukee be the team that recognizes its potential? The team that beat Davidson is a Horizon League championship contender, there's no doubt about that. The team that has taken the floor this week, however, is easily a contender for the bottom two of the conference.
So the question is this: where does the buck stop? It's not just coaching, although you have to wonder if the players were properly motivated to get out there and win or properly coached to ignore the wayward officiating of Saturday and just play their game.
Maybe it's a culture thing. There seem to be too many guys having too much fun and not spending enough time trying to emulate everything that Paris Gulley does.
Paris Gulley is a personal hero of mine, and it has very little to do with his three-point shot and everything to do with how he got that shot.
You see, Paris is a father. Young father, yes, but a proud papa at that. And everything he does is to support his daughter. He works hard in class, he works hard at basketball. He's in the gym for days, honing a shot that will take him to the pros. He'll never get a sniff of the NBA, but somewhere he'll get a shot based on his shot. But it's not just the three-point shooting.
Remember the first game of last season, when Milwaukee almost lost to Southwest Minnesota State? The reason is that Kaylon Williams was suspended, and the team didn't have another point guard. So Paris Gulley spent all of October trying to learn how to play point guard and handle the ball. Now he is one of the best ball-handlers on the team. No one was touting his defense when he came in last season, but he was a big reason the Panthers were the best team in the nation at perimeter shooting defense.
The real troubling thing here is that Gulley's injury has shown just how thin Milwaukee is at guard. Donald Thomas' departure before the season may not have been extremely important, but one would have to figure a 6'7'' slasher with strong defense and athleticism would find minutes on the court. Evan Richard finally found his stride offensively, leading all Panthers with 11 points today.
But it's not enough to be good on offense. Boudreau said in post-game that Richard still has to get better defensively; of course, so does the entire team. And that starts in the locker room. Someone has to take the reigns and lead the team. There is enough talent to win the Horizon League here, on the roster, playing right now - just ask Bob McKillop. But it's not going to make a lick of difference if the players on the team don't find some priority in their lives and get things moving in the right direction.
When things aren't going in the right direction, fans will point to things they can see in public view as reasons things aren't going well. They will look at things like the pictures of ATV's and snorkeling, point and say "Well that's why they sucked, they weren't focused." Is it unfair? Yes. But Division I athletes need to recognize that they are in many ways public figures, and when things aren't going well fans aren't going to be your best friends.
Going on trips to Italy, Puerto Vallarta and other trips are fun, but Milwaukee Athletics doesn't hand out scholarships to have fun. Yes, men's basketball is a big-time sport. No, the expectation does not change. Championships are what people expect at Milwaukee, and if you fall short it's all right if that is matched by a championship effort. Screwing around in your social life is forgivable as long as the effort and winning are there. These are the kind of things fans will say if you don't win. You've GOT to win to make people not give a damn about things like that.
Once the perception exists that a championship effort isn't there, the other things surrounding the program get scrutinized tenfold. Priorities have to be made. If Milwaukee takes this week from hell and flips it into a positive, all will be forgotten. If they continue a downward spiral or even just maintain the status quo, then it's harder for a Black and Gold fan base to be so forgiving.
vBulletin Message