Just telling it as it is Bunte or at least as I see it--He needed to score early and often--He did not and has not. This is NOT the team or the player of last year for sure. SIU has the athletes --we do not, if this game is any criterion.
I will stick by our team BUT I cannot sugar coat it.

BTW the announcers did us no favors.

JCT explained it better than I did. It does appear that he saw it as I did though. I might also say that this has been going on for while now. MILT must score now and try the team stuff next NOT the other way around.

Milt stepped up and was pushing as hard as he could to get us back in the game. Our shooting was just not there all night, and we couldn't rebound (again). Number 25 for the Salukis has incredible elevation on his jump shot that we just couldn't stop tonight.

Sorry Grad but once agin we were beaten by superior athletes. I really thought Milt was that kind of player. We did shoot poorly earlybut that was SIU played really good Defence--forced us out out usual spots. They were by far the better team this night.

They were the better team tonight, and we missed a lot of open shots that we shouldn't have. Both are true, and the latter was so obvious that it was the first thing my SIU buddy said after the game. Add to that the fact that Earl just had a horrible night, and it just wasn't meant to be.

I thought Milt had a little more spring tonight, but I still believe he's got some sort of leg/ankle problem. He's been playing a little like he did last year in the SIU game after he hurt himself against Wichita. Why he didn't take over the game until the last 6:00 is a mystery. He didn't seem to be able to get clear for shots before that, so some credit to SIU. I'd like to see him spend more time off the point and get some screens to give him a little more room. Something has to change. We're taking a lot of bad shots, especially around the basket, because no one is getting a good look. Good defense on Bean in the second half, but otherwise there were just too many failures to execute on that end. Finally, I'm not in favor of panic when you're down by 12 or so with 8:00 min to go, but I would sure like to see the pace pick up. It almost looked like the dreaded oxen ball.

Keke White played very well and looked like himself from two years ago. He had a very nice steal. I would start him at the point.
Oh well, as someone said after the game, there are 17 more.

We needed players to elevate their game and I thought Keke was the only one to do it. Milton was a non-factor until too late. Hitting a 2 run homer when your down 8 in the 9th doesn't impress me that much. We were awful tonight. Worst game I've seen Earl play in a long time. Ingram has been playing better of late, but not tonight. James and especially Turk, way, way below their best. I expected Ben to take a big leap this year. He hasn't. Kirby is AWFUL. Rajala had a minute or 2 and I thought our offense opened up a little with him and James in together, but still only a 7th type guy. Our rebounding is atrocious. Btw, who was our most effective rebounding guard last year (rebounds per minute)? Joe Crisman. Actually not a surprise to me. Joe may not have been a great player, but he brought passion, fundamentals and dedication to rebounding which made him a better-than-average success. Really disappointing loss.

And brot is right. We were beaten by superior athletes. That's the one thing that most of us were fooled about. I thought this team was more athletic than it is. Turns out...Christian Thomas was more athletic that I probably gave him credit for. Boy we miss him.

Let's be honest---if we can't beat SIU at home, we are staring a Thursday appearance dead in the eyes. Basically 6 very likely losses vs Evansville x2, WSU x2, UNI x2. Then likely losses @ISUb, @ISUr, @SIU. MoSt looks tough as well.

I am thinking 6-12 is a very real possibility which, to me, is unacceptable at this point in Porter's tenure.