This thing was a meltdown. It was probably lost two minutes into the 2nd half when ISU made a 14-0 run, but the end is simply miserable, ugly, and unwatchable.

What can you say after a loss like this? This is one of those games that you really needed to see the team come together and pull out a win and there were players that just flat out didn't show up to this game.

Thank god we had Montell James. He looked like the only one out there that made any type of effort in this one. He was aggressive going to the basket, missed a lot of shots as well, but at least he was making an effort.

Some of Turk's struggles in the first half may have come from good defense but that can't be used as a good excuse. when you are struggling like that you need to change it up, try to drive the ball inside and take a shot or kick it out. you can't just be complacent that you're not getting your shots.

Doyle -- What the heck is going on? He could not do anything out there tonight. Again, an argument could be made that it was Indiana State's defense, but he has to try to contribute in other ways. I did not see him coming off any screens and trying to get his shot. A lot of catching the ball at the top of the arc, taking a couple of dribbles and firing up a highly contested shot from the foul line. This is not going to cut it. Fouling out of the game with 0 points?

Cal Kennedy -- What? Seriously? Why was this kid in the game as much as he was?

TURNOVERS -- Some of those errant passes were just downright embarrassing. It was like we had absolutely no focus out there.

I don't want to give up on this team -- I really don't. The talent we have with Doyle, James, Peterson and Turk tells me what they have the capacity to win ball games. I just don't understand what is going on and how we completely lost all of the chemistry we had at the end of the last year with really only losing one key player.

What's even more disappointing is how out of hand and sloppy it got at the end of the game. Obviously we weren't going to come back being down by double digits with 3:00 left in the ball game... but have some pride. Play some defense and don't just turn the ball over for no reason. What a horrible way to end a game. Did we turn the ball over 4 times in a two minute period? That is ridiculous.

Where do we go from here?

So disappointed. Btw, easy to spotlight Doyle and he deserves the criticism, but where are our secondary players??? If you look at the whole year's contribution from Richardson, Peterson and Ingram, none of them have been good. At this point last year, I was SO high on Earl. I couldn't believe what a great find he was. He has been incredibly spotty. Same for Ingram. In terms of Ben, I thought he might end up by junior year being a top tier guard in the MVC. By senior year, 2nd team conference type guy. He's a non-factor when he's in. Turk, White (to my surprise) and Montel are all we bring to the table right now.

What is with adgei?
He doesn't even play in gatbage time. Is he injured, in the doghouse, or just a complete bust?

I don't know what's going on but something is really wrong here. I wish I was at this game because it looked like the on court communication between the fellas was nonexistent. That's a real stretch because unless you are there you can't hear it on a webcast. BUT something isn't right!

I would not want to be in that locker room right now.

I turned it off at 1:05, just couldn't do it anymore. That was hard to watch and listen to and we've all seen much more than our fair share of really bad Ramblers basketball.

We just have no confidence out there whatsoever. That is really shocking to me.

I don't question the effort. Instead I see all kinds of guys trying to do way too much and not playing together and trusting each other. On both ends of the court. Over playing for steals and giving up WIDE open shots. Trying to jump out of the gym for rebounds instead of finding the ball and putting a body on someone. Driving to the paint against 3 defenders. Then we don't convert easy plays. We don't look like we know what we are doing on either end of the court.

Where is the team play? Maybe the rotations (which I don't understand at all) are part of the problem.

I'm not saying we can't win some games in this league or even beat Indiana State at home, but we are 0-2 and there are at least five teams that look clearly better than us right now. That is a pretty far cry from where I thought we would be. Thursday night is staring us straight in the face.

It's going to be a long time before anyone picks us to finish 5th in the Valley again.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Yup.

By the way, even before today's game, we were down to #203 in the KenPom rankings. 8th in the Valley. Projected record of 7-11.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Yes, hard to understand. Last year Ingram, Peterson, Richardson, Turk and Doyle all looked athletic. Now they look like the are getting VERY out-athletic-ed in every phase of the game. I don't know if we drank too much LUC Kool-Aid or something else is going on. Certainly, didn't think the Cal Kennedy era would start this year. Geez.