There’s really not too much to see about tonight’s debacle in Evansville, a 64-49 loss to the Purple Aces that was in no way, shape, or form as close as the final score would indicate. Forced to say something, I guess that it’s time to shed the cloak of cautious optimism I had donned following the Bulls 2-0 start has pretty much been shattered, and return to my normal, post-Turner Battle-era posture of pessimism.
Really the massive second half collapse in Tuesday night’s 69-64 win over Canisius should have been sign enough that this is going to be another long, unsuccessful slog of season for the Bulls, but, so much else positive going on — Obama winning the election, the UB football team winning the MAC East, my New York Red Bulls miraculous run to MLS Cup — I focused more on the victory, sealed by a John Boyer triple then I did the fact that UB needed to be bailed out by Boyer to hang on and beat a pretty bad Canisius squad.
Three games into the season I don’t want to seem like the always-hysterical Mitch Lawrence, the NY Daily News Chicken Little of an NBA hack, but, at this, admittedly early point in the season, there’s really very little reason to think that the 2008-09 season will be any different than the past three seasons have been. The Bulls still can’t take care of the rock; the frontcourt is erratic and prone to being bullied; and, for lack of a better way to say it, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Meaning that this particular group of UB hoopsters has yet to find the sort of cohesion and rhythm that makes teams successful.
I’m not going to assign blame for that potentially fatal failure, but it’s clear that this team is going nowhere if Coach ‘Spoon can’t figure out how to change that. Judging by the exasperation and frustration in his voice during the post-game interview tonight, he seems to understand this team has problems. According to Reggie:
“Evansville outworked and out-toughed us. We didn’t shoot the ball well from anywhere. We have to be tougher. We need to be tough enough to put the ball in the basket when we get chances.”
A lack of interior toughness may have done the Bulls in tonight, but the problems are deeper and more expansive than that. However, the frontcourt’s playing with more determination and intensity would be a welcome first step in getting ready for the always rugged, and always physical MAC. And getting ready for MAC play is really what the next nine games are all about.
So, yeah, three games into the 2008-09 college hoops season, I can honestly say that I don’t expect too much from this edition of my UB Bulls. But it’s only three games so there’s plenty of time for the Greg Gamble and Company to change my mind.
Things don’t look too good right now, but it’s only three games. It’s only three games. It’s only three games…
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