End the Season

[sealhall74]

Wright State was in Macomb during the Dykstra days for NCAA DII regional. I think we knocked them off before being ousted by Northern Michigan in championship. I remember the fan chants during game "Wrong State, Wrong State, ...." LOL

[ST_Lawson]

Yep.

I think it was Cleveland state?

Yea, the Bracket Buster game was against Cleveland State: http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330542710

[Neckfansince71]

Yes! I stand corrected! Cleveland State! jc

[ibleedpurpleandgold]

Yes! I stand corrected! Cleveland State! jc

Yeah thats was the game parks got hurt and the start of the downward spirial of that season.

[sealhall74]

From what I can tell, we have zero redshirts this year barring some sort of mysterious season-ending injuries that pop up. That is very surprising for a roster of 16 players. I watched the SDSU-USD game yesterday. That 6-10 Daum kid from SDSU sat out last year and did one hell of Frank Kaminski imitation with 7-11 shooting (4-4 from beyond the arc), 27 points, 11 boards. He was a shooter in HS and could be a force in the Summit League in a year or two. Nagy did the smart thing and held him back. Of course, he had Cody Larson patrolling the paint last year so he could afford to do it. This year, Nagy has 16 on his roster and from what I can tell, 4 potential redshirts (4 players with zero minutes this season, maybe a transfer in the mix). We need to start recruiting/coaching Nagy style, thinking long-term. This year-to-year crap ain't going to cut it.

[cubsflag]

Wright recruited then, mo coached them

billy gave coach mo the talent to make the NCAA and coach mo blew it

I would argue injuries

im talking about the championship game.

[macomber]

1. Obi Emegano leaving after his freshman year was the beginning of the decline for Western basketball. Emegano started on the 2011-12 team that lost in the championship game to SDSU. If he stays, his role increases even more as a sophomore the following year when Parks and Clark are seniors - possible NCAA team with Obi that year? And his junior and senior year he is the go-to-guy. Huge loss when he transferred to Oral Roberts. HUGE.

2. It's clear that Billy can't coach these guys. How do you beat Wisconsin, but can't win a conference game? I think people on the boards are underestimating the coaching ability of Mo.

3. Wade Hokenson leaving after last season was also a big loss. One can argue that Wade should have been named the head coach. Billy left for Ball State. Who stuck it out at Western? Wade. But Western president Jack Thomas and the players wanted Billy.

4. With Wade leaving, Billy passed on a number of better qualified coaches for the open spot on the staff this past summer. One of them being Quincy native Tim Walsh (current assistant at Idaho State) and former Southeastern Iowa assistant when they won three NJCAA Div. 1 national championships and was head coach at Southeastern for three years. Was also an assistant at Western Michigan and Wisconsin-Green Bay. None of Billy's current assistants have any prior D1 or junior college experience. Vershaw was a graduate manager at Virginia is all. Did no recruiting. Does the fact he played at Wisconsin really matter? Walsh has the ability to get players and has great junior college connections, but was passed on. Big mistake.

4. Western caught lightning in a bottle for two years with Parks and Clark. An amazing two-year run.

5. Macomb is a tough place to win. It's hard to get to and the closest airport is 70 miles on two-lane road to Peoria. Small town (20,000) compared to Indy - IUPUI (852,000), Denver (650,000), Omaha (434,000), Tulsa-Oral Roberts(398,000), Fort Wayne - IPFW (256,000), Fargo - NDSU(113,000). SDSU and SD are close to Sioux Falls and they have luxury of being the main two state universities in South Dakota. Western is one of how many D1 schools in the broke state of Illinois?

[leatherface]

Probably the best post I've read here in awhile- as far as explaining many of the issues. Tim Walsh would have been excellent, and, your other observations - I feel are right on track.

[vatusay]

Great post macomber.

Agree with everything. The loss of obi was massive.

I must say, I didn't see the failure(so far) with wright. I thought it was a good hire at the time.

[sealhall74]

I watched ORU last two or three times out. Obi is good and a force with the rock in his hand but they are not playing team ball with him on the court. They are like an NBA team, standing around taking turns playing 5 games of one-on-one basketball.