South Dakota at ORU

[EagleManiac]

Only made it for the second half of the game on Sunday night, and I left the Mabee completely deflated. One of the more disappointing performances I've seen in a long time. A few points come to mind.

1)  Defense wins championships, and this is an absolutely terrible defensive team. And I'm not convinced it's due to lack of size or athleticism. They simply cannot perform basic defensive fundamentals. How many times did the Coyotes drive straight to the rim with no one stepping over in help defense? And when we did step over, the rest of the team stood and watched instead of rotating. In transition, there was no communication and we repeatedly allowed direct drives to the basket with no one picking up the ball. And I could not believe how many times I saw ORU defenders turn their back on their man as they watched the ball, Jalen Bradley got caught several times.

2) I'm glad OT mentioned the body language from the coaching staff. I noticed it too, and was discussing it with my father after the game. I think the octogenarian mother said it best, it simply looked like they didn't care. While I don't doubt that the loss hurt Scott more than anyone in the arena, head shaking and shoulder shrugging gives the wrong impression. It's just bad coaching. As a player, what could deflate your will to win more than looking to the bench when things aren't going your way and seeing your coaches sitting back in their chairs and shaking their heads?

3) The crowd size was almost embarrassing. Surely stemming from it being on a church night, and at the tail end of the holiday season. Hopefully it is not an indicator of the rest of the season.

4) The one bright spot from the night was the effort from the team. Even when things were not going their way, they kept fighting. I like the spirit of this team.

After the sixth loss in a row, I was about ready to give up on this team. But it's a long season and I think we can still turn it around. Hopefully I'm not proven wrong.