I want to say something good about McNeese Cowboys basketball.
\nI really do.
\nI\u2019m sure that by the end of the column, I can bring light to more than one positive aspect about the program. Admittedly it won\u2019t be easy.
\nFrom a sheer wins and losses standpoint, this has to be the most difficult and taxing of Dave Simmons\u2019 10 years as head coach.
\nThe Cowboys finished their non-conference schedule at 2-8, but no one did a serious double take, considering that five of those losses were road games at then 21st-ranked LSU, former No. 1-ranked Oklahoma, Central Michigan and U.L.-Lafayette, along with a 105-60 blowout loss at Indiana, and then a closer than expected 67-53 loss at once No. 22-ranked UCLA.
\nThe head-scratching came in Southland Conference play when McNeese lost games from every conceivable angle. Losses came from horrendous free throw shooting to a devil-may-care attitude on defense or turnovers that would make the Pillsbury Doughboy blush.
\nOne consistent theme has been the inability of this team to hold hard-fought leads and close out games down the stretch. That latter category is littered with two one-bucket losses to Southeastern Louisiana and numerous wins in hand turned to defeats against Houston Baptist, Abilene Christian and UNO.
\n\u201cWe blew a lot of games,\u201d admits junior point guard Jamaya Burr. \u201cHome games, even some games on the road. The teams that were beating us, and what they were beating us by, aren\u2019t that much better than us \u2014 no rebounding, not playing defense and giving up the easy stuff, like turning the ball over.\u201d
\nWell, I will give it to Burr, as he summarized his team\u2019s downfall in a nutshell \u2014 minus the missed free throws and still inexplicable inability to make lay-ups and tip-ins.
\nThe season turned south during a critical stretch of the team\u2019s Southland Conference slate beginning Jan. 30 and going through the recent Nicholls State game. The Cowboys went 2 and 7, which included a four-game losing skid that ended with the 71-69 overtime win over the Colonels at Burton Coliseum.
\nIn the final home game of the season, McNeese was staring down SLC tournament elimination with yet another defeat. The win kept a small amount of wind in the team\u2019s sails. But they still needed at least a split against Lamar and a road game at Central Arkansas to have a shot at the eight-team field that will convene for the SLC tourney March 9 in Katy, Texas.
\n\u201cOur goal is to stretch it out,\u201d Simmons said after the overtime win against Nicholls State. \u201cGet to the conference tournament and take a big breath and play. Anything can happen. We tell these kids we are just as talented as most people in the league, but we have to bring it all together to win the game.\u201d
\nSimmons had his master spin hat on, saying his team is as talented as many in the Southland. They simply are not. The Cowboys would not be near the bottom of the conference standings if they were as good as Sam Houston, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian.
\nTheir defensive and rebounding intensity is spotty at best. The turnovers come in bunches at the worst possible times. A celebration erupts on the bench if someone should happen to make two consecutive free throws. There is too much standing flat-footed in offensive sets, with players waiting for Burr to lose patience and take off in the lane or for someone to just jack up an indiscriminate three-pointer.
\nBurr points to defensive and rebounding lapses for his team\u2019s troubles. Simmons agrees, and adds that the shooting touch and field goal percentage were slow to develop. \u201cIt took a little time for our freshmen to come on and help us in scoring,\u201d says Simmons. \u201cYou hoped that your senior team would maintain, and instead of your freshmen coming in playing significant minutes, they (freshmen) should be coming in to role play. You always hope that your senior group would be your base and foundation.\u201d
\nIt wasn\u2019t quite that way this season.
\nSenior forwards Craig McFerrin and Austin Lewis are averaging around 13 points and 12 rebounds between them. When they were focused and motivated, these two big bodies could muscle and bang the boards. But all too often they were outmuscled, outplayed, and simply disappeared.
\nMcFerrin and Lewis were never going to be go-to guys like last year\u2019s senior duo of Kevin Hardy and DeSharick Guidry.
\nShaun Johnson and Matthew Moss, the team\u2019s two other seniors, were solid role players off the bench, but were never expected to rise to the status of starters.
\nAdd it up and you find the team didn\u2019t have the strong senior foundation it was in dire need of.
\nThis bunch has a body language and self-esteem problem as well. When things go bad, the shoulders slump, heads hang, faces pout, and what energy the team may have had drains away quickly. There isn\u2019t enough proven leadership on the floor at any given time to thwart that; so leads are squandered, holes get deeper. This is the primary reason the Cowboys have yet to win a road game.
\nThat\u2019s right; it\u2019s 0-13 away from home.
\n\u201cVery frustrating,\u201d says Simmons. \u201cI tell our kids that the only people to solve our problems on the road and at home are us. No one else can help you. We have two more on the road, and we will attack them aggressively if we can. And I think it starts on the defensive end.\u201d
\nFrustration has been the buzz word around this team this season. The players let their frustrations affect their play. Simmons and his assistants are unquestionably frustrated, as are the athletic administration and the fans, whose numbers at home games have dwindled.
\nThe lowest of the low had to come during the recent four-game losing streak with the 10-point loss at Northwestern State, which at the time was near the bottom of the standings with McNeese. Then came the blown lead and eventual overtime loss to Southeastern at home. And then there was the no-show game at Burton during which the Cowboys allowed Tic Price\u2019s Lamar boys to run them out of the gym for the Cardinals\u2019 first win in Lake Charles since 1986.
\nThere were some teaching moments this season, but few learnings have stuck.
\nSimmons reminds me these are \u201cgood kids\u201d \u2014 that I don\u2019t doubt \u2014 who are \u201cstill 18- and 19-year-old kids trying to learn.\u201d
\nThat forces the question of whether Simmons is teaching them well enough and pushing the right buttons in practice and during games. Attendance has been stagnant for years now. The university will soon break ground on a new on-campus basketball arena that many feel will solve the problems of the low gate, non-existent student interest, and negative recruiting and program perceptions.
\nIf Simmons is feeling some heat, he isn\u2019t letting on. If the veteran coach has learned one thing in his nearly 40 years of playing and coaching basketball it is that he shouldn\u2019t listen to the criticism or let it concern him.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t worry about what the newspapers or what you in the media say. All I can do is do my job to the best of my ability. And that\u2019s how I have always looked at it as a player, as a head coach and assistant coach. It\u2019s a part of this life.\u201d
\nNow here come the positive points I promised earlier.
\nSimmons was forced to lean on freshmen guards Jarren Greenwood and James Harvey, whose transition to the college game had some growing pains. But they eventually proved themselves to be consistent starters.
\nHarvey is averaging close to 14 points per game and has had some hot streaks beyond the three-point arc. In fact, his three 20-point games this season are the most a true freshman has had in the last 18 years.
\nHarvey\u2019s rookie running mate Greenwood averages 12 points. He buried a last-second three-pointer to force an overtime period in the recent win over Nicholls State.
\nThe 6-foot, 7-inch sophomore forward Stephen Ugochukwu is developing into a reliable defender and rebounder. While 6-foot, 7-inch freshman forward Adrian Brown has seen scant minutes, Simmons has high hopes for the Houston native.
\nAs a group, these freshmen and sophomores, along with the highly touted recruiting class coming in, are the future of this program, according to the 10th-year head coach.
\n\u201cI like what we have in place. I like what we added early (in the early signing period for incoming recruits) and I really like what we have coming back. Our guards, the 2s and 3s, can really shoot the basketball. With the freshman and sophomore class right now, we have a championship-caliber team. They have gone through some testing wars and the only thing you can do is keep looking up.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s been one of those seasons that seems to repeat itself far too often for the Cowboys. In all fairness, there was success between 2010 and 2013, when the Cowboys went 52-45. The apex came in 2011, with a regular season championship and a 21-12 record.
\nOver the last three full seasons the W\/L ledger reads 32 and 55. Throw in this season, when McNeese is struggling to reach the 10-win mark, and one might think it\u2019s a program going nowhere fast.
\nThat\u2019s not the view of the always optimistic Simmons.
\n\u201cThese kids are resilient. When you are losing but getting better [that\u2019s encouraging]. I see the work \u2014 every day they come in and work hard. Sometimes it doesn\u2019t show in the wins and losses column, but I see them improving every day. We are playing 35 minutes, but we are just not closing games.\u201d
\nThose five missing minutes have put this team in the position it\u2019s in now \u2014 the bottom half of a conference with only five teams sporting winning records. But as of press time, the Cowboys still have a fighting chance for a tournament berth.
\nI guess some of Simmons\u2019 optimism rubbed off on me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I want to say something good about McNeese Cowboys basketball. I really do. I\u2019m sure that by the end of the column, I can bring light to more than one positive aspect about the program. Admittedly it won\u2019t be easy. From a sheer wins and losses standpoint, this has to be the most difficult and [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[218,64],"yoast_head":"\n