Frustration MOUNTS

I punched the sofa last night. Punched it hard. It was a similar type punch to the kick I put on a sofa when Lawrence Moten called timeout and cost the Orange a trip to the Sweet Sixteen and a win over the defending national champ Arkansas Razorbacks. Thankfully, last night's frustration didn't have the same results. The boot put a hole in the side of the couch. The punch just got me a dirty look from my wife.

It's been a long time since the Mount has won. And for those of us who are fans, it seems like an eternity. But imagine how it would seem if you were a part of this team. Certainly, the coaching staff has been working hard to try to end the skid. The players are giving effort. They aren't quitting. There have been times in this run where they could have packed it in. From my view they haven't done that yet.

I didn't write a preview for yesterday's game. I don't like previews late in the season, because it seems like you are writing the same things over and over. There was that and then there was the fact that I didn't really think the Mount would win.  Because every way I anylyzed things I came up with the Mount losing. By one point no doubt.

One of the commenters last night, said this team finds a way to lose. That seems to definitely be the case. But the root of the problems all start at the offensive end. The Mount just doesn't get enough easy shots. They miss some when they get them. But they don't get enough of them anyhow. And that puts pressure on the need to make everything. The Mount's assist to Field Goal Made percentage is just bad. Only 41.8% of the Mount's field goals are accompanied by assists. That is 334th of 347 in the land. For me it comes down to the pace of the offense, when the offense has pace things seem to work better. There was plenty of pace to the game last night, but there were still a lot of offensive possessions where the Mount offense was stagnant. In all they scored 63 points on 79 possessions, a far cry from the 1 point per possession stat that has seemed to indicate success for this team as far back as the NEC championship season.

Is there still reason for optimism? That is a tough one. I still think that talent wise there isn't a team in this league that is better. And I'd only expect the Mount to be underdogs twice more this season if you look strictly at performances. Unfornately one of those games is tomorrow at Sacred Heart, and at Monmouth later in the season. I've said 12-6 is the most likely number. I still think that is accurate. But winning 12 of 15 games is never easy. Especially when you've lost nine in a row. And as the commenter said this team knows how to lose.

The potential to do that though is there. But there comes a time when somebody just has to say enough is enough and make the difference. That hasn't happened yet. We're all waiting for it. And we're all getting more and more frustrated. Mount fans I feel your frustration. I'm there with you. Let's hope that we find a reason for optimism tomorrow. Let's hope that the reason starts with a W.