Murray State v. Bradley Game Thread

[RacerHistory]

McMahon's 2016-2017 team that went 16-17 had 1 game they lost by more than 17 points.

This year's team has 5 such losses with the worst part being 3 of those were our last 3 games.

I hope that's never going to be okay at Murray.

RacerHistory, has there been a time in since the 1987 season where a Racer team lost by 102 points in 3 games?  This late in the season to boot?

I thought about looking at that after Saturday, but I was to sad to look. I've been spending my time with the site rebuild.

[A_1985_grad]

I've been following Racer basketball since the late 1970s, and I wouldn't be surprised if these last three beatdowns were the worst stretch in the history of the program. Even the (in)famed 1978-79 4-22 team lost only TWICE by over 20 points -- 109-88 to Louisiana Tech and 79-54 to Memphis State, as it was then known.

The closest I could find with a casual look was in the previous season -- 1977-78 -- which saw an early season five-game losing streak that included a 19-point loss at Louisville (78-59), a 32-point loss at Oral Roberts (90-58) and a 26-point loss at Memphis (109-83). The other two losses in that stretch were at home to Missouri Southern (78-73) and SIU-Edwardsville (83-81), probably Division II or NAIA schools at the time. The Racers finished that season 9-17 overall (including 1-11 on the road) and the coach was let go after the season.

Is this as bad as that? Overall, no, but the fact that we're even comparing it is a concern.

While I'm sure the players and coaches are as upset as anyone by the turn the season has taken, you can't ignore things off the court. If this season continues in this direction and MSU is one-and-out at Arch Madness, how will that affect next season? Will the local TV station still have sponsored coverage of the Racers on its newscasts? Will those sponsors "proudly supporting the Racers" continue to do so? Will fan attendance suffer?

I would hope the answer to those questions is no. You have to give a new coaching staff more than one season to achieve success. But don't believe for one second that it is only we the fans who are concerned. The university put a lot of assets into this move to the Valley, and it wasn't to finish eighth on a consistent basis. Too many seasons like the recent part of this one will force some changes soon enough. There's too much invested not to.

We'll certainly see several roster changes in the off-season, either through the portal or through "heart-to-heart" discussions between coach and player. And I'm confident that we'll see bigger and better players on next year's roster to supplement those that return.

We all knew that this season could be a challenge, and it's turned out that way though maybe not the way we expected. It's been that kind of year in the Bluegrass, with perhaps Morehead State the most likely to make the NCAA tournament field, and even that's far from a given (and Morehead may be the weakest DI team in Kentucky, well, besides Louisville).

So we're not alone, and here's to hoping next year is the start of another string of success.

[02Racer]

McMahon's 2016-2017 team that went 16-17 had 1 game they lost by more than 17 points.

This year's team has 5 such losses with the worst part being 3 of those were our last 3 games.

I hope that's never going to be okay at Murray.

RacerHistory, has there been a time in since the 1987 season where a Racer team lost by 102 points in 3 games?  This late in the season to boot?

I thought about looking at that after Saturday, but I was to sad to look. I've been spending my time with the site rebuild.

That 16-17 team had two first team all conference players. Anyone have 2 guys on this year's team they would take over Stark and Miller Jr?

[wkeown]

McMahon's 2016-2017 team that went 16-17 had 1 game they lost by more than 17 points.

This year's team has 5 such losses with the worst part being 3 of those were our last 3 games.

I hope that's never going to be okay at Murray.

RacerHistory, has there been a time in since the 1987 season where a Racer team lost by 102 points in 3 games?  This late in the season to boot?

I thought about looking at that after Saturday, but I was to sad to look. I've been spending my time with the site rebuild.

That 16-17 team had two first team all conference players. Anyone have 2 guys on this year's team they would take over Stark and Miller Jr?

I don't think Miller or Stark were all-conference until the following year when Ja was a freshman, were they? And to that point is that those two (Stark and Miller) became All-Conference players after they had been in the system for another year AND they had a natural PG leading point (Ja Morant), though Ja was just getting his feet wet that year. 

This recent horrible streak of bad defense has really been predicated from poor offense.  There seemed to be a turning late in the first half when Bradley took the lead for good, and the Racers just threw in the towel because they acknowledged they were not going to match up the whole game physically.  Seems like that has happened in every MVC loss this year except for SIU.

This streak is more about not matching talent than it is coaching.  Prohm has a lot of work to do and I am sure he knows that. 

[jcruse64]

I know I said that Evansville is probably licking their chops at the Racers, with this 3-game streak; if I were in their shoes, I'd be seeing this and thinking that they might have an easy win finally coming to them.

Would LOVE to see this team gather themselves and make a 4 game run to end the season and get some momentum building for Arch Madness. Here's to a win this Wednesday. One step at a time.

[evvracerfan]

McMahon's 2016-2017 team that went 16-17 had 1 game they lost by more than 17 points.

This year's team has 5 such losses with the worst part being 3 of those were our last 3 games.

I hope that's never going to be okay at Murray.

RacerHistory, has there been a time in since the 1987 season where a Racer team lost by 102 points in 3 games?  This late in the season to boot?

I thought about looking at that after Saturday, but I was to sad to look. I've been spending my time with the site rebuild.

That 16-17 team had two first team all conference players. Anyone have 2 guys on this year's team they would take over Stark and Miller Jr?

I don't think Miller or Stark were all-conference until the following year when Ja was a freshman, were they? And to that point is that those two (Stark and Miller) became All-Conference players after they had been in the system for another year AND they had a natural PG leading point (Ja Morant), though Ja was just getting his feet wet that year. 

This recent horrible streak of bad defense has really been predicated from poor offense.  There seemed to be a turning late in the first half when Bradley took the lead for good, and the Racers just threw in the towel because they acknowledged they were not going to match up the whole game physically.  Seems like that has happened in every MVC loss this year except for SIU.

This streak is more about not matching talent than it is coaching.  Prohm has a lot of work to do and I am sure he knows that. 

Miller and Stark were both first team All OVC selections in both of their seasons at Murray.

[BigD21]

Coach Turner benched three starters yesterday and the girls responded, perhaps a similar strategy should be employed by CSP.  

[wallaceracer]

Coach Turner benched three starters yesterday and the girls responded, perhaps a similar strategy should be employed by CSP. 

Prohm? Change starters?