Oh crap, here come the "Fire Lowery" folk

NCAA Second Round - Southern Illinois v Virgina Tech
Sighs.

I'll address it only because it's my beat.

I'm not going to call for Chris Lowery's head.

There. I said it.

I got a text message Sunday morning that suggested it. I read a bunch of message board material that asked for it.

I understand fans are upset after Saturday's loss because, remember, I was a fan once. I stood in the cold to get into games at the SIU Arena. I stayed throughout blowouts at McAndrew Stadium for football games. And blow out losses at home to archrivals like Creighton are just absolutely demoralizing.

But calling for a coach's head after that loss is just kind of ridiculous.

The last two years fans have scrambled to their local places of worship to pray that schools such as DePaul, Michigan, LSU, Stanford, Marquette, Oklahoma State, Indiana, etc. didn't come in and swoop a rising coaching star. Now, they want to show them the door for a sub-.500 record with a team full of freshmen.

To be honest, I expected better from the Salukis this year. I expected them to be an NCAA team because I thought the Valley was stronger this year and the top three teams could get in. Boy, I was wrong about that.

As the year progressed, I thought this team could be NIT-bound. No shame in that. Postseason basketball allows you to have additional practices to work out those freshman kinks.

At 11-15, SIU looks to be watching all playoff basketball on the boob tube just like me.

As for Lowery, who has another stellar class of recruits coming in, I believe certain segments of Saluki Nation needs to give him another chance.

Because three MVC championships, a MVC Tourney championship and a Sweet 16 appearance should have bought him enough time.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

very well put

Anonymous said...

Retention became an issue the past two seasons. To name a few of the departed: Josh Bone, Christian Cornelius, Torrance Rountree
That needs an investigation.
Juniors and seniors win MVC titles.

Not saying fire him. Saying help him.

Anonymous said...

SIU was really close to having an awesome team if recruiting breaks go right. Imagine if Jeff Teague would have committed to SIU instead of Wake Forest like orginally planned. Then if Courtney Lee gets the schollie and not Wesley Clemmons then you're talking about Mullins (All MVC), Teague (ACCs best scorer) and Lee who would be a redshirt senior instead of a NBA rookie.

But those are the breaks.