Postgame Thoughts: @ Navy

Right from the opening tip-off this has been a season of ups and downs. The performance, however, has to be considered a new low. There was absolutely no hustle, no effort, and no focus. Navy dominated right from the start with a 7-0 run, and by then the game was over, barring a slight run late in the first half. The Keydets were dominated in every facet of the game, and deservedly got whipped by eighteen points.

There is no doubt that Navy is bad team...very bad. They came into the game with an RPI of 338 (there are only 351 Division I teams in the country). They were 2-7, beating only a Division II school and Binghamton (now 1-9, most recently losing to Caldwell College). Samford and Citadel are right behind the Mids in the RPI category, and yet we stumble and bumble in this game after beating Citadel and demolishing Samford. What gives? Sure, it was a terrible shooting night - 35% overall, 21% from three - but nothing else was even half-decent. Outrebounded 44-29, had seven assists to Navy's eighteen, and two blocks to Navy's five. And once again there was no discipline under the boards or anywhere else; we were called for 25 fouls, some of which were unnecessary and flat-out inexplicable. As bad as Navy is, imagine that we were infinitely worse, at least in this game. I weep for all the VMI fans in attendance.

The threes were all short, the defense was nonexistent, and Navy took advantage. An effort like that would not beat an SoCon team, and maybe not any Division I team. We took twenty-two three-pointers in the second half and made a whopping three. For the first ten minutes of a game, we did not grab a single rebound. There was little ball movement and passing, evidence by the seven assists. No one decided to guard and the Mids knew it. We did not score in the final 4:27 and missed our last eight shots. Free throw shooting was just about the only positive from tonight's debacle, at least percentage-wise (13 of 16). But we still aren't getting to the line enough, and Navy beat us in that category by thirteen. Their sour shooting only added six more points, but the real problem was the foul trouble it caused us. Phil played little time with three PFs (although his inability to finish at the rim makes that less of a big deal), Brian had four, and Trey fouled out after accumulating 4 points and one rebound.

Once again, QJ's shooting is not there, going 8 of 19 from the field and 3 of 10 from distance. But by taking so many shots he gets 23 points, further concealing the truth of his shooting troubles. Marshall took seven threes and made none. Craig was a no-show and so was Brian. Give credit to Weethee for going 7 of 7 from the line and scoring 14 (but only three boards). The best performance (I hesitate to use such a term) was probably from Julian Eleby, who scored 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting. Other than that it was bad, bad, bad....

In the postgame comments Duggar said that this performance was the worst he's seen in all his coaching experience at VMI. Considering the level of talent on this team, I'd agree. After an encouraging two-game SoCon road swing down south, we go into Annapolis and throw up a brick. If QJ hates losing so much (and I know he does) he should step up, become a leader, and get the team's focus back on track. We are suffering from a serious lack of leadership. In my opinion, Marist is even worse than Navy, but a performance like we saw tonight will not beat a single team in the country. There will be better shooting days, but hustle and effort is a factor that you have 100% control of. Against the Mids there was none of it and for that reason we are 4-6, looking at, at best, a 5-8 record by the New Year.

The struggle is real.