Last night's men's basketball game -- a 76-65 loss to Navy -- was the first I watched from the stands instead of press row in a long time, and regrettably, I have to say it was a pleasure to have the luxury of leaving early. The Quakers' horrendous performance against Navy will give them quite a lot to think about heading into the layoff. Who's going to step up and be the leader of this inexperienced group? Who's going to get physical on the glass and start rebounding the basketball? Who's going to to hit the open shot consistently? Who's going to stick on the opposition's shooter and deny him the ball?

The scary thing is that this Penn team appears to have gotten weaker, not better, since its opener against North Carolina. In Chapel Hill, I thought I had definitive answers to all of the questions I posed before. Such an impressive performance against the best team in the country, even without Tyler Hansbrough, made me think that the Quakers were ready to tackle their tough non-conference schedule with enthusiasm and success.

But now, the Quakers look aimless. It's not just their poor performance in almost every facet of the game, per se, but it's the mannerisms and body language too. For the past several games, Penn's offense has been characterized by a lack of real direction. The crisp ball screens and perimeter handoffs they ran so well against the Tar Heels are a thing of the past. The defense always leaves the hot shooter open and lacks intensity on the glass. When you look up and down the Penn bench, and even into the faces of the players on the floor, you get the sense that something just isn't right -- that no one is playing with confidence or a sense of urgency when they're down.

And make no mistake about it; a lot of these issues fall on Glen Miller. He's ultimately responsible for getting the most out of his kids and putting them in the right frame of mind to play basketball. But his constant look of frustration on the bench filters down to everyone else on the team. No one looks like they're excited to play and get into the game. That trickles down to the fans, who are barely audible on the occasions that they're actually visible. The entire program is down in the dumps. I usually try to be optimistic and give a group of players and coaches that I truly admire the benefit of the doubt, but there's no real way to sugarcoat these first seven games. It's been a brutal experience thus far.

Fortunately, the Quakers have almost a month to gather themselves and rejuventate. They're still 0-0 in Ivy League play, and they do have the talent to be a league contender, even with their current injuries. But before any of the problems on the floor get worked out, the entire team, starting with Miller, needs to take a fresh approach to the season. If Bernardini can drop 26 against Carolina, he can do better than 2-12 against Navy. Again, the talent is there. They just need to figure out how to harness it and play with a purpose.

In order to do that, they'll need better leadership all around, from coaches and from players. There is no way that this team, comprised primarily of underclassmen, will improve if there isn't more guidance and motivation. Absent that, it's going to be a brutal season to watch. And even the most loyal fans will check out early, or stop coming altogether.

Will the Quakers bounce back? Leave your thoughts here.

Tags: basketball, glen miller

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 6th, 2008 at 10:32 am and is filed under Men's Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.