Monday, November 28, 2011

Heat-O-Meter: Trouble Lurks Yet Again

Coach John Shulman has found himself in plenty of tight spots before. But he may have never been in a situation quite this tight.

An underachieving 2-4 team. Next three games on the road against three decent teams. Two years left on his contract. Fewer than 2500 fans at each of the last three home games.

Uh-oh.

Apathy seems to be setting in to a degree for the Mocs fanbase. And this is the most dangerous thing to Shulman's tenure.

At 2-4, the Mocs would be OK- if they could find a way to win 2 of these next 3 on the road against Georgia Southern, College of Charleston, and Mercer. This is a very difficult task.

The team is playing with the same inconsistency that has plagued them in recent years. Actually, I take that back. They are playing very consistently now for the first time in years- it's just consistently not good basketball. It has been brutally ugly for the Mocs so far.

This does not bode well for Shulman. He will obviously not be gone until the end of the year at the earliest. He would probably be able to get another year with a mildly successful season. But mildly successful may have meant 20 wins this year. And the Mocs seem like a far cry from that at the moment.

HEAT-O-METER: 9.0. Shulman is in big trouble at the moment. The apathy is the thing that seems most troubling to me for him. The Mocs have come back from bad Novembers before, and they will need to get off to a great start this December. Can they beat Georgia Southern and/or College of Charleston? That could change the trajectory quickly. But right now, Shulman may be in trouble. I hate this, because I like Coach Shulman and think that he has taken an undue amount of flack for certain things that have happened. That being said, this season has not been acceptable yet. He knows he is on the hot seat. It's time for the team to show up and play like they know there is pressure.

GO MOCS!

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