I've watched 4-5 of Eastern's games this year, mostly to see Bates. Who am I kidding, only to see Bates.

While I did expect their record to be better than it is, its not too surprising they are struggling as a team. That's because there isn't any teamwork. The entire offense runs through Bates as the first, second, and third option. If he doesn't get the rebound, the other 4 guys immediately look to dish to Bates so he can try to create his own shot 1 on 1.

This plus horrible defense leads to a 4-16 record.

And EMU taught us a lesson on teamwork tonight. The only horrible defense was ours .... in this day and age guys open for 3's will hit them like layups. We apparently like to give uncontested layups.

I was as keen for this guy as the rest of the BA gang, but in his limited minutes on the court here he showed very little promise at our level of basketball. I think he’s found his level. I have a hard time believing that he was ever D1 material. As always, I could be wrong, but he looked to me to be more of a project than Wiz, who has shown moments of promise. I never saw that with Luke.

Time to unpin and start a new thread for the 2023 offseason?