Lowery did, in fact, blow a 23-point lead once... I was there down in St. Louis in 2005 when it happened. It was in the MVC tourney, and SIU was up huge against Missouri State... and then it was all watching Tatum dribble out the clock nearly the entire second half while Lowery didn't adjust AT ALL to what was happening, and the Bears ended up winning 65-61.I don’t think even Barry Hinson could’ve blown that lead. Lowery? Maybe.
So now Lowery's got company in the "blow a 23-point lead in SIU history" group.
Mullins is:
3-8 vs Brian Wardle
3-5 vs Ben Jacobson
3-8 vs Darian DeVries
1-5 vs Porter Moser
The best coaches/teams in the conference eat his lunch
maybe they have something like a pinch penny. Carbondale doesn’t. And that’s not speaking much. I watched a kid down here in st Pete that would rather play in Tampa than go there. He is better than some players in the valley. That said his defense sucks so I retract that statement and will continue drinking.I would rather play in Bangor Maine than Carbondale Illinois. The fact that decent players are recruited and willing to play is good enough. Siu is trying to stay relevant. Maybe it will happen
If Indiana State can be as competitive as they are then SIU can be. I've been to Terre Haute, they should not be out-recruiting anyone in the MVC.
I liked Carbondale as a student and many years later, I still do. In many ways, it's a better town than it used to be. One of my favorite college towns.
As far as Indiana State, there's a reason why I call it Terrible Haute. Shit town and shit campus. Doubt that it has squat to do with attracting players. (Nice basketball facility though..but so is Banterra)
InSU's Josh Scherz is a darn good coach and recruiter - probably going to be coach of the year.
@salukiworld I have been following SIU basketball for 63 years and this is the worst example of in-game coaching I have ever seen. I dearly hoped that Brian could success at SIU but the plain fact of the matter is that, certainly at this point, he is not a good coach. In many ways.
guess you didn't see the Ohio Dominican game 😪
I will never understand Troy @ the 5 and the redshirt burning for 5 min of garbage time. If I were the parent of those two young men…….
I think I'm out on Mullins. It's the fact that he refuses to adjust that kills me. Every season it's been the same story over and over again. The grind it out play style only works if your team can execute set plays at the end of the shot clock. We don't even run set plays it seems
I'm not entirely giving up on Mullins or the season on Jan. 18 but no doubt last night was the kind of loss that can haunt a season and loom large in the big picture.
There is a reasonable debate that can be had about his future pending how the next six weeks go but, as someone who very much would like to see Mullins succeed at Southern long-term, my concerns are you're playing Johnson and Brown 35-40 minutes a night in the backcourt and, if this season is going to end with a mid-pack finish, that doesn't inspire much confidence about next year. The lack of fall signees is not helpful in making his case and, as mentioned in the other thread, last year's portal class is looking subpar. If they could have landed either Swope or Conwell that would have been huge but ... sigh.
I do think Mullins' teams have consistently been high character so hopefully they will respond better to this major setback than most of us are thinking, but it won't be easy to get this season back on track or to get good crowds back in the arena after this disastrous homestand.
We can always have the conversation, we are far enough down the road now... However, you do not make decisions on one night. You evaluate the season which is 2 months from being over. Let's see where this goes. Some of the things I read on here are odd though. I saw rebounding complaints? They just outrebounded one of the best rebounding teams in the valley?? I also think saying there has been no improvement from a coaching standpoint on offense is weird... we scored 48 and 52 against these guys last year and scored 69 last night even with bogging down late. They are clearly a better offensive team. you wanted more scoring, that is going to come with sacrificing some defense. We are gonna take some tougher shots and give up run outs, that happened last night. I am not in or out on Mullins, I always said this season will determine a lot... Take the emotion out of one night though.
Last night was really bad. No excuse for totally giving up that lead. But Mullins' biggest job is trying to get these kids back focused on the job at hand. Now, he's gotta get them ready for the place that Southern historically struggles at, Frostbite Falls. They will not be favored there and NEVER play well there. I think Southern has only won there a couple of times in the last 20 years, even with the really good teams. If SIU struggles up there, it could get really ugly, really quick.
Last night was really bad. No excuse for totally giving up that lead. But Mullins' biggest job is trying to get these kids back focused on the job at hand. Now, he's gotta get them ready for the place that Southern historically struggles at, Frostbite Falls. They will not be favored there and NEVER play well there. I think Southern has only won there a couple of times in the last 20 years, even with the really good teams. If SIU struggles up there, it could get really ugly, really quick.
I doubt it gets ugly for 2 reasons... 1. Other than the COVID year without Domask, when has it? 2. Let's put aside the huge blown lead and put this in a bit of context, this is unequivocally the toughest 3 game stretch of the year. I look at the schedule every year, map it out. I promise you when this stretch came up a few months ago I penciled in 3 L's.. Now expectations are higher and we blew that lead, but still, they will come out the other side with a bit softer schedule and they will behave like every Mullins team ever has, they will grind it out game by game, they are not going to fold, it is the one thing we never have to worry about.
Every time there is a hiccup people seem to just want to blow everything up and start over last night was disappointing yes but things happen for whatever reason but the comparison of Wardle and DeVries is warranted but let us look at that shall we Wardle didn't win the Valley until his 7th year which was last year Brian is in year 5 DeVries was an assistant for 18 before he got a head job and learned from Altman and McDermott Brian hasn't even been coaching for 17 years not to mention being a first time head coach thru covid then the NIL and the portal I think it is hard for comparisons and I believe this program is on the verge of being back just look at the improvement certain players have made year to year again last night hurt and no one probably took it worse than the staff but I believe good things are coming and currently being 12 and 6 and above 500 in the conference everyone would have taken it and been ecstatic if you had those predictions before the season
As promised, I immediately logged off last night after the game. I knew "THIS" was coming. That being said, I feel it is justified. I'm just not sure switching coaches and starting over and waiting another 5+ years is the right answer. I personally think that hiring, perhaps, some different more experienced coaches to add to his staff would help. I just know something has to change.
As fans, alumni, donors, we are all upset over the horrible loss last night, and rightfully so.
However, coming from experience, I can guarantee that Bryan Mullins is feeling worse than all of us. As a coach, these type losses stay with you. As a player you move on to the next game.
Should SIU move on from Mullins? A lot of basketball to be played. Perhaps we shall wait until the end of the season for final evaluation.
To be clear the only reason this thread is up is due to Bryan only has one year left on his contract. If he is not extended we all know what happens. Again I love Bryan and want nothing but him to succeed. This thread is for discussion and to keep it out of every other thread.
