By Mark Bennett
Optimism moments after a loss to an archrival
isn't easily summoned.
And that's why Kelyn Block's comments after
last Saturday's loss to Ball State were so interesting. Block
and the Indiana State Sycamores were beaten by 14 points, 68-54.
Their record fell to 2-8. And their next opponent, Bowling Green,
will come to Hulman Center on Saturday with a 9-1 record and
an eight-game winning streak.
Yet as the Christmas break approached, Block
saw the Sycamores' glass as half-full.
"I'm kind of looking forward to coming
back," he said in a quiet but confident voice. "Because
I think everybody just thinks we're right there on the verge
of going on a winning streak and doing the right things. So I'm
excited about coming back."
After four straight winning seasons -- thanks
to the best reconstruction job in college basketball by Coach
Royce Waltman -- most Sycamore fans expected such a winning streak
to begin in November. Instead, they've seen ISU lose seven games
by 14 points or more. Much of the dilemma can be traced to the
substantial scoring, rebounding and ballhandling voids left by
graduated seniors Michael Menser and Matt Renn.
But those two veterans added another quality
that emerged during another hard-to-take stretch for the ISU.
Optimism in the face of adversity.
Last season, the Sycamores went into a late-season
free fall, losing six of their last eight games. NCAA hopes seemed
to vanish. Even the NIT looked like a longshot. And when Menser,
Renn and the ISU lost to Southern Illinois on the Sycamores'
Senior Night, many were thinking, "Wait till next season."
Meanwhile, Menser and Renn refused to be deflated.
Waltman remembers them reminding their younger
teammates that the season wasn't over for a team that began last
season 16-5.
"They'd say, 'I don't care how many games
we've lost, don't ever forget we're the best team in [the Missouri
Valley Conference],' " Waltman recalled earlier this month.
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Such determined optimism, the coach said a
few weeks ago, "is what we miss the most."
Block and fellow seniors Djibril Kante and
Terence Avery have the task of convincing the team of the same
thing. They've faced a rough road so far. Their schedule, according
to this week's Sagarin computer power ratings, ranks as the 10th
toughest in America. Granted, this team could have started 2-8
against a lighter list of opponents, but a few Arkansas-Pine
Bluffs or Indiana-Purdue-Fort Waynes might have kept spirits
up.
Instead, they're about to take on Dan Dakich's
Bowling Green Falcons. Sagarin ranks them 45th out of 327 Division
I teams. Their only loss came to Washington in the Top of the
World Classic at Fairbanks, Alaska. Last Saturday, the Falcons
thumped visiting Detroit 77-60, a week after rolling over MVC
opponent Evansville 84-72 in Roberts Stadium. Bowling Green's
list of victories include an 82-78 win over Mississippi and a
65-59 win over Michigan.
In their last outing, three Falcons -- center
Len Matela of Merrillville, and guards Keith McLeod and Brandon
Pardon -- scored 20 points or more. Defensively, they held Detroit
without a field goal for 12 minutes.
This won't be an easy game for the Sycamores,
who have never lost more than two home games in a row since Waltman
arrived in 1997.
Block, though, saw signs of hope in last week's
loss. And his freshman and sophomore teammates are beginning
to deliver strong play in key situations. Their season isn't
over yet, Block implied. In fact, with 16 MVC games left after
Saturday's non-conference finale, it might be just beginning.
"The last couple games, we've been coming
together. And I think it's really those [young] guys, are seeing
that they have to work hard, and come out every day and leave
it on the floor every day just like everybody else," Block
said Saturday. "It's probably been tough for them, being
put in the fire like that, having to produce, not knowing really
what's going on. Those guys have been doing a good job of trying
to listen and learn.
"When we come back, everybody can just
put it together."
Mark Bennett can be reached by telephone
at 1-800-783-8742, Ext. 377, by e-mail at mark.bennett@tribstar.com
or by fax at (812) 231-4321.
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