Ugh...

Duquesne coach Ron Everhart is not the only one who is sick to their stomach. Last night was one of the sorriest performances in recent BC basketball history. The absence of Jared Dudley, John Oates, and Akida McLain does not justify losing to a team that went 3-24 last season, is playing without their head coach, and held open tryouts to fill a roster that includes four guys still sidelined by injuries from a campus shooting. I keep trying to wake up- is this not just a bad dream...?

The preseason Top 20 Eagles just dropped their second in a row to Duquesne. While, some refer to them as "the Dukes," they should not be confused with the Blue Devils from Raleigh. They don't have Cameron Indoor; they don't have Coach K or three national championships; hell, they don't even have dreams about beating Duke.

Regrettably, I was unable to watch the game because the game was not televised in my area. Therefore, I cannot provide too much commentary on our play (what went wrong, etc). However, the fact that we blew a 10-point lead with under five minutes left supports my hypothesis that we are deprived of fundamental game management skills. Our basketball IQ leads me to believe that we should ride a short bus to games... it would sure save us money on gas.

I would quickly like to address the comments on the message boards about how poor the officiating has been of late. I am constantly offended by the lack of calls that we get, especially after having proven that we are a worthy ACC contender last season.

However, nothing will change in the near future for a couple of reasons:

First of all, Al Skinner's coaching demeanor has gotten him recruited by each of the seven regiments responsible for guarding Buckingham Palace. Simply put, the man is not going to hound the referees like Gary Williams, Coach K, or even an off-duty mime.

Secondly, our team doesn't really live up to the clean-cut ACC image of Duke, UNC, and others. Our guys jump out of buildings to escape gun fights, spend the bulk of their career suspended, rock crazy hair dews, wear uniforms that drape off their bodies like flags, and spend more ink on their biceps then they do on their term papers...

This is the team that BC Fans everywhere has grown to love, but let's be honest- there aren't too many other people cheering for us. The red carpets weren't exactly rolled out for us last year. That being said, we need to stand by our team, and help them put together the kind of resume that will have us playing in March, when everything is determined on the court.