Men's Basketball: Have we Improved & A Critical Look at Next Season

With last night's latest loss to VCU, I find myself asking "Are we better than the Mike Perry years?"

I know, the coaching seems better with Coach Barnes but let's look at the records:

Mike Perry
52-66 Overall
8-28 CAA
Signature OOC Win: at Auburn

Rod Barnes
30-55 Overall
16-31 CAA
Signature OOC Win: ?

2009-10 OOC Wins this season and RPI Rank as of 1/29/10:

Jacksonville - 134
Georgia Southern - 297
Howard - 309
Utah Valley - 337

Record wise, yes we are better.  Are we better equipped for CAA competition?  I say no.  We have only 2 impact players on this year's team in Joe Dukes and Trae Goldston.  That's not even close to enough.  The transfer experiment has worked miserably and we are averaging a little more than 61 ppg.  That would rank us 299th out of 334 Division 1 teams.  That's a huge problem.  We have played an awful OOC schedule (ranked 246th) and have 4 wins to show for it.

We will be hitching our wagons to 3 freshman next year.  We are staring at yet another losing season (our 7th straight) and I'm not sure how those who support the program cannot become apethitic.  With football grabbing the headlines, attention and financial support, Coach Barnes will not be in any danger this offseason.  Next year does not bring much hope as I'm not confident in the returning players.  If you can name me an impact player in the list below, I'll be very impressed.

Seniors:
Marques Johnson
Dante Curry

Juniors:
Jihad Ali
James Fields
Jamar Taylor

Sophmores:
James Vincent
Mi'Kyel Nero