Forget Doug Gottlieb’s online squabble with Adam Schefter. Forget his attempt to make a joke about the holidays that seems to have backfired. And forget the comments he made post-game after the Milwaukee loss referring to “Nobody U,” which wasn’t specifically made towards Michigan Tech, but thanks to the Internet, it took on a life of its own, as things online seem to do.
Green Bay is 2-11, and the loss to the D2 Huskies makes it an eight-point slide.
And with undefeated Drake coming up, along with a virtual Murderer’s Row of Horizon League competition in the offing, capped off by a January 11th road game against Milwaukee, a team itching to put another hurting on the Phoenix, things don’t look much better.
In fact, given Purdue Fort Wayne, Wright State and Northern Kentucky, all competing at the top of the league standings, come before the Panthers, Green Bay is looking at the real possibility of A 13-game losing streak going into January 17th, when the Phoenix play Robert Morris.
Before I get into the ins and outs of why this is happening, I have to ask…why does this keep happening in the Horizon League?
Really! Last year, it was Detroit Mercy’s descent into Hell that broke the conference record for consecutive losses, save for going 0-for-the-league (congratulations, 2003-04 Cleveland State. Your record of futility stays safe for now). Before that, there was Green Bay’s march to bad that started with Will Ryan and ended with Freddie Owens (although Owens did pop off an upset over Milwaukee). And before that, you had the IUPUI team that barely had enough guys to even finish the season.
All of those, specifically, the Titan woes, got some run in national media, but not like this. The fact that Gottlieb is also a Fox Sports Radio host on top of being head coach amplifies basically everything.
In addition, it’s not like Green Bay can just cut its losses and jettison him. According to Sportico, it would cost more than the entire men’s basketball program budget to buy him out.
So, since it’s clear he’s going to be around for a little while longer, at least, let’s take a look at how things have, to this point, gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Where’s the rebounding?
The rebounding margin is, to be frank, absolutely atrocious. With a -9.1 margin, the Phoenix rank, not surprisingly, last in the conference. They also take the bottom spot in nearly every other rebounding category, save team defensive rebounds, where they rank seventh. It’s clear that Marcus Hall needs some help on the boards.
But where is that coming from? The answer should be Isiah Miranda, but so far, his help in the area has been limited due to injury and, most recently, foul trouble. Momo Cisse has been out with injuries as well, leaving freshman Roee Oselka as the only other option. The lack of depth, which most thought in the preseason wouldn’t be an issue, has reared its ugly head.
The Anthony Roy Conundrum
At the moment, Roy is still one of the top scorers in the country. However, that’s going to be subject to change. After sitting on the bench during the Cleveland State loss for missing shootarounds (ANOTHER thing that got amplified), he returned to the court against Milwaukee…and it didn’t make a difference. His 20 points (still a team high) weren’t enough to mask the aforementioned rebounding issues, and Green Bay lost by 22 to its hated rivals.
During the UC-Santa Barbara match-up, it appeared that Roy would play a key role in the Phoenix turning it around and getting a nice win on the road. But in the second half, their nine-point lead evaporated. And Roy, who certainly would have help to stave off the Gauchos, was out again. This time, it was because he hurt his ankle.
Gottlieb indicated at after the Michigan Tech game that Roy would miss time because of the injury, which means that Green Bay will need to seek out who will step up to fill the void. Freshman Jeremiah Johnson appears ready to take the mantle, but others will have to help.
This would be where Foster Wonders would come in to make up for the three-point shooting Roy made a staple of his offense this season. But the redshirt junior has been the middle of a serious funk from beyond the arc, only shooting 24.7%. For the Phoenix to right the ship, Wonders shooting much better from three is critical.
Inexperience catching up
As mentioned, Johnson and Oselka have been thrust into key positions in the rotation (although to be fair, Johnson has been in the starting spot for more of the season). Add into the mix Australian Ben Tweedy, redshirt freshman Mac Wrecke, and CJ O’Hara.
The expectation was that the freshmen outside of Johnson would play more supportive roles, as the Phoenix would be buoyed by the incoming transfers. That hasn’t been the case, leading to them learning more on the job. And mistakes will happen.
Injuries, injuries, injuries
Green Bay has had a problem staying healthy the entire time. Wonders was in a walking boot in the preseason, and Preston Ruedinger missed time early. Plus, he may end up missing even more, courtesy of a head injury he sustained in the second half of the Michigan Tech game. And, of course, there’s Roy’s extended absence, not to mention lingering injuries with Cisse, among others.
This is cause and effect, as many of the aforementioned issues are spawned from this problem in particular. Depth is affected, and it forces the Phoenix into situations they probably didn’t expect before the season.
Missing: Defense
Speaking of cause and effect, the injuries and lineup changes are likely factors in Green Bay being last in the Horizon League in defense (82.3 points allowed per game) and margin (-9.9 points). The Phoenix are also allowing an opponent three-point percentage of 36.7, which only Northern Kentucky a half-point worse.
How bad are things? Cleveland State, which, prior to the Green Bay game were known for how badly it shot from beyond the arc, looked like it was running out Steph Curry and Klay Thompson out on the floor. And Michigan Tech dropped 11 treys on the Phoenix as well.
And to think, Green Bay has two of the top three-point shooting teams, Wright State and Purdue Fort Wayne, to look forward to.
Ball handling isn’t terrible, but…
The Phoenix have proven early in the season that when matched up against a team that tends to produce a lot of turnovers, they’re in trouble. The Vikings are a prime example of this, picking Green Bay’s pockets almost at will. The Mastodons and NKU, both teams who pride themselves in taking the ball away, loom, and the Phoenix may not be able to counteract that.
So, where does that leave Green Bay?
I hate to say we’re in Will Ryan territory, but with nearly every other Horizon League team making ongoing improvements, it’s hard to say that we’re not really close. As mentioned, the next five games are like a buzzsaw, and the RMU match-up at home isn’t exactly inspiring of a win, either, as the Colonials have boost their own profiles as of late.
Where’s the next win coming from? IU Indy? Detroit Mercy? An upset nobody sees coming?
There are no good answers for the Gottlieb, the Phoenix lineup and the fans who were totally not expecting to have to go down this road again. It doesn’t seem like Green Bay AD Josh Moon has any plans to let Gottlieb loose any time soon, so it appears that we’re all just going to have to ride out the storm and see what happens next, which as it stands, will take place very publicly.
