The unofficial online home for fans of the Western Michigan University Broncos. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

This has to come very close to being the worst college basketball game I have ever seen. The players seem to have talent but much of it was disallowed by the inconsistent and (way too often) blowing of whistles. No flow to the game at all.
The scheme set out by the Western coach was not working and I did not see any attempt to change something. It got to the point where it was not only disgusting the way the players were playing, it teetered on boring. Basketball is a great game and should never be boring.
Maybe the coach and the players are just satisfied with competing for the MAC West.....quite close to being the poorest division of one of the poorest conferences in America. Very disappointed in this program.

(12-07-2017 07:35 PM)65Bronco Wrote:  This has to come very close to being the worst college basketball game I have ever seen. The players seem to have talent but much of it was disallowed by the inconsistent and (way too often) blowing of whistles. No flow to the game at all.
The scheme set out by the Western coach was not working and I did not see any attempt to change something. It got to the point where it was not only disgusting the way the players were playing, it teetered on boring. Basketball is a great game and should never be boring.
Maybe the coach and the players are just satisfied with competing for the MAC West.....quite close to being the poorest division of one of the poorest conferences in America. Very disappointed in this program.

OBVIOUSLY NOT A W M U FAN. WALMART WOLVERINES CAN GO TO THEIR PAGE, You have nothing to offer here.

(12-07-2017 07:35 PM)65Bronco Wrote:  This has to come very close to being the worst college basketball game I have ever seen. The players seem to have talent but much of it was disallowed by the inconsistent and (way too often) blowing of whistles. No flow to the game at all.
The scheme set out by the Western coach was not working and I did not see any attempt to change something. It got to the point where it was not only disgusting the way the players were playing, it teetered on boring. Basketball is a great game and should never be boring.
Maybe the coach and the players are just satisfied with competing for the MAC West.....quite close to being the poorest division of one of the poorest conferences in America. Very disappointed in this program.

It’s standard for these teams to have slow starts... if we are seeing same behavior during the MAC run it will be alarming. I have confidence that things will turn around. Too much talent and team chemistry to fall short.

If Hawkins had not changed stratagy during game WMU would have lost by over 20

That said, Officiating the last two games has been as inconsistant as any time at Read.

(12-07-2017 08:23 PM)MRBUTTONS Wrote:  

(12-07-2017 07:35 PM)65Bronco Wrote:  This has to come very close to being the worst college basketball game I have ever seen. The players seem to have talent but much of it was disallowed by the inconsistent and (way too often) blowing of whistles. No flow to the game at all.
The scheme set out by the Western coach was not working and I did not see any attempt to change something. It got to the point where it was not only disgusting the way the players were playing, it teetered on boring. Basketball is a great game and should never be boring.
Maybe the coach and the players are just satisfied with competing for the MAC West.....quite close to being the poorest division of one of the poorest conferences in America. Very disappointed in this program.

OBVIOUSLY NOT A W M U FAN. WALMART WOLVERINES CAN GO TO THEIR PAGE, You have nothing to offer here.

So, because I want to see excellence from WMU I am a Walmart Wolverine? First of all, I don’t hate Michigan or Michigan State. I enjoy seeing them do well. I don’t believe you have to hate other schools to be in favor of your own.

Not a fan? I was there when Don Boven was coaching Manny Newsom and Bill Street and Ajac Triplett, fighting off Bowling Green with Howard Komives and Nate Thurmand. I followed the Broncos through good and bad...especially around the 1976 year when Eldon Miller led the team that included Jeff Tyson (a 6'3" forward), Paul Griffin (future NBA player) and Tom Cutter (A small 6'8" center who was a great passer) to 19 straight wins and a win at Notre Dame over St. John in the NCAA tournament. This team was beaten in the NCAA tournament by Marquette (A top 3 team) by a very small margin in that tournament. Mr. Miller was such a good coach that we lost him to Ohio State.

Fun continued in the early 2000's when Bob McCallum recruited some top notch players such as Ben Reed, Anthony Kann, and especially Mike Williams. Mr. McCallum was such a good coach that we lost him to South Florida. Steve Hawkins took over for McCallum and went to the NCAA tournament where cold hands led to a defeat by Vanderbilt.

I was extremely excited for the future, especially when David Kool committed to WMU along with some other pretty good players. However, in those years we faltered again and again and did not make the tournament. Even though Kool was voted the MAC player of the DECADE by the Mid American Confernce coaches.

Not too excited any more. Thomas Wilder might be the very best point guard in America, and WMU might win the west division of the MAC. But I’ve been disappointed too many times to get my hopes up. I will continue to follow the Broncos as long as I can, and I will offer my criticism of what I believe is a mediocre coach who doesn’t know how to handle very good talent. I will also continue to root for Michigan and Michigan State. That does not make me a traitor, just a fan of basketball and the state of Michigan.

By the way, How many other schools have tried to hire Steve Hawkins away from Western?

(12-08-2017 07:46 PM)65Bronco Wrote:  By the way, How many other schools have tried to hire Steve Hawkins away from Western?

You’d be surprised.

FWIW since OP brought up the name.
Robert McCullum teams best finish in MAC was 3rd in West division. He now has a career head coach win total of 44 with his current team is 1-9 on the year.

Steve Hawkins has about 400 Wins as college HC and is second alltime at WMU to only Buck Read.

(12-09-2017 09:14 AM)okgc Wrote:  FWIW since OP brought up the name.
Robert McCullum teams best finish in MAC was 3rd in West division. He now has a career head coach win total of 44 with his current team is 1-9 on the year.

Steve Hawkins has about 400 Wins as college HC and is second alltime at WMU to only Buck Read.

Also it was Hawk who recruited Mike Williams, although he was an assistant to McCallam at the time.

Robert did bring a lot of energy, a strong emphasis on D which remains to this day.

(12-09-2017 11:55 AM)Dirty Ernie Wrote:  Also it was Hawk who recruited Mike Williams, although he was an assistant to McCallam at the time.

Given the timing, and Mike's zip code.

I'm thinking that was L Neely....though I may be wrong.