WKU Basketball: The Only Thing This Team Needs to Think About

While I actively covered the team last season, WKU basketball head coach Rick Stansbury would consistently say one thing: When someone would ask him about the next game, no matter the opponent, he would always ask the media the same question, “That game is the most important one on our schedule. Why is that?”

Like a pack of trained dogs, we would all say in unison, “Because it is the next one.”

Stansbury got to the point where his entire team would begin repeating this during their media availabilities.

Every time last year’s team hit the floor, they seemed to play with that identity; it was rare that they would consistently play down to their opponent. For the most part, if they were supposed to win by double digits, they played that way.

This year is completely different. As opposed to last year’s mentality, this year’s team appears to have taken the identity of a team always looking ahead. A loss to Missouri State was on the same road trip as a win over Arkansas. A loss to Troy was before big home games against St. Mary’s and Wisconsin. More recently, a loss to FIU was days before a home rematch against Marshall.

This team needs to stop worrying about the next time Diddle will be rocking or the next time they can get a marquee win and instead focus on the next team on the schedule.

At this point, winning is the only option. They cannot look ahead at when their next “Quadrant One or Two” win could come and instead need to worry about themselves.

The problem with this? This team’s lack of a true leader causes this issue to not be solved. On most teams, this is where a senior or a strong sophomore or junior would shove their foot up the team’s ass and force them to focus on the task at hand.

Coming up, the focus needs to be 100% on UTSA. If someone asks a player who they play after the Roadrunners, their answer should be simple, “I don’t know, we play UTSA next.”

Will this solve the issues with this team? No, but it definitely can’t hurt. Statistically, there is a lot that you can look at that needs to be fixed, the most obvious being turnovers, but this is something mentally that must be fixed and fixed now.