Big Trouble on the Hilltop

Those of you who read the Heath Post on a regular basis -- which should be all of you -- should recall that at the beginning of the season, Western Kentucky was expected to be a serious contender for the Sun Belt title. After ten games, the Toppers were 5-5 and I still thought they were basically on track. But since that time, they have collapsed. Here are their last five games (home team listed first):

Murray St. 69 - 60 W. Kentucky
W. Kentucky 82 - 114 Louisville
Arkansas St. 81 - 73 W. Kentucky
W. Kentucky 59 - 62 Denver
Troy 82 - 68 W. Kentucky

The loss at Troy was particularly brutal. Troy is terrible; they were 2-13 going into last night's game. Furthermore, Western was up 32-26 at the half. But Troy scored 56 points in the second half to blow Western away.

Over at Hilltopperhaven, the nation's angriest fans (they have this title to themselves now that Auburn has won the national championship in football) have whipped themselves into an incredible rage. They assume that Western's coach -- Ken McDonald -- will be fired at any minute, and they are already on to arguing about whether they should boycott the team in the meantime, and who McDonald's successor should be.

Personally, it seems to me that one of Western's advantages is that it always has a group of former coaches floating around who have proven their ability to win in Bowling Green. Take Dennis Felton, for example. He was very successful at Western, left to go to Georgia, and was fired just a few years ago. Why not just take him back?

Whatever Western decides to do, the Heath Post wishes them all the best. Western has a great basketball tradition, and the Hilltoppers deserve better than this.