RON MALY HAS BEEN WATCHING THE PARADE GO BY FOR A LONG TIME. THIS IS ONE OF HIS WEBSITES.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Late-Season Collapses

By RON MALY

Late-season collapses happen in all sports.

Certainly in collegiate basketball.

You've seen them, I've seen them.


Collapses sometimes happened to the teams I was covering in my nearly 40 years of newspaper writing.

They're not fun for the players and coaches. 

They're not fun for the fans.

They're not fun for the newspaper and electronic journalism folks covering those teams.

The teams I covered most of the time were Iowa, Iowa State and Drake. 

All of them experienced occasional late-season collapses. 

I always tried to find out why, and I upset a lot of coaches with the questions I asked about those collapses. 

Coaches--especially coaches with large paychecks and large egos--don't like to be asked why their teams collapse. 

That said, I think it's time someone in the writing and/or broadcasting business in our state asked a few questions about why the Hawkeyes have experienced a couple of late-season collapses in recent years.

I am fully aware that a lot of sportswriters and sportscasters have become very timid with their questioning, writing and talking in recent years because they are fearful of pissing off their bosses and the coaches and players they cover.

Those writers and talkers don't want to be fired from the fragile businesses in which they work.

But I know one or two guys from eastern Iowa who should be confident of not being canned if they ask some tough questions and write a "why-did-this-team-fold-its-tent?" type story.

It's not controversial to do something like that.

It's called doing your job.

Hopefully,  one or both will find out one of these days why an Iowa team that had a 10-1 record in a Big Ten Conference [that was no great shakes in strength this season] lost 6 of its last 8 games [including the NCAA tournament] and was thoroughly embarrassed,  87-68, by Villanova in the second round of The Big Dance.

Two of those defeats were somehow administered by Big Ten also-rans Penn State and Illinois.

Please don't tell me these 19-year-old, 20-year-old and 21-year-old Hawkeyes are, or were, tired. 

That's a lame excuse.

It's a cop-out.

All basketball players have the right to be tired in March.  

Even players who are 19, 20 and 21.

The strong teams play through being tired. 

The strong teams are still playing.