After an exciting start to American Conference play, the Green Wave has continued to slip down in league standings with a trio of losses and a lack of adjustments.
Things have quickly spiraled a bit for the Tulane Green Wave men's basketball program.
Just two weeks ago, it seemed like the team might have turned a corner. After a solid start to the season in non-conference play, Tulane jumped out to a 3-0 record in American Conference action. Excitement surrounding the program grew just a bit, and the Green Wave even saw itself mentioned in a handful of March Madness projections.
As quickly as the excitement built up, it's now deflated. Tulane has dropped three-straight league games, with the most recent being a 79-74 loss to the Florida Atlantic Owls -- a team it knocked off just a few weeks ago. In Wednesday's contest, the Green Wave once again headed into the locker room with a deficit, trailing 43-32. Believe it or not, the team did mount a bit of a comeback in the second half, but it was too little, too late.
Tulane's only other two conference wins so far came against the East Carolina Pirates and the UTSA Roadrunners -- two teams with a combined 0-13 record in league play.
The same problems have persisted in each contest, with little evidence to show that there's been any effort to fix them. Contributions from bench players continue to be sporadic, and the team has very little depth to combat a tough outing from a starting player. Defensive rebounding is weak, shooting is largely inconsistent and the assist-to-turnover ratio is tough to see. It's the same story in just about every game, with zero changes made.
Frankly put, this isn't a great basketball team. There are so many players with talent, who could potentially become game-changers, but they aren't being led in the correct way. It's become obvious at this point: there has to be some sort of major adjustment for the team to be a contender in the American Conference. It's been needed for years now. All that can be expected of this team is that they suit up and play with some determination -- which, at least, it has so far.
Now, the Green Wave is preparing to face the Charlotte 49ers on short rest. It's a contest between two teams that have fallen to the middle-of-the-pack in the American, though one certainly has more momentum than the other heading into the matchup.
Can the Uptown program get back on track? The odds are looking slimmer and slimmer with each passing game as the team falls lower in conference standings. A win against the 49ers won't be the remedy that everyone needs, but maybe at the very least it can at least give the program a bit of momentum heading into the toughest stretch of the regular season.
Tip-off between Charlotte and Tulane is set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Halton Arena.