Headlines Should Read: Coach Kent Fired, Dunlap Promoted To Head Coach

What I witnessed at Mac Court on Thursday night was not only sad and pitiful, it was absolutely boring! If I hadn't purchased two BINGO cards, I would have left well before half-time. It turns out that I left with about ten minutes to go in the game, fed-up, sickened and pretty much over it. What a waste of an evening out.

Right from the tip-off you could see that Oregon was not getting any good shots. The PAC-10 knows exactly how to defend the Ducks and Ernie hasn't done anything to prove them wrong. With the Ducks heads down in shame and putting in a very weak defensive effort, the Sun Devils lit the Pit on fire! The Ducks have a lot of talent, but they look depressed and it was obvious from the looks on their faces that they are frustrated with what's happening on the court and even more so what's happening on the bench. Last night I saw two things that confirmed for me why Ernie should be let go...immediately!

Firstly, his offense is terrible. They are setting high-pick after high-pick against a defense that is playing a 3/2 zone defense! In a zone defense the defender is assigned to an area, not a specific man. If you set a screen, the next guy in the zone will have no problem picking up the ball handler. If you can somehow swing the ball around the court fast enough, theoretically there should be some open shots. However, the Ducks have not yet figured out how to make this work and they definitely haven't been coached on how to penetrate the zone.

Secondly, Ernie's substituting is ridiculous. He pulls players out of the game after one mistake and makes a big scene while doing it. All too often this seems to hurt the players confidence. He screams and yells at them like he's Bobby Knight, and then you watch as the players either get upset or defeated as they go to the bench. It has become very apparent that the players are losing or have lost respect for Ernie. Dunigan got pulled from the game last night after a missed defensive assignment and he was so fed-up that he didn't even want to hear what Ernie had to say. Is that Ernie's fault or Dunigan's? Sure it takes two to tango, but this scene has played out too many times over the years between Ernie and his players. He does not connect well with his players and he certainly doesn't develop them at a reasonable pace. In my opinion his players don't like the way the team is coached during games, and neither do most fans it seems.

In addition, the players are not allowed to get into any kind of groove on the court. If they are always looking over their shoulder for the next substitution, then how are they supposed to get into the flow of the game? If they are constantly worried that they'll find themselves on the bench after a missed rebound or defensive assignment, then how are they supposed to work through their adversities in order to gain confidence? Ernie substitutes like a mad scientist and it's not working!

Ernie is losing his players and the Ducks are losing fans. This season seems like it could be salvageable with a decisive decision by Mike Bellotti to fire Ernie Kent and promote Mike Dunlap immediately. Dunlap may or may not be the permanent solution, but right now the Ducks need a different voice. It's sickening to watch the ship go down. I am a life-long Duck fan and I have never felt this strongly or negatively about any Duck athletics team. If something major doesn't change in the next couple of weeks, I'm checking out until next season.