Southern Conference officials have yet to order University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach John Shulman to store his team’s uniforms.
So the 2009-2010 season is not over.
But their shot at winning the SoCon North Division is impossible and their chance of earning a first-round bye in the conference tournament would require divine intervention.
Or, technically, four straight wins and four straight SoCon losses by Western Carolina (18-6, 8-6 SoCon).
“Everybody is trying to act like we’re defeated or deflated, but we’re not,” point guard Keegan Bell said. “We go back to work and get better. We have to get better.
“We have great practices and then it’s like we lose our heads.”
It’s been a tough two weeks for Shulman and his Mocs (13-14, 5-9). They were swept in Charleston with losses at the College of Charleston and The Citadel for the first time since Charleston entered the league.
Then Shulman announced the indefinite suspension of Ridge McKeither and Josh Odem for a violation of team rules.
Hours later, Samford humbled the short-handed Mocs 78-54 who played their most lackluster game of the season leading Shulman to describe them as “Broken.”
On Saturday, they put up a fight, but not much of one against Furman which set a season-high with 87 points in its nine-point win over UTC. They scrapped, as best they could with Odem and McKeither on the bench and point guard Keegan Bell in foul trouble.
“It ain’t easy out there,” Shulman said. “We didn’t play perfect, we didn’t play great. We got beat. I thought our kids tried and their effort was good in a difficult situation.”
UTC trailed the entire second half and Shulman emptied his defensive playbook in order to get back in the game. They made a few steals, forced 18 turnovers in the game, but never pulled with a 3-pointer of the Paladins.
“I ain’t throwing my guys under the bus,” Shulman said. “I thought they played their tail-ends off. They’re my guys.”
The Mocs took Valentine’s Day off as scheduled and will follow the schedule again today with another day of rest since they don’t play again until next Saturday at Samford at 3 p.m.
With one goal impossible, and another very unlikely, the Mocs said they plan on using their last four regular-season games to prepare for four tournament games.
“You try to find your team in November, not February,” Shulman said. “We’re taking two days off then on Tuesday we’re going to get back to work and we’re going to work out tail ends off until they tell us to pack our uniforms. That’s what athletes and competitors do. And that’s what we are.
“It ain’t over.”