The train falls off the tracks - Missouri State wins by 19

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Every team has bad games. But when the chemistry and execution of a team regresses, that can be a cause for major concern.

Though the season is far from over and Jim Les has righted the ship many times before, this team isn't showing many signs of improvement. In the first part of the season, the team seemed to have a commitment to playing good defense. As a result, more "team efforts" resulted, even as the Braves often struggled to score points.

But now, the message of playing good defense and rebounding has been lost. Bradley has now given up more than 80 points in four straight and have dropped six of eight games overall. The recap from this one could be written very similarly to the other games.

Poor defensive coverage first allowed Missouri State's Kyle Weems to go crazy, scoring 20 of the first 22 points by the Bears. He finished with 30 and could have had a ton more if it weren't for foul trouble.

The Bears also shot a ton of 3-pointers (10-of-30, 33 percent), which made for a lot of long rebound opportunities. As Bradley extended out its defense, the Bears crashed the boards and had 24 second chance points. If this weren't bad enough, just compare what the rebounding totals were for each team.

The combination of guards Chris Roberts, Andrew Warren and forward Taylor Brown were averaging a combined 15.8 rebounds per game. They had three total against Missouri State.

On the opposing side, 6-1 guards (who didn't even start) Justin Fuehrmeyer and Nafis Ricks had 11 rebounds between them. Overall, the Bears had a 41-27 rebounding advantage.

Disappointment from the beginning

Weems carried the Bears in the first 13 minutes of the game (24 of team's 29) but picked up his second foul with 6:49 left and the Braves only trailing 29-27. What appeared to be a blessing for Bradley at the time quickly turned into a nightmare.

Missouri State scored on the next eleven possessions, getting open 3-pointers, a couple offensive rebounds and some easy layups. Bradley finally got a stop on the last possession, but trailed by 11 points, 52-41.

After a series of second half collapses, this game was an opportunity to capitalize on a poor first half. Instead, the curse of the first five minutes caught the Braves again. Missouri State had the first two baskets and would open up a 69-50 advantage by the 12-minute mark.

Yet even though Bradley was getting buried, one of the great aspects of Les' teams have been their ability to play through to the end. Heart was not an aspect that could be questioned - until today.

The players basically went through the motions in the final 10 minutes and the Bears did much of the same. Les experimented with some different lineup combinations, but it was as if the team had already given up already.

Though some of his decisions this season have been worthy of skepticism, don't pin this one on the head coach. Les didn't show a lack of anything resembling defense. He didn't have loose balls ripped away from him or have players crash the weak side glass and get dunked on by a Bears player.

Are the players just quitting on Les? Is this just a tough part of the schedule and eventually the ship will be righted? Honestly, it's any one's best guess at this point. But for the sake of everyone involved with program, hopefully this aggravating stretch won't last much longer.

How can it get better?

The fear going forward is how the team is going to respond to another loss. What can Les do to make these guys put out maximum effort for the entire game? Does he work them even harder in practice? Maybe he cuts players time on the floor, which for a team that appears to be getting a bit more selfish, might be the best solution.

Whatever Les decides to do, the schedule coming up is simply brutal. The next three games are at Northern Iowa (nationally televised against the best team in the conference), home to Missouri State (hard to think the team will have much confidence considering the beatdown today) and at Southern Illinois (where Bradley never wins). The scary thought is that the Braves could be staring at 2-6 in conference play and be looking at the chance of being in the play-in game at the MVC tournament.

Sure, the schedule does get much easier after that point (six winnable games and four at home) but will this team have any confidence left? Can the Braves weather this storm of challenging games?

The question marks surrounding this team are enough to make a person's head spin. Some include:

• If this season completely flops, is Les' job in jeopardy? Would the university consider making a change with a new athletic director in place?
• Why did Steve Merfeld really leave? Though this will never likely be known publicly, it seems to be a reasonable guess that he and Les at least didn't share the same philosophies. Who can be brought in as an alternate voice to help grow these players for the future?
• What is wrong with Brown? He's already missed three games because of suspensions/coach's decision. Though he's arguably the most talented player on the team, Brown hasn't really seemed like he's put forth the same effort lately. Is he unhappy? Would he possibly leave the program after the season? All fans would surely hope not, but this can't be ruled out as a possibility.
• Why can't Bradley get anything out of its post players? Will Egolf has shown that he's a talented player but hasn't improved radically since last season before his injury. And others, like Anthony Thompson now and David Collins before him, can't seem to find any time on the floor. Les should be trusted in the fact that if they aren't good in practice, they likely don't deserve playing time in the game. But it's not like some of these guys don't have high upsides. Why has Thompson, who was a highly touted recruit, basically done nothing since joining the program?

Many other questions can be asked but the overall point is that for this team to start getting better, it has to come together as a whole. Everyone has to play better defense - the coaches have to stress it and the players have to believe in it.

Having watched enough Bradley basketball by now, no time can you ever count them out. Few remember how poorly the 2006 Sweet 16 team was playing before its amazing run. In mid-February, the Braves lost 75-63 on the road against a bad Indiana State team.

Nobody is foolish enough to confuse this team with the one that made the NCAA tournament, but now isn't the time to throw up the white flag either. Though its impossible to predict where the season may go from here, hopefully this is the bottom and improvement can begin again soon.