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What Has Happened to ETSU Basketball?
Two years after finishing 30–4, the Buccaneers are poised for their second straight losing season against Division I competition. How did this happen?
Why has ETSU men’s basketball become so bad?
The easy reason- Steve Forbes isn’t the coach anymore.
But isn’t there some sort of winning infrastructure around ETSU basketball? Prior to this season the Buccaneers have had only two losing seasons since 1999–2000.
There’s still a chance ETSU can salvage a winning record with six games left in the regular season. But 4–2 would necessitate winning at least one conference tournament game to finish above .500 with the Bucs currently sitting at 12–13 after a five-game losing streak.
All of the losses in this streak have been close, so who knows?
But such a turnaround seems unlikely as Desmond Oliver uses less and less of his roster as the season goes on, and it appeared in the Bucs’ loss to Wofford they were suffering fatigue at the end, losing a game with a national cable audience they led for the majority of the game.
