By Staff
For just a moment Tuesday night it looked as if the Dowagiac varsity basketball team was going to rally for another victory.
That would have been the Chieftains' seventh win of the season.
After the game I had time to reflect on what might have been for Dowagiac this season.
Dowagiac enters its regular season finale against Niles on Thursday night with six wins.
Not bad for a team that has very few seniors.
Dowagiac has played hard this season and has not backed down from anyone.
The Chieftains have struggled at times and have not played very good basketball over stretches of games.
Chalk most of that up to experience.
Dowagiac has learned a lot this season about itself and how to work with its new head coach.
Greg Blomgren is demanding and his team has had to adjust to that.
He is not afraid to speak his mind during the game and especially in a huddle.
But tough love is exactly what this team needs right now.
Dowagiac has talent and there is more coming through the pipeline.
But coddling the players is not the way to get them to improve each night out.
Pretending things are fine when they are not will get this team nowhere. I am sure that Blomgren has raised a few eyebrows this season when he has taken his team to task.
But that shouldn't distract this team.
Dowagiac has a chance to be a good basketball team over the next couple of seasons.
With the core of its team either being juniors or sophomores it is not too much of a stretch to say that this team could compete for a Wolverine Conference championship in a few years.
But this all depends on how they respond to criticism and how hard they are willing to work, not only during the season but in the off season.
Dowagiac has a ways to go before it can be considered one of the better teams in southwestern lower Michigan.
But if it works hard, listen to their coach and tries to accomplish the things he asks them to do they can be.
There is much work to do.
This coming off season will be an important one for the Chieftains as they prepare for the move into the Wolverine Conference.
Anyone who thinks this league is weak needs to take another look at it.
Let me just point out that it was Otsego that sent Niles to the sideline last year in the state tournament.
This is a good league in all sports.
Dowagiac's athletes need to commit themselves to doing whatever it takes to win in this conference.