Another great effort by the Air Force Basketball team in Las Vegas Tuesday night against U-N-L-V. A tight game, tense moments, and a chance, as it turned out, to be tied for 5th in the conference with a win. And, and, and….another road loss. This Falcon Basketball team has shown improvement, but has been inconsistent. It has a bevy of talent, 90% of which is returning next year. But until they beat a GOOD team on the road, it won’t matter. Thus, the Glass Ceiling. The first chance for the Falcons do that was in San Diego a few weeks ago. But a slow start doomed them to a loss. Tuesday night, it was the Runnin Rebels, who came in leaking oil, having lost 4 of 5. But again, the Falcons found a way to give one away. They committed 15 turnovers, 9 in the second half, most unforced. In all of sports, the hardest thing to do is win on the road in College Basketball. No one can explain it. It just is. But if Air Force wants to be a team in the upper half of the Mountain West, that’s the hill they have to conquer. They had 2 road wins in conference last year, vs San Jose State and CSU and both were not GOOD teams when Air Force played them. Tuesday night the Falcons played GREAT basketball for 39 minutes. But still lost. Until The Falcons beat good teams on the road they will finish in the second half of the conference and finish below 500. This program can, in my opinion win 16-18 games every year. I’m optimistic Air Force can still beat good teams away from Clune Arena this year. 2 more chances remain this year…At Fresno State and Boise State, along with a road contest at improving Wyoming. Can painful lessons learned in Las Vegas Tuesday translate to road wins later this year? We shall see.
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