The Rainmen haven't made much progress this season.

The Rainmen lost 120-102 to the Quebec Kebekwa on Wednesday night. It was the worst game I have seen them play. There are a few new players on the team, replacing some guys who were among the first to join the Rainmen, and it doesn't look like Coach Lewis has worked them into his "program".

We lost the game because of our lousy defence and poor free throw shooting.

Re: percentage from the line. Eric had the majority of the foul shots and his percentage is the worst on the team, at 0.381. He didn't even do that well in this game, sinking only 5 of 14 (0.357).

I was surprised to actually hear Coach Lewis remind Eric to shoot off his fingertips. I thought that it would be unnecessary to remind him of this technique, considering Eric's experience and obvious talent on the court, but unfortunately he needs help. The angled spin that Eric puts on the ball is the ugliest free throw move I have ever seen, along with the almost non-existant arc that sometimes happens. I wish Eric would stop doing that. Quite often the sideways spin makes the ball rim out, when a straight backwards spin would cause it to go downward through the net. These are just observations from a non-professional. I have a lot of respect for Eric as a player and a person.

Re: Defence. Watching your opponent go uncontested for lay-ups time after time is ridiculous. Not getting rebounds (Except for Eric, who had a good game except for the FT%) is crazy. I see that the main difference between us being 8-16 instead of 16-8 is the lack of rebounding, both offensively and defensively. We can go-head-to-head with any team in this league, even the mighty Frost Heaves, but for some reason, Coach Lewis has drilled into the Rainmen's heads that all 5 players MUST be in defensive positions as soon as possible, regardless of the potential for boards.

Why not leave one guy under the net, or 2, if the opposition has strong defenders, to get that !#%$@ ball? With the exception of Eric's performance, our offensive boards are almost extinct. As others have said on this blog, we need more than one guy to consistently take it to the hoop and stay with it until that ball goes in. Defensively, we aren't too bad on some nights in keeping the opponents from scoring for the first few tries, but then the opposition draws our guys clear of the net, making that move that Chris referred to in his post , which leaves one guy open, who goes in uncontested. That happened way too many times in this game.

I am going to say it again, for like the fourth time: How about having someone in under the net to pick up the errant 3-point shots? If we had great shooters who consistently drain it, then fine, let it go and get ready on D, but our guys seem to have good nights and bad nights. I think it is imperative that the coaching staff actually coach each game as it unfolds and make changes as necessary. I know that seems to fly in the face of what is currently happening, but give it a try! Please!

I cannot believe that this lack of rebounding has not been observed by the owner Mr. Levingston, the coaching staff, or the players. Why do they let this keep happening? Guess what: if we score more points because of rebounds, we don't have to concentrate so much on having so many defenders in place, waiting for the opponents.

OK. Time to take my soapbox and go home. Good luck to the Rainmen in Boston and Vermont. We'll see you next week.