As stated in the previous post, this Saturday’s men’s basketball game against Colorado State will tip at 4 p.m., not 7 p.m. as previously scheduled.

Some other notes:

-Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds noted during his press conference today that he has cut back practice time of late.

“We’re still going hard, we’re just not going as long,” he said.

He also said he has “backed off of his players.”

“I’m not as hard on them,” he said. “Try to still be somewhat demanding, but not as hard on them. Because I think right now going through this (12-game losing) streak, that’s hard enough on them.”

I’m not allowed at practices, so I’m not exactly sure how true that is. But if Reynolds has made an effort to “back off” his players and not be as hard on them, I think it’s a great decision. Like I’ve written before, these kids are too tough to complain about coaches working them too hard or getting on them too much. But successful academy coaches have a feel for when to back off and give their teams rest. If Reynolds is learning that, it will be a huge asset the rest of the time he is here.

-Reynolds also praised his players’ effort and attitude today, as he did after the loss to Utah on Saturday.

“I think they all still believe in what we’re doing,” Reynolds said. “I think they trust the system, and I think if we stay the course, I think we’ll get one. But we’ve got to earn it. No one’s going to give it to us.”

-Interesting talking with TCU coach Jim Christian today.

The Horned Frogs are in the midst of a six-game losing streak after starting Mountain West Conference play 4-1. Christian said he has been trying to “change the culture” at TCU, a school that won just 12 games in its first three years in the MWC. He said he felt like he was doing that when the team was winning, but that “you really see if you’re changing the culture when things don’t go well.” And during this recent six-game losing streak, Christian said “some guys have reverted back to some bad habits and are not fighting as hard as I’d like them to fight to get through it.”

I asked Christian how one can change the culture at a place like TCU, turn a program that had been a perennial cellar dweller into a winner and, specifically, battle the team reverting to its old habits and outlook. Here’s what he said:

“To be honest with you, it comes down to holding them accountable and holding them responsible. And really that’s what we have to do, which is why we sub frequently now during the course of games. Because if a guy doesn’t follow the game plan the way we want, he has to come out. We have to hold them as accountable as we can to every area that we pride in our program, whether it be on the floor, whether it be off the floor, whether it be the way they carry themselves, everything. I think we just have to really make them accountable, and over the course of time hopefully that will work. … There’s a lot of guys here who are younger guys or newer guys who now are seeing why we’re struggling, and they need to rise up and kind of take responsibility with the returning players to change it. Because until they change their hearts and until they say, ‘Enough is enough,’ it’s not going to change. And that’s really the thing we fight every day.”

-Christian clearly isn’t pleased with his players’ defense. He was asked today on the MWC coaches conference call who he thought were some of the toughest defenders in the league.

“Number one, I can tell you it’s nobody on our team,” Christian said.

-One last thing.

On Feb. 11, the day of Air Force’s game against New Mexico, my article about the demise of the Clune Arena mystique appeared on the cover of The Gazette’s sports section. The graphic included a headstone with a photo of a huge crowd at the gym and the inscription “Clune Arena 2003-2008.”

The graphic was meant to convey the death of the arena’s mystique, certainly not the man for whom the gym was named. We apologize if that was how anybody took it.

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