Shortly after Western Illinois fell in the first round of the Summit League Tournament to Oakland, guard James Washington spoke a familiar quote that many athletes say at the end of the season: "There's always next year."

However, that may not be the case for Leathernecks coach Derek Thomas.

Sure, Western Illinois had its best record in five seasons under Thomas, but what does that say when that mark is just 12-18? The Leathernecks also continued a trend of losing in the first round of the league tournament under Thomas, though that streak began even before his time.

Western Illinois hasn't won a league tournament game (dating to when it was the Mid-Con Tournament) in the last nine seasons.

The Leathernecks sputtered to a disappointing finish, losing six of their final seven regular-season games before being ousted in the first round of the tournament.

And the theme for those games mostly stayed the same, as Western Illinois was giving up multitudes of points while struggling to score.

This was a team that finished near the bottom of the Summit League in almost every major offensive category, including scoring offense, field goal percentage and free throw percentage.

The Leathernecks had only two players on their roster who averaged double digits in scoring.

While Western Illinois' defense wasn't as bad on comparison (it ranked sixth in the Summit), the Leathernecks faded down the stretch, allowing 80 or more points in five of their last eight game.

One of the aforementioned double-digit scorers was guard David Jackson, who led the team in points per game for the third straight year.

Although Jackson will be lost to graduation, the Leathernecks have another potential star, guard David DuBois, a junior-college transfer who averaged 9.6 points and 5.4 rebounds this season.

DuBois, who was named to the Summit's All-Newcomer team, will be counted upon as a team leader in 2008-09, as will fellow guards David Nurse and James Washington, who returned from a knee injury to lead the team in assists while averaging 10.5 points a game.

If Thomas does return, it will likely be a make-or-break year. He's had time to make Western Illinois into a team that could compete in the Summit League.

Those 12 victories might save his job for another year, but it's clear that Thomas can't expect to have losing season after losing season and stay in the Leathernecks' captain's chair.

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