Remember the days when the Detroit Pistons would compete for Central Division supremacy in the NBA’s Eastern Conference? Remember when Chauncey Billups hit that three against the New Jersey Nets? Remember when the team won the championship in 2004, and made the city proud by “Goin’ To Work?”

That seven-year run of Eastern Conference dominance from 2001-2008 has been reduced to a distant memory. Now the entire organization is in shambles because a lot has happened in the last three years. Players came and went, most notably Billups. Coaches Larry Brown, Flip Saunders and Michael Curry were fired. Even beloved owner Bill Davidson has passed away.

Still, even with all of those reasons, it’s difficult to pinpoint one of them as the major contributing factor as to why the collapse happened. Yet it is clear that this mess the Pistons are in now has students on campus speaking out. Ryan Carroll is the host of “The Sports Round Table” on WXOU and says that the team has a bleak future.

“Name one person on their team not named Greg Monroe and Jonas Jerebko that’s going to be on their team in the next five years,” Carroll said. “They don’t play defense, they don’t hustle, why should anybody pay their good money to go watch a team that doesn’t even play hard.”

Apparently fans are spending less on the Pistons. According to Forbes, the Pistons were worth $479 million at the height of the franchise, now the calculated value has dropped to $360 million. Now it’s not surprising to see The Palace of Auburn Hills half-full when the Pistons come to play on most nights.

For the diehard fans that still go to games, don’t expect the Pistons to show up. On February 25th, when the Pistons played against the Philadelphia 76ers, only six members of the team suited up because of an alleged player protest. Chris Wilcox and Richard Hamilton missed the team bus to the arena. Tayshaun Prince had the flu and Tracy McGrady had a headache. Rodney Stuckey and Austin Daye arrived at the end of practice. Ben Wallace dealt with a family matter, in which was later reported that his brother had passed on.

Now Piston fans are expected to believe that the protest never happened and that the relationship between Hamilton and coach John Kuester is somehow fixed through the wonderful work of public relations. The organization handled this situation poorly, says Jovontia Davis.

“If the players don’t like the coach then something has to be done,” Davis said. “It’s not just Rip, I don’t think just because he is one of the veterans on the team that all the blame should be directed towards him.”

What doesn’t change is the fact that the players get paid money to play the sport they love.

“It’s like a job,” Ronnell DuBose said. “Even though you don’t like your boss you still have to go to work. I just felt like they still should have performed, and they kind of let the other teammates down by not playing.”

No fan of the team enjoys the losing, but it would make it easier to stomach if the Pistons would just do so quietly. None of this news can look good when the team is looking for an owner. Rumors of a possible buyer include Michigan native and California financer, Tom Gores.

Many fans believe that a new owner could put the Pistons on a much different path.

“The team needs to be sold in order to get direction,” Michael Solt said.

In fact, this even looks bad on Kuester and some people feel that the coach will be let go very soon.

“He has no say over anything, he is going to get fired either way,” Eric Hamann said. “He has no control over it, it doesn’t matter what happens.”

One looming question remains. What happens to Joe Dumars, president of basketball operations, if the organization cleans house? Some people believe his time is running out.

“They need a new start,” Rebecca Allard said. “He has done so much for the Pistons, he has done a great job in past years. He hasn’t made too many mistakes, but lately it seems like he has been making them more than in the past.”

Another student, Vincent Macrae, agrees with Allard’s assessment.

“He has seen his best years at the Pistons,” Macrae said. “Sometimes he tries to do too many big things, and plan it out, and go with it. Ever since he traded Chauncey Billups the Pistons have never really been the same.”

With so much uncertainty and controversy swirling around the team, there is no wonder why people are just not interested in Pistons basketball, especially when the players don’t seem interested themselves.