Reality One: Teams and players, even great teams and star players, have slumps--shooting slumps, hitting slumps, mental slumps. Our kids have endured wicked travel, constant constant intensity on defense, and a huge target on their backs all season, not to mention the need to hit the books. To me, Akoh seems particularly tired. All the talk on the board of "running the table," "streaks," "historical records," "high seed at the Big Dance"--it just doesn't square with the reality that at some point our kids were going to hit a slump. Is this it? I hope so! I've been castigated for "rooting for a loss," and while I never root against my own team, I was trying to remind everybody that all regular season records will seem hollow if we don't win two key games in Reno. If we have a slump, better now than in Reno.
Reality Two: We do not have a single great pure shooter. Rorie is a good shooter; Oguine a much-improved shooter; Moorehead a streaky shooter. Bevens was supposed to be that guy but is not. We are versatile, quick, athletic; we play terrific defense. But for all that, we will be at the mercy of teams who can shoot the ball consistently well, and against a pure shooter who just has an incredibly hot night, as the kid from Weber did against us in the championship game two years ago. As we play against Idaho, Eastern Washington and Weber--and beyond if we win the tournament--we will increasingly be playing teams with great shooters. So be it.
Reality Two: We do not have a single great pure shooter. Rorie is a good shooter; Oguine a much-improved shooter; Moorehead a streaky shooter. Bevens was supposed to be that guy but is not. We are versatile, quick, athletic; we play terrific defense. But for all that, we will be at the mercy of teams who can shoot the ball consistently well, and against a pure shooter who just has an incredibly hot night, as the kid from Weber did against us in the championship game two years ago. As we play against Idaho, Eastern Washington and Weber--and beyond if we win the tournament--we will increasingly be playing teams with great shooters. So be it.