i say this by way of allaying the fears of many of you doubters out there. remember, these are college kids, this is what college athletics is all about, and last year's team is a case in point.
a year ago we were coming off a tournament appearance against the huskies. we had two solid money players back--criswell and matthews--but we'd lost kamaar davis, the star of that game, to graduation, and john seyfert to an injury. the season would turn largely on the devlopment of their replacements, strait and hasquet, and in neither case was the outcome certain. strait had looked real good when filling in during davis's academic problems, but who among us would have predicted he'd turn into a player that would take it like he did to fazekas in the ncaa tournament. or who would have predicted that hasquet, especially after that stretch of play where he got something like one rebound in four games and was benched for it, would suddenly blossom into the force he became during the big sky and ncaa tournaments. during the tournament, this kid was money.
same this year, except that now our reliable kids are up front, and we're depending on the one's, two's and three's to come through for us like swift, staudacher, rundles and chase, (or maybe another like sharp, mayes or spurgetis.) in any case, the season will turn on how these kids progress and develop, and on whether by tournament time they're ready to step up their games to those tough tournament tests.
this is what college athletics is all about, and why pre-season games figure in the outcome in no way whatever.
a year ago we were coming off a tournament appearance against the huskies. we had two solid money players back--criswell and matthews--but we'd lost kamaar davis, the star of that game, to graduation, and john seyfert to an injury. the season would turn largely on the devlopment of their replacements, strait and hasquet, and in neither case was the outcome certain. strait had looked real good when filling in during davis's academic problems, but who among us would have predicted he'd turn into a player that would take it like he did to fazekas in the ncaa tournament. or who would have predicted that hasquet, especially after that stretch of play where he got something like one rebound in four games and was benched for it, would suddenly blossom into the force he became during the big sky and ncaa tournaments. during the tournament, this kid was money.
same this year, except that now our reliable kids are up front, and we're depending on the one's, two's and three's to come through for us like swift, staudacher, rundles and chase, (or maybe another like sharp, mayes or spurgetis.) in any case, the season will turn on how these kids progress and develop, and on whether by tournament time they're ready to step up their games to those tough tournament tests.
this is what college athletics is all about, and why pre-season games figure in the outcome in no way whatever.
