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We all know the syndrome -- UConn falls far behind in the early going, then rallies to within striking distance with plenty of time left, then turns around and loses anyway. Speaking not just of the OSU and Oregon games but of a number of early-season games last year.
Some focus on the slow starts and attribute it to unpreparedness. Some focus on the comebacks and see in it a fighting spirit. In fact, the syndrome may have little to do with either.
Imagine, for a moment, that the situation were the opposite -- that UConn was pulling away from opponents early, letting them catch up, then turning on the juices again to win. We'd be complaining that the team could not put away its opponents, tended to relax on the lead, get careless, lacked a killer instinct. And we'd be blaming the coaches, of course.
What we are seeing in UConn's games may be simply that -- superior teams pulling away from an inferior opponent, then relaxing on the lead, than reasserting themselves when the lead is challenged. This is the sort of thing UConn has done to inferior teams for decades.
Alas, now it's being done to us -- no more complicated than that. Perhaps we are not a good team getting off to slow starts; perhaps we are a poor team. Maybe we aren't a team with a fighting heart; maybe we're a team that can score some points when the other team relaxes and plays down to our level.
It's all been said here this week. This is a team with one prime-time player, otherwise constrained by limited or undeveloped talent and by coaching that is without ingenuity and struggles to teach fundamentals. I doubt the injuries have cost us yet. They will cost us in a full year's lost development for three key players, the impact to be felt next year when our key players, incredibly, will be no more experienced than this year (assuming, as I do, that Adams goes.)
At age 78, I don't write off two seasons with some sort of masochistic pleasure. I just believe in discounting the worst and daring any surprise to be negative.
Some focus on the slow starts and attribute it to unpreparedness. Some focus on the comebacks and see in it a fighting spirit. In fact, the syndrome may have little to do with either.
Imagine, for a moment, that the situation were the opposite -- that UConn was pulling away from opponents early, letting them catch up, then turning on the juices again to win. We'd be complaining that the team could not put away its opponents, tended to relax on the lead, get careless, lacked a killer instinct. And we'd be blaming the coaches, of course.
What we are seeing in UConn's games may be simply that -- superior teams pulling away from an inferior opponent, then relaxing on the lead, than reasserting themselves when the lead is challenged. This is the sort of thing UConn has done to inferior teams for decades.
Alas, now it's being done to us -- no more complicated than that. Perhaps we are not a good team getting off to slow starts; perhaps we are a poor team. Maybe we aren't a team with a fighting heart; maybe we're a team that can score some points when the other team relaxes and plays down to our level.
It's all been said here this week. This is a team with one prime-time player, otherwise constrained by limited or undeveloped talent and by coaching that is without ingenuity and struggles to teach fundamentals. I doubt the injuries have cost us yet. They will cost us in a full year's lost development for three key players, the impact to be felt next year when our key players, incredibly, will be no more experienced than this year (assuming, as I do, that Adams goes.)
At age 78, I don't write off two seasons with some sort of masochistic pleasure. I just believe in discounting the worst and daring any surprise to be negative.
