As I've stated before, at the beginning of the season, I slip on the National Flag blue colored glasses and see nothing but good things ahead. I don't hold expectations of a national championship. But I certainly don't expect NOT to win it, either. I survive the season by keeping my primary focus on the next game. And barring some catastrophe that puts the outcome in jeopardy (key injury, player(s) ineligible, etc.) I go into each game knowing that we can and believing we will win it.
I do however, fully expect to win the league this year.
The NCAA?
Hopefully, there will come the magic tipping point, at which that becomes an expectation.
In 99 we were in unfamiliar territory, and while hope rode high, expectation lagged far behind. In fact, it came during the championship game. Late in that game. As when Ricky forced Langdon into a travel late.
In 04, the expectation grew early in the season, but ebbed a bit as the season wore on. I think it really tipped against Notre Dame in the BET. We were in a rental in Florida that week, and the damned cable went out just before the game started. The last thing I saw was Emeka on the bench in a white shirt and tie. I had to sit in the car and listen to that game on the radio. The entire family was worried that the rest of the vacation would be a nightmare of foul Rich if we didn't win. After we won that game, I never doubted the outcome of another game all season.
In 11, the tipping point was Kemba's ankle breaker against McGhee. Really. When that bit of mastery from the mind of JC and the hand of Kemba went down, I just knew that that pair wouldn't allow us to lose again.
In 14, it wasn't until the outcome of the 'nova game in the 2nd round was obvious that I started to realize this was doable, and I remember going into the round of 8 convinced that our guards would destroy MichState, that Florida would cruise past Dayton and go into the final four with revenge on their feeble minds, and that once again, our guards would dominate theirs. The only question that remained in my mind at that point, was whether the KY Jellies would get by Wisconsin, because I relished the opportunity for Boat and Bazz to make the Harrisons look like freshmen. I wasn't nearly as sure that we could beat those Honey Badgers. Once KY beat WI, I was pretty damned confident we'd win.
So this year, there's no expectations yet, other than that I will go into each game expecting a victory.
Veering off on a bit of a tangent, I note that a lot of respondents in this thread list an improve Brimah as one of the keys. While I would welcome any improvements in his game, I don't think that such improvements are imperative to our success. I believe that the addition of Miller and Enoch makes our front line so much deeper and sturdier than last season, as to put us in drastically better shape inside. I think it will diminish the need for Amida to gamble as much on D, and he should foul less. But we won't be on such thin ice every time Amida has to sit, because we have more (and likely better) pieces to slip in to accommodate for his absence.
