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Message: [QUOTE="oldhusky, post: 4474038, member: 9844"] I think we have to remember that looking forward to next year does not necessarily mean giving up on this year. I suspect many and probably most of our fans know the reality that this team's upside compared to preseason expectations took a major hit with the season ending injuries to Paige and Ice. Most of the top teams would go from contender to pretender if they lost their best player and a top 5 recruit for the entire year. We can still be contenders, but now a clear notch behind South Carolina and Stanford and mixed in with a bunch of teams in the next tier. Like many of those teams we could win a championship, and if we did it would be an incredible story, and that chance keeps our interest high for this year, along with trying to keep the Final Four streak alive. You can root for this year's team and look ahead at the same time. Player development is part of that. Azzi was starting to look like the superstar to team with Paige next year, the first when both are potentially at that level. We see if Caroline by the end of the season is performing closer to expectations, and even if this is a down year, we have reason to expect her to bounce back fully next year like Aaliyah did this one. We can watch Ayanna go thru the learning curve and be confident she will be a key player next year, and of course hope to see enough from Amari to believe she could help next year as well. All of those things have importance this year, plus a strong element of forming our hopes and expectations for next year. The current year may be the most important, but unless I am very wrong, the hard core fans are there in good times and bad, and their interest expands out as far as their vision into the future, including interest in potential 2026 high school prospects, for example. We are lucky that we usually have at least a punchers chance in a relatively down year due to injuries. Looking forward to a potentially stronger team in the future, where we might be "the" clear favorite instead of one of the possible contenders is not an unforgivable sin, particularly when we are there cheering for them to overcome the obstacles in front of them now. Some looking ahead probably helps us and the team get thru this season easier, striving to be the best this year, but seeing a bright light at the end of the tunnel for the future. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach