The Loss That Saved The Season

[JudgeSCR]

All players hate losing. The great ones hate losing more than they like winning. But sometimes losing is beneficial. It teaches. It teaches you that if you don't play well you can be beaten, perhaps on national TV. It teaches that the name on the front of the jersey, the national title banners in the rafters and the best player in the country will not cause every opponent to wilt and admit defeat before the opening tip-off. Or as Kiah Stokes put it after last night's game: "It sucks that we lost [to Stanford]. We shouldn't have. We played terrible. But it was a kick in the butt for us and it showed us, 'You guys aren't as good as you think you are.'"

There are few better motivators than losing. As my coach once put it "The film don't lie." After a loss the fog lifts, the delusion is washed away and reality sets in. 'We are not as good as we think. Yet. But if we rededicate ourselves. If we wash away the allusion. We can get there." UConn is getting there.

Thank you Stanford. Better the lesson learned now than during the tournament.

 

[watanabe]

In the old days, a loss before the NC was always necessary to regain focus. When we started going undefeated, it made me feel as if we were risking the NC title game. Saw that nightmare come through when we lost in the NC after an undefeated season. I'm old school. I agree.

 

[psconn]

ND might end up saying the same thing to UConn.

 

[Bgillon]

ND might end up saying the same thing to UConn.

But we have Geno and they don't!!!

 

[meyers7]

In the old days, a loss before the NC was always necessary to regain focus. When we started going undefeated, it made me feel as if we were risking the NC title game. Saw that nightmare come through when we lost in the NC after an undefeated season. I'm old school. I agree.

Who's we? UCONN has never lost in a NC game.

 

[Sonny44]

All players hate losing. The great ones hate losing more than they like winning. But sometimes losing is beneficial. It teaches. It teaches you that if you don't play well you can be beaten, perhaps on national TV. It teaches that the name on the front of the jersey, the national title banners in the rafters and the best player in the country will not cause every opponent to wilt and admit defeat before the opening tip-off. Or as Kiah Stokes put it after last night's game: "It sucks that we lost [to Stanford]. We shouldn't have. We played terrible. But it was a kick in the butt for us and it showed us, 'You guys aren't as good as you think you are.'"

There are few better motivators than losing. As my coach once put it "The film don't lie." After a loss the fog lifts, the delusion is washed away and reality sets in. 'We are not as good as we think. Yet. But if we rededicate ourselves. If we wash away the allusion. We can get there." UConn is getting there.

Thank you Stanford. Better the lesson learned now than during the tournament.

Couldn't disagree more. A loss is never good with a team like ours. It might be good for a team of slackers or malcontents, but not for athletes like ours.
A one point win would do just as well.

 

[EasyEd]

There was another good loss UConn has had. Back in 2003 (I think) they lost to Villanova in the Big East tournament. I think that helped them focus to get the National Championship that year.

 

[dtbtbtb]

I think the loss to Stanford was good on few fronts: it brought. Interest to WBB where now more teams believe that they actually have a chance to win the NC and it gave us as fans or me to be exact, a sense that we can't take anything for granted which is a good thing so I can appreciate the achievements of this team and not just wait to see what the team of 2016 will look like