This season can't start soon enough
- Thread starter benjordan
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soon my friend. very soon
ctchamps
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"Seasons are like going to bed with your wife. Every night your expecting good things and every once in a while you win an NC." From "Overcoming Inertia" by Moe Mentum who quotes "Easy Access" by Jimmy DeLok.
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I think the 2008-2009 squad fits into the category (from a fan's perspective) of 'met expectations.'
Exceeded Expectations
2011
2002
1998
1990
Met expectations/not a huge surprise
2009
2005
2004
2003
2000
1995
1994
1991
Didn't meet expectations
2010
2008* (AJ's injury hurt, but it was the 1st time Calhoun lost in teh 1st round)
2006
1996
I think this coming year, the team needs to make it to the S16. Sure, my expectations are that they go further, but I wouldn't be shocked if they don't make the FF.
ctchamps
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Pretty decent list. But it doesn't answer the question why people keep forgetting 2009. No one forgets 2004 which also met expectations.
The 2009 team went to the final four and this is a significant achievement. So it begs the question why are people forgetting the accomplishment.
I can think of a few reasons.
First: the season started out like predicted and then Jerome had the season ending injury. Jerome is a player who brings a lot of charge to fans (positive and negative) and therefore the focus ultimately turns to him and people invariably end up not wanting to care about this debate so they forget the season. Additionally his loss late in the season potentially impacted what could have been a 3rd NC.
Second: the end of that season was filled with the Nate Miles story. And that left a bad taste for most of us and became co mingled with the NCAAs.
Third: the end of that season was followed by the next season and some people associate the two seasons primarily because JD and SR were on both teams.
Fourth: Some people are so spoiled that a final four is not considered an accomplishment. They only consider NCs
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Well even CBS forgot about the 2009 team! During the National Championship game they showed the last time UConn was in the Final Four as 2004. I couldn't believe they did that.
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I'm sure it was accidental but a lot of things build off of one another. Sometimes we see the associations and accept them. Sometimes we dismiss the associations. And sometime we don't see the associations. But that doesn't mean they aren't there.
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I hate to admit it but I tend to be in the group that even forgets we made the FF that year. I definitely fall into the category of associating the year after with the FF year. Also, Dyson getting hurt really left the "unfulfilled" feeling in my stomach. Making the FF is a great accomplishment but I suppose I choose not to think about it b/c I think they could have accomplished more.
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I don't hold anyone better or worse for how they view things. I'm more interested in how and why we think the way we do. All the factors exist around any issue. And most issues have multiple factors that contribute to the outcome. Each factor is weighted differently by different people resulting in all our varied viewpoints.
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I don't consider it spoiled, but I take pride in the fact that UConn has 3 titles in 4 trips to the FF, and it definitely diminishes 2009 to some extent. Also, getting to the final 4 is an accomplishment, but if you don't win a game once you get there, its a very empty accomplishment. Nobody really cares about the team that loses in the semifinals in any other sport. Hear that Jets fans?
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There are certainly fans that once the promised land is reached (NCs) they cannot settle on any less accomplishment. In fact this is probably the case for most fans and it parallels human behavior for almost everything.
Without going into a lot of detail, survival is basic to all life. But humans treat many things that are not necessary for survival as if they are necessary for survival. One of the most underplayed human strengths, when humans are compared to other animals, is our desire to want what we don't have even if we don't need it for survival. It is programmed within us to not be satisfied which is why, imo, humans have accomplished so much in such a short time of our existence. The downside to this however, is discontent and unhappiness. We are so driven to subvert the Universe to our will, that we can't stop and enjoy things for what they are. In other words we weigh what we are missing more than what we have.
For years many of us were just satisfied with the goal of not being the ninth place team in the BE. Then we watched UConn improve and wanted a BE regular season championships and or a BE tournament championship. And then it became the goal to get into the NCAA's and get into the second round, then the sweet sixteen and so on. But with each advance in accomplishment the previous accomplishment became less important or satisfying.
Over the last six or seven seasons the BE and UConn's accomplishments in the BE were back burners to what UConn would or should do in the NCAA's by many fans. It wasn't that any of us underplayed the BE and what winning in the BE meant. It was just that the NCAA's offered national pride. The BE offered conference pride. We are constantly looking for bigger and more meaningful purposes for our existence or to satisfy this existence. And this is behind all, or most of our viewpoints, for better or for worse.
If we all had a condition in which we could forget our past accomplishments our viewpoint of the upcoming season would be different. We would be like VCU fans this past season or Butler fans the previous season. But that isn't the case for us. So now we are stuck in the fortunate/unfortunate position of having to get NC's to make us happy. My goal has been to teach myself that I have this human trait and to develop the ability to not let it control me. I want to reduce the negative consequences and keep the positive. So I'm starting this season upbeat, but I'm not setting any goals or accomplishments. I'll just enjoy or not enjoy the ride. This isn't easy and I still have some ways to go, but without trying I will be stuck in accomplishment purgatory.
It really is such a shame how little success Stanley Robinson has seen since he left school.
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I think you pretty much nailed the reasons people forget about 2009 with #s 1-3. I don't agree with #4 much, since cbb is one of the few sports in which a FF (and not winning the championship) is a major accomplishment and I think many serious cbb fans would agree.
I was crushed when Jerome went down and thought right away that it was a huge blow to getting to the FF. The team regrouped, sorta developed a different identity, and got to the FF. The reason I think the team met expectations is that even if they had Jerome, they would have needed to play an A+ game against Carolina, and I think if Carolina also played their best, uconn would probably lose. The 2004 uconn team was that year's Carolina.
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I think they even put 2006 as the last year UConn went to the final four.
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This brings to mind the old bull and the young bull joke.
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We also didn't have any memorable "wins" from that season. Not to say that we didn't have GREAT wins because we did. Killing L'Ville on the road, come from behind win against Gonzaga, took down Villanova as well.
We played a bunch of medicore teams down in Virgin Islands. Beat Tenn-Chat, Texas A&M, Purdue, and Missouri in the tourney. If we had beaten say Dook, Kentcuky, and Kansas I think maybe we would have thought about that season a little differently.
We lost the 6OT game, if we won that I think we would have seen a lot of those highlights floating through the boneyard. Never figured out Pitt either that year.
We played a bunch of medicore teams down in Virgin Islands. Beat Tenn-Chat, Texas A&M, Purdue, and Missouri in the tourney. If we had beaten say Dook, Kentcuky, and Kansas I think maybe we would have thought about that season a little differently.
We lost the 6OT game, if we won that I think we would have seen a lot of those highlights floating through the boneyard. Never figured out Pitt either that year.
To me, it's as much about likeability as about success ... and 'likeability' is a very elusive term to try to quantify. I just feel like, for whatever reason, the 3 NC teams were more fun to root for than the '09 team, even though all 4 obviously made it to the FF.
In '99, the team was #1 or #2 all year, yet we'd never made it to the final four, so there was still kind of an underdog mentality, and the NC was still considered a surprise, especially because Dook was so stacked that year.
'04 was the only year I can remember where UConn was the "we're the best team, and we know we're the best team, so deal with it" favorites. But even with that, they were still a likeable group of kids.
This year's team, obviously caught lightning in a bottle, and came out of nowhere. And, of the 4 teams, to me this was the best group of kids.
For some reason that I still can't put my finger on, the '09 team, even though very successful, was just harder to root for. I don't know if there were chemistry issues or not, but it didn't seem like that team had as much fun playing as the NC teams, and I never was able to feel the same satisfaction with their success as I did with the others. And it's not because they lost in the FF. I honestly feel like if '09 had won a NC, and this year's team had lost in the semi's, I still would have liked this year's team better.
I also feel like the 3 NC teams each played a more 'artistic' style than the '09 team. Don't know if that contributes to the likeability, or results from the likeability.
In '99, the team was #1 or #2 all year, yet we'd never made it to the final four, so there was still kind of an underdog mentality, and the NC was still considered a surprise, especially because Dook was so stacked that year.
'04 was the only year I can remember where UConn was the "we're the best team, and we know we're the best team, so deal with it" favorites. But even with that, they were still a likeable group of kids.
This year's team, obviously caught lightning in a bottle, and came out of nowhere. And, of the 4 teams, to me this was the best group of kids.
For some reason that I still can't put my finger on, the '09 team, even though very successful, was just harder to root for. I don't know if there were chemistry issues or not, but it didn't seem like that team had as much fun playing as the NC teams, and I never was able to feel the same satisfaction with their success as I did with the others. And it's not because they lost in the FF. I honestly feel like if '09 had won a NC, and this year's team had lost in the semi's, I still would have liked this year's team better.
I also feel like the 3 NC teams each played a more 'artistic' style than the '09 team. Don't know if that contributes to the likeability, or results from the likeability.
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