This year's squad really exceeded my expectations -- I was sure heading in that we would have several losses and getting to the FF would be a great stretch goal. They just kept getting better and better , developing like crazy. Like Geno said the real shock wasn't losing tonight , it was not losing even once until now.
This loss will pay greater dividends down the road. I know this will come across as sacrilegious to most/many but the whole streak and even the NC streak was becoming surreal to me, and while I always want us to win, I also want us -- and the greater sports world -- to appreciate a win for a win's sake. I thought with early losses it would not be an issue but with how well these guys rose to every challenge, the streak and the NC streak became bigger than the wins and winning meant "relief" in some ways , more than it gave satisfaction.
If this season had come after a down year, with no previous NC's and no epic winning streak I think people would have been more like Kara and Doris and marveled at what an undersized team with no returning AA's was doing. Instead, we got that BUT we also got a sh$tload of "other" attention, despite Geno's best efforts, that had nothing to do with this particular group as assembled.
This team should be unbelievably , astronomically proud of how much they grew this year and how well they handled all the extraneous stuff as well. (The payoff for that was they get to take credit for extending the streak against some very tall odds. They earned their rights to a big chunk of it. ) Yes coming to UCONN means you know there will be extra pressure and scrutiny but this year it was ridiculous, and likely never to be repeated.
We!
Will!
Be!
Back!
Thanks to everyone on this team and on this staff for an unbelievable ride.
