This is a must win if we are building a resume, can't afford to lose this one.
There are no must win games in November.
Loser mentality. No standards. Can’t expect to play well in the big east in February if we are buried in November.
As you know, I've never been one to overreact to either a big win or a tough loss. Instead, I've tried to focus on the path of incremental progress because that's what ultimately positions a team to do something special come March. I was influenced by some strong teachers who believed in process -- what I learned from the masters of the game was to stay the course of incremental development and taking baby steps. From every win or loss we learn. I'm not as caught up on the timing because at the end of the day if we win it's great timing and if we lose it's bad timing. We'll likely be a team that plays its best basketball between late January and mid-February and will be capable of doing something special in March. We need to stay injury-free and there's always the challenge of building chemistry, but given all the variables, I think we'll be a team that's going to continue to develop to a point where we can put a winning brand of basketball on the floor.
Shocked that you wrote a considerate post that actually focused on Basketball. Yes this is only November, but it is year 3. It’s great that we finally show effort on defense. You can’t sleep walk through half a game , then play crazy hard, and then fall apart at the end. That is not a process. Are we better then we have been ? Absolutely! That should not be the question.
The question should be is are we as good as we should be? We took so many steps back for whatever reason I will never understand. Their needs to be standards. Their needs to be results. This is not CYO. Defense and effort should have been instilled at the beginning.
We are going to lose games. That is part of sports. But we also need to win some. Our coaches are getting payed plenty. We have highly rated star players. We need to beat central Florida.
We need to set a higher bar.