Gotta Win Thursday

Paint Thursday’s game as the first of maybe only two remaining “must wins” for the Cougs until the NCAA tournament. Here are a few quick rambles for “the nation” to consider:

1) If you look at the current Top 25, we have not beaten a ranked team this year. Granted, if we beat the Quack in Mac Court, they won’t be ranked either. Even so, we need that type of statement win at this point of the year as Bracket time approaches.

2) At this point, the goal for the season is to make the Sweet 16. At that point, you just gotta roll the dice and see what the heck happens. But the bottom line is that a #3 seed affords a considerably easier draw than being in that dreaded 4 or 5 slot–facing that terrible #12 that wins every year and/or facing a team like Duke that is SUPER talented but has underachieved.

3) I think that if you win against Oregon, you all-but lock up 2nd in the Pac and a #3 seed in the process.

4) Don’t know about you all, but this team needs to lose before the conference tournament…I am much less concerned about winning a Pac-10 title as I am about making the Sweet 16. Beat the Ducks and you feel REAL good about yourself playing in (future) hostile environments. Then you can drop a game against the LA schools and have a game or two to “bounce back.”

5) This team is still VERY hard to predict despite their sexy, sexy record. On one hand, I truly believe that we are a Final Four or Elite Eight threat. On the other hand, we’re vulnerable enough that I could see a real high seeding leading us to being upset early in the tourney. So, we have a weird balance of needing a big win to keep us “high” and needing to lose so that we aren’t viewed as too much of a giant come tourney time.

This game is much like the Zona game a couple of weeks back. The Quack will be throwing everything at us in this game. Withstand and win, and this team is more than special or dangerous–they will find themselves near the Top 5 going into UCLA.

And that, my friends, would be really something special