ENJOY THIS

A quick message to the Cougar Nation:

ENJOY THIS BASKETBALL SEASON!

The reasons are simple: there is no better joy than being able to watch a journey that is free of expectations and angst. And there aren’t may journeys that are free of those two burdens.

But, such freedom IS this season of Cougar basketball.

Next year, we are going to return the majority of our guys.

And because of what has already happened this year, this group will now be picked to finish in the top 3 in the PAC next season and will be ranked nationally to start the season.

As a result, as next season becomes the focus of conversation, all of us will be talking about how “deep” we will go in the NCAA tournament, how high our ranking and national exposure will be, how much better our recruiting and sustainability as a program will be–all of which will inevitably lead us to become devasted if and when we don’t get there. (see Cougar Football and Mariner Baseball as Exhibits A-Z)

But this season, we have none of that crap. Indeed, after we beat Stanford today and prove that we can beat “Big” teams as well as atheletic ones, we will be sitting alone in first place (with the tiebreaker) in the Pac-10.

We will also be four wins away from 20 with a whopping 12 games left.

We will be thinking about conference championships, high tournament seedings, and dare I say a run to the Sweet 16, the Elite 8, and depending on the bracket, seedings, and happenings, maybe a Wisconsin or George Mason-esque run to the Final Four!

And if it doesn’t happen, we’ll be sad for a bit, but we will mostly just marvel at the character of this team, the way they gelled and put us on the map, the first stormings of Friel Court in a decade, the first national rankings since Reagan was in his FIRST TERM in office, the ability to finish in the top 3 after being picked tenth, etc., etc., etc.

And of course, we will eagerly anticipate next year.

Which, of course, will be filled with HIGH expectations.

Which, of course, will make it MUCH less fun and enjoyable than this year.

So, enjoy this Cougar fans. These types of magical runs don’t happen often–not only because it is SSSSOOO hard to make the transformation from zero to hero, but also because we know that our PERFECT coach won’t stay long, and so the inevitable fall is just that, inevitable…

So, enjoy the game today as well as the entire season as it is: a “once, twice, or thrice” in a lifetime experience.

And lets root for Arizona to KILL the Ducks while we’re at it.

Out.