[BosCard]

I think the "relief" vs "joy" reaction all has to do with expectations.  Even though no one admitted it beforehand, I think most of us expected to beat Arizona given that we had beaten them twice before by comfortable margins.  So beating them by a little bit felt more like relief than joy. 

I think I would have felt differently about the game if our opponent had been UConn.  Even if the game was identical and we held on to beat UConn and Paige Bueckers heaved a three point shot at the end that missed, I think I would have felt more joy because my expectations of beating UConn are different because we have not played them this year.

I think the pressure of expectations and how they can weigh you down is a real thing.  On the men's side Gonzaga was playing with the expectations of a historic undefeated season and I think that hampered their play in their loss to Baylor.

[BosCard]

I think the "relief" vs "joy" reaction all has to do with expectations.  Even though no one admitted it beforehand, I think most of us expected to beat Arizona given that we had beaten them twice before by comfortable margins.  So beating them by a little bit felt more like relief than joy. 

I think I would have felt differently about the game if our opponent had been UConn.  Even if the game was identical and we held on to beat UConn and Paige Bueckers heaved a three point shot at the end that missed, I think I would have felt more joy because my expectations of beating UConn are different because we have not played them this year.

I think the pressure of expectations and how they can weigh you down is a real thing.  On the men's side Gonzaga was playing with the expectations of a historic undefeated season and I think that hampered their play in their loss to Baylor.