[81alum]

The players played their hearts out on the field. The coached still coached his team using his best judgement and the strategies he had implemented for the season. The downtown quarterbacks still met at the local tavern. Beer still flowed after the game. The fans still spouted their contrary opinions. Each character on the stage of that small town bar aired his opinion through the night. And the world continued to turn.
Enjoy the season! We are privileged to live in such a special era!

Well said!  And I think some people have a few beers before posting on social media, and it shows!

---

Does no one here want to entertain the possibility that the other teams in the Pac-12, who as of late have been getting those highly coveted recruits that we wanted for our own team, might actually be quite formidable and that a lot of our struggles in the Pac-12 might be due to the solid efforts of our opponents?

I mean, heck, the last two bracketologies have had 8 Pac-12 teams in the tournament, tied for most in the country with the ACC and the Big 12. Maybe we’ve had trouble in conference play because our conference is actually kind of a nightmare gauntlet?

Yeah, we’ve had our troubles with shooting. Our assist numbers are not great. But I think a lot of the criticism here is really kind of unwarranted/premature, and not taking into the account the strong competition. I honestly think yesterday’s game was well-played on both ends, and the fact that we pulled out the victory, held OSU scoreless for the last 2 minutes or so, and didn’t lose our composure should be highly encouraging. We’re winning with defense, folks. That should be a good sign. Not to mention the fact that we’ve out-rebounded (as far as I can tell) literally every team we’ve faced, including in our two losses. Close wins are stressful, but they’re still wins. If two 1-point victories in 2021 taught us anything, it’s that a win is a win is a win.

I’m not saying everything is fine and dandy. But I don’t think it’s nearly as doom and gloom as some are implying.

I agree that the Pac 12 has dramatically improved and that we are getting seriously tested every game.  Even going to Washington is going to be difficult this year.  And so keeping things in perspective is useful, as you rightly point out.

But as Baez points out, it is fun to pretend to be coaches and to figure out how to improve, even if it is down at the bar after the game.  And my feeling is that the offense of this team has not really come together as well, and shown as much improvement over the year, as is the hallmark of most of Tara's teams.  That does somewhat lower my hopes and expectations compared with where I was at early in the year.  But I am more humble of my own prognostications and more respectful of Tara's acumen than one or two others here, and that gives me a lot of hope for more improvement and a deeper run than my nervous nelly instincts might otherwise suggest. 

In short, being pessimistic is what some fans do to protect themselves from disappointment, and it is not necessarily any more rational than being excessively optimistic.

[81alum]

The players played their hearts out on the field. The coached still coached his team using his best judgement and the strategies he had implemented for the season. The downtown quarterbacks still met at the local tavern. Beer still flowed after the game. The fans still spouted their contrary opinions. Each character on the stage of that small town bar aired his opinion through the night. And the world continued to turn.
Enjoy the season! We are privileged to live in such a special era!

Well said!  And I think some people have a few beers before posting on social media, and it shows!

---

Does no one here want to entertain the possibility that the other teams in the Pac-12, who as of late have been getting those highly coveted recruits that we wanted for our own team, might actually be quite formidable and that a lot of our struggles in the Pac-12 might be due to the solid efforts of our opponents?

I mean, heck, the last two bracketologies have had 8 Pac-12 teams in the tournament, tied for most in the country with the ACC and the Big 12. Maybe we’ve had trouble in conference play because our conference is actually kind of a nightmare gauntlet?

Yeah, we’ve had our troubles with shooting. Our assist numbers are not great. But I think a lot of the criticism here is really kind of unwarranted/premature, and not taking into the account the strong competition. I honestly think yesterday’s game was well-played on both ends, and the fact that we pulled out the victory, held OSU scoreless for the last 2 minutes or so, and didn’t lose our composure should be highly encouraging. We’re winning with defense, folks. That should be a good sign. Not to mention the fact that we’ve out-rebounded (as far as I can tell) literally every team we’ve faced, including in our two losses. Close wins are stressful, but they’re still wins. If two 1-point victories in 2021 taught us anything, it’s that a win is a win is a win.

I’m not saying everything is fine and dandy. But I don’t think it’s nearly as doom and gloom as some are implying.

I agree that the Pac 12 has dramatically improved and that we are getting seriously tested every game.  Even going to Washington is going to be difficult this year.  And so keeping things in perspective is useful, as you rightly point out.

But as Baez points out, it is fun to pretend to be coaches and to figure out how to improve, even if it is down at the bar after the game.  And my feeling is that the offense of this team has not really come together as well, and shown as much improvement over the year, as is the hallmark of most of Tara's teams.  That does somewhat lower my hopes and expectations compared with where I was at early in the year.  But I am more humble of my own prognostications and more respectful of Tara's acumen than one or two others here, and that gives me a lot of hope for more improvement and a deeper run than my nervous nelly instincts might otherwise suggest. 

In short, being pessimistic is what some fans do to protect themselves from disappointment, and it is not necessarily any more rational than being excessively optimistic.