You know, for me the reason that this year has been, up until now, such a huge disappointment - probably like no other OU bball season in my adult life - is because it actually seemed for the first time that our talent level in what we had coming back was finally as high as I could ever hope for, despite the lack of experience.
Watching this team play, I've never been able to fathom the best lineup quite yet; nothing has seemed to work.
When Capel went with TMG, Cade, Crocker, Fitzgerald and Wright at the beginning of the game, it was very disappointing, just on the face of it...no Gallon; Warren injured and relatively ineffective. It continued to be so hard to stop thinking about "what we could have" on the floor. "What if" Gallon was playing like he could, and Warren was healthy. "Just think" how good we could be.
Then the game started and we got ahead. "They'll come back" I thought, and so I didn't get excited. But we know what happened in that first half. Basically those five guys played with talent, fire, and most of all, chemistry, and suddenly we were up 18 against a top ten team....
We hung on despite lack of depth, fatigue and foul trouble and we obviously need Warren and Gallon (and Pledger) to max out what we've got...but the "disappointing" starting lineup made me think: What college hoops is really about more than anything else, is hustle and heart. (Kelvin-esque words to say the least). We won yesterday in part because we quit relying on our "talent" first (though you can't teach what TMG showed) and relied on our hearts.
Hats off to Capel for getting us to this point, and to both Kelvin and Wayman and Billy Tubbs for what they have done with our wonderful program over the years. Yesterday's win was not only an ode to Wayman and our own storied basketball history, it was an ode to how we've kept winning consistently over the past 25+ years. If we coach and play like that, the dream of winning huge with an abundance of McDonald's All-Americans will actually come true.
We can do it! Maybe not this year...but we're still 4-4 in the 2nd toughest league in the land. Don't forget that UNC won a national title with the same core (as juniors) that as frosh won only 12 games. (And compare UNC with us this year - 2 and 5 in their league - with us and we're not so far off.)
Yesterday and my acceptance that yesterday's starting lineup really was "good enough" gives me renewed hope for the season, and for years to come.
Watching this team play, I've never been able to fathom the best lineup quite yet; nothing has seemed to work.
When Capel went with TMG, Cade, Crocker, Fitzgerald and Wright at the beginning of the game, it was very disappointing, just on the face of it...no Gallon; Warren injured and relatively ineffective. It continued to be so hard to stop thinking about "what we could have" on the floor. "What if" Gallon was playing like he could, and Warren was healthy. "Just think" how good we could be.
Then the game started and we got ahead. "They'll come back" I thought, and so I didn't get excited. But we know what happened in that first half. Basically those five guys played with talent, fire, and most of all, chemistry, and suddenly we were up 18 against a top ten team....
We hung on despite lack of depth, fatigue and foul trouble and we obviously need Warren and Gallon (and Pledger) to max out what we've got...but the "disappointing" starting lineup made me think: What college hoops is really about more than anything else, is hustle and heart. (Kelvin-esque words to say the least). We won yesterday in part because we quit relying on our "talent" first (though you can't teach what TMG showed) and relied on our hearts.
Hats off to Capel for getting us to this point, and to both Kelvin and Wayman and Billy Tubbs for what they have done with our wonderful program over the years. Yesterday's win was not only an ode to Wayman and our own storied basketball history, it was an ode to how we've kept winning consistently over the past 25+ years. If we coach and play like that, the dream of winning huge with an abundance of McDonald's All-Americans will actually come true.
We can do it! Maybe not this year...but we're still 4-4 in the 2nd toughest league in the land. Don't forget that UNC won a national title with the same core (as juniors) that as frosh won only 12 games. (And compare UNC with us this year - 2 and 5 in their league - with us and we're not so far off.)
Yesterday and my acceptance that yesterday's starting lineup really was "good enough" gives me renewed hope for the season, and for years to come.
