Ouch. That is the only word to describe the ass-whooping we just received from UConn. It was not pretty. It was not even close to pretty (ok, I take that back. It was 27-20 before UConn went on a 28-5 run). It was so bad I actually left the bar with 17 minutes left in the game...
When I take a step back and think about it rationally, it is the correct result. I mean, #3 seeds are supposed to beat #14 seeds (since 1985 #14 seeds are 16-88). It is just what happens. Still, this one stings. My initial reaction to seeing us playing UConn was 'oh, shit. we're in trouble' and yet in the hours after the bracket was announced, I decided to talk myself into the reasons why we could win. Hell, I told all of you 6 reasons why we could get it done. The problem was that I forgot to mention all the reasons why we couldn't get it done. Now I could go over all the reasons, but the basic truth is that UConn is a hell of a team and even though they just won 5 games in 5 days, there was no way Calhoun was going to let them come out flat.
Over the first 5 minutes I honestly thought we belonged. Our shots weren't falling but there wasn't one second where I thought we were being outclassed. Sure our defense wasn't good, but I figured that UConn had to cool down sometime. I mean, you can't shoot that well against a good team for the entire game....and then it smacked me in the face....Bucknell isn't a good team (to be fair, we are good, just not UConn good). UConn was having their way not because they were hot - they were having their way because they are better.
Moments like this remind you what it is like to be a fan. Against all odds, you convince yourself you are going to win. Even if you know the odds are stacked against you, it still hurts when you lose. No matter how long this game is played, Bucknell is always going to be the underdog. We are always going to have a crooked number next to our name. Yet, the amazing success that we had in 2005 and 2006 made me think that we were suddenly big time...that anytime we made it to the tournament we were going to win. And that is the real beauty in the ass-whooping we took. It makes you realize how special that 2005 team was. I'm not saying that the 2006 team that earned a 9 seed wasn't special - they were flat out good, as evident by the high seed. No, the 2005 team was special because no one believed in us. Hell, no one had even heard of us. So winning was extra extra special. I honestly thought this team could bring back the glory, but in the end, we knew our role and took a beating.
Tomorrow when I wake up I am going to feel differently than I feel right now. I am going to realize that this is not the last of Bucknell. The fact is that we return 4 of our starters including the amazing Sophomore trio of Mike Muscala, Bryson Johnson and Joe Willman as well as freshman Cameron Ayers. If anything, we probably overachieved this year. Our destiny was to win in 2011-12 and 2012-13, so this appearance was a bonus. It will prepare us for next year. It will be good for us. No way Muscala forgets the feeling of losing by 29. No way any of the returning players forget what it feels like to be humbled...they are going to come out and dominate the league again.
So, yes, we got our asses kicked, but in the long run it might be good for us. Or at least that is what I am talking myself into believing.
No comments:
Post a Comment