Everyone I know would describe me as a pessimist without hesitation, and I wanted the team to get a 2 seed…but I’m gonna go the other way. There are worse (basketball) things than being a 3 seed with no expectations. Very few teams touted as the leaders of the pack on selection Sunday make deep runs. Well, unless ISU wins in Kansas City, no one will be talking about them. And before you snipe at me—yes, that game was very disappointing—I’m willing to bet your bracket percentages the last 10+ years are around the mean, which is to say not very accurate. None of us is going to pick ISU to make a deep run. So let’s roll the dice.
Is this season a disappointment? I don’t know, it’s not over. We’ve not seen an Otz team have multiple playmakers miss time in the same season. They may never be what they were in November, or they may still be taking their lumps but come out the other side better for it. It’s one thing to relearn to play with each other, it’s another to relearn how to win multiple ways. BYU presented a completely different challenge than Arizona. When’s the last time ISU had all players active and played an offense this good, Tech? Well, they beat them on the road, in OT, for those calling for Schmidt’s head or whatever other nonsense.
It’s March 5th for Pete’s sake, I just think trying to draw a through line with the team’s struggles this season is reaching for a pattern that explains ~everything~ because that’d be more comforting than “We’ve hardly seen the team at full strength against great competition.” If the team *officially* was and is a dumpster fire that turns it over too much, can’t rebound, runs bad stuff late in games,… based on tonight, then why are you even griping? They were never going to get a top-two seed if that’s true. Or if they’re *officially* hopelessly inconsistent because of tonight, I say Maybe. That claim is based on a tiny sample size at full strength against good teams.
Last season’s team went undefeated at home. Last season’s team won the Big 12 tournament. That didn’t guarantee them a deep run, just as I don’t think this team falling short of some goals guarantees an early exit. Let’s roll the dice