No way baby. We're on it now! Gonna live in a cocoon of positivity hidden away from the reality of our situation, facts, logic, and realism.steviep123 wrote: ↑3 years agoToo soon?Blue Man wrote: ↑3 years ago Hi - psudo-insane, mentally imbalanced fan guy here.
This season has not gone to plan. That much is clear. While glass-half empty posts riddle the board, and many of them well-deserved (some penned by yours-truly), let me take a different tact.
We are now approaching the arc of the season where it "matters" again. If you're not like me, I am envious, but for those following my mood swings, we are approaching meltdown number 4 - the final stage.
My first is always early in the year when we don't win a game against a good team that we could've. My second is the first time we lose to a bad team. My third is more of an acceptance that we won't be an at-large team after the "nail in the coffin" loss. Now we ride acceptance until it's A-10 tourney time. It's like a renewed tale of hope, a spring re-birth, and the exciting opportunity that we could have a successful season despite regular season shortcomings.
After seeing the coach make some necessary changes, and the team find their sacks to battle back from down 18 with under 11 mins to go (Dayton 98% chance to win), I think it's worth noting a potential change in the wind.
Cox finally narrowed the rotation, and rode the hot hands that got us home. The game certainly didn't start out that way, but once we made the final push, Cox let his producers ride the wagon til the wheels fell off.
The players responded. Battling back from down 18 is hard enough. To continue to fight through missed opportunities in 2 OT's is worth nothing in and of itself.
Most importantly, this is the softest A-10 I can remember. No team is unbeatable. No team has players that we (or anyone in the league) can't play with. Unlike last year, where you knew Dayton was a death blow and no one was beating them, there are flaws in every team 1-8, and weird strengths in teams 9-14.
I will take to my grave that fully healthy (Fatts at 100% and Makhi) this is one of the more talented and balanced teams we have ever had. I think it's clear, and even the coach has openly admitted, that there have been some coaching shortcomings that we saw addressed in the 2nd half of Dayton. Still however, despite players who haven't given us anywhere near what we thought (Betrand, Carey), we do have players.
Ish is a scorer. Period. Can shoot, can drive, just finds a way. You need that guy.
Shepp is a shooter. When he is on, he can take over a game. We need that.
Fatts is a creator and a scorer. At his best in the lane and getting to the line. Still has the fight to will the team to a win like we saw last game.
Walker is a swiss army knife.
Mitchell is a presence. Young but a great array of post moves, very good at using his size to alter shots.
Martin is a stalwart defender. Doesn't really give you a ton offensively, but if used like he was last game he can affect the game. His D and energy turned the tide, hence being a +15 in a game you win by 2.
DJ is one of those "big shots at weird times" off the bench guy. You'll need that.
Betrand though largely disappointing, has shown flashes of what he can bring. If Cox can get the right combo of minutes out of him to without leaving him out there long enough to be a liability, that will be huge.
My optimism:
If Cox can make changes once, he can make them again. Riding a rotation of your winners will help.
Fatts has that fire back (if it ever left) but last game you really saw him put the team on his back, even though he clearly wasn't at 100%.
The A-10 is very soft. This team when riding a shorter bench can hang or beat anyone. The question will be is if we can play that many minutes in 4 days. Would love to see Fatts fight his way back to the tourney in the most improbable of ways.
The 2016 Rams won 8 straight en route to a conference title in a better A-10. We are definitely not that team, but we don't have to win 8 games either. 6 games (hopefully) left in a worse A-10. We only have 2 games in the next 3 weeks to get healthy.
Why not us?
*expect a temporary derailment of the train should we lose to GW or Joes, but then an immediate shift into overdrive back on the tracks once the tourney starts. OPTIMISM!
**per usual I take zero responsibility for my reaction should we drop 3 in a row and get bounced in the first round. BUT THAT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN. OPTIMISM!
It's more fun to be positive, even if that positivity is only going to last a week or two.
This is the only time of the year that we can have fun with a chance at blind luck and instant gratification of a tournament birth.
Yes, it's unlikely, but I've got the whole summer to be miserable about everything going on.
I'm gonna live in the light for another 2 weeks and let the chips fall. Then I'll come back to the misery party.
For now, I choose to believe!