Coming to Grips

I haven't posted about the St. Mary's game yet... been waiting to really wrap my head around what's going on with the team and the program.

At the risk of getting all sappy, it's just such a wonderful feeling to see the Pilots do well and actually legitimately look like a good team. I know we've all stuck by the team for lots of lean years - from the truly awful teams of the early 2000's to the bitter disappointment of the end of Holton's era. I know we're loyal, but I think we're also a bit jaded... I'll be honest with you, until this weekend I still wasn't sure how good this team actually is.

But dang it... I'm not scared to say it now. We're good. Like, honest-to-goodness good. The offense has been terrific, our outside shooting is incredible, our defense has been getting better and better... it's just such a pleasure to see. It's funny, I've been almost scared to let myself believe it or enjoy it... it's like I'm waiting to wake up or something. But now, after these two wins... I'm on cloud nine. We're GOOD!!!

I have no expectations for Thursday... Gonzaga is really, really good and their defense is just amazing... we'll have our hands full no doubt about it. But as for the rest of the WCC? Shoot... I say 10-11 wins is not only doable, but I'm expecting it. What a wonderful feeling... I could definitely get used to it!!!

Irrational exuberance? I love our play and our record, but we have had the easy half of the schedule. Now we have road games against SMC, USD, SC and USF. None of those will be gimmes. I love that our success is based on tough 'D', because that is all about effort, and doesn't go away on an off night. But I fear that 50+% shooting from long distance will not be there for us every game. So, I am still staying with my earlier thoughts that 9 wins will be a very good season. I'd love more wins, but will not be crushed if they don't happen.

I also appreciate that at 15-7 we are guaranteed to not have a losing season! We are 8 games above .500, with 7 regular season games and the conference tournament left. And if we are 15-15 after all of them there won't be any post-season play.

I would gladly take 2 of the 4 remaining road games, and I think that is a reasonable task. I also don't want to discount the home games against Pepperdine or LMU. The guys will want to approach those the same way they did SD and SMC. I don't think the staff will allow them to take any game for granted, and I think the players are smarter than that anyway.

To summarize, I would like to see 4 more wins for a 10-4 WCC mark.