A Season Unraveling

Part of me wonders where this Husky basketball team would be today had goaltending been called on Gant’s last second shot down in Tucson. Would that win have propelled the Dawgs to a 3-0 finish at home, rather than a disappointing 1-2 finish? At 14-4 in conference, the Huskies would be looking at a 3 or 4 seed, not to mention winning another pac-10 championship. Of course there is no way to know what would have happened, and I’m not suggesting the Derrick Williams swat was the only turning point in this season, because there have been many ups and downs–the Gaddy injury, the Venoy speculation, the Northwest road trip, heck, even back to when Terrence Jones de-committed. Adversity is a part of every sports season, the good team overcome it, the not so good ones fold. Had the Huskies won that game in Arizona, a lot of the adversity may have been overcome, and again, who knows what the confidence boost could have done for the team down the stretch.

I don’t know what it is about playing USC at home, but just like last year, it seems the season has hit rock bottom following a home loss to SC. Never would I have thought this team, which lost only senior, albeit a dang good one, would finish the conference regular season with the same 11-7 record. A lot of teams would be happy with that record, but the Romar era has spoiled us fans into taking a lot for granted, especially winning at home. Not to mention expectations were quite high 3 months ago, and the way this team played on certain nights only heightened the bar.

Few things are as gratifying in sports than watching your team, with low expectations, come out of nowhere to exceed anyone’s wildest imagination (i.e. ’10-’11 Seahawks). Of course the flip side is there’s nothing more frustrating than seeing your team not meet it’s potential. That’s the road this Husky team is on, and time is running out to put this thing back together. If a new team does not emerge on Thursday, rallying around the newest adversity (yes, I know about the Venoy suspension), this season will be remembered for high expectations and glimpses of greatness, but crippling inconsistency (i.e. Brandon Morrow).

-Dan