One game does not a season make and you're never as bad or good as you think you are ring true this morning. Some thoughts the morning after...
Expectations. This loss doesn't change anything that most expected, except some fantasy that we would sweep ku and jump them in the league. We can get over that now. We probably aren't a team that deserves to be ranked, but then again we aren't as bad as we showed last night. Last night counts as one loss and only one loss. It doesn't make us feel any better, but its true.
Toughness. Those coaches and players that for weeks have been commenting about out toughness aren't suddenly wrong. Now, we weren't a tough team last night, far from it. We stepped backwards. However, we get to play 3 straight against teams we built a 6 game conference winning streak against, no reason not to recover and get 3 now.
Players. We had several guys really struggle last night. Perhaps our guys got a little full of themselves (for what reason I have no idea) and now they get to come back to reality. Maybank was great last night, but lets be realistic. Guys who average around 2 points a game aren't suddenly going to become 12 PPG scorers 2/3s through the season. What we need from him is a balance of what he's given us lately; 12-15 solid minutes off the bench, a few steals, and 5-8 points per game. If we want to be a 10 or 11 win team in this league Harris and Wright combining for 5 minutes in a half isn't going to cut it, those guys have to show. Hoskins and Martin have to be 50% shooters and 14 PPG (or so) scorers. That doesn't change. We are going to continue to need steady play from Stew and solid paint minutes from Colon and Bennett. Those are the things that led to our win streak, and those are the things we need to find again.
Coach. Coach's expectations aren't going to be altered. We've got 7 left, win all 7. He's not going to start counting "winnable" games, but going to correct what happened last night and move on to saturday and beyond. The quicker we get over this debacle the better.
This team simply needs to get back to its identity and I'm going to assume last night was the exception. Play defense, rebound, and seek a balanced offense. CU is a great opponent to get some confidence back again IF we come ready to play, and I expect nothing less than that.
