“If we make it in the NCAA’s and make the Sweet 16, would that be a monumental success or still considered a bit of a flop because of expectations? I believe this group can pull it off, of course depending on the matchups. We are still a dependable defensive team with inside guys to match most. We proved we can score in the 80’s against the best team in the conference on the road and definitely seem to be getting better with most of our pieces back. I can see it happening and would be happy considering what we have been through. What say you?”
Everything from here on is extra gravy on our biscuits!
I want more of course but I’m thrilled to still be playing.
After losing so many at the end of the season, last week I thought we were a very long shot to make the Sweet 16. I was happy to win the first game. After all, we went years after Nolan with only 1 NCAA tourney win and went several years without even getting in, so just winning 1 was no mean feat in my eyes. But getting to the Sweet 16 is a milestone for almost any program. Doing it 3 years in a row is rare.
So I’m ready to call this a successful season, especially when it included a win over a storied program, a 1 seed.
At the beginning of the year, I thought a Sweet Sixteen would be a letdown… this talent with this coach had Final Four written all over it. Then the wheels began to fall off with the loss of Brazile and Smith. They had spent the entire offseason building this team then you pull out two of the main cogs… well Muss had his work cut out for him to fix it at this point. They never seemed to really gel into a cohesive team as the season progressed.
So I lowered my expectations to just make the NCAAs. Then with the masterful game at Kentucky, I thought Muss had finally figured out how to get the best out of this group and I then thought we’d get on a roll. Then insert Nick back into the mix and seems we lost our mojo. I talked about the danger of upsetting chemistry that way and was lambasted on this board. Nick was getting his points but others were disappearing and we seemed to be back in that dysfunctional miasma from before. Not saying we didn’t need Nicks talent or that he is not a talent, just saying I think it upset the chemistry they had finally struggled to achieve.
So when we seemed to be losing more games than winning at that point, I was thinking please let us hang on enough to get in the NCAAs then its a new season. Well we made the NCAAs and we won the first game as I expected. But I didn’t really think we would beat Kansas. But we did so… do I want more… he11 yess!!! Do I expect more… well to be honest at this point anything else is gravy after the season we have struggled through.
Muss has a chance to do something no one here has ever done. Make 3 Elite Eights in a row. Even Nolan didn’t do that, but Nolan got a title and Muss still needs that to fill out his resume. Still making 3 straight Sweet Sixteens is cool, but Nolan made 4 in a row. Personally I think Muss has what it takes to get us another title here at Arkansas provided we can keep him here and keep him happy.
I was one that said we for sure should go BC we had proven when we play our best we can play with anybody and we are proven we can do that right now.I didn’t think we would get this far to be honest but for sure thought we deserved to be in the Tournament