Characterize the season....

Comish

Comish

New member
As uninspiring and tepid as the final few games unfolded, does that negate the entire season?

There actually were stretches where this team played pretty well and went on impressive runs for a bit.

But the lingering stench of the last week tends to become the memory.

To use a basketball analogy, if next years basketball team finished 2nd (by 1/2 game) in the conference standings; but got upset in the conference tournament and then was upset again in the first round of the NCAA tournament, would you grant them the luxury application of a "successful season"?

And if so, why wouldn't the comparative adjective apply to baseball?

(I'm not suggesting it necessarily does, just interested in other's perceptions ......)

 
Comish said:
if next years basketball team finished 2nd (by 1/2 game) in the conference standings; but got upset in the conference tournament and then was upset again in the first round of the NCAA tournament, would you grant them the luxury application of a "successful season"?
Click to expand...

The B1G is an absolutely monsterously loaded conference in basketball, and we don't have a history of high basketball pedigree so it would be very different.

 
Our pitching generally wasn't great for most of the year. Improved as the season went on but still not great.

Offense seemed to be on the up-turn early in the year and was probably improved somewhat but most of the early-season success probably had more to do with who we were playing than us getting so much better so quickly. As the year wore on, the bats were inconsistent at best and non-existent down the stretch.

 
It was like most of Erstad's tenure--we have the pieces in one area, only to go in the tank in another.

Last season hitting was an issue, and our defense and pitching were on point. This season, or defense was shaky at times (mostly solid though) but pitching was poor overall, and hitting improved from last year.

I'd like to see us look at our assistants and support staff, see if we can improve those areas (even if it's for just a couple of seasons) and spend the money to get them and invest in our baseball program.

We're one of the few programs that's been revenue neutral or operated in the black with this baseball program. Spending money to bring in new assistant coaching blood has shown that the fans will support the move, the team, both with eyeballs, butts, and wallets.

 
Comish said:
As uninspiring and tepid as the final few games unfolded, does that negate the entire season?

There actually were stretches where this team played pretty well and went on impressive runs for a bit.

But the lingering stench of the last week tends to become the memory.

To use a basketball analogy, if next years basketball team finished 2nd (by 1/2 game) in the conference standings; but got upset in the conference tournament and then was upset again in the first round of the NCAA tournament, would you grant them the luxury application of a "successful season"?

And if so, why wouldn't the comparative adjective apply to baseball?

(I'm not suggesting it necessarily does, just interested in other's perceptions ......)
Click to expand...
I'll bite--on the basketball piece, yes, it would be a disappointment, since a) we've never won a damn NCAA Tournament game, and b) we were second in the B1G.

There's no way IMO to characterize this season as anything but a disappointment. Perhaps if we made noise in either tourney I'd be more forgiving...but to lay an egg and go 0-4 in both the B1G and NCAA Tournament...that's unacceptable.

Also, something else to think about--these selection committees remember things like Nebraska going 0-Fer and how we went out with a whimper--if we're ever on the bubble in the near future, we may not get the benefit of the doubt by the selection committee as a result.

 
I want to see success as much as the next guy, however when you are one of the last teams to get into either tournament your chance of winning a single game isn't much above 40%. Got to keep improving and become one of those teams that it's obvious with 10 games left in the season that we are in the tournament. Getting a high seed in either tournament means you will see a bottom feeding team first and getting that win should go up to 65%+.

Need a bigger step forward with both programs next season!!!!

 
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