I'm not sure if I can recall a season that was more exciting than this one...obviously this one isn't over, and things like National Championships always elevate those years, but if the season ended today, this has been an AMAZING year.
We lost a thriller to Indiana to kick off the season, which isn't a FOND memory, but it did kick off an otherwise undefeated non-conference slate that included beating Duke, and Kentucky AT KENTUCKY...which was also the biggest game of the year TV-wise, had total national attention, college gameday, a world record stadium volume attempt, and pretty much everything scripted with KU cast as the really good team that Kentucky would beat. Up until last night, the Kentucky game was my season highlight.
Then there was last night. If UCONN's women hadn't won their 100th in a row (simply amazing) KU would have been the lead in sports media nationwide. As it is, it was an amazing comeback, as much as it was an amazing collapse by WVU. It elevated our guys, and totally let the air out of the WVU balloon. The uncontested rebound off the free throw that the WVU guy bounced off his leg out of bounds summed it up for me. I almost felt bad for the guy who looked like he actually might start crying when he went back to the bench for a timeout. The postgame press conference with Huggy was also telling as Huggy and his two players looked like a funeral.
As for this team, we've also had our plot twists and challenges: Azubuike's season ending freak wrist injury, the off court drama from Bragg, Vick, and Jackson...it hasn't been a dominant error-free run at all.
Who knows how it'll end. This team can play so poorly at times, and every trip to the free throw line is an adventure. At the same time, last night might have been the most dramatic, but it certainly hasn't been the only time that we've had to come back and somehow these guys tend to get it done more often than not.
What a fun year.
