Perspective

Alright, I've had a few days to calm down and contemplate things. I think I've been too hard on this team. We have such incredible standards as KU fans. As we should. But sometimes we need to take a step back. I'm very successful in my career. I'm good at what I do for a living...but I don't meet timelines sometimes. It's not for not wanting to. It's just that things happen. I need to remember things like this about the team. They try as hard as they can. It's not like they don't want to win. They do, it's just that things happen. Do we as fans want them to be at the top of their game day in and out. Yes, of course. But so do they. Should they have lost some of the games they have this year, no they shouldn't. But should I miss some timelines here and there? No I shouldn't, but it happens because that's life and sometimes there are things that aren't within our control.

Let's just keep this all in perspective. It's another 20+ win season. Continued top 10 ranking (maybe not after this week). Probably going to be at worst a 3 or 4 seed. And this, all in what we as KU fans would call a down year.

I love KU basketball. I'm thankful for it. I love this team and I'm going to just try to breath and enjoy life. Rock Chalk everyone!

Good points, and I don't disagree. I fully understand that I'm a fan, and KU's success or faillure impacts ME a whole lot less than it impacts the players and coaches. And yes, we're spoiled. KU's record, particularly under Self is among the best ever, truly historic stuff that I sometimes need to step back and remind myself about.

Nevertheless, it's all about performace vs. expectations. If you occasionally miss a deadline (as we all do) I imagine that the "expectation" of your boss is that "Replay does good work, but like all of use occasionally makes a mistake." And over time, if you're hitting or exceeding expectations 95% of the time and tanking 5% of the time, that's the expectation level you've set.

Or look at the football program. Up until a couple years ago, the expectations couldn't have been lower. Then we hire LL and it's a huge turnaround. Expectations are certainly higher now. But let's face it, while KU fans are over the moon with a top 25 final ranking and a bowl win in admittedly a 2nd tier bowl game, if that was how Alabama finished the year, the Alabama fans would be a little disappointed.

Expectations for this team were incredibly high, and while preseason and early season #1 nods are nice, I would think that "meeting those expectations" don't equate to barely clutching onto a 3rd place conference finish and dropping out of the top 10. That's a big gap between expectations and outcome. Losing 6 conference games (so far) and having 5 of them come to unranked teams is a big gap between expectations and outcome. Losing to BYU in Lawrence (the same BYU that beat WVU and UCF on the road, which we weren't able to do) is a big gap between expectations and outcome.

If this were Missouri, this would be a great season. But we're not and based on the talent and coaching we have access to, it's certainliy achieving below exectations.

Bringing it back to work: we're in the process at my job of doing annual HR evaluations,and everyone will be judged as either exceeding, meeting, or not meeting expectations. The people who are "below" aren't bad people. Maybe they've had some bad luck. Maybe they didn't work very hard. Maybe they made some mistakes. But it still doesn't change the fact that they'll be under the microscope of management to see if they can improve. I feel the same way about these guys. They're kids. They're likely all wonderful people. I'm sure they try really hard. Nevertheless, they didn't hit the mark that was set for them.

I don't lose any sleep over this stuff, and on the whole, I'm exceptionally proud of the program. But I think I'm still allowed to be disappointed with how this season has worked out.

Now I'm just hoping for the best on salvaging what's left. Hell, they could suprise us all and still win a NC. I hope they do. But I'm sad to admit that I don't think "success" is something that we can expect at this point.

NotO —I cannot have said this any better.