Sour Ending to a Sweet Season

Without AO, it was pretty much a certainty that the Orange basketball season would end in disappointment. It just seemed more disappointing than necessary last night to see them hold Butler to 63 points, and yet still lose. But would it have been any less disappointing to see them blown out by K-State or Kentucky? And really, how were they going to play deep into the tournament without any inside presence.

It’s never polite to say I told you so, but look back a couple posts, and ask yourselves; didn’t I tell you that they needed to do a better job of protecting the ball? Butler played an aggressive man defense, but how many turnovers were unforced? How many casual passes? How many times were guys inattentive while being swarmed by the defense? If they eliminated only four turnovers, that would have been four fewer points for Butler, and four more possessions for the Orange. Wouldn’t the game have ended in their favor?

We’ve been pleased all year long about the unselfish nature of this team, and how they really had no go-to guy. Or as Jay Bilas put it, the go-to man for the Orange was the open man, making it tough for defenses to shut them down. But last night that strength turned into a weakness, as no one guy could take over the offense and put up points, when everyone else got cold. Remember how in 2003 Carmelo could become the offense when nothing else was working? The team would clear out for Melo, and he could manage to keep them in the game, until someone else got hot again.

And speaking of 2003, where was the bench in this tournament? In the first two rounds in 2003, our offense had trouble getting untracked. In each game of the first two games, Billy Edelin came off the bench and led the team in scoring. Scoop played well at times these past couple games, but Joseph was AWOL for the entire tournament. And although Triche played well in Buffalo, he reverted to his late-season funk last night, moping around, and hanging his head.

In the end though, it’s a matter of perspective. Think back to last spring, after Flynn, Harris and Devo chose not to return. At that time, what would I have thought about a return trip to the Sweet Sixteen? I’d have been thrilled. The three top scorers leaving early, yet the team rebuilds itself and plays well in the first two rounds of the tournament. At pretty much any time in 2009, that would have been perceived as a successful season. It was only when they started beating everyone in the Big East (perhaps an overrated conference this year, based on tournament results), and then winning consistently on the road, that our perspective changed. At that point, no one was thinking Sweet Sixteen anymore; instead, the talk was Final Four.

But in the end, it was not to be. We missed AO’s big body last night, and his ability to get easy buckets in the lane. Let him shoot a few of those four foot jump hooks, and Butler’s defense would have had to adjust. But then again, if Kansas had hit its foul shots in 2003…. All things considered it was a sweet season; just too bad there was that sour finish. So then I guess it’s time to go from Orange to Red, and begin thinking about opening day.