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[QUOTE="joct, post: 3475337, member: 2001"]
Since the Richmond and Villanova losses have been brought up here, deservedly so, I go back to the NCAA investigation going on that year, starting over the holiday break.  They lost on the court, and it is not an excuse, but that took a big toll on the coaches and players that whole time.  JB even mentioned it in his book and how it exhausted everyone.  I think in his book I forget his exact words but it was kind of like "we didn't know the toll it took until afterwards".

Players were doing interviews before and after practices, the media was all over it, and things like half the team not allowed on the plane to go to Notre Dame, only to be reinstated hours later and fly out at midnight (and this was before the team took charters).   To me there was kind of a "less was more" thing with the media back then -- you didn't have phones, the internet and a million distractions, so the stories that came out every day seemed to resonate more.  Unlike the latest investigation, that was announced in 2012 without much context, then sanctions in 2015, in 91 was big news every day during that season. 
Again, not an excuse for the losses, as they got beat when they shouldn't have, but this played a role IMO.
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