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Message: [QUOTE="TinyManInside, post: 200969, member: 1251"] I prefer to think of myself as objective rather than being either a downer or cheerleader. This season has been A TON OF FUN. Just a joy overall to watch us go 28-1 and win in so many different ways. We've shown incredible resilience and have gotten some big plays at big times from several players. I think it's also important to have some perspective. We've been winning ugly lately and fans are sort of 'on edge' because earlier we were blowing teams out - but our schedule was also somewhat backloaded where we've played our toughest opponents recently. So that clearly has had an impact on the 'perception' that we're not playing well. Seriously, how poorly could we be playing if we're 28-1? BUT even so... the team as it is playing and constructed right now does not strike me as a Final Four type of team. The perceived depth has all but evaporated. The perimeter shooting is a major concern. Rebounding has been subpar for quite some time. We do a lot of good things to offset these limitations (block shots, generate turnovers, score in transition when we get the chance), but at some point in the tourney we're going to run into teams that take care of the ball better than Rutgers and USF. I would say that overall this team reminds me a lot of the 1999-2000 and 2009-2010 teams (and even the 90-91 team). Extremely exciting teams that were awesome for most of the regular season but the cracks started to show in February, then sort of ran out of gas down the stretch as JB tightened up the rotations. I don't think we can make a Final Four with only one guard consistently playing well and no real go-to guy in the halfcourt offense (BTW - I really, really like both Joseph and Fair, I just don't think they are capable of carrying a team in tight spots like John Wallace and Carmelo did in previous F4 runs). This is not to say that we can't fix our weaknesses - I think we can and hope we will - but also think that the team needs to regain the balance that it had earlier in the year. We need more than just 2 or 3 players playing well every game from here on out. Nothing easy left on the schedule. Mason [/QUOTE]

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