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Message: [QUOTE="Orangezoo, post: 188231, member: 237"] If there is one thing that at times drives me nuts as a fan more than an alum who is tied to cuse for more than just basketball its that rankings are what bring out the jitters in a game like this. At 25-1, we are a practical (as long as we dont flop to a poor team in USF or Rutgers) shoe in for a 1 seed. We are headed on the road to a team we typical struggle against in the essence of it being a combination of Pitino's familiarity with our system and just a bad matchup in the sense we can say we have one as a national title contender. That team is hot and is playing well. We are playing better but this will be the 3rd game in five days and a quick turnaround game after Saturday. If we lose, the critics will say we can't win on the road against a top 25 opponent, we have weaknessses a,b,c and we will be quickly ushered to drop 2-3 spots in the polls unfairly regardless of how much we can beat rutgers by (not looking past that game at all btw.. they are scrappy as hell). What creates so much concern with a team with one loss? Rankings and media perception. I understand the role it serves but its the single most aggravating thing as a fan that puts nerves on edge. In professional sports.. you win some, you lose some. In college football.. you sometimes play for a BCS title but often have a shot at a Bowl win none the less and lets be honest.. other than the national title game.. a bowl win is a bowl win to most universities regardless of which bowl it is. Maybe the BCS bowls carry more weight but fans still can enjoy a post-season win none the less and feel a sense of closure. We have a national title contending team and honestly tonights game is about the players who want it. if they win great, but if they lose it means honestly very little. it will be played out as a huge loss and make us all avoid espn/cnnsi/cbs sports yada yada yada for a few days so we don't have to hear all the negativity. I truly hope we win to continue the positive vibe and not have to hear about it but its frustrating that the reason this game is so large is purely due to the rankings and the impact it would have on them. In professional sports.. it would be a top team playing against a quality playoff team on their court where even then they are expected to hold serve. [/QUOTE]

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