Disappointment in a Lost Season

That's what the Stanford Men's Basketball team went through this year.  I'm mystified, really.  A team that starts out ranked No. 11 in the nation in most polls ends up as a middling Pac-10 player, a definite NIT invitee, and with some terrible losses versus some Division-II schools.  What happened?  Where did the fire go?  When did they go from Pac-10 champion to being steamrolled by the eventual Pac-10 champion?

As I sit here and type, the team has just lost in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament to a struggling Arizona team.  An Arizona team going through the same season of turmoil with suspensions, bad losses, and a middling record as well.  An Arizona team without its leading scorer and an Arizona team with its own hopes at an NCAA bid up for grabs.  An Arizona team on the ropes and ready to be beaten.

It's the story of the season, really.  Having gone through a previous season of upsets, heartbreak, and mediocrity, I'm just disappointed that it's come to this.  There's no post-season hopes for an NCAA, no way to redeem themselves from their losses to schools they should have easily trounced, and truly, I see no hope that the future will be any brighter.  That's probably just pessimism, but who's to say I'm wrong?

Is it the fact there is no more Mike Montgomery?  Is it the fact that Josh Childress is suiting up in Atlanta?  Is it the fact that the Pac-10 hierarchy has shifted again?  In the grand scheme of things, I shouldn't really care.  When you've been ingrained to breathe and sleep basketball though, it's hard not have lingering questions.

Goodbye to the seniors who've thrilled us in the last four years.  They fought hard, but it wasn't their year to compete.  Even if this season goes down in the books as a bitter disappointment, I still look forward to seeing what the team can pull off in the years to come.