[2006alum]

Wow, are we that pessimistic about the team?

No, not pessimistic, just imaging worst case scenarios. Losing twice to OSU, and also to UConn, Baylor, Tennessee and UCLA would leave us 6-7. While I think it's unlikely we would lose *all* of those games, I could easily see us losing any one of them, and honestly, I would be very happy with a 3-3 split of those six games, because only two of the six are at home. I'm also wary of Gonzaga, since we lost to them last year. It is a testament to Tara's and the other coaches' abilities that our teams are always much better in March than in November, but it will take Tara time to figure out the puzzle pieces with such a young roster and she will be doing it largely on the road and against the very best teams.

Again, I don't expect us to lose all of these games, but my point is that unlike the late 00's when we regularly played this strong of an OOC schedule, we aren't going to start the season ranked 2nd, 3rd or 4th. We don't yet have pre-season polls, but this way-too-early projection had UConn at 1, UCLA at 3, Baylor at 5, and Tennessee at 8 (albeit when Diamond DeShields was still planning to return). That's a heck of a challenge for a young team.

[2006alum]

Wow, are we that pessimistic about the team?

No, not pessimistic, just imaging worst case scenarios. Losing twice to OSU, and also to UConn, Baylor, Tennessee and UCLA would leave us 6-7. While I think it's unlikely we would lose *all* of those games, I could easily see us losing any one of them, and honestly, I would be very happy with a 3-3 split of those six games, because only two of the six are at home. I'm also wary of Gonzaga, since we lost to them last year. It is a testament to Tara's and the other coaches' abilities that our teams are always much better in March than in November, but it will take Tara time to figure out the puzzle pieces with such a young roster and she will be doing it largely on the road and against the very best teams.

Again, I don't expect us to lose all of these games, but my point is that unlike the late 00's when we regularly played this strong of an OOC schedule, we aren't going to start the season ranked 2nd, 3rd or 4th. We don't yet have pre-season polls, but this way-too-early projection had UConn at 1, UCLA at 3, Baylor at 5, and Tennessee at 8 (albeit when Diamond DeShields was still planning to return). That's a heck of a challenge for a young team.