[TheFarm07]

Unlike Farm, I'm fairly sanguine-to-ecstatic about our play last night. Yes, they definitely dominated the boards. But to be honest, they really *should* have - at every position but when Prechtel was matching up with Key, we were giving up inches and arm length. Every team with top recruits will have some kind of matchup problem against another team with top recruits, and in this game, we gave up length and height.

I am nitpicking for the most part. As you pointed out, we set a margin of victory and scoring defense record in our rivalry with Tennessee last night. We are playing very well and this without one of our most important senior leaders in Carrington and some post defense in Dodson. I really hope that we can get them back sooner than later. If we are already exhausting teams with our depth, imagine what adding these two players back into the rotation would mean.

I guess for me, as we continue to win and win impressively most of the time, my expectations about the team's potential and chances of making a deep postseason run rises. In the last few years, I tempered my optimism knowing that UConn with Stewart and Jefferson, a Notre Dame with Ogunbowale and Turner, a South Carolina with an A'ja Wilson, an Oregon with Ionescu and Hebard was out there and we didn't have the firepower to get through multiple top tier teams to win. Yea, we've scored upsets over most of those teams, but to string potentially multiple wins together in the NCAA tournament seemed like too tall of an order.

Now I know it's still pretty early in the season and there's a lot that can still happen, but the freshmen have shown that they are quickly acclimating themselves to collegiate level playing and contributing immediately and significantly, Lexie has picked up where she left off before her early season injury last year, Fingall if not completely at 100% is still recovered enough to add the inside presence we missed while she was out, and Kiana is providing the veteran leadership, especially with DiJonai being out. 

Plus we are winning tough games without Carrington and Dodson and some of them by healthy margins. Which all increases my hopes for this season and with that, higher expectations on what we can approve on, when we face an Oregon or a Baylor in the Final Four potentially.

But that doesn't mean that I can't see or appreciate the performances the players have put up so far.

[TheFarm07]

Unlike Farm, I'm fairly sanguine-to-ecstatic about our play last night. Yes, they definitely dominated the boards. But to be honest, they really *should* have - at every position but when Prechtel was matching up with Key, we were giving up inches and arm length. Every team with top recruits will have some kind of matchup problem against another team with top recruits, and in this game, we gave up length and height.

I am nitpicking for the most part. As you pointed out, we set a margin of victory and scoring defense record in our rivalry with Tennessee last night. We are playing very well and this without one of our most important senior leaders in Carrington and some post defense in Dodson. I really hope that we can get them back sooner than later. If we are already exhausting teams with our depth, imagine what adding these two players back into the rotation would mean.

I guess for me, as we continue to win and win impressively most of the time, my expectations about the team's potential and chances of making a deep postseason run rises. In the last few years, I tempered my optimism knowing that UConn with Stewart and Jefferson, a Notre Dame with Ogunbowale and Turner, a South Carolina with an A'ja Wilson, an Oregon with Ionescu and Hebard was out there and we didn't have the firepower to get through multiple top tier teams to win. Yea, we've scored upsets over most of those teams, but to string potentially multiple wins together in the NCAA tournament seemed like too tall of an order.

Now I know it's still pretty early in the season and there's a lot that can still happen, but the freshmen have shown that they are quickly acclimating themselves to collegiate level playing and contributing immediately and significantly, Lexie has picked up where she left off before her early season injury last year, Fingall if not completely at 100% is still recovered enough to add the inside presence we missed while she was out, and Kiana is providing the veteran leadership, especially with DiJonai being out. 

Plus we are winning tough games without Carrington and Dodson and some of them by healthy margins. Which all increases my hopes for this season and with that, higher expectations on what we can approve on, when we face an Oregon or a Baylor in the Final Four potentially.

But that doesn't mean that I can't see or appreciate the performances the players have put up so far.