The Sky is Falling - Part Three: Expectations

This season sucked. The way the players wore out at the end. The way the fans gave up on the team. The way the students stopped showing up to home games. The way the message boards are plastered with posts questioning the team's effort, the team's conditioning, the team's preparation and the team's coach. I too have many times complained about all of the above throughout the season but sometimes you need to take a step back and look at the big picture.

I remember when Georgetown was a joke. I remember when a UConn fan asked me outside of Madison Square Garden before the 2004 Big East Tournament if Georgetown was still playing Division 1 basketball. I remember when I would be excited for our games to be broadcast on TV; I still have the tape of the time we played Cal State Fullerton in the second round of the NIT in 2005 and it was broadcast on ESPN. I remember when I asked President DeGioia why he gave Esherick a contract extension, as the room full of ass-kissers gasped that I would have the audacity to question the President of our beloved and perfect University. And I remember when we lost the last nine games of the 2003-2004 season. Here's the last six years as I remember it:

- In 2004, Georgetown failed to make a post-season tournament.
- In 2005 Georgetown had its first year under a brand new coach and had incredible, invigorating and inspiring wins against Pittsburgh, Villanova and Notre Dame.
- In 2006, Georgetown went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
- In 2007, Georgetown went to the Final Four for the first time in 22 years.
- In 2008, Georgetown won its second consecutive Big East regular season title, the first time in school history.
- In 2009, after losing three key players and having three players from the 2007 Final Four team drafted by NBA teams, fans are worried about the state of the program. They are worried about the team consisting of mostly of freshmen and sophomores who this season defeated two teams currently ranked in the top 5 and have played the hardest schedule in the history of the program.

Lofty expectations lead to disappointment. Disappointment leads to rationalization. Rationalization leads to optimism or anger. For the first time ever as a Georgetown fan, I am sticking with optimism. We will be good. Very good. This is 2005 all over again. And look where that ended up.

Hopefully this isn't where the delusional part of my tagline comes into play.

We're going to lose tomorrow. And it will not be pretty. But that's ok. The future is bright.


Good talk.