No reason to get upset about this loss. I called it in pre game that I had a bad feeling about this game. Even the great teams in tough conferences get like 5-7 losses a year so I expect the same with Iowa State, 1 maybe 2 losses at home and 4-5 on the road so I thought this would be a tough one to get. Just take the L and move on to the next one.
I struggle with this take.
My opinion:
1. We should expect to win every game at Hilton. Yes, every single one. Most of the teams that win conference titles (which I would consider to be “great” teams) rarely EVER lose at home. Our best squads in our lifetimes rarely lose at Hilton.
2. 5-7 losses!? That many losses may get you a top 4 seed in the conference tournament, but rarely will put you in a position to win the regular season crown. Even with 20 games.
3. Personally, I’m never OK with losing. I’m one of those dumb fans that wants to win every single game, badly. Do I understand logically we will lose some (and sometimes many) games? Yep. Doesn’t make it any less painful to lose. I think TJ and staff want to win every game too…
4. Since 1990, the national champion has had 7 or more losses on the season only 5 times. In contrast, the national champion since then has had 4 or less losses
18 times. That’s how freaking good you have to be to make a deep, deep run for a natty. Like our 2000 squad, which of course would have finished 35-4 had they not been screwed in the Michigan State game.
5. I do believe the loss Saturday proves some teaching moments and I am very optimistic that this team and staff (which has already proven to be damn good) will adjust. The Milan injury is really tough, and what Saturday showed me personally is that our floor with him out is lower than I thought it would be. As I have stated numerous times in this thread already, I did not actually believe we were capable of playing
that badly for an entire game. So while that’s a tiny bit concerning, it’s only our 2nd loss in the year and we have every opportunity to still win a ton of games and prove we’re among the best in the country. The macro view of our squad is still
extremely impressive and I absolutely love this team. I’m so excited to see us up against AZ, KU, and Houston in road matchups. Our conference title hopes will be dictated by those games.