As always, thanks to Judoka for the updates. When we're on CTV, I'll try to add a little commentary as well. Thanks again J.
It's the Weatherman loss that bugs me the most. I really want to see him AA this year. He's always on the cusp, but just can't seal it.
Agreed. The Meeks loss sucks but time will tell if that was a bad loss or not, and he didn't look too bad otherwise. Spoon going down to Epperly isn't a big deal since it was a match that could be fixed later in the season. And other than that the worst individual performance vs expectations was Hall needing OT before he turned it on. But Weatherman losing to a true freshman... woof.
If we peak at the end of the year I guess it will be worth it, but I really hope Weatherman and Meeks have good years for their own sake as well as the team. It's frustrating to see progress on some fronts and lose them on others. Low weights start to look stronger and our upper weights are down.
That's why I'm not freaking out even though I'm upset about today's performance. For one, VT is really good and I was expecting it to be a bad outing to begin with. But the second is Jackson isn't Rhoads, a bad outing to start the season isn't likely to define us come March. Also a lot of the issues are fixable, and I trust the staff to fix them.
Whenever we do well, or do poorly, I focus on what changed for my expectations for March. Today here's what changed...
125: No change, Boston is at least what we got out of Larson last year. Don't know if he'll be better.
133: No real change, Hall didn't commit on anything until late and he easily hit that double when he needed to.
141: No real change. Meeks looked okay and Chisko looked like a guy who is going to be ranked soon. My hopes before the season were qualifier who went 2-2, maybe R12 and that is still the case. Especially since I'm confident Rodriguez can do that if Meeks can't. Though I still am pulling for Meeks and hope we can redshirt Rodriguez (I also hope Meeks can cement that soon so Dante can change his focus to development)
149: No change, waiting for Moreno
157: No change, no expecting anything more than fringe qualifier
165: Big negative change, I don't expect Tanner to be another Reader but I was hoping to see him have a season like Moreno had last year and this was not the start I wanted to see. I'm now more worried that his R12 performances are his peak
174: No change. Was hoping to maybe see a win over Epperly but I still think Spoon can be an AA which is what I expect. Nothing in that match wasn't fixable for the next time they meet. And Spoon showed he can go toe to toe with the top guys.
184: Please be eligible and don't take an Olympic shirt, Downey.
197: What the hell happened for us to forfeit? But waiting for Harrington
HWT: I hope to see Smith improve but don't count on it until I see it. He broke and that's a bad sign. But my expectations for Smith are .500 until I see him prove me otherwise.
I agree with everyone's sentiments that March is a long ways away, and I agree that we will be much better once Moreno, Downey and Harrington enter the lineup.
I guess I just think that we shouldn't be getting beaten 32-3 by anyone, ever. I understood following the Cael years when he left the cupboard empty, we were going to take a few losses like this. KJ said at the beginning of the year "we're no longer in a rebuilding phase, we've built it". A result like this makes me think otherwise, but I will continue to support this team and hope we get the ship righted.
I remember last year when I voiced concern about the low number and ranking of our guys. I was told that March was a long way away, that we were an emerging team, etc. Then we had 1 AA and finished comfortably outside the Top 10. Again.