Season ends in second round

Saturday was pretty painful. Like last year, I thought that if we just pulled through in the second round we would have gone far. Yet in both cases we lost close games in the final minutes. Fans are gripping about the chokes and sloppy basketball, but ultimately I really think it was both teams playing to their strengths and UWM avoided mistakes with the game on the line.

I look at college sports through maroon and gold colored glasses, but really this team should be disappointed in the way it closed the season. They accomplished quite a bit -- best start in league history and co-regular season champs. Ultimately it was a team with one well-rounded player -- Dudley; one player who brings a lot of upside but has some limitations -- Smith; and then a series of role players who are very limited in certain aspects. We needed better ball handlers Saturday and we don’t have them. The most disappointing aspect of the game was the play of the two seniors Watson and Nate. But neither has played well for weeks.

Next year should be solid. We return most of our production and I expect Williams to mature offensively.

Now that the season is over this blog will change. I’ll add my two cents about Women’s hoops and the Men’s Hockey, but I expect to fill the space with background and stats pieces.

I’ll conclude the 2004-2005 basketball season with this quote from Al in Sunday's Herald "Eventually, we keep knocking on the door (and) it's going to happen for us."