No names. Not this time, at least not for now. This season ends as a collective failure, and it ends with the Cards as they were at midseason: a pressure-cooker mess, a clutch-play embarrassment. They never learned to execute against decent competition, especially when the opposition hit with a hard punch and waited to see how we would react. As it turns out, our response, tonight and the entire season, most often was to swing wildly but blindly, landing punches here and there but never finding the needed rhythm. In hindsight, the biggest wins by the Cards this season all were driven by individual feats. A great team effort this year? I can think of none (but then again I'm pretty down right now). Defense fed off offense -- rather than the other way around -- and our offense just was never very capable. Even tonight, after thirty plus games together, these Cards looked lost offensively, showing almost no hint of cohesion, even less any kind of identity. Pitiful. Defense? Rebounding? That's a reflection of toughness. Please.
Looking back on this season, there were encouraging moments, even one that was magical: no one will soon forget that final game in Freedom Hall. Maybe the most heartening news is that many of this team's greatest feats were spearheaded by guys who will (or should) be back. More perplexing is why our veterans, our combat vets, didn't more often seem like the driving force behind our greatest successes. But like I said, no names. I am determined.
In my opinion, this team never accomplished much team-wise. Maybe it will mean something, anything, temporarily at least, to view this last game, representative as it was of our entire season, as the collective colossal failure -- by all 14 players, the assistant coaches, and the head coach -- that it was. Despite the accustomed moments of hope and momentum, Cards lose big to Cal, 77-62. Story of the year. And now it's over.
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