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Well folks, we had two of the most promising seasons in Tech history in the two major sports this year.
Excitement, hope, and pride turned into letdown, frustration, and embarrassment TWICE in a single year.
These collapses were of epic portions.
So which one was worse, football or basketball?
NO contest. The football collapse cost us a $3M profit and a BCS bowl bid.
Worst financial collapse all-time in Tech athletics.
It's such a tough call.
From a purely on the field/court standpoint, I would say basketball by a mile. We got whipped 3 times in a row after going undefeated in conference. Our team went from being legitimate top 20, to getting soundly beaten by a team ranked 289th to end the season.
On the other hand, in football, we lost to two very good teams in close games; however, Bruce Van De Velde / Dykes / Reneau.
Orange Bowl was a long shot from the beginning. After such a long win streak and a top 25 ranking, to lose the last three including our first conference tournament game was most epic.
We gave our spot to Northern Illinois.Originally Posted by dch028
The stakes were certainly much higher for football, but the on-field/on-court collapse was certainly much worse in basketball. Take your pick on what "most epic" means.
I was thinking about this as I drove to work. This was the "almost" year. Almost got a BCS bowl, almost got an NCAA bid, just hoping the Ladies can pull it out and not make it a threefer on the almosts. It is frustrating but I would rather be frustrated near the top than near the bottom. Next year will be the year of "get er done".
WBB isn't relative to this discussion.
The Lady Techsters are trying to keep "almost" from becoming "did happen."
Good old Memorial Gym
They were identical. If Bruce screws up an NIT bid it will be worthy of a "Twilight Zone" episode.
To me, it has nothing to do with how much it cost is or anything. Our football team was truly the most explosive in the game and our defense failed when it mattered. Our basketball team was mediocre to good in an awful, injured, depleted conference. If every guy is healthy, our b-ball team finishes 3rd or 4th in conference. When your sched is weak, you never really know what you have til it matters. That was the case for both sports this year.
techman05 said: "When your sched is weak, you never really know what you have til it matters. That was the case for both sports this year."
Statements like this are proof that you can't compare the two events. Anybody who thinks our football team had not been tested going into the USU game needs to stick to WBB. To imply that our MBB team had not been tested is also silly.techman05 said: "When your sched is weak, you never really know what you have til it matters. That was the case for both sports this year."
The hoops collapse was far worse than football's. I wouldn't even call what happened to the FB team a collapse. We lost two close, tough games to Top 25 ranked teams. The bowl fiasco was independent of what happened on the field.
The BB team was living on the edge most of the season. But, they had been playing good defense and that can carry a team to a championship. Well, it did, the regular season title. Their achilles heel was a lack of a true halfcourt offense, which allows teams to execute and still score consistently even when they don't shoot a great % from the floor. This team was 100% dependent, offensively, on someone, or several someones, having a hot-hand. When that wasn't there it spelled trouble, which was very predictable. But...three straight losses to WAC foes, when compared to a 16-0 start vs. those same WAC foes, represents a collapse in my book.
Question is, what are they gonna do now? Let the season completely slip away, or rally and make some noise in the NIT?
You make some good points, Jim, but I still think the 2012 Football collapse had much further reaching consequences. The basketball team will be back. They're young, they'll have another opportunity to make a run. Our 2012 football team was a senior-laden, write-your-own-ticket magical group with all the opportunity to make program history, and we fell apart. The bowl fiasco was simply the last little flicker of the bon fire that was a very emotional year.
Just my opinion.
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