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So many years and so many disappointing preseasons...so often did I enter the season with on set of expectations only to be disappointed. At the beginning of this season, I penciled in what I thought our wins and losses would be. I expected us to enter the Pacific game 7-3 with losses at UCLA, Washington, and St. Mary's. |
| While I was not exactly correct about the whom, I did publish that
I expected us to finish 7-3, and I figured one loss against the WCC and
two against the Pac-10. At the time, when I told fellow band members
about this prediction, they all looked at me as if I was from Venus.
Well here we are, finishing the preseason 8-2, with one loss against a WCC
school, and one loss against a Pac-10 school.
Imagine for a minute how these games might have gone with last year's team. For fun, I shall speculate here. Game 1 - UCI versus Howard. We win but barely, taking control with 2 minutes left. Oh, we were down by 10 in the first half. UCI (1-0) wins, 63-59. (Reality - UCI (1-0) wins it easily, 71-47.) Game 2 - UCI versus Loyola Marymount. Irvine struggles against an improved Loyola Marymount team, leads by 8 with seven minutes to go, but Loyola forces an overtime. UCI (2-0) wins it, 58-57 OT, (Reality - UCI (2-0) wins it, 62-57.) Game 3 - UCI versus San Diego. No contest. USD wins it, 71-55. UCI falls to 2-1. (Reality - UCI (2-1) loses a game it could have won, 60-63.) Game 4 - UCI versus California. Irvine leads by 2 at the half, Cal storms back and wins it 85-70. UCI falls to 2-2. (Reality - UCI (3-1) beats Cal, 56-52.) Game 5 - UCI versus UCSD. Everyone knows UCI is playing a D2 team and should win this easily. UCSD leads by 7 ten minutes into the first half, but somehow, UCI catches up, grabs a six point lead at the half, and struggles to beat UCSD, 83-71. UCI improves to 3-2. (Reality - UCI (4-1) trounces UCSD, 97-60.) Game 6 - UCI at UCLA. UCI plays intensely, leads by 4 at the half, but a furious second half run puts UCI away for good. UCI loses, 92-71, and falls to 3-3. (Reality - UCI (4-2) gives UCLA a run for its money, almost winning it during the last minute, but chokes, losing 60-65.) Game 7 - UCI versus Belmont. UCI chokes against a team it should have beaten, losing 63-51. UCI falls to 3-4. (Reality - UCI (5-2) struggles but still beats Belmont, 84-74.) Game 8 - UCI at UC Riverside. In a game that most think we should have won, UCI shoots blanks, and Riverside beats Irvine easily, 76-60. Irvine falls to 3-5. (Reality - UCI (6-2) beats UCR, 80-72.) Game 9 - UCI at Washington. UCI plays it close for a while, by fades in the second half, losing 75-68. UCI falls to 3-6. (Reality - UCI (7-2) beats Washington, 56-55.) Game 10 - UCI at St. Mary's. Irvine pulls it out, winning just barely, 52-48. Irvine finishes the preseason 4-6. (Reality - UCI (8-2) beats St. Mary's easily, 57-37.) So there you have it. Previous Irvine teams would have finished 4-6, but this year's teams finishes 8-2, beating everybody they were supposed to beat, beating a couple of teams they should have lost to, and losing only to teams in very tight games. |