First Team National Championship

[MaroonBelle]

Robbie Faulk tweeted this today and I want to use it to start a conversation:

Baseball- CWS, Fball - Bowl, MBB - NCAAT, WBB - SEC reg. season and SECT Title/Elite 8, Men's Tennis - SECT Title/Sweet 16, Men's/Women's Golf - NCAA Regional Soccer - NCAAT, Softball - NCAAT, T&F - Individual Championships

I know it has been discussed here already that in total, this past year has probably been the most successful year in our Athletic Department's history. 12 of 14 teams in postseason. I want to talk about the National Championship hump. Does anybody else here think that the pressure to be THE team that gets us THE Championship (at least in the sports we are most competitive in) puts added pressure on the teams that get close and makes them play tighter? Getting one is hard enough even for teams that have already been there. I mean, how much extra pressure do you think Jake and the team played under. Do we, as a fanbase, add an extra level of pressure, telling teams "you're going to be the one?"

I feel sometimes like the pressure to get the first one is so great that when we finally do break through, they will just start pouring out. Because the extra pressure will be gone and teams will be able to just compete with the same freedom that some of these other schools who already have one play with.

Am I alone in this?

 

[Goat Holding Inc]

Robbie Faulk tweeted this today and I want to use it to start a conversation:

Baseball- CWS, Fball - Bowl, MBB - NCAAT, WBB - SEC reg. season and SECT Title/Elite 8, Men's Tennis - SECT Title/Sweet 16, Men's/Women's Golf - NCAA Regional Soccer - NCAAT, Softball - NCAAT, T&F - Individual Championships

I know it has been discussed here already that in total, this past year has probably been the most successful year in our Athletic Department's history. 12 of 14 teams in postseason. I want to talk about the National Championship hump. Does anybody else here think that the pressure to be THE team that gets us THE Championship (at least in the sports we are most competitive in) puts added pressure on the teams that get close and makes them play tighter? Getting one is hard enough even for teams that have already been there. I mean, how much extra pressure do you think Jake and the team played under. Do we, as a fanbase, add an extra level of pressure, telling teams "you're going to be the one?"

I feel sometimes like the pressure to get the first one is so great that when we finally do break through, they will just start pouring out. Because the extra pressure will be gone and teams will be able to just compete with the same freedom that some of these other schools who already have one play with.

Am I alone in this?

Probably and that's why luck generally plays a role. Obviously overall talent is big. I can think of Virginia in two instances.

Baseball: Played Vanderbilt and lost in 2014, then beat them in 2015. All logic would say Vandy would be more loose and would win again in 2015, but Virginia was a bit of a Cinderella due to their seeding, but what many didn't know is that they got Sborz and Kirby back from injury which made them as talented as anybody. Thus they played like a loose Cinderella underdog, with roughly the same amount of talent, and overcame that pressure.

Basketball: I mean those guys were the first 1 seed ever to lose in the first round, right? Came back next year and won the whole thing. I still can't get over how they lucky they got vs. Auburn.

 

[Dawgzilla]

I think it plays a factor, but its hard to say how significant it is.

I generally avoid reading athletes' minds, because its impossible. Did a certain player "choke under pressure", or did he just make a bad play at a bad time? It's hard to say. I don't know if our players feel pressure to win the first championship or maybe just have some doubts whether they can break through because it hasn't been done before. Maybe they don't feel any of that, and we just haven't fielded a championship caliber team yet.

I expect the coaches are telling the players not to worry about the fate of other teams in the past and just focus on doing their job in the present.

OTOH, you often see in pro sports where a team wins a championship, and then a team from the same city follows up with a championship in a different sport. I've heard some pro players say they were inspired by the first team's championship. So there could be some benefit to just believing that winning it all is possible.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

Speaking of bad luck, we all know about the '85 team but one thing I thought

about here lately is look at the 2013 team. If Woodruff hadn't been dealing with injuries pretty much his whole time here, you've got to think we win it all with just 1 more big time arm. I'm sure that's kind of an apples to oranges thing since he really took off once he got to the minors but still.

 

[StarkVegas Steve]

about here lately is look at the 2013 team. If Woodruff hadn't been dealing with injuries pretty much his whole time here, you've got to think we win it all with just 1 more big time arm. I'm sure that's kind of an apples to oranges thing since he really took off once he got to the minors but still.

Woodruff is a massive what if on that 13 team. Him and Graveman would've been two front line arms that would've been a very formidable one two punch that year. However, our biggest problem in Omaha in 13, and it's been stated numerous times before, was that we tried to hit everything onto the Blatt rooftop once we got to the Championship series.

 

[Goat Holding Inc]

Woodruff is a massive what if on that 13 team. Him and Graveman would've been two front line arms that would've been a very formidable one two punch that year. However, our biggest problem in Omaha in 13, and it's been stated numerous times before, was that we tried to hit everything onto the Blatt rooftop once we got to the Championship series.

Agree, I mean we lost Game 1 3-1 and they never hit the ball that hard. Their first run was due to a strike out that got past the catcher. Then we threw a ball into right field in the 3rd inning.

Perhaps we could win Game 2 though, who knows. I doubt it.

 

[tatedog]

We've just been outplayed or suffered bad luck in just about every championship opportunity we've had. Miami HR in 85, last second circus shot in women's bball. Vandy was just plain better than us in baseball this season. It's not like we are getting there and just making fools of ourselves or something.

 

[maroonmania]

We've just been outplayed or suffered bad luck in just about every championship opportunity we've had. Miami HR in 85, last second circus shot in women's bball. Vandy was just plain better than us in baseball this season. It's not like we are getting there and just making fools of ourselves or something.

Only one I feel we really blew was the WBB NC game against ND. 12 point lead at halftime with the better team and we blew it. And Vic's teams almost always play better in the 2nd half. Don't even think we got Vivians a shot in the last 7 minutes which was terrible. Not sure I will ever get over that one especially given we didn't get the foul call at the end where MW was run over and had the ball taken away for the last shot. The year before SC was just better than us (beat us 3 times) and recovering from the UCONN game was just too much. In baseball we've really never gotten to a NC game so its hard to say we actually blew it. We got to a NC series in 2013 but didn't win a game so besides WBB we have never actually played in a game or match that had we won we would have been National Champions.

 

[Goat Holding Inc]

We've just been outplayed or suffered bad luck in just about every championship opportunity we've had. Miami HR in 85, last second circus shot in women's bball. Vandy was just plain better than us in baseball this season. It's not like we are getting there and just making fools of ourselves or something.

That last second circus shot in women's bball should have never happened. We blew that game, plain and simple.

 

[maroonmania]

Woodruff is a massive what if on that 13 team. Him and Graveman would've been two front line arms that would've been a very formidable one two punch that year. However, our biggest problem in Omaha in 13, and it's been stated numerous times before, was that we tried to hit everything onto the Blatt rooftop once we got to the Championship series.

Hard to blame pitching in 2013 when we made it all the way to the NC series and then scored 1 run in two games combined. But along with Woodruff, Lindgren was a non-factor in the 2013 post-season as well. That's 2 different guys who were on our roster that year that made the major leagues that gave us nothing during the 2013 run.

 

[dickiedawg]

We're going to be playing for a World Championship, that has to count for something!