Our 2018-19 season ended the way it started; with a resounding "thud." The losses to USD and Prairie View were both symbolic and symptomatic of a team that played great at times, but had this penchant to self destruct.
The Good - three upset wins against USC, USF, and Washington State. The Bad - meltdowns against Prairie View, Idaho State, and USD in Las Vegas. The Ugly - the two loses to LMU. Despite all the roster triage, we left two more wins on the table.
Among the thousands of alums, fans, and season ticket holders who follow the Broncos and this column, there's a camp that will say "considering" the loss of K.J. Feagin, Matt Hauser, and the injuries that shrunk our roster to seven scholarship players, this was a really good outcome. I'm not in that camp.
This was a talented team capable of better; but needed more. More depth, more experience and more rest. We played 20 of our 31 games with only eight scholarship players. In the past 10 years, there have been just three other first year players who have logged more minutes in their first season than our only two guards.
When you factor in transfers, we had eight first year new to the program players. This steep learning curve reared its head in the five above mentioned losses; three of which we held significant halftime leads. Our inconsistency was bi-polar; not chronic and very hard to stomach.
We didn't have one "go to" leader to stand up and take charge when we needed it most. Say what you will, but IMHO, at crucial times this team lacked the will or stamina to compete when severely challenged.
OK, Freshman and Sophomore lineup, prone to errors, I get it. BUT, what I don't get, is the lack of aggressive response and fundamentals when in the process of squandering big leads? After twenty, maybe thirty games into the season, shouldn't our offense have "learned" to execute a play and get a good shot from one of our scorers? Many times, when we did get a good shot, we missed repeatedly. How about get the ball in bounds or up court or down low to a well positioned player instead of resorting to late in the clock dribbling one on ones? How about a defensive stop or key rebound?
That's where you need someone to step up. We had plenty of guys, who in the moment, tried to be that go to. In some cases, we made big plays, but during the tsunami of losing leads with LMU, we didn't have the "one" to settle us down. Grab a key rebound, draw a foul to get free throws, make a great pass for a score.
For all our offensive sins, most turnovers in the WCC, it was our defense that wavered most of the year. Last in steals and from 7th to 9th in overall rebounding categories. The most glaring example may have been our last game at LMU. Ahead 19 at half and by 14 with 11:41 to go, we went 6 minutes without a point. With 7:24 to go, we turned it over four times AND gave up seven offensive rebounds to lose by two....Bi-polar.
Hard to watch. As bad as The W.tv is, this was worse. You can't coach experience, but you can motivate effort. Just review what USD did to us last Friday in the WCC Tournament and what they did to BYU the next night. Yes, they have more experience, but they also had a lot of heart in the face of back to back to back games.
All in all, a 16-15 season was just OK. Could have been better and certainly worse. The impatience level for alums and fans for us to get better is very high. Coach Sendek and his staff have produced two winning seasons in their first three years. Next season, for the first time, the coaches will have their own hand-picked roster and will need to "own" more winning and challenge the WCC top three.
It was a year of WOW and WOE. We've seen "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." I'm ready to see a different movie - something along the lines of the "Rocky" theme; where we learn to punch our way into the mix in the WCC and beyond.
