MBB: Big West Semi-Final, UC Santa Barbara vs. UC Davis, Friday March 12 at 6 pm I don't mind losing, and UCSB certainly has high level talent and deserved to win, but I just wish we could have played to our max. Not saying it would have made a difference in the outcome, but it would have been more enjoyable to watch. I guess my biggest concern is that this is basically the team we are going to have next year (and probably the year after that). Sure, some pieces may shift, maybe some underclassmen make some leaps (like Ba did this year...we clearly missed his outside shooting down the stretch), and we have a 6'6" wing freshman coming in next year, but it just doesn't seem likely that we can breach the talent divide between us and the top teams.
On the other, more optimistic side, this team endured a lot this season, which I'm sure stunted some growth, this was the first time in the tournament for most of these players, and we still finished in the top half of the league. Give the staff a full year of working with the team, implementing different schemes on both ends, and maybe we can give it a good run next year.