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beknighted
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
Posts: 11050
Location: Lost in D.C.
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 Posted: 04/02/08 2:02 pm ::: So how are things for the other losing teams? |
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I was wondering how other teams' fans have reacted to their teams' losses in the Elite 8. Right now the RU board is something of a bloodbath, including threads with titles like "CVS is not an elite coach" and "When is WBB going to get over the hump?"
I know that RU has one of the more active message boards (after UConn and Tennessee, of course), so maybe there isn't as much collective fan comment for other schools. But I was wondering, in part, if this is just an RU thing (it happens after pretty much every loss, and there were similar comments even after the Tennessee game, although they mostly were drowned out by howls of rage) or was common for other schools as well.
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Koopster
Joined: 31 Jan 2006
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| Posted: 04/02/08 4:34 pm ::: Re: So how are things for the other losing teams? |
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| beknighted wrote: |
I was wondering how other teams' fans have reacted to their teams' losses in the Elite 8. Right now the RU board is something of a bloodbath, including threads with titles like "CVS is not an elite coach" and "When is WBB going to get over the hump?"
I know that RU has one of the more active message boards (after UConn and Tennessee, of course), so maybe there isn't as much collective fan comment for other schools. But I was wondering, in part, if this is just an RU thing (it happens after pretty much every loss, and there were similar comments even after the Tennessee game, although they mostly were drowned out by howls of rage) or was common for other schools as well. |
We are not an elite 8 team this year, but have had our share of experience there. My perception is that the Purdue message boards, which are also quite active, mostly range on the emotional extremes. Either the coaching staff and/or players cannot do much right and the sky is falling...to the thought process that we are right around the corner to a final 4 next year and a 'wait until next year!' approach. Really rosy or major doom and gloom. I believe it is hard to find a comfortable medium or blending. I there was ever a program that would, could, or should have schizophrenic fans...5 coaches since 1996 with a national title sprinkled in...Purdue would fit the description.
After a loss...especially an emotional one, there is a lot of activity as well as after a huge win.
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CourtsideTix
Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 4565
Location: Washington, DC
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| Posted: 04/02/08 4:53 pm ::: |
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I wouldn't try to speak for all Maryland fans, but from the comments we've received on our DC BasketCases blog (link below), I think the sentiments we expressed after the loss to Stanford (that it's been a great ride) are probably commonly shared. There's just a great deal of affection out there for the team as a whole, for the seniors we are losing, and for the coaching staff. Of course, it helps that we won the Natty in '06. This group has given us a lot of joy. So when you score 87 points but lose to a team that shot even more lights out, you really don't start bashing the coaches or the team.
At least I don't.
http://dcbasketcases.blogspot.com/2008/03/it-was-great-ride.html
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Full disclosure: ripleydc and I are solely responsible for the contents of the DC BasketCases blog
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njjosh
Joined: 07 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 04/02/08 5:52 pm ::: Re: So how are things for the other losing teams? |
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| beknighted wrote: |
I was wondering how other teams' fans have reacted to their teams' losses in the Elite 8. Right now the RU board is something of a bloodbath, including threads with titles like "CVS is not an elite coach" and "When is WBB going to get over the hump?"
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You should have seen my posts here last night in the second half. And I'm not even a Rutgers fan. 
I would imagine A&M fans, while heartbroken by how close they came to winning that game, probably feel a little better about it because they had never been in the Elite 8 before. They still had their best season ever and didn't get embarrassed like many thought they would.
Maryland fans probably feel the best. They got their moment in the sun just two years ago and are probably smart enough to realize that it's not going to be like that every year. Yeah, it's sad to lose and it's sad that Langhorne is graduating, but they got theirs, and just happened to lose this year to a truly great player and a team that had an exceptional shooting night.
North Carolina fans probably feel a lot like Rutgers fans - screwed by the NCAA by having to play LSU in its backyard (after probably feeling like they got screwed in the final minutes of the semifinals last year against Tennessee). They lost a game they could have, if not should have, won to a team that while very good is also beatable. The difference is that NC at least has a national title to crow about, while Rutgers, and Stringer, don't.
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Grumps
Joined: 22 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 04/02/08 6:27 pm ::: Re: So how are things for the other losing teams? |
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| beknighted wrote: |
I was wondering how other teams' fans have reacted to their teams' losses in the Elite 8. Right now the RU board is something of a bloodbath, including threads with titles like "CVS is not an elite coach" and "When is WBB going to get over the hump?"
I know that RU has one of the more active message boards (after UConn and Tennessee, of course), so maybe there isn't as much collective fan comment for other schools. But I was wondering, in part, if this is just an RU thing (it happens after pretty much every loss, and there were similar comments even after the Tennessee game, although they mostly were drowned out by howls of rage) or was common for other schools as well. |
It's the nature of the internet...The team doesn't even have to lose sometimes to bring it out...The Summitt gets bad after a bad game in which they won...Of course it isn't anything compared to the football board...It is split with the fire the coaches fans and the ones taking up for them and can get ruthless at times...
Grumps
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beknighted
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
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Location: Lost in D.C.
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| Posted: 04/02/08 7:40 pm ::: Re: So how are things for the other losing teams? |
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| Grumps wrote: |
It's the nature of the internet...The team doesn't even have to lose sometimes to bring it out...The Summitt gets bad after a bad game in which they won...Of course it isn't anything compared to the football board...It is split with the fire the coaches fans and the ones taking up for them and can get ruthless at times...
Grumps |
Seriously. One of my posts on the RU board mentions how there are sometimes threads on the Summitt about Pat's inability to coach offense. I'm not sure people there believed me.
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Iluvacc
Joined: 11 Jun 2005
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memphis10
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
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CalwbbFan
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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LadyDevilFan
Joined: 19 Mar 2006
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| Posted: 04/02/08 10:57 pm ::: Re: So how are things for the other losing teams? |
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| beknighted wrote: |
I was wondering how other teams' fans have reacted to their teams' losses in the Elite 8. Right now the RU board is something of a bloodbath, including threads with titles like "CVS is not an elite coach" and "When is WBB going to get over the hump?"
I know that RU has one of the more active message boards (after UConn and Tennessee, of course), so maybe there isn't as much collective fan comment for other schools. But I was wondering, in part, if this is just an RU thing (it happens after pretty much every loss, and there were similar comments even after the Tennessee game, although they mostly were drowned out by howls of rage) or was common for other schools as well. |
I'm beginning to think that fans become more and more cynical the more successful your program has been in the (fairly) recent past. Cal fans and Texas A&M fans may be sad but still pleased with the team, coach and overall season, because they went farther this year than in the past.
Rutgers fans, whose team made it to the national finals last year, may currently feel like this year's team is not as good, or that CVS isn't elite, or that the program still has a hump to get over. They're impatient -- they've tasted success and they've got no notion of settling for ANYthing less, no matter how good that ANYthing (like an Elite Eight appearance) might be. Same for Maryland fans. National championship two years ago? I'm betting they're unsatisfied with second round and even Elite Eight exits now.
ASU fans for their part, (fans of a school whose wbb team's record was downright AWFUL not too long ago) have complained ALL YEAR LONG (some of them -- mostly not on the ASU message board; mostly on comments to articles about ASU online) about CTT running an awful system, never getting elite players, never getting over the hump. Last year to get to the Sweet Sixteen, Briann January held Angel McCoughtry to 7 points, while dropping 22 of her own (and then taking an elbow to the head for a concussion). This year, ASU doesn't have "elite" players. 
To each his own, but these types of fans often annoy me. Building championship caliber teams takes TIME people. Even then, SUSTAINING championship caliber teams takes much longer. Just my two cents though.
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kage
Joined: 28 Mar 2007
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| Posted: 04/02/08 11:09 pm ::: |
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| CalwbbFan wrote: |
After Cal's last-minute loss to GW in the second round most of the posters were sad, but VERY supportive of the team and the coach.....everyone is/was excited about the HUGE progress the Cal program has made these past few seasons with Boyle at the helm. Though disappointing, fans took the loss in stride and seemed most concerned with the well-being of the players....starting a "thankyou" thread for their great season, etc.
Losing is hard on the fans, particularly when a team is expected to win, but I'm sure it's a million times harder on the players. The Cal kids played their hearts out and though they came out on the losing end, the fans appreciated them..... 
There's a lot of excitement for next year.... |
We did have a small vocal minority whining about the fact that Cal never gets anywhere in revenue sports. This is mostly due to the fact that Cal men and women's bb team both lost on the same night and in the men's case, lost on national tv by being blown out by OSU in the second round of the NIT. People were already mad about being 9th in the Pac10 and in the NIT and this, along with the frustration of football season and a half season's worth of frustration with Coach Braun, meant that they started lashing out at the women's BB team as well.
It was getting pretty ugly there for a bit with the two being conflated but luckily the long-time wbb fans showed up to curb it before the women's bb threads deteriorated much. We know how hard this team has worked and that it takes awhile to build a competitive program. This team brought a lot of firsts for Cal. After the hoopla and emotional angst wore out, the consensus is what Calwbbfan said above.
I do think that even the more pessimistic fans acknowledge that this program is going somewhere though and are happy with having Boyle here. (The more optimistic of us are ecstatic.) I will say that because Cal wbb is integrated under the "basketball and other sports" board and because Cal's wbb program is so new, we don't have the hardcore excoriation that some other message boards may go through. But after every loss, there will always be people lashing out (see: Cal football boards after the UW game). On the one hand, I guess it's good: it indicates they care and they care deeply to be that hurt/disappointed. OTH, well, bloodbath. |
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CalwbbFan
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: 04/03/08 12:35 am ::: |
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| kage wrote: |
We did have a small vocal minority whining about the fact that Cal never gets anywhere in revenue sports. This is mostly due to the fact that Cal men and women's bb team both lost on the same night and in the men's case, lost on national tv by being blown out by OSU in the second round of the NIT. People were already mad about being 9th in the Pac10 and in the NIT and this, along with the frustration of football season and a half season's worth of frustration with Coach Braun, meant that they started lashing out at the women's BB team as well.
It was getting pretty ugly there for a bit with the two being conflated but luckily the long-time wbb fans showed up to curb it before the women's bb threads deteriorated much. We know how hard this team has worked and that it takes awhile to build a competitive program. This team brought a lot of firsts for Cal. After the hoopla and emotional angst wore out, the consensus is what Calwbbfan said above.
I do think that even the more pessimistic fans acknowledge that this program is going somewhere though and are happy with having Boyle here. (The more optimistic of us are ecstatic.) I will say that because Cal wbb is integrated under the "basketball and other sports" board and because Cal's wbb program is so new, we don't have the hardcore excoriation that some other message boards may go through. But after every loss, there will always be people lashing out (see: Cal football boards after the UW game). On the one hand, I guess it's good: it indicates they care and they care deeply to be that hurt/disappointed. OTH, well, bloodbath. |
Good point Kage...The fans who were whining were fans who had NEVER posted about WBB before, that's what bugged me and I don't consider them real wbb fans...just frustrated mbb fans who were letting their discontent spill over into threads about the women's loss. They were slapped down mighty quick....the "true" wbb fans seemed to be disappointed, though supportive.
I think the cool thing on the Cal boards this season was how many folks "discovered" the wbb team and became fans over the course of the season.
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GlennMacGrady
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
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| Posted: 04/03/08 1:31 am ::: Re: So how are things for the other losing teams? |
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| beknighted wrote: |
Seriously. One of my posts on the RU board mentions how there are sometimes threads on the Summitt about Pat's inability to coach offense. I'm not sure people there believed me. |
You are correct. But those impertinent and intrusive posts by the "UCheat" fans are usually quickly deleted.
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I can't think of a more heinous word than ruthless to better describe the UT football board after a loss. And dear Gawd after year before last. Let's just say, I feel violated after reading that board sometimes. 