Quote:
Originally Posted by UCats329
Bob Huggins made the Sweet 16 just one time after the 1996 season--in his defense that was in 2000, and as concerns that year specifically but for Kenyon Martin's ankle they'd have likely gone much, much further. Still, that doesn't change the fact that otherwise in his last 9 years they got bounced in the first or second round, typically by a lower-seeded team.
His last 5-6 teams were pretty much all booty--they basically never had a true ball handling point guard, they rarely had a real big man, and their guards were all 6'6" tweeners with streaky outside shots.
I don't know how you could have really felt like a contender at any point after 2000--with the exception, perhaps of the 2002 team, which was Huggins' best post-Kenyon team by a country mile. Even that team lost in the second round as a 1-seed by blowing a 16-point lead to UCLA.
As much flak as Mick Cronin catches, I feel like UC fans forget that Huggins was really not much better over his last decade in Clifton.
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My point was not about how far they advanced it was about whether or not I felt they could. And yes the 1 seed in 2001-2002 I did feel pretty good about. His later years were more on a down trend but there were still 2 years of top 4 seeds in there after 2000...but that is still 1 more protected seed than Cronin received in 9 appearances.
Either way I only had big expectations in 1 year of Cronin's 9. Regardless of how that turned out....it was the reasonable expectation that had me super excited. I get a little bit excited just making the dance even if I don't feel we are a contender because there is always that hope of all things going right for us much like our F4 year under Huggins. Sometimes you just need some good things to happen in front of you to make the run. Much like we had going for us when we lost to Nevada...it could not have been set up any better for our draw had we not had the epic meltdown. Opportunities like that don't happen often...so you need to take full advantage of them. Especially when you have a legit contender.