No More Moral Victories
By Chris Glennon
Judging the success of a sports team is a black and white thing. You either win a game or you lose it. You make the playoffs or you don't. You don't get any points for a moral victory, yet I have heard this term thrown around by my peers concerning our men's basketball team more than once during my brief time here at Santa Clara.
Last year, I could almost get on board with the idea of a moral victory. With the injuries and off-the-court issues our team faced, it wasn't all that surprising that we stumbled our way through West Coast Conference play. This year, however, our expectations should unquestionably be much higher.
We have three seniors, Marc Trasolini, Kevin Foster and Raymond Cowels III, a point guard, Evan Roquemore, who has scored more than 1,000 career points, and a seven-foot center, Robert Garrett, in our starting lineup. From the difference I've already seen between this year and last, these Broncos have the chance to be one of the best Santa Clara men's basketball teams in a long time.
At the end of spring quarter last year, I wrote, "A window of opportunity has opened for the experienced Broncos to stake their claim at the top of the conference." I still beleieve this, and although Gonzaga has shown itself to be one of the top teams in the nation, I don't think we as fans should be satisfied with an 81-74 loss. The players certainly aren't.
After the game, Trasolini said, "We let them get easy buckets. That's unacceptable, and it's something we take responsibility for." Neither Trasolini nor Foster, arguably the two best players on the team, nor Head Coach Kerry Keating, said they were happy to lose by seven.
Furthermore, a middle of the pack conference finish would not be something to get excited about this year. Santa Clara was two seconds away from finishing their non-conference schedule with a 13-1 record, with that one loss coming at the hands of the number one team in the nation.
It might be hard for some students to head into the Leavey Center expecting to see a win after some of the stuggles Santa Clara has had in league the past two years, but that's exactly what we should do. We just picked up two big wins on the road, so now is the time to jump on the bandwagon and make sure we give our team the best environment and the best chance to defend their home turf.
While imagining Santa Clara playing in one of the big two tournaments in March might be tough, it's happened before and I guarantee it will happen again. And you know what's great? This year's team has the talent to make my guarantee come true.