Good show everyone! Good show! I just read all 11 pages of this thread with the same rapture as my grandmother watching the season finale of Desperate Housewives. I think we could probably draw parallels between the storylines as well.
It was especially fun to watch the thread literally limp to a finish, with everyone just exhausted. But in the end, I think one theme emerged: Where there is a loss there is doubt. And the only way to eliminate all the doubt, the shouldas, the wouldas, the couldas about your team, is to win.
I look forward to this argument every year as "several teams realize that they might be on the outside looking in come tournament time" combines with "our conference gets no respect" which combines with "why do perennial powerhouses get free passes?"
AND, just like every other year, this thing will shake itself out when all is said and done. The five teams that seem to be at the center of this argument all control their own destinies.
UCSB has the opportunity to show their stuff against CHAPMAN and LMU. Provided they win one or both of those games, they then get to strut their stuff in the conference tournament. SONOMA still has to play OREGON, then will have plenty of opportunity to prove they can take care of business in the WCLL tournament. FSU and FLORIDA both get prove their metal against one another and will likely get another shot at either one another or another ranked team in the SELC tourney. VIRGINIA TECH can use the SELC tournament to prove themselves to the pollsters. Ditto for GEORGIA.
Every single one of these teams has ample time/opportunity to move themselves securely into the national tournament or securely out of the national tournament.
Well said J.I.
