mike88
04-07-2010, 07:28 PM
People have mixed opinions about the idea of "good losses" but as Duke fans, our experience this year might be an example of how a few, well-timed losses can help a team achieve more in the end:
1) Wisconsin: early season loss helped us by 1) focusing on our defensive limitations; 2) took a little of the pressure off by keeping us out of the #1 spot in the polls. First time we have lost in the ACC-BigTen challenge . . .thus changing the trajectory of the season over past years
2) GaTech: reinforced that our team would not always out-shoot opponents and that recbounding late in the game was essential for us; gave us a sense that winning on the road in the ACC would be tough
3) NC State: not sure there was much good here, but it did help us understand that we could lose to any team if we were flat and did not bring energy
4) Georgetown: reinforced that defense and limiting turnovers were key; helped us recognize that we were not completely ready to compete against the very best teams nationally yet
5) Maryland: maybe the "best" of the losses; coming late enough in the year to remind us that losing was possible and didn't feel good, but in the context of a strong effort on our part. I think this game helped us get ready to win the ACC tournament in ways that the others did not
In all, I think our losses were good in that they were pretty spread out within the season and that they didn't occur after early March!
1) Wisconsin: early season loss helped us by 1) focusing on our defensive limitations; 2) took a little of the pressure off by keeping us out of the #1 spot in the polls. First time we have lost in the ACC-BigTen challenge . . .thus changing the trajectory of the season over past years
2) GaTech: reinforced that our team would not always out-shoot opponents and that recbounding late in the game was essential for us; gave us a sense that winning on the road in the ACC would be tough
3) NC State: not sure there was much good here, but it did help us understand that we could lose to any team if we were flat and did not bring energy
4) Georgetown: reinforced that defense and limiting turnovers were key; helped us recognize that we were not completely ready to compete against the very best teams nationally yet
5) Maryland: maybe the "best" of the losses; coming late enough in the year to remind us that losing was possible and didn't feel good, but in the context of a strong effort on our part. I think this game helped us get ready to win the ACC tournament in ways that the others did not
In all, I think our losses were good in that they were pretty spread out within the season and that they didn't occur after early March!