The "Let's (force ourselves to) Find the Bright Side" Thread

[scottdude8]

I figured this could prove therapeutic for us all this dreary morning. I'll start:

— Our non-conference home winning streak was incredible. 150 games is a number that might stand for a long time. But it was never going to last forever. Now we don't have to deal with it being the storyline of every darn game.
— Kentucky lost to Evansville at home.
— Recent history shows that an earth-shattering upset like this can rally a team together. Case and point is last year's National Champs, a Virginia team which was near identical to the one who was embarrassed by UMBC the year before.
— In 2017, UNC lost to Wofford at home.
— We still "control our own destiny" seeding-wise, in all likelihood. We still have arguably the best win in the country on our resume against Kansas on a neutral site. We get a chance to add to that against MSU. Meanwhile, Kentucky has a similar loss as we do, and MSU has lost twice. And we get to play three other contenders for top seeds (Louisville, Virginia and UNC) at least once a piece in our conference slate.
— The preseason No. 1, Michigan State, already has two losses, including to a Virginia Tech squad that was expected to struggle mightily this year.
— Waking up today, this team is still the same squad that beat Kentucky and had us excited after the Empire Classic. It's also still a YOUNG team. Our lineup down the stretch last night was four freshmen and a sophomore, for the most part... amazingly that's even younger than the lineup that we put on the floor a lot last season! This team still has time to learn and grow, and now Coach K can light a fire under them. Let's be honest, we all knew our No. 1 ranking probably wasn't 100% earned (but, to be honest, who else do you put there at this point in this crazy season), and the young guys may have let it get to their heads. Well, Coach K is going to excuse them of that notion now!

Let's get some group therapy going, haha.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

I figured this could prove therapeutic for us all this dreary morning. I'll start:

— Our non-conference home winning streak was incredible. 150 games is a number that might stand for a long time. But it was never going to last forever. Now we don't have to deal with it being the storyline of every darn game.
— Kentucky lost to Evansville at home.
— Recent history shows that an earth-shattering upset like this can rally a team together. Case and point is last year's National Champs, a Virginia team which was near identical to the one who was embarrassed by UMBC the year before.
— In 2017, UNC lost to Wofford at home.
— We still "control our own destiny" seeding-wise, in all likelihood. We still have arguably the best win in the country on our resume against Kansas on a neutral site. We get a chance to add to that against MSU. Meanwhile, Kentucky has a similar loss as we do, and MSU has lost twice. And we get to play three other contenders for top seeds (Louisville, Virginia and UNC) at least once a piece in our conference slate.
— The preseason No. 1, Michigan State, already has two losses, including to a Virginia Tech squad that was expected to struggle mightily this year.
— Waking up today, this team is still the same squad that beat Kentucky and had us excited after the Empire Classic. It's also still a YOUNG team. Our lineup down the stretch last night was four freshmen and a sophomore, for the most part... amazingly that's even younger than the lineup that we put on the floor a lot last season! This team still has time to learn and grow, and now Coach K can light a fire under them. Let's be honest, we all knew our No. 1 ranking probably wasn't 100% earned (but, to be honest, who else do you put there at this point in this crazy season), and the young guys may have let it get to their heads. Well, Coach K is going to excuse them of that notion now!

Let's get some group therapy going, haha.

Did we beat Kentucky right after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

[OldPhiKap]

"Always Look On The Bright Side of Life (A Sortabiography)" by Eric Idle is a fun read, and an even better audiobook because Eric Idle reads it. He is a funny man who has lived a very eventful life with some extremely interesting people.

[Avvocato]

Here's my thought: At least it happened now and not in the first round of the Tourney.

[Billy Dat]

Going into the game, I had been hoping that Hurt would bounce back after the Georgetown game. He kind of did, at least on offense.

[devilseven]

I will add the Carter Family's ageless classic, "Keep on the sunny side"

"Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side. Keep on the sunny side of life. It will help us every day, it will brighten all our way, if we keep on the sunny side of life"

[scottdude8]

Here's my thought: At least it happened now and not in the first round of the Tourney.

This was going to be another one of my points. I'd rather have this happen to us now, and have this young team learn that you can never take ANYONE lightly, than in March. Considering SFA is a team that's upset teams in the tourney before this is an especially useful lesson!

[dukebluesincebirth]

Roll Tide

[dukelifer]

I figured this could prove therapeutic for us all this dreary morning. I'll start:

— Our non-conference home winning streak was incredible. 150 games is a number that might stand for a long time. But it was never going to last forever. Now we don't have to deal with it being the storyline of every darn game.
— Kentucky lost to Evansville at home.
— Recent history shows that an earth-shattering upset like this can rally a team together. Case and point is last year's National Champs, a Virginia team which was near identical to the one who was embarrassed by UMBC the year before.
— In 2017, UNC lost to Wofford at home.
— We still "control our own destiny" seeding-wise, in all likelihood. We still have arguably the best win in the country on our resume against Kansas on a neutral site. We get a chance to add to that against MSU. Meanwhile, Kentucky has a similar loss as we do, and MSU has lost twice. And we get to play three other contenders for top seeds (Louisville, Virginia and UNC) at least once a piece in our conference slate.
— The preseason No. 1, Michigan State, already has two losses, including to a Virginia Tech squad that was expected to struggle mightily this year.
— Waking up today, this team is still the same squad that beat Kentucky and had us excited after the Empire Classic. It's also still a YOUNG team. Our lineup down the stretch last night was four freshmen and a sophomore, for the most part... amazingly that's even younger than the lineup that we put on the floor a lot last season! This team still has time to learn and grow, and now Coach K can light a fire under them. Let's be honest, we all knew our No. 1 ranking probably wasn't 100% earned (but, to be honest, who else do you put there at this point in this crazy season), and the young guys may have let it get to their heads. Well, Coach K is going to excuse them of that notion now!

Let's get some group therapy going, haha.

It's November
We will soon forget this loss and obsess about another
Team continues to fight hard.
Some Freshman take time to get there.
Some Sophomores, Juniors and even Seniors take time to get there.
Basketball is a crazy sport- the best talent does not always win.
It was going to happen sometime- better that it was on K's watch

[hudlow]

shirley-temple-black-1933.jpg

[JetpackJesus]

Did we beat Kentucky right after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Forget it. He's rolling.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

This was going to be another one of my points. I'd rather have this happen to us now, and have this young team learn that you can never take ANYONE lightly, than in March. Considering SFA is a team that's upset teams in the tourney before this is an especially useful lesson!

I like this comment, and agree with it. It was absurd we were 29.5 point favorites in the first place. That was never realistic. Like you said, they have beaten top 4 seeds in the NCAA before, more than once, in recent history.

[JasonEvans]

It sure feels like this is an unusual year. As KenPom wrote on twitter last night:

There are no good teams

When three teams seeded lower than 3 make the Final Four in March, none of us should be surprised.

[fisheyes]

150 games is easy to remember and it will take a long time for this record to be broken.

[Billy Dat]

If you listened to the post game interview with winning-lay-up maker, Nate Bain, you heard him getting emotional that his family's house in the Bahamas was destroyed in September due to a hurricane. SFA compliantly set up a GoFundMe page for donations. The page reads:

"On September 1, 2019, Hurricane Dorian made landfall in The Bahamas as a category five storm. Among the almost 400,000 individuals affected by one of the most catastrophic natural disasters recorded in history was the family of SFA men's basketball senior Nate Bain. Not only did the Bain family see nearly everything of value destroyed by Hurricane Dorian, Bain's father- a minister- watched as his church suffered extreme damage from the storm as well."

If I am not mistaken, at the time of the lay-up, the site had generated a few thousand dollars in donations. Thanks to the publicity of this win, and social media, over $50,000 has been donated. It may make you mad to go to the site and see all the comments by happy Tar Heel fans and the like, but there are also a lot of Duke fans and this really is a bright side to the story.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/sfa-athle...cp+share-sheet

[rsvman]

If you listened to the post game interview with winning-lay-up maker, Nate Bain, you heard him getting emotional that his family's house in the Bahamas was destroyed in September due to a hurricane. SFA compliantly set up a GoFundMe page for donations. The page reads:

"On September 1, 2019, Hurricane Dorian made landfall in The Bahamas as a category five storm. Among the almost 400,000 individuals affected by one of the most catastrophic natural disasters recorded in history was the family of SFA men's basketball senior Nate Bain. Not only did the Bain family see nearly everything of value destroyed by Hurricane Dorian, Bain's father- a minister- watched as his church suffered extreme damage from the storm as well."

If I am not mistaken, at the time of the lay-up, the site had generated a few thousand dollars in donations. Thanks to the publicity of this win, and social media, over $50,000 has been donated. It may make you mad to go to the site and see all the comments by happy Tar Heel fans and the like, but there are also a lot of Duke fans and this really is a bright side to the story.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/sfa-athle...cp+share-sheet

This is great, and a reminder that, although it was painful and almost unbelievable to watch, it was still just a basketball game.

[Rich]

At the end of the season, SFA will be able to brag that they beat the National Champions!

[chrishoke]

At least our football team is …. oh never mind.

[Tripping William]

I will add the Carter Family's ageless classic, "Keep on the sunny side"

"Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side. Keep on the sunny side of life. It will help us every day, it will brighten all our way, if we keep on the sunny side of life"

This doesn’t sound at all like Wendell’s mom ...

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Earliest "Optimist Thread" ever!