The time of year when college football and basketball overlap is always an emotional rollercoaster for me.
The past week has been a great example, as I was brought high with an unexpected blowout football victory for Idaho over WAC rival Utah State, only to be rocketed back to earth by the Vandal basketball squad's awful 75-33 loss to Montana.
It would have been nice to be able to enjoy Idaho's impressive defensive effort for more than two days. Holding Utah State to 242 total yard in a road game is something to be celebrated. And receiver Eric Greenwood's two touchdowns and 114 yards led a solid offensive effort — something fans were pining for after so many struggles as of late.
However, instead of basking in the football team's success, I'm sitting here stewing over an embarrassing loss to a Big Sky opponent.
Granted, Montana is almost always a very solid team. The Grizzlies can give any WAC team a challenging game. But 33 points is unacceptable, unless you're playing a top 10 team — and then it's depressing.
Idaho is groping for consistent scoring out of someone — anyone. The team is in serious need of someone to rely on when the going gets tough.
Chances are the three highly regarded players who didn't even make it to the season opener before exiting the program would not have made the difference — a 42-point gaping chasm — versus Montana. But former North Idaho College players Renado Parker and Idell Bell would have been major contributors off the suddenly talent-deficient bench, as would have point guard Gary Winston. After signing months ago, none of these three are part of Idaho basketball now.
That's a big blow, but mostly for the future. That said, it's hard to imagine the future could be worse than the present.
No comments:
Post a Comment