Several blogs are stacked up inside my head, including the most ridiculous outdoor adventure I've had in a long time, as well as another Ryan Mathews/Heisman update. But for now, I just can't stop thinking about the excitement of a season opener.
I'm sitting courtside at Fresno State's exhibition against Fresno Pacific, and really, there's no great reason to get excited about an exhibition game against an NAIA team. There just isn't. You might also remember the Bulldogs were pretty much the worst team in the WAC last year. They did not rebound especially well. They did not handle the ball well at all. The team was three scholarships short, and some of the ones they had weren't being used by D-I talent.
And yet there is a pretty decent crowd here tonight, and frankly, some energy. That's how desperate people are for this team to be good. Coach Steve Cleveland and I were talking about that this week. He knows how strapped people are for money right now, and his team needs to be good enough to deserve those ticket buyers. In a college town, the men's basketball team and football team are so watched. There's so much city pride that go with their success.
It's amazing how much hope a new season brings. There's usually hope in the unknown. Will Greg Smith be as good as people hope, as good as he looked a couple years ago at Edison High School? Will Paul George be even better than he was as a freshman? Will his production not dwindle as the season wears on?* Is this the year Cleveland finally builds that winning program he's been talking about, "changes the culture" as he likes to say? They finally scraped all the sanctions away.
*Another good question: Will they finally stop playing Ozzy Osbourne during timeouts at the Save Mart Center? Yeah, probably not. That "Crazy Train." It just never gets old, apparently.
I really think it is. I think this team is going to be good. I'm not sure how good. Better than .500, I'm sure. In the top half of the WAC, I'd bet. But I really wouldn't be surprised to see this team do something unlikely by the end of the year. Maybe make a conference tournament run. Maybe challenge for the WAC title. Utah State will be tough to beat, obviously, I'm just saying what feels possible right now. It's a new season. The record is 0-0, and still will be after tonight. It's easy to envision all the good possibilities when the season hasn't started.
Of course there will be some rough stretches. You can't send that many young players into Division I competition and expect the world will be chocolate-covered streets. But it's fun right now. It's fun as they're about to tip another season and there's a lineup to get excited about. What's even better, is there is only one senior on the entire roster.
Maybe this is just the excitement of a new season talking, but I see a lot of good things ahead.
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