re: This season is a failure for Florida.

quote:

---

As a Mizzou and Cubs fan I can emphatically agree with this statement. I don't know why it matters, but it does. It seems like getting over the hump as a program gets harder the more times you've tried and failed. It's got to work the opposite way as well.

---

It's unreal but it does matter even Summitt faced it. And for a while people thought we'd never get over the hump. Once she finally broke what seemed like an unbreakable ceiling (always a great post-season but too often ending at the final four or elite 8), we were in it constantly.

What Summitt did the year she broke the spell was that instead of the usual pre-game practice she took all the LVs out on the court and had them lie down and close their eyes and visualize every play, every scenario, the game itself. The players said years later that the difference it made was that when they played the game for real the next day it was suddenly easier than it had been in years past (when the same players had come up short) because they'd already played it in their minds.

Regardless of how a coach or program gets there, when that dam breaks it breaks. Maybe it's confidence or realizing other teams that came before you did it or maybe it's just some weird magic spell that's cast but it's there. And I do agree with you there does seem to be a bit of trying and failing making it harder to break through.

I'm with ya on not knowing why any of this is the case but it really is.