Actually, Hans81, whomever you are, I AM glad I saw the game. Earlier in the season, the Wildcats showed that even without an experienced point guard they were able, when playing well, to compete virtually even-up with top teams. With Law and Pardon leading the way, and some help from others like Gaines and company, they were doing it. Then, more recently, they showed that when playing somewhat poorly the Cats were capable of losing to bottom teams.
Until today, I was ready to conclude that what we saw early on would be unachievable for the rest of the season. But, for most of the game today the Cats took it to Iowa pretty good. So, that spark was generated and the fire was rekindled. Iowa had some clutch shots, forced some bad turnovers, and got a break or two to contain the damage, but nevertheless they were seriously burned before rising up from the ashes. That happens, as it had versus Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament a couple of seasons ago.
As expected before the season, NU will not finish among the conference leaders but they still should be capable of soaring a bit more on any given day when the key players are doing well enough, preferably in the BigTen tourney. And, because of today’s performance fans like me can watch and root with higher expectations than we otherwise would have.
Winning 90% of a game versus a decent conference team is a step forward from where we'd been, slipping and sliding backward, before traveling to Hawkeye country. Thanks for helping us pull our act back together, and congratulations to your guys for finding a way to win the final 10% and take it with 0:03 left on the clock. That much was impressive and maybe enough to keep your momentum going.