Jan 23 2009
Losing is contagious: Bears must find a cure quickly
Just a week ago, the California Golden Bears (15-4, 4-2 Pac-10) were rolling through their schedule and it seemed that nothing they did could go wrong. What a difference a week makes in college basketball!
The Bears lost Thursday night to the lowly Oregon State Beavers 69-65 and to make matters worse, they shouldn’t have lost at all. Leading by 11 points with less than 10 minutes left in the game and looking like they would turn the lead into 20 points, the Bears collapsed down the stretch scoring just three points the rest of the way to the Beavers’ 18.
Sound a little familiar? Well, it’s not completely the same type of loss as at Stanford, but the Bears did fold down the stretch in that game as well. Somehow, Mike Montgomery needs to teach his team about playing 40 minutes, something they seemed well-aware of a week ago.
Losing can be a cancer to a team if it’s not cured immediately. The longer it takes to win a game, the more difficult it becomes to win one. A team such as the Bears, who became accustomed to losing in the Pac-10 last year, doesn’t have the same sturdy confidence than a team such as UCLA, who they have to play next week on the road.
They’re saying the right things, but we’re not seeing the results on the court. The season has been so good for the Bears that this is their longest losing streak of the season (two games). A win on Saturday would help make this a blip on the radar, another loss would be a lot larger.
We’ll bounce back. This is probably the first time we’ve faced some real adversity this season. It’ll be our challenge to find a way as a team to climb our way out of this hole.
- Patrick Christopher after the loss on Thursday night
Hopefully, Christopher is right. The Bears play Oregon (6-13, 0-7 Pac-10) on Saturday. Losing to the Ducks at home would be a major blow to the frail psyche of the team. A loss would also make it very difficult for the Bears to make the NCAA Tournamanet with less than 21 wins.
Losing to the Ducks would mean that there may not be a cure, and that would make Bears Backers sick.
