This year...

There are 11 seconds left on the clock. Chaz Carr makes one free throw, then the other, giving us a one point lead over Maine in the quarter-final round of the America East Tournament. Maine takes the ball up the court, our defenders get switched, and they make a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left. We inbound the ball to the only man I'd want taking the final shot: Chaz Carr. He hustles down the court, puts one up from the arc, and.....(this is the part where the ball hangs in mid-air for about 10 seconds) .....CLANK!

That's how our season ended last year. Although we made the NIT, the season ended right there for me. In actuality, it ended after the hotel party with the cheerleaders. Once we woke up and found out our "roomies" missed their bus, we realized that our season had come to a dead stop(the impact really doesn't hit you if you've been drinking all day, into the night, and the next morning). All there was to do then was pick up the pieces, dust them off, and reassemble them into a team that is going to kick some serious ass.

The parts are all there. We lost some people and we gained some people. We're not going to know how good we are until we start playing games, but if your season ended like the one I described, would you spend all off-season moping? Or would you spend it working hard to make sure it doesn't happen again?

17 days.