We have to

[Air Jordan]

lose one more game, I mean right now that is 10 in a row. I feel it is to much pressure on the guys to win out through the regular season and the BET and the NCAA's. Not saying it is impossible, but I feel the media will be riding us like crazy, and that will be more pressure on the guys, other than playing basketball. I do not want to lose none of these last three, but want to win the BET. Maybe if we win out we will win the regular season BE Crown, and lose in the Bet. Then they can focus on the NCAA's.

[PopeJohn2]

beware that you may suffer stinging rebuke for your negativity from the likes of kc, guru and others. but i for one understand your concern and accept the expression of your thoughts on this board.

you may wish to consider that perhaps if we win the next 3 it will make no difference between whether we win the BET or NCAAs or not. many teams have closed out their seasons with long winning streaks and went on to great things in the post season.

[FOTP]

Screw it. Let's win them all. Some teams I might agree with you, but with the level headed Jeff Green as our leader I think we'll be ok.

Let's intimidate opponents with the win streak...

[Deleted]

I don't think there will be pressure about a winning streak once we get into the BET and the NCAAs. No one's going to do a story that says "With a win today, the Hoyas advance to the Sweet 16 and extend their winning streak to 18".
Once the regular season ends, it won't matter - not to the guys, not to Coach, not to the media. At that point, it's all single elimination, win streak or not.

[guhoyasfan36]

I agree with FOTP...hell with getting a L to get focused. Just win...show no weakness, let the other teams feel we can't be beat!!!!
GO HOYAS, WIN AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN

[FOTP]

I'm thinking it's time to go on a 12 game win streak right about now...that would work for me.

I want so manner banners up the rafters that it takes 3 games to have all the ceremonies.

[Cambridge]

I want the BET.

[NickSixers]

I'm with you FOTP, 12 games left to win. I was thinking about that going to class this morning.
If we have to lose a game in the regular season, I'd rather lose to Pitt, just so that I don't pull out all my hair after another inexplicable late season loss (i.e. Providence 2005, USF 2006).

[bubbrubbhoya]

I understand the mounting pressure that the fans feel, and I realize that it's logical to see that what goes up must come down, but I think that the players are treating each game as one game and not as part of a streak. This leads to less pressure to keep the streak going and more of an ability to perform on an even keel each day they are out there. I don't think you're being overly negative, but perhaps a bit too paranoid. IF we win out the season and then get a few rounds into the BET, I don't think that the pressure of keeping a streak going will hurt us in the semis/finals of the BET...what will hurt us is that the competition is stiff, and that makes it tough to win games. Same thing with the NCAAs. IF we win out until the NCAAs, the streak won't matter. The team (and the coaching staff preparing them) will know that the NCAAs are a new season, and the only reason they might lose is because the competition ratchets up once again. I say win 'em all! (Note the big IF's in this post.)

[Elvado]

Strike first; strike hard; no mercy, sir!!!

[HoyaLingus]

So many conditional statements... It makes the Lingus' head spin.

[Air Jordan]

Well the reason I say that is because even right now , the local media when referring to our boys is that there win streak is at 10 games and thet has not been perfomed since the 1998 season, and things of that matter. Thats all I'm saying, I'm not trying to be negative but I just dont want toe fellas to get all caught up in the hype, and then we all know what happens then. Just dont take the cheese from the media is all I'm saying,, because after that one loss to ODU, they were saying we might be lucky to make the BET not alone the field of 65.

[hoyarooter]

We're not threatening to have an undefeated season, and we're not approaching 88 in a row. All we need to focus on is continuing to play well. The number of games we have won in a row means nothing, and should mean nothing to the team. It would be nice to win the regular season title and/or the BET, but as long as we continue to play well, failure to do either isn't the end of the world. The pressure is to keep improving, not to focus on a winning streak.

[theexorcist]

I, personally, like mounting pressure. Mounting pressure is a hell of a lot better than rooting for a preseason national championship contender that stumbled in the early preseason before losing a depressing game at home to Villanova and a close one at Pitt.

I love that Georgetown hasn't lost since January 13th.

Remember when we were concerned that back-to-back trips to Rutgers and Seton Hall might present a problem?

The fear, she is coming....

[Grandpa]

I'm definitely on the side of those that say just keep on winning, streaks be *darned*! Having seen some of the post-game comments from both JTIII and the players, I really think that the team "gets" what they did well and not-so-well in a given game - and they have shown that they've worked on these areas. This humility and understanding that there are always areas of improvement, I think offsets any potential pressure that can build from a winning streak.

In addition, what I think also defuses some of the additional pressure of the Hoyas having a 10-game winning streak is the fact that there are 6 other teams (Ohio St, Southern Illinois, Memphis, Old Dominion, Winthrop, and Bucknell) that have winning streaks of at least 10 games currently. That's not to take anything away from how impressive the streak has been, but its not like media outlets from around the country are asking the players day-in and day-out about "the streak".

Finally, just to pick up on apoint others have alluded to, the whole concept/relevance of winning streaks in college basketball once the regular season ends becomes less prominent since you're dealing with elimination games (i.e., win or go home). Thus, the only winning streak that matters is whether you are able to win the next one.

That being said, I really hope we get to see the Hoyas close out the regular season with wins in each of the 3 remaining games and really help to make the "regular season" one we can look back on as being special. After that, I would expect the team to be taking each game one at a time (just like the regular season) and not thinking of it within the context of a winning streak.

[MassHoya]

How far we have come since early January. The only winning streak that counts, per Bill Belichik, is one: the next game. That's all we need to worry about. Beat the Panthers! GO HOYAS!!!!

[jghoya01]

I love how we have on thread where everyone says we get no media coverage or respect and another thread that is concerned that all the media coverage could be a distraction. mutually exclusive methinks.

[Nevada Hoya]

This is something that I was thinking about last night. Is there anything as a good loss? This thread has convinced me that if you continue to focus on the game at hand (thinking any team can beat us - AND make sure they don't), it will be okay to win them all. That being said the next game will be tough, so Hoyas must have their A game on.

[nathanhm]

As opposed to losing a game, I'd like to see us nearly blow a big lead in the Big East final so that boys will focus for the NCAAs.

Earlier this week I was thinking sometimes its good to lose a game so that you can focus but then I realized something even more important. If we lose then coaches are going to flock to that tape to try and figure out how to beat us. But if we instead have a crazy win streak they won't know which tapes to watch.

That being said we can't really lose anymore this season because every game from here on out is too important. I mean we have to avenge our loss to Pitt. Then we have to avenge our BE tourney game loss to Cuse (and beat them in the Carrier Dome), and we have to beat UConn for the first time in like 5 years. And after that all the games are even more important. We're just gonna have to wait until next season to lose.

Plus I think games, like the last one, work nearly as well as losses in terms of making the team focus. I'm sure the boys were not happy with how they beat Cinn.

[vcjack]

I don't see why you people are worying, the tradeoff of the Bears loosing the superbowl has already solidified our NC. And being that I'm the most important person in the world, a tradeoff loss for me counts for everybody.

(ps, there might be other who use this strategy too because I firmly believe that John Kerry loosing in 2004 was the tradeoff of the Red Sox wining the world series for some Bostonion)