Day Thirteen: Expectations

Expectation can be a funny thing. The more successful you are, the more greatness people expect from you. The greater the expectations, the easier it is to fall short and be judged a failure, thereby lowering expectations - only that they may once again recycle into their gradual build upward.

As a former KU student and lifetime fan, I have been to many Kansas Jayhawk basketball games. In all my time at Allen Fieldhouse I have never watched the home team shoot a single free throw that 16,000 dedicated fans did not expect to see go in. (Expectation here can be easily measured by the number of hands and arms in the air waiting patiently for permission to drop quickly down to rest, accompanied by the familiar sound of a "WHOOSH!" from the crowd.)

Not every free throw goes in, and that is to be expected. But when the 2007-08 edition of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team won the NCAA Championship last spring, it not only gave long time KU fans what they were hoping for (but had perhaps stopped expecting), it left this year's squad with some very large (Big Jay-sized) shoes to fill.

If expectations were high coming into this season, they were all but doomed to be short lived, as KU lost 6 of its top 7 leading scorers to the professional leagues or graduation in the off-season. The current season has been shaky thus far, and the young 'Hawks squad now holds a respectable 12-4 record after beating Kansas State in its Big 12 season opener earlier tonight.

It's fair to say that after seeing the effects of losing six leading scorers and all five starters from a season ago that fans have lowered their expectations for this year's team. You won't hear many people talking about a "repeat" title. But that won't stop fans from enjoying the reminders that still persist of last spring's basketball glory that swept through Lawrence like waves of wind through the golden Kansas wheat.

And who knows, come next March, expectations may start to rise. I have a feeling that, although they might not admit it out loud, fans will soon be expecting this team to outperform their temporarily lowered expectations.

As for today's picture:
The free throw went in; that was expected.
KU wound up defeating K-State; that was expected.
The referee to the left dances an excellent Macarena.

That was not expected.

:)