Way back before the painful struggles of the last month, there was a weeklong stretch in which UC Davis lost three straight games by a combined 13 points. Those games, all of which came down to final minute, are the great "what-ifs" of this season. Would things have been different if a young team had experienced success early in the year? We'll never really know, because circumstances have changed. But in the wake of Vince Oliver's buzzer beater against Brown last night, we can at least start talking about momentum again.
The result was big for the Aggies, if only because wins totally can recharge a team's collective battery. Despite playing fairly poorly on the offensive end, UCD won with the sort sustained defensive effort it had lacked all season. The spontaneous outpouring of emotion after Oliver's shot tells me this team has not been disheartened by a lousy start. Emotion matters, and UCD has not lost its edge.
The reality of the situation, however, is that ugly wins can only carry you so far. The Aggies did not dominate Tuesday and they were the beneficiaries of a foul-line exhibition that would have made Shaq blush. There should be no apologies for winning, especially for a 2-10 team. But if UCD is to turn its year around, something done by winning streaks, this has to be a jumping-off point, not a destination.
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