Hear Here!I underestimated Arizona when we played them in that first game in the regionals. When we lost the two straight to them, I thought it proved something about the limits of our team this year. Once they beat Miss State, at State in the supers... and seeing them play Miami... I decided we were simply up against a much better program "too early" in the postseason. Much like our softball team, having to face Oklahoma in the supers probably made us appear to not be WCWS material. Simply not true.
I don't care how others see it... but for me... there's a lot to be said when the team that took you out early makes such powerful showings against the expected cream of the crop deep into the post. I let coaches and players say that there aren't "good losses". As a fan, there certainly are. Just like playing a P5 in football and giving them a close game, even if it's a loss, is infinitely better to me than getting stomped and thoroughly dominated.