One of the things that's so frustrating as an Augie fan is that he's arguably our "best" player all around in terms of the threat he poses offensively, his length defensively (not saying he's our best defender, but he's not necessarily a straight defensive liability as some other Augie guards have been in the past), and just his general clutch factor when it comes to late game situations, but that sort of just gets overlooked when we're discussing teams as the season goes on. For example, if Augie doesn't finish #1 or #2 in the standings (which, frankly, I don't see happening at this point), people will say it's a letdown of a season because we were preseason #1. Yet, on the flipside, if the Wolves didn't have either Parker Fox or Mason Stark for most of the past two seasons, I don't know that they're finishing at the top of the top like they have been the past couple of years. Maybe they're still up there, but it's a lot harder when you are missing a key difference-maker.
I know Augie has other good players and it's not like I'm saying losing Cartwright justifies last year's record (last year's record was definitely due to more than Cartwright being injured), but I would just love to see what this team looks like mostly or fully healthy for a full season. I feel like we haven't really had that since about 2015-2017 or so, and now I've been spoiled by seeing how well things can go when you're not dealing with injuries all the time.
I know Augie has other good players and it's not like I'm saying losing Cartwright justifies last year's record (last year's record was definitely due to more than Cartwright being injured), but I would just love to see what this team looks like mostly or fully healthy for a full season. I feel like we haven't really had that since about 2015-2017 or so, and now I've been spoiled by seeing how well things can go when you're not dealing with injuries all the time.
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