Okay, I've been biting my tongue on the issue of repeat postseason underperformance, but Blacque Jacque brought up the seasons in question, so...
In 2001 we went to the EliteEight before losing to... eventual National Champ Stanford.
In 2002 we went to the second round before losing to... eventual National Champ USC.
In 2003 we went to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to... eventual National Champ USC.
In those years we had some awesome individual talent on the roster, and they played well together as a team. In the BigXII, Nebraska was down (relative to their history), and both Texas and Kansas State had coaching turnover and were rebuilding. Those would have been the years to get it done, take a conference championship, and push through to the Final Four.
Now, for 2001 there's not much to say, because we swept every opponent until we ran into Stanford aka "Logan Tom University." There's no shame in losing to them on their home court that year, but I believe we would have beaten anyone else (except Long Beach who had Tayyiba Haneef, Cheryl Weaver and Brittany Hochevar all at the same time, LOL.)
But 2002 and 2003, yes we lost Lauren Moscovic, one of the best setters to touch a volleyball at any school in the last eight years, but Lexy was no slouch either and we still had a front line full of killers. So why couldn't we return to the Elite Eight? We ran into USC, aka "most monstrously powerful Division I volleyball team to ever take the court." They hardly broke a sweat against anyone those two years.
And why did we get sent to LA to face USC in only the second round in 2002?
Because we fiddle-farted around and lost to unranked Missouri and COLORADO, fell out of the AVCA poll, and were punished with bad seeding in the tournament bracket.
Similarly in 2003, an error-filled loss to unranked Michigan in the preseason set the tone, and we had subsequent losses to unranked Texas, Kansas, and Colorado, barely beating those last two in 5-game matches on our own court. Again, welcome to the bracket with the #1 seed. I've seen a tape of our loss to USC, and it's obvious that we would have gone to the Elite Eight and very possibly the Final Four if we had been in a different bracket.
I remember in press coverage of the matches and of the NCAA bracket release, Laurie Corbelli herself said the responsibility for the woeful seeding came from "not doing what we needed to do in key matches of regular season play".
As an Aggie fan, those were two very frustrating years to watch, knowing that we could make school history, go to Final Four, and earn national respect (which of course helps build the recruiting base for the next few years.)
I guess my point is that I'm re-experiencing some of that same frustration watching this year, when our roster quite frankly wouldn't match up to the squad from several years ago -- plus the bonus of having home court advantage all the way through the Elite Eight, and we just don't look as though we're gonna take advantage of the opportunity. We're practically begging the NCAA committee to send undefeated Washington here for the Regional, assuming we even advance that far.
Anyway... humor a senile fan with too many historical stats running through his head. I'm not trying to lay blame on the coaches; in fact I think 2002-2003 was really the whole team's responsibility, and Laurie did all she could do short of getting out there herself and showing them why she has an Olympic medal and was MVP one year in the pro league that ran for a few years in the late '80s.
I want to see Texas A&M at the top of the ranks, and I do believe that Laurie and John have the ability to get us there, but I hope this year is a fluke and doesn't in retrospect show itself as part of a downhill trend.
