in a different light. Responding to a question from Wrubell about the pressure they're under as the regular season comes to a close, he said something to the effect that he's been telling the team that they deserve to be in a position that they feel a lot of pressure as the season closes.

I'd never thought of it that way before. As a fan, sometimes I wish they would blow every opponent out, but realistically, that just isn't possible. Winning, in college basketball especially, creates more pressure. The more you win, the more you have riding on the next game, and the next, and so on.

What you don't want, is to be in a position where your fate is already decided and you literally have nothing to lose. Sure, you might have more "fun" or "play more loose" when that's the case, but nobody wants to be in that position. You want pressure at the end of the season.

AP Rankings, games against highly ranked opponents, NCAA seedings, conference tournaments, the big dance, etc. are all the things that college basketball is about. It seems like Pope is helping the team to realize that this is a privilege and exactly what they want at this time.

It's only going to get bigger from here on out to the end of the season. The stakes just keep going up. And that's a good thing.