I also got the feeling from Sawvel in the pregame pressers that he wasn’t really expecting to win either of the games. Always felt like he was treating them more as tune ups for the conference season.
He talked a lot about how much they would learn and how much better these games would make them, but he never once actually said the goal was to win the game.
I get being realistic about things. Utah is so much better than us that I’m not sure we beat them if we play our best game of the season and they play their worst game of the season. That being said, the head man should be setting the expectation that the team is playing the game to win. You stand no chance whatsoever if your players are going into the game with the mentality that the game is just a learning opportunity. Whatever small chance you did have is completely gone if you approach a game like that.
Practices and scrimmages are great learning opportunities. Those are the times to try new things out, see how different personnel combinations work together, and make/learn from mistakes. Games are for winning. Every single one of them.
