This is the time of year when anything is possible, and nothing is off limits.

Want proof? Ousman Krubally, the 6-6 Georgia State energy drink who invariably turns around on the bus and catches someone in the eye with an unintentional stray elbow, put up 28 points and 13 rebounds in an intrasquad scrimmage. Krubally scored 81 points ALL of last season.

We are entering the season of Christmas Miracles and New Year’s Resolutions and family get-togethers. Even when the statements and facts and history point to drudgery of sameness, we believe something will be different, be special. It’s that anticipation–the feeling we know is inside us and science has proven that chemically occurs–that keeps us hopeful. We do it every year, no matter what last year heaped upon us.

Krubally’s performance can be interpreted a number of ways, but this fact is indisputable: you sit up and take notice, because in late October it could mean something.

You believe because nobody has definitive proof otherwise. Belief is the most influential factor of anything great in our society, and the cornerstone of November college basketball scrimmages.

Anything is indeed possible.

Need I remind you that Drexel was everybody’s choice for the basement last year, and the Dragons entered the final week with a chance to win the regular season, and a legitimate chance to finish second. Yes they lost their last three games (by one point or in overtime) but don’t (Phil) gloss over the fact that Drexel was picked 12th in October, and those fans that believed were rewarded.

We believe, because collectively–when all 7,000 of us are packed into a mid major gym–good things are going to happen. And it’s exciting because it doesn’t have the sameness and uniformity of the NFL or domed stadium or Carolina/Duke called by Vitale.

We believe because Monte Ross playing four guards or Jim Larranaga emphasizing the scramble or Shaka Smart promising VCU will play even faster is different. There isn’t a sameness to leadership here, where groupthink waters down even in-game strategy.

The problem is that when a coach uses this year’s version of last year, the implication is that he hasn’t tried everything, which is exactly what you are giving him by donating to your university, buying those tickets, and spending the time to cheer Your Team on to victory. It’s also why Bruiser Flint has won three coach of the year awards and gets more static for a perceived “lack of coaching ability” than anyone in the league.

Hysterical, I say. Flint has won more games with fewer comforts than anyone in this league. Nobody gets more from less than Flint.

I believe that, and I can. Because it’s late October and anything is possible.