Happy Holidays, Cardinal Nation!

The 2020 calendar year is coming to a close. Though the football team is done with their season after declining a postseason bid (understandably so), the Cardinal women’s basketball team is deserving of more national praise for their play as the No. 1 team in the country this season.

All things considered, the year ended on a high note for the Cardinal. After seeing the seasons ended early this spring when the coronavirus pandemic started, the summer sports canceled and the fall sports canceled then not, a lot of things went wrong in 2020.

But then again, a lot of things went right to close out the year. The football team was the hottest team in the conference despite having to be literally on the road for the final four weeks/three games of the year. They won four in a row and after finding their groove, were turning heads for their play on both sides of the ball. A breakout performer in Simi Fehoko finished as the conference’s leading receiver and earned First-Team All-Conference.

And then there were the Cardinal on the hardcourt. The Cardinal who earned the No. 1 seed just a few short weeks into the season. And as we turn our attention to the turn of the year, the Cardinal are carrying that No. 1 seed into the new year without any sign of dropping from it.

Fran Belibi is still dunking on folks it feels like as well.

And with that, that promise for big things in 2021, I wanted to take the time to thank you, my loyal readers of Rule of Tree for this past season. I know it was different than anything else you’d experienced, not just in life, but on this site from what you had come to know. I know it was a different feel, different words and certainly different coverage. It’s difficult to cover multiple sites on SB Nation, but of course, difficult to cover multiple sites that run multiple sports.

I thank you for sticking it out with me and growing this community. That’s been my goal since Day 1, and you are all integral in that.

As we turn to the holiday season and the new year, I want to thank and let you know you are appreciated here.

I wish nothing but the best for us all this holiday season, however we all choose to spend it, and all the best for the Year 2021.

Happy Holidays from my (growing) family and from all of us at SB Nation. We’re nothing without you all, and can’t thank you all enough for sticking it out through unprecedented times.

Here’s to 2021 and all the things to come for the Cardinal, for us all!

Happy New Year!