It Always Ends With a Loss

I know it didn't really end...BG is heading to the CIT.  But, the goal you play for when the season starts...the road you are on...is to make the NCAA tournament.  That road came to an end Wednesday night at the Q as the Falcons fell to EMU in a very tightly fought and entertaining game in which, as Coach Jans said, BG "didn't play well enough to win."

It was certainly a very disappointing way to end the season.  There will be plenty of time to look back on the year, which was by and large excellent.  BG went from 20 losses to 20 wins and had their first 20 win season in 13 years.  It was, on balance, an outstanding season and nothing but thanks for the hard work and commitment shown by our coaches and players.  In particular, huge respect for our seniors who committed to a new program before their senior year, something not everyone would have done.

Back on the old midmajority.com website, Kyle Whelliston used to say that "it always ends with a loss."  And that's true.  Unless your conference doesn't have a tourney, in basketball your season always ends with a loss.  (Exceptions would be for winning the NCAA, NIT, CIT, or CBIT, etc).  It lends a tragic feel to the whole enterprise and just means that your final impression of any year is a losing game...and that might be one more loss at the end of a hard year (e.g. Ball State), a hard loss at the end of a surprising year (e.g. BG), or a heartbreaking loss one second from the prize (e.g., William and Mary and St. Francis (NY), both of whom came within a game of ending their NCAA droughts, which are longer than BG's).

But a loss.

And, as I always say, if you feel disappointed as fan, imagine how the players, coaches and their families feel.

More on the actual game later, but one last thought.  Yes, it was disappointing.  But when was the last time the season ended and you felt like our basketball program was on the right track?  2009?  Longer?