I'm proud of the season, proud of the team, and it will go down as one of our best.
Why this loss Hurts so much for me, and definitely way worse for the players and coaches I'm sure is:
This effort. The entire team, this group, for almost all of the game, each contributed in the exact way that you'd want them to.
Mathis, after all the ups and downs if the season, hit Free throws, hit two key threes, and played great D, getting a huge steal and etc. Which is exactly what we would have hoped he'd do.
Harper, hit threes, drove the lane, played great D.
Geo hit big shots and was a leader. Young with huge threes, passion, epic drives to the hoop, suffocating defense...
Paul with that beautiful post up, a timely three, etc. Caleb with good D, and some good boards.
Myles playing through injury with solid defense and rebounding. Cliff grabbing boards, taking solid minutes and scoring on a nice dunk as well.
I know they all could have done better all game, but they each contributed as this group should and could, finally hitting that level again, like we'd seen earlier in the season from this group, and all wished would come to fruition right at the right time. It was beautiful to see.
What hurts so bad is that all of that fell short and didn't push through to the finish line on a few freak plays and bounces, and the fact that this team but it's stride almost magically last night, ended up being the last time we will ever see them together.
That hurts. Being a sports fan seems trivial, and maybe it is. But the emotional highs and lows are very real.
Why this loss Hurts so much for me, and definitely way worse for the players and coaches I'm sure is:
This effort. The entire team, this group, for almost all of the game, each contributed in the exact way that you'd want them to.
Mathis, after all the ups and downs if the season, hit Free throws, hit two key threes, and played great D, getting a huge steal and etc. Which is exactly what we would have hoped he'd do.
Harper, hit threes, drove the lane, played great D.
Geo hit big shots and was a leader. Young with huge threes, passion, epic drives to the hoop, suffocating defense...
Paul with that beautiful post up, a timely three, etc. Caleb with good D, and some good boards.
Myles playing through injury with solid defense and rebounding. Cliff grabbing boards, taking solid minutes and scoring on a nice dunk as well.
I know they all could have done better all game, but they each contributed as this group should and could, finally hitting that level again, like we'd seen earlier in the season from this group, and all wished would come to fruition right at the right time. It was beautiful to see.
What hurts so bad is that all of that fell short and didn't push through to the finish line on a few freak plays and bounces, and the fact that this team but it's stride almost magically last night, ended up being the last time we will ever see them together.
That hurts. Being a sports fan seems trivial, and maybe it is. But the emotional highs and lows are very real.