All we can do is try to have two good days of practice and tuck this one away. In a situation like this, you've got to have a short memory. Unfortunately, we're in that situation right now.

You've got to learn to deal with tough times. It tests you, but you've got to believe in what you're doing.

The guys are disappointed now because we came so close and had a great opportunity to win the game at the end. But I think in time the hurt will go away and they will appreciate what they did.

I liked what I saw from them right away. They were young players, and I knew that they had a lot of learning to do. But I saw their ability and their work ethic, and I knew they had a chance to be successful. They've both lived up to expectations.

Even when things were tough, I kept things in perspective. I looked at what we were going through as paying our dues. Sometimes you have to struggle before you can get to where you want to go.

I told them the same thing after Whitewater (a 72-70 loss in the WIAC semifinals). In time, you'll appreciate what you did. We have come so far in three short years, and what's neat is how many people contributed.

I told them not to hold their breaths, but that we had an outside shot at an at-large bid. It was just a matter of the right teams winning their conference tournaments to make sure there are enough at-large bids left.

It was a struggle, but it was a good struggle. I'm not sure we played our ?A' game, but we certainly had our ?A' competitiveness.

As I watched, it didn't seem like they missed.

This is huge for our program. This really shows the growth we went through as a team this year. We are really confident, because as I told our kids, our conference is so good that we can compete with anybody nationally.