Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said after his team's 12-11 loss to Maryland in the NCAA mens' Division I semi-finals that he wasn't good at putting things in perspective, but actually he does get the big picture.
Winning championships in any sport is usually a process, one that involves losses in the post season for a year or two before winning a championship. Some teams are fortunate to learn and later win the ultimate prize, like either Maryland or Denver, which play in the national championship game Monday. Despite having won 18 national titles, the Blue Jays brought a young team into the tournament and the inexperience showed early in the game. But the Blue Jays will be back. They have too much talent, and now they have experience.
"If I had to say anything, I'd just say collectively we were probably a little nervous at the beginning of the game. A little anxious," said Pietramala. "We've been here before, the staff has been here before but this group of guys hasn't been here before. You know what, whether you realize it or not, the other three teams have all been here [Denver, Maryland, Notre Dame]. And it's been a process for all of them. And none of them have won it."
"It's a process. And when we won in 2005, it took us getting our teeth kicked in in 2004 by Syracuse and losing in the national championship in 2003," he said. "What this team has done for this program this year is re-establish that culture and we share the Big Ten Championship. We won the Big Ten Tournament. We went to the NCAA Semifinals and the Final Four. We're in no way shape or form satisfied because the goal of Johns Hopkins is to win the championship. But all our freshmen know is those three things, and all our sophomores know is quarterfinals, Big Ten champs and Final Four. Moving forward that's going to go a long way for our program."