Only one team that enters an NCAA tournament -- regardless of the sport -- doesn't end up feeling like Maryland and its fans do today. There's always a measure of both pride and regret as everyone begins to refocus on the future.
In the case of the 28-7 Terps, the future is certainly bright, with some promising players on the horizon and -- hopefully -- Melo Trimble back for his sophomore season. What is beyond dispute is that they had an absolutely terrific first season in the Big Ten and Mark Turgeon deserves tremendous credit for an amazing year-over-year transformation.
What happened on Sunday night could have happened in any number of Maryland's tight games this year. Trimble got knocked around and missed much of the second half. It's a wonder, considering the way he mixes it up inside and hits the floor in just about every game, that something like this didn't happen sooner.
The Terps probably depended too much on Trimble and Dez Wells, who definitely played his last college game on Sunday. When they were at their very best, they also got balance from Jake Layman and just the right contributions from a number of players. The chemistry was almost always there, but to climb through the NCAA tournament, just about everybody has to step up in every game, and that didn't happen against the Mountaineers.
Too bad. It would have been fun to watch the Terps try to climb college basketball's highest moutain next week. Maybe they would have had a puncher's chance of beating undefeated Kentucky, but you have to assume that this season only came up four days short.