It’s hard not to cry after a game like that. Imagine what the players feel like. I’ve had to walk off my emotions for the last twenty minutes (I walked past the Bobcats’ locker room and just being two feet from the door made me feel as if I was trespassing – covering the game in an NBA arena has been a blast). I won’t bring myself to cry, but I’d be surprised if there aren’t some waterworks in the Cougars locker room. 

Emotions are a part of the game. They have the redeeming power to motivate and the discouraging power to distract. Tonight, emotions distracted. The team was shining, coming off a huge win and playing in a high pressure game they’ve become used to.

I don’t think the team was distracted. I think we, the fans, were. The team was the preseason favorite, picked to win it all. The early part of the season served to reinforce that position: we started off undefeated and we were nearly undefeated at home. We thought we had this in the bag. We saw a spring break tournament date and figured they’d be fine without us. We saw a team beat the defending National Champions and thought dreams really do come true. This loss shocked us because we were distracted. 

I think the team saw it differently. They saw a berth to the NCAA. They saw a SoCon trophy. They saw two seniors who were clawing for more. They saw a coach who had taken them under his wing be inspired to have fun. Their emotions were pushing them towards a win they wanted badly.

There were a lot of reasons the Cougars wanted this win. There were a lot of reasons the fans wanted this win. It’s not the loss that makes this disappointing. It’s not being able to keep going.

While the team won’t be here tomorrow, the emotions will. Not the bad emotions, but the good ones.

This was still one of the best seasons of basketball at the College ever. We’ll look back on this season and laugh at the improbability of beating Carolina. We’ll beam, thinking of a team coming together to put on a show. We’ll laugh at the chants of “Lime Green Sweater” in what is becoming one of the best places to watch and play college basketball.

The tears from tonight will go away in due time. We’ll all get back to holding our heads high, eventually. The emotions that continue from this night won’t be negative. Emotions are a part of the game. Our emotions will push our team and the fans to keep doing our best and cheer for the good moments in the future.