There is a reason why it hurts. Like Dana Altman told a small circle of media members after Oregon fell short of the Final Four, these next six months without practices and games will be tough.
“It’s going to hurt for a while,” Altman, who won Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the second straight year, said. “Our guys are really hurting right now. Their goal was to get to Houston and try to make something happen, and we didn’t accomplish that.”
As expected, it was too soon for players and coaches to start reflecting on its historic run in the Oregon locker room following an 80-68 loss to Oklahoma in the Elite Eight. For a team that was two games shy from accomplishing its ultimate goal of hanging a banner, the realization that the run was over — that it had to send off its seniors on a loss was tough to swallow.
“Hurts a lot,” Cook said after ending his career with a 24-point performance. “My season is over. We’re done. We were confident. We believed in each other, but this hurts a lot.”
Eventually, this disappointment and sorrow will blossom into reflection about the huge strides this program made in 2016.
“Once the hurt of this game, once we get through that, we’ll reflect back on this year with great pride,” Altman said. “I’ll look back on it with a lot of love.”
In October, Villanova graduate transfer Dylan Ennis accurately predicted that “People should be excited about Oregon basketball.” Six months later, it’s fair to say Ennis’ early feelings about this team were a bit of an understatement.
By claiming its second regular-season conference title since 1945, by winning a program-best 31 games, by receiving its first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, this year’s group accomplished something few Oregon teams have.
“We had a great year and we’ve accomplished things that have never been done,” Brooks said. “We put Oregon on the map for sure.”
No one expected Oregon to make it as far as it did, especially after losing reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year Joseph Young. Before the season, this team was projected to finish fourth in the Pac-12 and received just one vote to win its conference.
“November, December, there wasn’t anybody who thought this team would accomplish what they have accomplished,” Altman said.
In retrospect, this feeling of being overlooked may have become the driving force behind the successful run Oregon made.
What made this group special was its understanding of one another. Everyone knew their role. What Altman did en route to his first Elite Eight was masterfully weave this natural chemistry into a dreamcatcher; one that allowed his team to believe it had what it took to be the last team to cut down the nets.
This was all despite losing Ennis early to a season ending foot injury and playing without Jordan Bell and Tyler Dorsey for a handful of games.
“Oregon is definitely going to build their basketball tradition here after the season,” Ennis said. “We’re showing that Oregon is one of the basketball powerhouses now.”
There is a possibility that Oregon will wave goodbye to more than its seniors Cook and Dwayne Benjamin. While unlikely that anyone will leave, Dorsey, Bell, Brooks and Chris Boucher are all eligible for the upcoming NBA draft and will have the new option to participate in workouts without suffering the consequences of officially declaring. It’s going to be a matter of them figuring out what’s best for them and their families.
Either way, losing Cook and Benjamin won’t be easy.
“I’m thankful for them,” Dorsey said. “They did everything for us and we needed every aspect of their game.”
But if everyone returns, and Ennis can successfully petition for one more season — as of now, it’s roughly a 50-50 chance — Oregon will not only return its core, it will also welcome four-star recruits in Payton Pritchard and Keith Smith, and 6-foot-10 three-star Michael Cage Jr. to its seasoned roster.
“Could definitely be the start of something,” Dorsey said. “We fought all year. We wasn’t expected to do this. We had a good run. We can build on it next year.”
Before Oregon beat Utah in the Pac-12 tournament title game, Brooks said he wanted this team to etch itself into the history books. Following the win over Duke, Benson said it was another steppingstone to where this program wants to head towards. After the loss to Oklahoma, Benjamin said he’d never play for another team like this.
It’s clear that runs like the one Oregon paved don’t come around often. Now, it will just be a matter of taking that next step.
“It’s hard to go out like this, but we got stuff to learn,” Brooks said.
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim