INDIANAPOLIS -- This is about heartbreak.
You've read this before.
So you don't need a bunch of quotes, eloquent details and vivid images to imagine the scene. You've been there. Been here.
There were tears and sobs and more tears and more sobs in the Wisconsin Badgers' locker room after Bo Ryan's team lost to the Duke Blue Devils 68-63 in the national championship game on Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. Duke won its second national title in five years; Wisconsin left the Final Four without a national title for the second consecutive season.
So this is about disappointment, the only emotion that makes sense for a program that planned to -- not just hoped to -- win a national championship for the first time since 1941 and instead left this city in second place. On this stage, on this level, silver medals don't matter.
This is about that young team manager, the one with long hair as dark as her black slacks. The one with a smartphone tucked into her back pocket. This is about the pain in her bloodshot eyes as she shuffled through the locker room, carrying things and dropping off other things.
This is about the Wisconsin mascot who shuffled on the balls of his feet, unsure of his next move as confetti fell from the air and the Duke players tackled one another a few feet from him. Bucky Badger had run out of things to cheer about.
This is about guard Josh Gasser, who made a wrong turn on his way to the postgame dais. He went left instead of right. "Josh! This way! Josh!" Gasser stumbled a few more feet before he responded, turned and hopped onto a golf cart. He sat next to Frank Kaminsky. They both used their hands as masks.
This is about Bronson Koenig, the sophomore point guard who responded to postgame questions with that "What do you want me to say?" edge. He complained about the officiating and Duke's 20-10 advantage in free throw attempts (Wisconsin finished with 15 fouls, compared to Duke's 13). And when he was asked about the season and what this all meant, he only shook his head.
This is about a frustrated Bo Ryan, who chided the officiating and "all the hands and the checking" in his interview with CBS. He also took a subtle shot at the one-and-done, "rent-a-player" generation. Hurt will do that to a man. Make him vent just to stop himself from finding a corner to cry in.
This is about senior Traevon Jackson, who struggled all night, going 1-for-7 from the field. He said that he'd "thought about some things" before the game turned. It was difficult to comprehend. But thoughts are rarely clear at that point.
This is about Riley Dearring, a redshirt freshman who has played 39 minutes this season but never entered the game on Monday. He seemed angry, sad and confused as he bawled while his teammates fielded questions about the biggest loss of their lives.
This is about Sam Dekker, who will probably be a lottery pick after shredding the field throughout the NCAA tournament. He went 6-for-15, scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Once the media entered the locker room, Dekker wailed. He sniffled. He tried to catch his breath and his tears. He never really put himself back together. The horde of reporters around him wouldn't let him breathe. Dekker talked about the pieces that Wisconsin had brought back this season. He reiterated the team's goals and intentions to win it all. And then, he spoke of Tuesday morning, which will arrive soon and magnify the gloom.
This is about Nigel Hayes, a prominent member of this amusing crew, college basketball's "Seinfeld" cast. The talented forward went viral every time he spoke during this NCAA tournament. He joked with stenographers and put together the one-liners that always tickled the room. On Monday, however, he couldn't steady his voice. He couldn't stop that quiver. He couldn't hold that lower lip still.
In the movies, Wisconsin wins the national championship.
The Badgers had ripped through North Carolina and Arizona before they avenged last season's Final Four loss to Kentucky. If they could beat Kentucky, Vegas figured, then they should be favored in the national title game.
And if they could launch a 17-8 rally that turned a tied game at halftime into a 48-39 advantage midway through the second half, then they should win the game, right?
Well, Tyus Jones, Grayson Allen, Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow -- four freshmen who scored 60 of Duke's 68 points -- set fire to that script and helped the Blue Devils outscore the Badgers 12-7 in the final 5:08.
Wisconsin had become America's program. The team the entire country could root for. The "You gotta love those guys, don't you?" squad in college basketball.
Lost in that craze, however, was its focus. Its win-or-nothing mindset.
The Badgers wanted a national title. Not another Final Four. Not a pat on the back for reaching the national championship game. Not a crown for ruining Kentucky's quest for a 40-0 season.
Nope.
Wisconsin wanted to be a champion. The champion. Crack jokes atop the podium as "One Shining Moment" aired on the big screen.
But that locker room, the one that crumbled in the minutes that followed Monday's loss, was the setting for a burial.
The Badgers' dream died on Monday night.
"It's tough, it's tough," Jackson said. "It was a moment to where we just weren't able to put some things together. They were able to come together more at the end and they were able to continue to believe toward the end, and that's what pushed them over the hump. ... We had it. We had it. And it just got away from us."
So this is about devastation, which Wisconsin will feel for a long, long time.
