Belmont 'Heartbroken' After Loss

Whatever you do, don't ask Belmont coach Rick Byrd what he thinks about losing to Duke by one point. Seriously.

Certainly this is a disappointing moment for our team and our program, and our young men,” Byrd says sadly into the microphone. “To put forth the kind of effort we put forth, to be close, so very close, to get a huge win for our school. Then when we had to go in and talk to a bunch of kids who were crying and we lost, we lost the game by one . . . [and] it's unfair in a way because it doesn't measure the effort that our kids put in, the mental toughness that they had during the game.”

Say what now? As Byrd droned through his speech, saying the words slowly as if they were hard to swallow, his repetitive “uhh's” began to take on a different sound the longer it went on. It was fairly short in and of itself, but by the end every “uhh” had turned into a “waaahhh” to my ears. Sure, it's a bit sad to lose by one point. But he did get his wish of not losing by 20, as he's previously stated. But Byrd wasn't done yet. He still wanted to get his point across that they deserved more.

“If we'd scored earlier [waahh], if I'd have run a better out of bounds play [waaaahhhh], if Justin's shot had gone in [this is beginning to look like a lot of “if's” to be unfair], we wouldn't have played any better but we'd be still celebrating out there and the world would be talking about us. But there's just a seeming unfairness that the outcome doesn't measure how proud I am of this team and how well they played.”

Okay, Rick, we get it. You're proud of your boys, they did the best they could, but don't worry, we're still talking about them, regardless . . . because they lost. At least you can celebrate that you got the chance to play. And it's not like there's a break in continuity. Belmont has appeared in 3 NCAA tournaments, including this year, and has lost the first round in all 3.

But in a way, it is a little bit heartbreaking. Belmont has had a good year with 25-9 season run. But the NCAA was a chance to break the mold. One that looked very realistic as Belmont played fierce and kept Duke on their toes. Some audience goers held their breath in anticipation, while others used all of theirs and some of their neighbors to scream their lungs out in support. With 12 seconds left, Gerald Henderson's shot turned out to be the one to make all the difference. Justin Hare tried to recover the lead with a last second shot that hit the rim and bounced off as the buzzer sounded the end of Belmont's season.

“I'm not gonna lie, it's a heartbreaker,” Alex Renfroe admitted after the game. He was “speechless” he said at the beginning, but then found his words as he continued on with, “You were that close and just to go home and a couple weeks later think, maybe I should've played on saturday or maybe I should've done this, or maybe I should've done that . . . But it's basketball, it's kinda what you expect. But when you experience a loss with 20 seconds left in the game, it's just a heartbreaker.” That's a lot of maybe's, Alex. Don't be so hard on yourself.

Duke's Coach Krzyzewski seemed to compliment Belmont better than their own coach by saying, “Watching them on tape they looked really good. Watching them in person, they're even better. They played with a great verve and they're just real difficult to defend, and I thought they played really good defense against us [and in] the last 9 minutes of the game I thought our team had incredible game pressure on.” That's how to do it, Byrd. Keep it on a positive note, shut your trap, and move on. Try harder for next year. As close as you came this time, I'm sure you'll get it sooner or later.

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