Disappointing. Disheartening. Devastating.
Use whatever D word you want to describe West Virginia University's loss in the national semifinals, but the major reason the Mountaineers got pretty much destroyed was Duke.
The Blue Devils simply were too good. As a result, all of our excitement and hope quickly turned to the realization that the Mountaineers were in trouble.
Trouble that just kept getting worse.
There was no comeback. No suspense.
All three members of Duke's S brigade - Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith - played better than any member of the Mountaineers.
The one thing that always is out of a team's control is the quality of its opponent. On Saturday night, Duke was superb. West Virginia, a team that had prepared itself for the Final Four by playing in the rugged Big East Conference, simply was overmatched.
No one was prepared for a 78-57 loss, West Virginia's biggest losing margin of the season.
Rather than watching the Mountaineers celebrate a huge victory and looking forward to the national championship game, we watched our favorite team get dismantled and watched its star player, Da'Sean Butler, suffer a devastating injury that not only caused him to leave the game, but now we learn it is an ACL?tear in his left knee, which never is good.
As a result, we now have a national championship game that not only doesn't include the Mountaineers, but one in which Duke is a 7-point favorite over a Butler team that has captured all our hearts, but may not be ready for what it is about to face.
This must be billed as David versus Duke, a game in which the outcome almost seems predetermined, especially if Duke plays like it did on Saturday.
Rather than continue to dwell on the loss, we do need to remember that West Virginia won 31 games, the most in Mountaineer history, and advanced to the Final Four for only the second time in school history.
It was a great season and a great run, although the way it ended is going to haunt us for awhile.
The good news is that Bob Huggins has enough returning talent to make another run next year.
And you know that Huggins will stock WVU with even more talent, such as West Virginia High School Player of the Year Noah Cottrill.
Mountaineer basketball is in good hands, and should remain one of the nation's top programs for the forseeable future.
Now that all the major high-profile college sports are over for the year, the biggest sports happening at WVU will be the naming of a new athletics director.
Even more important than the football and basketball coach is the AD, who sets the tone for the entire athletic program.
West Virginia has been highly successful under the leadership of Ed Pastilong, who is going to be difficult to replace.
While there won't be the public interest in this position like there is when a high-profile coach leaves, there should be.
Contact Dave Poe at dpoe@newsandsentinel.com
