Dixie State men's NCAA bubble bursts

From the Spectrum Monday 9, 2009

ST. GEORGE - His voice cracked with emotion as he struggled to find words fit to assuage the disappointment felt by his young men.
Some of the players had their heads down. Others stared blankly into the distance.
Dixie State's dream of a bid into the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship was not realized as the brackets for the eight-team West Region were revealed Sunday evening.
"I thought we were there," Dixie State head coach Jon Judkins told the gathering in Conference Room B of the Gardner Center. "We were that close."
The Red Storm finished the season with four straight wins and posted a 16-11 record, including a second-place finish in the Pacific West Conference - a league that garnered two spots last year.
However, the Pac West was a one-bid league this season (No. 1 BYU-Hawaii) as the Great Northwest will send three squads to the tournament (No. 2 Western Washington, No. 5 Central Washington and No. 7 Seattle Pacific) and the California Collegiate Athletic Association will enter four clubs (No. 3 Cal Poly Pomona, No. 4 Cal State Dominguez Hills, No. 6 Cal State San Bernardino and No. 8 Humboldt State) into the fray.
The 64-team tournament begins Saturday, with the West Region hosting two four-team pods in Laie, Hawaii and Bellingham, Wash.
Judkins didn't like how the bids broke down by conference.
"I just don't think it's right," he said. "I know we have a new league, and our league doesn't have (much of a) reputation right now, but we still should have gotten two out of our league, three out of the California League and three out of the GNAC. That's how it should have been."
When the seedings for the West Region began and the Red Storm were not the No. 8 seed, there were a few groans. However, some, at least momentarily, saw it as a positive.
"I thought we'd be ahead of Humboldt and had a shot at the seventh seed and wouldn't have to go all the way out to Hawaii," said senior guard Ryan Sanchez. "When Seattle Pacific popped up as the No. 7, the air just kind of went out of the room. That's the way it goes, I guess."
Before the final week of the season, DSC was not among the top 10 teams in the West Region rankings. However, after winning a pair against Grand Canyon and watching Seattle Pacific (then No. 6 in the rankings) lose its final two and Humboldt State limp to the finish - the Jacks lost four of their last five - folks around DSC were led to believe they had a decent shot at an at-large berth.
"It's pretty disappointing," said Red Storm forward Tom Whitehead. "We finished strong and thought that was going to be enough to get us in."
Most seemed to agree the toughest part wasn't that there were no more games left - there is no NIT in D-II ball - but they would have to say goodbye to seniors Bowie Jeffs, Ben Hartman and Sanchez.
Judkins apologized to the three immediately after the selection show, and they stuck around afterward trying seek some form of solace.
They could look at their breakthrough season, one that started 1-5 and ended with 15 wins in their last 21 games. They could look at how they recovered from a disastrous 1-3 Hawaii trip and won five of their last six. They could look at how, in only their third campaign as a D-II - newcomers to that echelon typically have to wait until their fifth year before they're eligible for postseason play - they were on the cusp of going to the playoffs.
"After Senior Night we still hoped to have at least two more practices and one more game, but this is the end for sure," Sanchez said. "It's tough saying goodbye to these guys. We'll always be friends, but we won't be teammates any more."