Franklin & Marshall's men's basketball team recorded one of the most startling turnarounds in team history en route to reaching the NCAA Division III Final Four. Still, freshman guard Georgio Milligan stopped short of calling the 2008-09 men's basketball season a dream year for the Diplomats.
What would have made it so?
"If we won," Milligan said, referring to the national title.
Milligan's outlook summed up that of his teammates, who lost to Guilford (N.C.) 79-67 in Saturday's consolation game here at the Salem Civic Center, less than 24 hours after dropping a disheartening 62-58 decision to Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in their national semifinal.
Stockton went on to fall to defending national champion Washington University in St. Louis 61-52 in Saturday's title game. The Bears became just the fourth D-III men's basketball team since 1975 to repeat as national champions.
Late Friday night, F&M coach Glenn Robinson, honored this week as D3Hoops.com Coach of the Year, put the best spin possible on a difficult loss that until the final 2:21 had the look of a stunning upset.
"It's not so much about a game as it is about our team and our season," he said. "I think everybody would understand how proud I am of these guys. All year long we have been rated below what we achieved in terms of where we were picked in our league, what we were picked to do in the playoffs, what we were picked to do in the NCAAs. They beat the prognosticators and played well."
The Diplomats' unexpected success confounded critics all season and did so again on Friday. Saturday, however, found F&M still stinging from its lost opportunity.
"[Friday] night was real hard, a lot of the guys were upset because [the game] was so close and we did have a lead toward the end," said forward James McNally, who was named to the all-tournament team. "Waking up this morning was hard, eating breakfast was hard, going to warm-ups was hard."
Fueled by McNally, who posted team-high totals with 18 points and eight rebounds, F&M (26-7) claimed an early edge against Guilford. A lane jumper by Milligan (15) put the Diplomats in front 19-18, but it was the last lead they would own.
A 3-pointer by Clay Henson, who pumped in a game-high 20 points, ignited an 11-2 run. By halftime, the Quakers (26-6) led 42-33. Four straight points from Dan Selig at the eight-minute mark brought the Diplomats within a point at 58-57, but Rhett Bonner (15) canned a corner trey and F&M didn't get closer than two points the rest of the game.
Anthony Brooks added 14 points for the Diplomats, who played without the services of swingman Clay Scovill. The Manheim Township graduate was sidelined by an ankle injury incurred in Friday's game and spent Saturday on the sideline in a suit and tie.
Despite its youth, F&M will find itself in a vastly different role next season. Returning three juniors and a sophomore to its starting lineup for the 2009-10 campaign, the Diplomats will no longer be the underdog. "Not a bad role to be in," Robinson mused last week. As a young Final Four team, F&M will now bear the burden of being a favorite.
It's a role reversal they appear ready to assume.
"It was exciting to be here," Milligan said of the Final Four. "Hopefully, next year we can come back and win a championship."
"We'll take a week off, just to sleep, because the whole team is exhausted, and then get right back into it," McNally said. "We'll try to get back here and do some damage."
Getting back to the national stage won't be easy. This was F&M's fifth trip to the Final Four, but earlier this week Robinson recalled several Diplomat teams that could have, perhaps should have, played for a national title. Instead, they fell short, and usually because of something unforeseen — a hot shooting night by an opponent; a flu bug that ravaged the team.
As much as this championship weekend offered an opportunity for F&M's returning players to look ahead, it also provided a chance to reflect on its improbable run.
"I thought it was almost a dream season," Robinson said. "I agree with Georgio. To make it a true dream we would have had to come out of here with a championship. But getting the team here to experience this — all of it — was tremendous."
E-mail: egruver@lnpnews.com 
