It was too soon to reflect and the wrong time to look ahead.
Franklin & Marshall's Mike Baker, Georgio Milligan and James McNally sat in an interview room with their eyes glued to the floor, still trying to process how their team had just dropped a 73-65 decision to Randolph-Macon in the Division III Elite Eight Saturday night at St. Mary's College.
The Diplomats' trio were hurting, emotionally.
F&M coach Glenn Robinson was able to put into words what his players were trying to say.
"It's too early to think of next year," Robinson said, referring to the fact that four of his five starters will return next season. "We need to take time and look at our season and see what we accomplished. We'll take some time to do that and suffer together, because of this loss, and then move on to next year."
The Diplomats (26-5), playing in their second consecutive Elite Eight game, were simply unable to match the Yellow Jackets' downtown range.
RMC (26-6) connected on 11 treys, five of which came from Eric Pugh, who scored a game-high 23 points.
"They did a good job of screening for him," said Milligan, who netted 15 points and guarded Pugh for most of the night. "He got some space and hit his shots."
Pugh's biggest three came with 5:05 left in the game that gave the Jackets their biggest lead of the game, 63-52.
"It was probably my best game," Pugh said. "I couldn't have done it though without my teammates screening for me and trusting me to shoot."
F&M was able to close the deficit to three, 68-65, with 31 seconds left in game when Steve Tolliver drained the Diplomats' only three of the night. With the Diplomats having to foul, RMC connected on five of six free throws in the final 30 seconds to ice the game.
After the Diplomats took a 35-33 lead early in the second half, the Jackets went on a 14-4 run, including a pair of from downtown, to lead 47-39 with 12:40 left in the game.
F&M answered with consecutive scores from Baker (14 points), McNally (22) and Anthony Brooks (9) to narrow the gap to one, 47-46.
Randolph-Macon responded with three treys and then exploited the gaps underneath the basket created by F&M's aggressiveness on the perimeter, leading by 58-48 with 7:45 left in the game.
"It's difficult underneath because we have a swarming defense," Baker said. "When they're shooting that well from the 3-point line it makes it difficult underneath."
The Diplomats led by as much as five, 16-11, on Hayk Gyokchyan's lay-up with 9:50 left in the first half. McNally scored six of those points and Milligan added four.
The Yellow Jackets answered with six unanswered to take their first lead, 17-16, on Pugh's trey with 6:41 left. RMC padded its lead to six, 24-18, due largely to Thomas Scheeler's five points in a one-minute span.
A Milligan-led run put F&M ahead with 2:45 left before the half. The sophomore guard finished a pair of layups, hit a front end of a one-and-one, and found McNally on the right wing to put the Diplomats ahead 25-24.
A pair of free throws by Pugh and a layup from Calvin Croskey gave RMC a 28-25 lead before Baker's jumper cut into F&M's deficit to make it 28-27 at the half.
Understanding the pain his players are feeling following the game, Robinson believes his players can put the 2009-10 season into perspective.
"Everyone wants to get to the Final Four," he said. "In 30-40 hours, they're going to realize what a wonderful season they had. A lot of teams would love to be in their place. I don't think it will take away the pain, but they'll realize what great season they had."