Perhaps Eddie Gill summed it up best just moments after his final home game in which Weber State beat Montana State.
"No matter what happens the rest of the way," Gill said, "this has been a disappointment."
Not exactly the words you'd expect to here from a guy who just recorded the first triple double in school history. But even in a win, Gill saw a bigger picture that included unmet expectations, lackluster results and angry fans.
The Wildcats were coming off a remarkable season that included a win over North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament and the return of a Wooden Award candidate forward, Harold Arceneaux, and a point guard, Gill, whom many considered to be a better player.
But with those great experiences came even greater expectations. And those were never met.
The Wildcats started out well enough, beating up Utah in the Dee Events Center, but never seemed to be the team most envisioned. Even a normally respectable 18-10 record wasn't good enough for the fans or the team.
"After what we did last year," said first-year coach Joe Cravens, "everyone expected a little bit more. Especially when you think about the two guys we had coming back."
Arceneaux and Gill had remarkable years, both finishing the season atop several statistical categories, but the rest of the Wildcats never seemed to gel. Cravens mixed up the offense considerably from the Ron Abegglen style of play, and without an established inside presence, Arceneaux and Gill weren't able to run wild.
WSU did have a pair of talented big men, however. Junior Ivan Gatto and freshman Stephan Bachmann showed flashes of brilliance, but neither was a solid defender nor physical player. Bachmann was named the Big Sky freshman of the year after averaging 10.8 points per game and shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor.
But other than Bachmann, the supporting cast was non-existent many games and ineffective most others.
Shooting guards Quynn Tebbs and Shawn Moore were never able to get their shots to fall. Gatto's minutes faded as the season progressed, and his shooting percentage declined. Forward Chris Woods provided plenty of hustle and a few rebounds but little offense. Dan Del Vecchio didn't get off the bench most games, and when he did was called for a foul almost as soon as he checked into the game.
Marc Thurig, a 6-10 Swiss product, also hustled a lot but didn't accomplish much else. True freshman point guard Stevie Morrison showed glimpses of promise but didn't get many minutes as Gill was needed on the floor as much as possible.
In short, the Wildcats were a two-man team with several role players not quite fitting in when they needed to do.
After opening the season as unanimous choices to repeat as Big Sky champs, the Wildcats slid into the middle of the pack and finished tied for fourth.
And when WSU lost to Cal State Northridge in the first round of the Big Sky tourney last week, it came as a major let down to the team and its boosters. It wasn't only the lack of depth and absence of an outside threat that doomed — as if 18-10 is horrible — Weber State's season. Thanks to making that big splash in the Big Dance the year before, the Wildcats were thrown into the Big Sky TV package regularly and ended up with several back-to-back games. That made winning more difficult than Cravens or the team would like.
"I think we were dealt a bad hand in several instances," Cravens said. "You can talk about our schedule and you can talk about high expectations, but I understand that the buck stops here. I said when I took this job that I heard the clock start ticking. I hear it ticking even louder now."
Still, Cravens expects slow improvement from the Wildcats in the years to come despite losing two of the best players in school history. "In my mind, the future is very bright at Weber State.".
Part of that rebuilding Cravens and the Wildcats will have to go through includes several returning players and few familiars faces and some highly touted recruits.
Bachmann, Gatto and Morrison will be the key veterans from this year's team to come back, but WSU also will welcome swing player Nick Sparrow and burly forward Jake Shoff (6-8) back from LDS missions and redshirt forward Pat Danley (6-8). Point guard Jermaine Boyette sat the year out with Danley while attending WSU and will be a sophomore after transferring from SLCC.
Add Indiana freshman scoring machine John Hamilton and the Wildcats could again be a force to reckon with. Seven-footer Cam Koford is also expected back from a mission but reportedly might not fit into the mix.