Well, that's it.
For the second straight year, the University of Cincinnati men's basketball team won't be participating in the NCAA Tournament. (The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
The storied Bearcats, who boast 33 NCAA Tournament appearances, 10 Sweet 16s, eight Elite Eights, six Final Fours and two national championships, will be shut out of college basketball's biggest show.
A season that started with such promise – and then ran into an excruciatingly turbulent stretch – came to an end on Friday.
Despite owning a 10-point lead early in the second half against top-seeded Houston in the second round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Cincinnati went 5:43 without a single point and suffered a season-ending 69-56 loss.
It was yet another example of the offensive struggles first-year UC coach Wes Miller's group trudged through during the last month and a half of the season.
Tears welled up in Cincinnati's third-team All-AAC senior guard David DeJulius' eyes as he walked off the court inside Dickies Arena.
Frustration and disappointment poured out of UC junior Jeremiah Davenport's defeated and deflated body during the postgame news conference.
"This group has been admirable throughout the last four weeks – through a tough stretch – of just keep trying to come back and figure it out," said Miller, with Davenport hunched over to his left. "I thought there were times tonight where we played some of our best basketball. I hate that we came up short."
The Bearcats (18-15) started their first season under Miller 5-0. Cincinnati beat a top-15 Illinois team on the first day of the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Missouri, and then went toe to toe with another top-15 opponent in Arkansas on the second day.
UC suffered its first loss of the season against the Razorbacks (73-67), but returned home with great optimism.
"I think we proved on a national stage we can play with people," Miller said. "Last night was a heck of a lot of fun. Tonight, we were right there against probably a top-10 team in the country. So there's a lot to be proud of, a lot of things we can build on."
A surprising two-point loss at home to younger brother Walker and Monmouth or even an embarrassing 20-point drubbing in his Crosstown Shootout debut couldn't shake Miller's optimism.
He and the Bearcats boarded a plane to Philadelphia in late January with a 14-5 record (4-2 in conference play) and a three-game winning streak. But then Cincinnati came back down to earth and scored a then-season-low 58 points in a three-point loss at Temple.
Cincinnati responded and ended the month by narrowly escaping Greenville, North Carolina, with a one-point victory over East Carolina, the 200th win of Miller's career as a head coach.
Miller would only add three more victories to his resume the rest of the season.
Following the win at ECU and a postponement due to inclement weather, UC played 10 games in a span of three and a half weeks. Having very little time to practice, the Bearcats suffered eight losses during the stretch.
The Bearcats lost nine of their 12 games.
"I want to make sure I preface it this way because I don't want to be misinterpreted," Miller said Friday. "But we went through that stretch where we played so many games in a short period of time. I'm not using this as a crutch or as an excuse, because you have to be good enough to overcome a lack of practice or whatever it may be. And that could be a stretch that makes your year. So I'm owning that we didn't do a good enough job. But this team just needed practice.
"... The more we practiced, the more success we've had. When we got away from practicing in February, you saw the little things go. You didn't see the will to want to win (go), you didn't see our effort – with a few exceptions – drop at all. You didn't see our togetherness drop at all. That talks about our guys' character. But we didn't have a chance to build the habits that we've been building up over the last five or six months, and you saw some of the results fall a little bit. We got a chance to get back to practicing this week, and that means we were going to be sharper in our execution."
The Bearcats were sharper Friday after a first-round win over ECU on Thursday, but UC still lost to back-to-back AAC Tournament champ Houston for the sixth straight time dating back to the 2019-20 season.
Now, Miller must shift his sights to next season, his second at Cincinnati.
The 39-year-old coach will need to hit the recruiting trail and transfer portal and find replacements for big men Abdul Ado and Hayden Koval, and find out if DeJulius, who led the team with 14.5 points per game this season, will use the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic and return for another year.
Senior Clemson transfer John Newman III has already said he'll use that additional year and be back.
Newman, who battled a nagging ankle injury since the Hall of Fame Classic, scored in double figures in four of the last eight games, including a team-leading 13 points against the Cougars.
"I don't think I've seen the best of me yet," Newman said. "I don't think anyone has. I just told my teammates in the locker room I'm going to get a lot better. I started to hit my stride toward the end of the year. I just locked myself in the gym more. So that's what I'm going to keep doing. I'm going to get a lot better. We haven't seen the best of me yet."
Regardless of what happens between now and next season, the future is bright for Cincinnati. Miller and his players see it, and so do opposing teams.
"I know what it's like to take over a new program," said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, who was named the AAC Coach of the Year. "I think Wes has done a wonderful job. It's only going to get better as he goes along."