After Crushing Exit, Emotional Kellogg Explains What This Team Meant to Him

There's no such thing as a loss that doesn't bring pain, but losing in the NCAA Tournament stings the worst because it means your season has come to an abrupt end. Mark Kellogg and the West Virginia Mountaineers experienced that pain on Monday evening when they fell by one point to Kentucky in the Round of 32.

As disappointing as the result was, not a single person wearing the Old Gold and Blue, including Kellogg, was disappointed in the effort the Mountaineers gave. They found themselves behind double digits twice and battled back both times to have a chance to win with eight seconds remaining.

“These are the hardest ones of the season for a lot of reasons," Kellogg said. "I have so many emotions, and I’ll try to get through them as best that I can. Phenomenal college basketball game. Phenomenal environment. Thank you, Mountaineer fans, for that! I think I’m speaking for all of us that that was special and something we’ll never forget. It was so loud in there all night long. Credit to Kentucky. Very, very good basketball team. Very, very well-coached, so credit Kenny (Brooks) and his group. They just really, I guess, made one more play when it comes down to it. I’m so proud of this group.

All Kellogg has done is win. He's the first coach in program history to win 25+ games three years in a row, and he did it in his first three years. They made significant steps this season by winning the Big 12 Conference tournament and hosting the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1992. This group, particularly the five seniors who will be departing, played a massive role in building this program up, which is why Kellogg was so emotional in his postgame presser. This group meant everything to him.

"I’ve loved this season. It’s been as rewarding for me, honestly, as any season I’ve had. I’ve probably needed them more than any team just from some of the personal stuff, just life. Man, they were just fun. I thought they brought out the best in me, and I hope I brought out a little bit of the best in them. It just worked. They’re Big 12 tournament champions. The Greenbrier Five. The environment we’ve created here. I’m so thankful for the seniors, whether they gave me one, two, three years. I love them all. I think our program is in a great spot, but this is not what this is about. This is a hard one. I don’t even think we thought about the end. I mean, we knew it could happen, but we were solely prepared to win tonight and continue on. Unfortunately, those are some of the emotions we’ll still wrap our heads around and figure it out. But man, I’m proud. I’m proud to be the coach here. I’m disappointed we didn’t win because we all obviously wanted this one really bad. I feel like this was our best chance since we’ve been here because of the home court and how good we are in here. I’m proud to be the coach here at West Virginia, and hopefully we’re building something, and these guys have a huge hand in that.”