The journey comes to an end...

31-5 and SEC Champions, and a team that leaves much to be proud of. But the 2008 season comes to an end at the same place the 2007 season did, as the Sweet 16 has become a wall that we can't seem to get over. Right now, in the very immediate aftermath of the loss to Louisville, all I can think about is Ohio State last year. Because we had those guys, and sure looked a lot better doing it than we did tonight, and we let them get away. And then we took for granted that it would be that easy to get that close again.

It's a bitter pill for Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith and Jordan Howell, an especially bitter one. You come to Tennessee not expecting to do the things you end up doing, but then the expectations get raised so high so fast that you fail to meet them in your senior year, and now the whole thing probably leaves a bad taste in your mouth. That'll fade, and their legacy will ultimately be, we hope, as the guys who got it started, the guys who turned it around.

And we'll miss them. Assuming that Bruce Pearl doesn't bolt for Indiana, now his real test begins. The Vols, unlike the previous three seasons, will not be as talented next year as they were this year. You're losing two of the best shooters in school history and replacing them with absolutely no one - we've got no shooters on the roster. The Vols will still be talented, especially slashing and on the inside. But now he'll get a taste of what it's like to be Phillip Fulmer - you raised the bar, now we hope you'll enjoy trying to leap it every single season.

If the Sweet 16 is our wall, the program must be built higher to cross it. That comes from recruiting and continuing the process, and only works by keeping Pearl around and being in for the long haul. No one's talking about being terrible next year. But we've had a year since the Ohio State game, where the only thought that made it better was that we'd get it done next year, we'd survive and advance further. And a year later, we find ourselves in the same place with a future that isn't as bright this time around.

A suggestion: buy something that says 2008 SEC Champions on it. Don't throw away the greatness of the whole season with a loss in the Sweet 16. This hurts. Louisville beat us with poise and grit, and when we got in foul trouble and weren't hitting threes, we didn't respond in kind. Instead of playing our best, when we could never get the lead in the second half and lean on them instead of the other way around, we played out of control and paniced - a new version of what happened against UNC late in 2000.

But don't forget this team. Don't bury them for losing in the Sweet 16. The fact that we're disappointed and no longer playing with house money this deep in the tournament is a great sign - but the pain comes with it. But, among the many other feats of this team, the outright SEC Championship cements their place. It's rings. It's a championship. It's an accomplishment not to be taken for granted nor forgotten.

The legacy of this team, in part, will be determined by where it goes from here. Lofton and friends can continue to be the example of the Vols at their very best...or we can recruit well and continue to build the program - and that's a slow burn, friends, especially when you lose what we're losing - and this three year run is the beginning of something, not the pinnacle. We'll see what happens.

For now...congrats to Louisville. Don't talk about seeding or officiating. Thank God...thank God for the Celtics if you're me. But either way...when you invest yourself in a team that rewards you by being good enough to be ranked #1 and to honestly think about the Final Four, it burns you to be left in the same place you were before. But savor the journey, that hopefully isn't over. Tennessee will always be the 2008 SEC Champions. I'm telling you, buy something. Remember.

154 days until football season.