MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Brandone Francis plopped down in front of the Texas Tech locker room stalls where Matt Mooney and Tariq Owens were seated, their eyes red and wet as they clasped hands in consolation and solidarity while Virginia was celebrating on the court.

Three of the team's four seniors were still trying to process the fresh agony of losing in overtime of the national championship game with the life-changing and program-lifting season the Red Raiders (31-7) had just finished. In this rawest of moments they experienced, the sadness was too strong to push aside .

"It's so hard to come up short, man," Mooney said in the softest of his voices, staring straight down at the floor after Texas Tech lost 85-77 in Minneapolis.