Any way you cut it, an Elite Eight and an outright SEC Championship is a great season. When the pain of this loss begins to numb, I'm sure my chest will begin to swell up with pride and the sense of accomplishment our 2010-2011 hoops season rightly justifies.

But not quite yet. In the present moment of disappointment, I'm stuck wondering about a few things.

We quickly lost a first-half double-digit lead. We gave up solid command of the game, and a nine-point advantage, with only seven minutes to play. We looked to a shaky backcourt down the stretch, when Butler had few answers for a dominant frontcourt.

I cannot understand our decision to clear out for Walker at the end of regulation, especially when he waited so long that only a desparation three - when a single point punches our ticket - was likely our only option. I'm equally baffled by how quickly we chucked up threes on those last OT possessions, since we had time to try and set up better, higher percentage looks.

I'm disappointed that Parsons, for whatever reason, was barely a shadow of the player he became this season. Fatigue? Maybe, but even that's hard to fathom under the circumstances. Think of what victory or defeat would mean to Parsons, a senior. A win and you get to taste the championship success that defined our program when you signed. A loss and your career is over, leaving you (and all of us) to wonder what might've been.

It just stinks that we had the Final Four within our grasp, and Butler stepped up and took it. That's precisely why my stomach was knotted up all day today. Not because I think Butler had the better team on paper, but because the stakes were alomst as high as they can get. We lost a game that would've unquestionably re-established our place at the head table of college hoops. We missed a win that would've silenced all the nonsense about Billy "catching lightning in a bottle" in 2006 and 2007.

In my opinion, it boils down to this - Butler played down the stretch like they've been there before. Which, of course, they have. Our freshman were clearly blinded by the bright lights of this big stage. We seemed a bit flat-footed when there were boards to be had in the last ten minutes. Our defensive intensity just didn't match up to Butler's with the game on the line.

I truly believe we tightened up down the stretch, whereas Butler drew on their experience of playing all the way to the NCAA finals this time last year. I absolutely credit Butler for taking the win from us, but make no mistake - when we've got a nine-point lead with 7:00 to play, a trip to Houston squarely in the sights, against a team seeded six spots lower - it was OUR game to finish. We didn't, they did. Game over, season over.

That said, Billy didn't need to win this game to establish his legacy as one of the greatest coaches in college basketball. He did that a long time ago. Likewise, despite UF's two-year absence from the dance in 2007 and 2008, our success this season proves we never gave up that seat at the head table in the first place.

I'll miss not getting to buy that Final Four hat, t-shirt, coffee mug, mousepad, etc. I'll miss not seeing yet another Final Four banner hanging from the rafters of the O-Dome. But I also I suspect that, once the disappointment of this loss subsides, we'll all readily agree that our 2011 Elite Eight banner doesn't look too shabby either.

Here's hoping that Parsons, Tyus, and Macklin will know how much Gator Nation appreciates their leadership this season. Seniority is SUCH an underrated accomplishment in college athletics today. I hope the younger guys like Boynton, Young, Wilbekin, and Murphy will use this loss as fuel for the fire going into next year.

I hope this defeat will rally our returning players and coaches to grow closer together, and become more motivated than ever to reach the highest levels of athletic excellence. And finally, I hope that we'll all be mindful, despite the disappointment of today's loss, that it's great to be a Florida Gator.