Almost, but not quite

I don't follow much of my college's sports teams mainly because they all stink. I also don't have time to go to games as I'm busy working and trying to keep up with school work. Today CCU's mens basketball team had a chance to be the first team to make it into the NCAA basketball tourney. They were ranked number 1 in their conference, but fell short today against UNC Asheville. Not once during the game did they have a lead and the closest they got was within 2 points and at times were behind by 10pts. In the end it wasn't enough. This is the second year they have lost in the conference championship and unable to clinch a ticket to the big dance. It makes me wonder what could have been if they had their 2 star players playing. One was injured a few games ago and the other was suspended at the beginning of this year. The basketball team has also been under investigation for illegal recruiting which seems to be a problem across many campuses. I wonder if this had any impact on their play as well.