Men’s basketball gets to pride itself on something it hasn’t been able to claim in quite a while: a successful season.

When the clock ran out on the Warhawks against Loyola, it didn’t seem like such a bad thing.  You obviously want to finish the season with a win, but when there is a turnaround as big as ULM’s you have to be happy.

This team was in such a dark place. The team’s win totals could be counted on one’s hands. The team collected seasons with win totals of seven, three and four.

Finally, last year the team racked up ten wins. That was just the beginning.

The Warhawks pulled out 24 wins this year. That’s the sum of the past four years.

Those teams were all hamperd by academic sanctions. Those sanctions left the Warhawks with barely enough players to even put a team on the floor.

Head coach Keith Richard spoke many times about how much this team had to be proud of. No one really gave this team a chance to be the success it was. It was picked to finish sixth in the Sun Belt. The Warhawks finished third.

The Sun Belt tournament left a sour taste in the Warhawks’ mouth. Sure, the third seed was left out of the title game for the first and second seeds. However, all three teams were evenly matched throughout the year.

The CBI gave ULM the chance to play again. The team did not disappoint. The postseason run was impressive and gave even more future confidence in the program.

ULM will now have to deal with something it hasn’t had in a long time. Expectations will now press the basketball team for even more postseason success.

That’s the catch of improving. The team has shown it is capable of winning. The pressure is now on to be consistent. Whether or not the team will be up to the challenge is yet to be seen.

However, for the moment, we should enjoy the amount of success this year brought. This season was truly one of the best in ULM’s history.

Welcome back, Warhawks. You’ve been missed.