Heartbreaking is a simple word that could easily define the ending to the football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball seasons.

While some pills were tougher to swallow this year, ISU coach Bill Fennelly said after his team got knocked out in the NCAA tournament by No. 4-seeded Georgia, he found something with his players that he thought he had lost.

“They gave me back something I thought I lost. I really mean that,” Fennelly said. “[It was great] to be around them every day and to see how hard they have worked at things and the progress they made and the way they cared about one another.

“I lost a little bit of belief in people understanding and wanting to do things the ‘Iowa State way.’ That there were kids on our team in the past that didn’t get it. … There’s no way to quantify that. And I did not want to be involved or around people that didn’t get it.”

After the end of the ISU women’s basketball team’s season in Spokane, Wash., Fennelly and players gave one of the more emotional news conferences I had seen all season.

It was more emotional than the loss at Iowa when sophomore Nikki Moody and junior Hallie Christofferson came in, still teary-eyed after coming up short against the in-state foes; more emotional than when the team had mounted a 13-point comeback to beat West Virginia on senior night to give Chelsea Poppens, Anna Prins and Amanda Zimmerman one last memory of Hilton Coliseum.

The most important aspect about this women’s basketball team was the emotion and family-like atmosphere with which it played all season long. It was something out of an ESPN 30 for 30 story you might see on prime-time television.

This news conference was somber. Players and Fennelly awaited the press, awaiting questions on their feelings of the loss to No. 4 seed Georgia. 

Prins answered first, talking about how it was an amazing ride. She handled question after question until emotions and tears flooded her eyes when she finally realized she would no longer put on the ISU uniform.

Toward the end of her last question, Prins began speaking about how she would “never forget this year” and how it was “the most amazing experience of her life.” She said she was prepared for life.

That’s what Fennelly had done for these women. In turn, they gave him back the feeling of understanding and the commitment of the “Iowa State way” he preached about since the first day of summer practice.

The Cyclone women wore their emotions on their sleeves this season, and it paid off.

And that’s not to say there isn’t emotion in men’s games, but not once did you see Moody fly down the court and try to make a 360-degree dunk (granted, she is only 5-foot-8). Each play was a team effort, which was special for fans to watch.

Throughout the season, Fennelly told the media about the uniqueness of his 2012-13 team, how it was unlike most in the Big 12 Conference or in the country.

It was apparent on the court and on the bench. Freshman Madison Baier played in 13 games, but teammates would argue she had a factor in all 33 of them.

The pureness of raw emotion displayed by the women’s basketball team could go unmatched for while. The characters of this year’s team were uncanny.

But, no matter if it is matched next year by incoming players, Fennelly said something will always remain with the 2012-13 Cyclones.

“I will always be indebted to them for that,” Fennelly said.

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Stephen Koenigsfeld is a sophomore in pre-journalism from Ankeny, Iowa.