In the days since the ISU men’s basketball team was eliminated from the NCAA tournament by No. 1 overall seed Kentucky, much has been made of the Cyclones’ overachieving season.

Picked to finish eighth of 10 teams in the Big 12, Iowa State ended the regular season third — tied with Baylor and just behind Kansas and Missouri — and ranked No. 25, the first time the men had been ranked since 2005. The season was unexpected from most prognosticators, and the players relish having exceeded those expectations.

“I definitely think we proved a lot of people wrong, because nobody was even expecting us to make it to the NCAA tournament,” said guard Chris Allen. “I just want [my teammates] to keep playing hard, and next year they’ve got to go even harder. They’ve got to use this [year] as motivation.”

Second-year coach Fred Hoiberg said after the Kentucky loss that the program took great strides this season and have laid a foundation for the future.

Coming into the season, Hoiberg said the Cyclones would need to gel and accept their roles. They did that, he said, and because of that, the program is relevant again.

“I can’t even explain to you how proud I am of these guys for how they came together as a team, all year long,” Hoiberg said. “They made Cyclone basketball fun again. I’ll always remember these guys, I’ll always remember this team. They brought Hilton Magic to where it belongs, and we’ve got a very bright future.”

The squad loses just two seniors in Allen and Scott Christopherson — though, admittedly, those seniors represent 24.8 points per game — and welcome two more transfers in point guard Korie Lucious and forward Will Clyburn.

Perhaps the biggest value in reaching the NCAA tournament this season, apart from bringing back “Hilton Magic,” as Hoiberg put it, was that the Cyclones got invaluable experience that will help them for tournament campaigns going forward.

“We saw we can do it,” Hoiberg said. “Chris Allen and Scott Christopherson were a big part of that. We lose those guys, but we’ve got a couple other that are hungry, that were sitting out this year with Korie and Will. 

“I’m excited about our future.”

Guard Bubu Palo, who will return for his junior season next year, figures to once again play a key role off the bench for the Cyclones in 2012-13. 

After coming back from a broken right wrist to play in the final four games of the regular season, as well as the Big 12 and NCAA tournament, Palo and the team learned what it will take to succeed in the postseason. Never relaxing, he said, will be key.

“Just how important every possession is and how focused you have to be, just everything that comes with a basketball game,” Palo said when asked what the team learned from this postseason that can be applied to next year. “It’s not going to get any more hostile than playing in [the KFC Yum! Center against Kentucky], so I think that we can draw on this and build for next year, because hopefully we can get a better seed if we keep working and we won’t have to play Kentucky.”

For Hoiberg, Palo and the rest of the Cyclones returning — which may or may not include forward Royce White — the work begins now for the 2012-13 season.

Hoiberg said after the game Saturday night against Kentucky that his group coming back is hungry, focused and ready to achieve at least as much as this season.

“It’s an important offseason for us; we’re going to get to work,” Hoiberg said. “We showed that we can get back to this point. And that’s important, and we’ve got guys coming back — key guys — that will be a big part of our year next year.”