Just hours after the NCAA tournament’s round of 64 had started, Iowa State’s basketball season came to a screeching halt. ISU players sat in stunned silence at their lockers, as walls of reporters asked what happened. Conference USA’s fourth-place team, UAB, was heading to the round of 32 as the No. 9 Cyclones prepared to board a plane home.

Players tried to make sense of the loss, yet none gave exactly the same explanation. A résumé full of ranked wins and a Big 12 tournament run didn’t line up with the team’s early exit in the big dance.

But in one of the most unforgiving postseasons in the sporting world, the NCAA basketball tournament can swallow talented teams in their moments of weakness, turning Final Four hopes into a plane ride home before the first day is over. That was the story for Iowa State, giving the Cyclones a year to think about a return trip.

Sitting with a towel around his neck, head lowered, Naz Long and the rest of the Cyclones painstakingly answered questions about the upset loss. 

“It’s a special team even though we fell short,” Long said.

With what was considered ISU coach Fred Hoiberg’s most talented team, the Cyclones were burdened with expectation no ISU team had seen in at least a decade. For the most part, they lived up to those expectations.

As graduate transfer Bryce Dejean-Jones was playing some of the best basketball of his career at the beginning of the season, before Jameel McKay was able to suit up for the Cyclones, the team was preparing for a much-anticipated matchup with in-state rival, the Iowa Hawkeyes. But an early-morning video game battle at Dejean-Jones’ apartment turned into a load of trouble, leading to an arrest and suspension from the team, despite the charges being dropped later that morning.

Without one of the team’s best players, the Cyclones charged into Carver-Hawkeye Arena and rolled the Hawkeyes in a 90-75 victory, erasing any doubt about the team’s capabilities. With McKay soon to become eligible, Iowa State was establishing itself as a force to be reckoned with.

The nation saw it, too. ESPN’s College GameDay chose Ames, Iowa as it’s first destination on the 2015 tour — the first time GameDay had ever broadcasted from Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State fed off the heightened expectations again, taking down Kansas for the first time in the regular season since 2012.

The expectations grew, growing faster with every win. By mid-season, any thought of the Big 12 preseason fifth place selection by league coaches had vanished as the Cyclones battled for a regular season conference title.

There was the 21-point second-half comeback against Oklahoma in the team’s home season finale that would spark a late-season run and push expectations even further.

“We can play with anybody,” said Georges Niang after the OU game. “If we’re down, we’re never out and I think this is a good time to turn it up. March is the beginning of great things.”

And the beginning of March was just that. The Cyclones reeled off five straight double-digit comeback victories, including a Monte Morris buzzer-beater against Texas, surviving against Oklahoma and storming back from 17 down in the second half against Kansas to claim the team’s second consecutive Big 12 tournament title. 

The expectations: higher than ever.

So as the team sat in the locker room in Louisville, minutes removed from the gut-wrenching loss to 14-seed UAB, there was no ignoring those expectations.

“With all the expectations this team had and then you’re just bounced in the first game of the NCAA tournament, I just can’t tell you how terrible I feel,” Niang said.

With a strong contingent of ISU players returning next season, the early exit in the NCAA tournament won’t be lost on the Cyclones. Losing just Dustin Hogue and Dejean-Jones from the eight-man rotation and adding transfers Hallice Cooke, Darien Williams and Deonte Burton to next year’s lineup, Hoiberg may have his most talented lineup ever — again.

With high expectations comes great responsibility, something the 2014-15 team learned the hard way. In 2015-16 those expectations will be higher than ever.

“A lot of hard work was put into this season and I felt like this wasn’t the way this was supposed to go. With that being said,” Niang said before letting out a long sigh, “we’re going to have to come back even harder next year.”