The crash landing for BC's season on Wednesday night was anything but pretty, but the end result doesn't ultimately matter.

I think we can all say with a pretty good amount of certainty that the Eagles weren't going to win the ACC tournament this year. But, the importance of reaching the second round and fighting through ridiculous amounts of adversity during the season will make this extremely young team better in the long run.

"Overall, this is one of the best seasons I've ever been apart of," Earl Grant said postgame. "We saw everything. We saw every setback. Every disappointment. Every injury. Every adversity. The way the players handled it day-to-day says a lot about their character because we had some really, really tough patches early in the year trying to play games with three and four guys out.

"I'm sure Jaeden Zackery can talk about it more than me. He went to be the No. 1 option, top of the scouting report every night for like 10 games in a row. He could feel the pressure, but he handled it well and our team handled it really well. I thought we grew this year and we built strong character for the future."

The special wins outweigh the ugly losses this season. Sure, UNH was bad, but wasn't Virginia one heck of a time? Ultimately, those types of experiences can't be simulated in practice. The feeling on that night - really from tip off on - was that BC had a legitimate shot and the energy only grew before erupting with a court storming. With a few freshman and Zackery going through everything the team did this year, the prospect of a bright 2024 isn't far fetched.

The Eagles know that at the very least, they will command respect next season and that wasn't the case a year or two ago.

"I feel like they have no choice to respect us at this point," Zackery said. "These last few years, I know the record isn't all the way up there with some of the other teams, but when you come play us you know you've got to fight hard and it's going to be a battle. I feel like just that over the last two years we've got to deserve respect."

Of course, BC has a much better chance of using 2023 as a springboard into 2024 if Quinten Post returns. He was asked after the UNC loss if that had even been on his radar yet.

"I would have to have a conversation with the coaching staff after the season, I haven't really had that," he said. "Shortly, but I'll see where their mind is at and then go from there."

BC is on its way back and Earl Grant seems poised to finally get this team back to the tournament. Will it be next year? Who knows, but 2023 was a big step in that direction.

"I think towards the end of the year, we were really a team that other teams kind of didn't want to play," Post added. "I think they knew they were in for a battle, regardless of the final score. That's just a big credit to the coaching staff and to our guys for just staying with it and building an identity for ourselves."