Witnessing the end

"Four minutes of hell," I tweet as I slump down in my seat in the Ohio section at The Q. 

Slowly and tediously the seconds tick away in Saturday's MAC Championship game, Akron pummeling Ohio.

The sea of blue and gold explodes as what is becoming more inevitable unfolds. Each deafening roar from the rival crowd a gut punch leaving you sore. Chants of Ohio pride long gone, the faithful waiting for a new day to dawn.

As Ohio's deficit bleeds further and further, time withers and so do the hopes of repeat March glory.

I feel trapped, wanting neither to watch nor bail early.

Mercifully, the clock finally reaches zero. Akron's celebration ensues but for us, the torture ends.

Unlike last year's MAC Championship that was a crescendo of nerves culminating in an explosion of joy, this was a building sense of doom. 

As the second half stretched on, it became painfully obvious that the Bobcats were incapable of winning. They couldn't sink a shot, make a free throw or grab a rebound. 

MAC Player of the Year D.J. Cooper was shut down, missing all eight of his shots from the field and notching just three points. Only Reggie Keely reached double digits for the Bobcats.

The offensive stats were staggeringly bad. Ohio led by three at the half and lost by 19, which will happen when you shoot 18.5 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes. The Bobcats didn't make any of their 12 second half three-point attempts. They finished the night 1/20 from beyond the arc. 

As shot after shot failed to fall in a nine-minute field goal drought, it became obvious Ohio was not going dancing in 2013. 

Really though it felt that way much of the season. Despite the greatness of this senior class, the moxie they showed in last March's Sweet 16 run and stunning Georgetown back in 2010 was mostly missing.

They didn't just lose but were handled by tournament teams Oklahoma, Memphis and Belmont. On Senior Day against Miami, it took a spurt of energy from Stevie Taylor to push the seniors to one final W in the Convo. Even in the semis against Western Michigan, the Bobcats let up a big first half lead. 

Akron, without its star point guard, came back from down early and then poured it on as Ohio's confidence visibly shrank. 

That radiated to the Ohio student section, the early game "Where's Abreu?" and "Screw the Roo" chants feeling ages passed by the game's final minutes. 

Nothing about this year's MAC Championship resembled last year's. 

My same two buddies and I were decked out supporting our school again but instead of an exuberant postgame celebration, it was a solemn walk out of The Q. There was no Bobcat revelry on East 4th. We looked up and saw Terminal Tower lit in gold and blue, a painful reminder of what we just witnessed.

No goosebumps of tournament lore but a loss to Akron once more. From Heaven to Hell in one year's time, this end was not at all sublime.