Hutch runs their little flare and lateral screens well, and for the most part, we did a good job of fighting through the screens. They just don't take any bad shots, and you've got to defend for such a long time against them.

The effort was there. It was as good an effort in a loss as you could have. We clawed. We scrapped. But you can't lose on the glass and shoot a low percentage like we did.

You don't win a state championship last year and lose once this year if you're not a good basketball team, and that's what Great Bend is. We just struggled to make shots and free throws, and that's been a bugaboo for us all year.

They've been No. 1 all year long and have only been beaten once. They are obviously a very talented team that we've had the opportunity to scout. There won't be a lot of surprises. They're just very solid all-around.

I guess that's the way it's supposed to be at a state tournament. We had a chance to get (the lead to eight and we missed a free throw. If we'd have got it to eight, we might have tried something different defensively. But, like Coach (Gordon) Peck said, we only had given them 32 points with the man-to-man, so why change?

I've made a career writing about fictitious anti-heroes. To create these worlds, I've spent a lot of time with active members on both sides of the law. And if I had to pick the most interesting of the two, the choice is obvious - we all love the guys in black.