They may have ended up with nearly identical records and very similar results in the Southern Conference Tournament, but to me, the differences between the 2008-09 Georgia Southern basketball Eagles and this year’s edition were night and day.

Call me crazy (they say crazy people do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, so maybe the opposite is true, too) but despite the 9-23 record and the uncanny ability to get down by 20 points and still almost win time and time again, Charlton Young’s first GSU team left fans with a lot to be excited about.

Okay, so there are about 200 teams left right now that still have a shot of making the March Madness tournament this season and the Eagles have already missed the boat on that one, but let’s just take a step back for just a moment and try to see the forest for the trees.

To me, the biggest difference between the last two seasons wasn’t so much that they lost, it was more along the lines of how they lost.

Big difference.

Even after finishing the season without double digits in the win column (again) and struggling mightily on the road all year long, those Eagles were still, after all they went through over the last offseason, expecting to win every time they stepped on the floor.

That was very evident after they lost to Chattanooga in this year’s first-round game Thursday in Charlotte, N.C.

The looks on their faces after the 82-62 loss told the whole story – they had every intention of beating the Mocs, they believed without a shadow of a doubt that they had the talent to do it and they were in a state of shock when they didn’t.

The funny thing is, they were right. They proved in wins over Appalachian State, Western Carolina, Troy and even the overtime loss to Wofford that they could hang with some top-tier mid-majors, and after all that’s happened within the program and with that meddling NCAA, that’s a good sign.

Highly touted recruiting class for next season aside, the future doesn’t really seem like it can go anywhere but up from here.

So there you have it – a perfectly good explanation for why 9-23 is head-and-shoulders better than 8-22.

That hurts

Those pesky Mocs were at it again in the wide world of women’s hoops as they were also responsible for the elimination of the GSU Lady Eagles in the 2010 SoCon Tourney.

It’s a shame that GSU drew UTC on their side of the bracket, because the Lady Mocs are 13-0 in SoCon championship games, and have a knack for riding their bird-driven choo-choo to the Big Dance.

The Eagles made it to the semifinals with a down-to-the-wire win over Charleston and had to face their nemesis. It didn’t go as well as they had hoped.

The real shame, however, to the whole darn thing is, now that the season’s over, the Eagles have to say goodbye to seniors J’Lisia Ogburn, Carolyn Whitney and Jessica Geiger.

Ogburn has been a force in the post for the Eagles for years, Whitney recovered dramatically from her 2008 injury to lead GSU in scoring this season and Geiger has been Ms. Reliable down in the trenches. Her game-winning 3 on Saturday was pretty good, too.

If Jamie Navarro thought taking over the point almost exclusively this season was tough, it won’t get anything but tougher next season when she has to lead all those underclassmen as a senior.

Fortunately, Krista Tate really started coming on strong from the middle of the season onward, Meredyth Frye showed how must of a spark plug she can be in the tournament and Sam Williams keeps on scrapping.

Maybe the cupboard won’t be so bare after all.

Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.