DETROIT — Sometimes, when the words won't come, all it takes is a simple gesture which can say everything.

Greg Stiemsma, a senior center on the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team, sat in front of his locker after the Badgers' 73-56 loss to Davidson in the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals and spoke in a halting voice, trying to express what it meant for him to play with this group of teammates.

"I think the fact it hurts this bad just proves how much fun it was, how much we're going to miss it," Stiemsma said while fighting back tears. "Leaving some really good friends behind. Couldn't have asked for a better team to have my senior year with."

A few minutes earlier, Stiemsma and senior guard Michael Flowers shared a lengthy hug in the locker room and the bond between the two teammates was unmistakable.

Almost nobody expected the Badgers to finish 31-5 or make it this far in the NCAA tournament, but that did nothing to take the sting out of a painful loss.

As UW coach Bo Ryan told his players after the game, it could take years for them to appreciate everything they accomplished this season.

"Like Coach said earlier, I won't appreciate it now, or maybe not even next year or five years down the road," junior swingman Joe Krabbenhoft said. "It might take until I'm 30 or 40 years old to appreciate and realize what we accomplished this year."

The seniors — Flowers, Stiemsma, Brian Butch and Tanner Bronson — cared about only one thing, winning.

So, it's fitting they leave as the winningest senior class in school history.

They were part of 105 victories in four seasons, including 49 in the Big Ten Conference. They set the single-season record for wins last year with 30, then eclipsed it this year.

Perhaps most importantly, they became the first UW team to win Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles in the same season.

That was a lot to digest in a short amount of time. Yet the entire season, for Krabbenhoft, was summed up in two images.

"Just cutting down those (two) nets, that's what it's all about," Krabbenhoft said of clinching the regular-season title in Madison and winning the tournament title in Indianapolis. "There were two more nets to cut down, I guess, you could say, here, in Detroit, and San Antonio (at the Final Four)."

While Butch admitted the two titles seemed a little distant at that moment, it didn't take him long to appreciate what this group of seniors accomplished.

"You do realize you did some pretty good things that not a lot of people thought you could do," he said. "You realize you've got that."

For the players left behind, the impact of the departing seniors will be felt for a long time.

"They're all great players," junior forward Marcus Landry said. "I'll remember Mike's great defense, Greg's energy off the bench, the way Brian shoots, Tanner just being a great guy to be around, even though he's a little guy, he's like a big guy to us."

Krabbenhoft already was thinking ahead to next year and how he and Landry will have big shoes to fill.

"(The seniors) gave it their all every day in the weight room, in the class room, on the practice court," Krabbenhoft said. "When the lights were on, they gave it their all.

"They knew their roles, they were leaders, they led this team vocally, by show. They did it all for us. Hopefully, I can provide the team next year as a senior what they did this year."