It doesn't always work out this way.
The Douglas boys' basketball team has advanced to the regional title game four times in the last six years.
Even in the bitter sting of defeat at the hand of the Hug Hawks on Saturday, there remained a beam of hope in the Tiger locker room.
The simple message: It's not over.
Douglas coach Corey Thacker had a stream of alumni coming through to speak to his team through the regional tournament last week. He had Chris Downs, the Tigers' starting point guard in 2010-11 now playing for Butte College, address this year's group following Saturday's loss.
"He just talked about how, yeah this isn't the way we wanted this to go, but we still have another shot," Thacker said. "With the tournament rotating between Reno and Las Vegas, two teams from the north don't always get to go. But we do this year."
Douglas (20-10) gets to continue its season for at least one more game Thursday afternoon against Bishop Gorman at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno at 4:40 p.m.
Gorman (26-4) is ranked eighth in the country by Maxpreps.com/Army National Guard and 17th in the country by the USA Today. The Gaels will be the second nationally-ranked team the Tigers have seen this year (Douglas lost to Long Beach Poly, currently ranked 14th, 57-41 on Dec. 16).
"It's not over for us," Thacker said. "We have a great opportunity. Only four teams are still playing this week and we are one of them. Our spring, our summer games, our preseason schedule, I think it sets us up. We've faced nationally-ranked teams and we've seen nationally-ranked players.
"It doesn't matter who you play. You lay it on the line and see where the cards fall."
History, it would seem, backs that up.
Gorman has been among the top 10 or 20 teams in the country for the last 10 years, but has won only three state titles.