Sometime after the final horn of the NCAA Tournament sounds in a little less than two weeks; after the confetti falls from the rafters of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis; after the nets are cut down and Jim Nantz interviews the jubilant winning head coach, CBS will cue its tournament highlight reel set to the time-honored tune of “One Shining Moment.”

It’s a cheesy tradition, but one that has become inseparable from the end of the NCAA Tournament. For one last time, CBS will call up the images of Cinderella shocking the blue blood, of the improbable buzzer beater from near half court. But regardless of how the video begins, it always ends with the players who just won the national championship joyously embracing each other on the court — a reminder that although many teams will experience some success during the tournament, only one will truly have a shining moment.

Georgetown certainly had some success in Portland this past weekend. For one, the Hoyas (22-11, 12-6 Big East) avoided a Round of 64 upset at the hands of Eastern Washington (26-9, 14-4 Big Sky), a trendy upset pick whose coach guaranteed a victory on national radio. It may sound trivial, but for the first time since the 2007 Final Four, a Georgetown season ended neither in shocking disbelief nor in the NIT.

Saturday night’s loss to Utah (26-8, 13-5 Pac-12) was an upset only on the bracket. The Utes were favored by five points at tipoff and have two players, senior guard Delon Wright and freshman forward Jakob Poeltl, who could be chosen in the first round of the NBA Draft this June. There is no shame in losing a hard-fought Round of 32 game to a team that spent much of the year ranked inside the top 15.

Beyond snapping their streak of losing to double-digit seeds, there were smaller, individual successes for the Hoyas in Portland: junior center Bradley Hayes set career highs in points and rebounds while giving Georgetown a much-needed spark against Eastern Washington, when yet another Round of 64 upset seemed like a distinct possibility.

Freshman forward L.J. Peak scored 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting against Utah in his most dominant performance since the Kansas game on Dec. 10, when he scored 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, and probably since the season-opener against St. Francis (N.Y.), when he didn’t miss a field goal.

Senior guard Jabril Trawick, in his last game wearing the Georgetown gray, poured in 10 points in the first seven minutes of Saturday’s game against Utah, displaying an offensive sophistication that would have been hard to imagine when he first arrived on the Hilltop.

Yet all of those achievements did little to wash away the disappointment that seniors Trawick, center Tyler Adams, forward Aaron Bowen, forward Mikael Hopkins and center Joshua Smith must have felt as they sat on the bench while the final seconds of Saturday night’s game ticked away. Those five will never know what it’s like to make it to the Sweet 16. If Georgetown could have found a way past Utah, a tantalizing matchup with one-seed Duke awaited on the floor of a football stadium in Houston.

For all the exhilaration it brings, the NCAA Tournament can be unflinchingly cruel, whittling away three quarters of its field a mere 96 hours after it truly begins. Just ask No. 1 seed Villanova, the team that dominated the Big East and cruised to a conference tournament championship before falling to North Carolina State in the Round of 32 on Saturday — a most memorable season spoiled in 40 minutes.

For Georgetown, life will go on. The seniors will be replaced by a top-25 recruiting class, made up of forwards Marcus Derrickson and Kaleb Johnson, as well as center Jessie Govan. Louisville transfer Akoy Agau will also be expected to contribute to the frontcourt, although he may have sit out the first semester due to transfer rules.

The newcomers will be joined by a group of talented returnees. Junior guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera could be an All-American candidate, and freshmen Peak, guard Tre Campbell, forward Isaac Copeland and forward Paul White should all be more comfortable with a year of experience under their belts.

With the stigma of postseason disappointments no longer hanging over their heads, the Hoyas will move forward in hope that when the 2016 version of “One Shining Moment” plays, it will be the Blue and Gray that is the last team standing.

Tom Schnoor is a junior in the College. He is a staff writer for THE HOYA.