With the victory serving as sweet revenge for last season's second-round loss to the Spurs, the euphoria was understandable.

The crushing second-round loss to Detroit may wipe them right off, depending on what Thorn does over the next three months.

Stich said last month after a second-round loss in Rome.

"I'd rather be in a situation where a second-round loss, people are mad about that, as opposed to not being there," Marbury said.

He dedicated this year to reclaiming it after being eliminated in a traumatic second-round loss in 1987.

A second-round loss to Syracuse did not help.

"It was certainly the most memorable second-round loss of my life."

Syracuse also avenged a second-round loss to Kansas two years earlier.

"I was surrounded by yes men," Lewis said yesterday, reflecting on that second-round loss.

But those factors cost them in a second-round loss to Gonzaga.