Last spring, the Whitman men’s basketball team graduated one of the school’s highest all-time scorers in Brandon Shaw, a pair of layers who would go on to sign professional contracts in JP Alvarez and David Michaels, and versatile wing D.J. Wright. In spite of its losses, this year’s team expects to improve upon its 2011-2012 season and second place Northwest Conference finish.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association advertises the fact that most student athletes go pro in something other than sports. At Whitman, a small NCAA Division III school, the number of students whose athletic careers end with graduation is even higher. For three Whitman graduates last spring, however, that has not been the case.

One and done: the double-edged sword of the collegiate basketball postseason hit the Whitman men's basketball team the hard way last Thursday night as the Missionaries fell 79-62 to the University of Puget Sound.

Two of the most successful seasons in the history of Whitman basketball came to an abrupt end Thursday night in the opening round of the Northwest Conference tournament. Both the men's and the women's...