And when they arrived at Honolulu International Airport last night, the team was greeted by a small but enthusiastic group of fans, friends and family.

"It feels good to be back," said UH guard Anthony Carter. "Everybody's proud of each other.

"We weren't expected to do this good. We showed a lot of courage and heart out there. Everybody stuck together."

Carter said he will now spend time lifting weights, shooting around and getting back into his studies after all the travel time.

"I want to work on my game and get ready for next season," he said.

Kailua native Alika Smith had mixed feelings upon his arrival home.

"It feels good in some ways and bad in others," said the Kalaheo High grad. "We wanted to win at least one more game and hopefully get to New York. But it didn't happen.

"Nobody expected us to do as good as we did. I'm not even sure we expected it. But we just got the ball rolling and kept thinking positive."

Smith said he will have arthroscopic knee surgery within the next month.

"But it's not that bad and I should get back to 100 percent or close," he said.

Junior forward Micah Kroeger also will reportedly have arthroscopic knee surgery.

UH head coach Riley Wallace was all smiles as he did TV interviews and posed for pictures with several fans.

"It feels good for these fans to come out and thank the guys for the kind of season they gave them -- and it gives the players a chance to meet the people," he said, holding a bouquet of flowers that a fan gave him. "It's over for this year, but I already have the energy to get out there and get to work for next season, to keep this team going because we have some really good people."

Wallace said he will attend the Final Four next week and then make some home recruiting visits.

"We feel like we're in pretty good shape with recruiting right now," he said.

One UH fan summed up the followers' feelings.

"It was great -- this year was so satisfying," said Brian Coda. "Especially after dealing with losing seasons in the past."