Kevin Sweeney got the the Bishop Chatard High School girls basketball coaching job four seasons ago and has led the team to unprecedented success, culminating with Saturday's 47-46 loss to Plymouth in the Class 3A state championship game.

He discussed how this success began when he arrived, and why he expects it to continue even with the loss of a strong senior class.

Question: What were your expectations for this program, which had never won a sectional, when you were hired four years ago?

Answer: I wanted the kids to learn what playing hard is about and what commitment was. They needed to know that you can't just show up and expect to be competitive in this day and age of people with personal trainers and playing year-round. Many kids think they're giving maximum effort, but you can squeeze a little more out of most of them.

They started buying into it, tasted a little success and wanted it more. After (losing in sectionals last season), there was a renewed sense of wanting to improve.

Q: What made this entire team's chemistry so strong?

A: The seniors learned from Stacy Wagner (a senior on Sweeney's first team), who was dead set on making the freshmen and sophomores feel welcome. This group (of seniors) embraced that when they were freshmen and continued the tradition. It wasn't, 'We're seniors; this is our team.' It was, 'We're all in this together.' It started with leaders like Stacy."

Q: You lose a talented and productive senior class, but will that attitude help maintain the success of the program?

A: We do lose a lot, but I think it's our system that helps create that. We sat around and said, 'How are we going to replace Beth Reed and her competitive fire and spirit?' Last year it was, 'How do we replace Kelly (Gardner)?' We'll sit around and talk about how we're going to replace (players such as Anne Boese, Megan Gardner and Caroline Schutzman), but people like Kourtney Crawford, Rachel Kimack, Nikki Kimack and Katie Shaughnessy will step in and do the same things.

Q: When did you realize this team could reach the state title game?

A: The second half of the Carmel game. We were up six or seven points in the fourth quarter on their court and in control, but it became a fouling game, and we didn't convert, hitting 10-of-21 (from the line). But we felt we played extremely well against, obviously, one of the better teams in the state. We realized if we were able to play with them, we could play with anybody.

Q: Two sectional games were decided by eight points, the final four games by two points or fewer or in overtime. What was that postseason run like?

A: It was exhilarating. It was emotionally draining, but it was just a fun ride. It was a great opportunity. One play here or there and we're out in sectionals or regionals or, certainly, semistates. One or two plays Saturday, and we're the champion. I don't know if I could go through a season with every game like that, but it was a tremendously fun tournament.

Q: What's the one memory you'll take out of this season above the others?

A: Even when you have a good year, you can't necessarily sit back and say, "That was fun." But I can't think of a time, even when we lost three in a row, that I wasn't having fun with this team. It was a great group of players and parents. It was a fun group.