HENDERSON, Tenn. - As the final college seasons for Kyle Teichmann, Jonathan Milewski and Michael Young began in October, the Freed-Hardeman senior trio had aspirations of doing things that no other Lion basketball team had.

The Lions entered the year with high expectations, and for good reason. Teichmann, a two-time NAIA All-American, was back to lead the offense. Milewski provided a deadly shooter from the perimeter. Young was ready to move into the starting role at point guard after backing up the 2012 NAIA assist leader, Anthony Sampson. Around them was a talented group of juniors and sophomores who gained valuable experience the year before, when FHU barely missed out on a national tournament bid.

For the first time ever, Freed-Hardeman was the preseason choice of the TranSouth Conference coaches to win the conference championship. FHU also attained its highest-ever preseason national ranking, checking in at No. 12.

Four months later, the theme of the year has made a 180 degree turn from success to survival.

And for three players who began their senior years hoping that their paths would converge toward a deep run in the national tournament, the paths their seasons actually took couldn't have been much different.

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Freed-Hardeman head coach Jason Shelton, in his eighth year with the program, says he has never seen anything like it in the 22 years he has been in college coaching.

In all, 12 players on a roster of 19 have missed time during the season. The Lions currently have over 60 points per game of production out of the lineup. The roster has been beyond depleted.

Among those are freshman forward Isaiah Harrison, who missed seven games due to an illness and sophomore guard Debrell McLemore who missed eight. Junior forward Daniel Gravatt missed five. Junior guard Verkeneo Mann missed three games early in the season, then was dismissed from the team in January. Freshman guard Will Jones never fully recovered from a pre-season injury and did not dress out for any games. Sophomore Seth Weaver suffered a serious blood clot early in the season and has been sidelined for the year as a result.

Teichmann and Milewski, too, are part of that list. In fact, they were the first ones to find out their seasons ended way too soon.

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After opening the season with a 20-point win over Belhaven (Miss.) University, the Lions traveled to No. 15 Lee (Tenn.) for a game that would be a good barometer of where they stood (Lee has since risen to No. 2 in the national rankings).

Instead, it turned out to be the beginning of a troubling trend for Freed-Hardeman's season.

Early in the second half, Teichmann had the ball on the right baseline. He dribbled left and jump-stopped in the lane, the play blown dead due to a foul.

In Teichmann's words, when his feet hit the floor his knee wobbled and then couldn't support his weight. He dropped to the floor and immediately knew something wasn't right.

"It felt like a piece of my knee wasn't there," he said.

Even without him for the majority of the second half, the Lions had chances to win before ultimately losing 85-80.

Then came the bad news came the following day - Teichmann had suffered a full tear of the ACL. Just like that, his season was over. And though no one knew it at the time, it was only the first of many setbacks the team would endure over the next few months.

"At the beginning, it was more about myself and the pain I was going through and how it affected what I was going to do," Teichmann said. "Now looking back, it was the first turning point in the season."

The good news for Teichmann is that because his injury happened early enough in the schedule, he falls underneath the limit for games played in order to receive a medical redshirt. Although he has yet to receive official word from the NAIA, the outlook for him to get another chance at his senior year is certainly positive.

But for someone who expected to share the senior day spotlight with two of his best friends, playing next season without them will be bittersweet.

"We are all close, best friends," Teichmann said. "From a social standpoint, they are the ones I spent the most time with, and on the court they are the ones I am most comfortable with. It will take a little time to get used to."

"It won't be the same."

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Of the three, Jonathan Milewski got the worst deal by far.

Milewski, who averaged 12.8 points per game last season as the team's second-leading scorer, was starting alongside Young in the backcourt and was on track to break the 1000 career point mark. But in the first half of a Thanksgiving break game at Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), a freak injury ultimately cost him the majority of his senior year.

Late in the first half, he stepped on a teammate's foot. Usually, the worst that happens from that rather common occurrence in basketball is a twisted ankle. This, however, was not a common result. Milewski instead broke the fifth metatarsal in his foot, an injury which initially had him sidelined 6-to-8 weeks.

The bone appeared to heal like it should have, but Milewski still had pain when he tried to plant and cut off that foot. He says it is related to the way he walks which puts more pressure than normal on the outside of his foot.

For a guard that made his living in the half-court by coming off screens and knocking down 3's, being unable to change directions made it nearly impossible for him to get back on the floor. Like Teichmann, Milewski is considering filing for a medical redshirt. Unlike Teichmann, his chances of receiving it are much more unlikely.

"With him getting hurt at Thanksgiving and being given a little hope that he might could come back, it's been hard on him," said Shelton. "Senior Day was a tough day. Even with [seniors] Ken [Bingham] and Vince [Barnes] two years ago, they knew when they were done when they got hurt. There wasn't the hope of coming back. Jonathan's whole thing is that like he's working like crazy to come back but it's beyond his control. Every surgery is different."

That hasn't deterred Milewski, who regularly goes on mission trips during the summer, from putting his trust in God.

"I've looked at it as God's got a plan and whatever happens is for the best," he said. "I trust in Him enough to try not to have all of my happiness depending on whether or not I get to come back. I want to get another chance but I just have to trust that whatever happens, God is in control."

"I had to come to grips with the fact that I might not play again. Once I came to that point, it makes it a little easier."

Even if he does not receive the redshirt, there is a good chance he will remain involved with the program next season as a graduate assistant. That's caused him to look at the game a little differently as he watches from the bench.

"It's made me think about the game more and realize how much the mental aspect of the game plays a role," Milewski said. "Realizing how import it is not to have the physical abilities but being a smart player and thinking through the game. I watch a lot more off the ball and see what's happening, trying to figure out what's going on and how we can adjust to what the other team is doing."

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Things seemed to be getting better after the Lions recovered from a four-game losing streak (Milewski's injury took place in the middle of it) by winning five of six and nearly upsetting a ranked Faulkner (Ala.) team on the road. Players were figuring out and settling into their new roles and the Lions looked poised to still be able to compete for the conference title.

But when grades came in at the semester break, more bad news came along with them.

Three players - Orlando Bass, Chandler Mack and Damion Wooten - didn't have a high enough grade point average to maintain their eligibility. All three were playing major minutes and roles on the team.

It was the second time in two months that the Lions had lost their leading scorer. In Teichmann's absence, Bass emerged as a major scoring threat averaging 17.4 points per game. Wooten was also quickly improving in his spot backing up Young at the point, and Mack's athleticism at 6-foot-7 was always going to create a matchup problem for opponents.

"Any team that loses five of your top players, it's a lot of adjustment," Shelton said. "It's been hard for everybody. You're asking so much of guys to be able to change what they're prepared to do at that point."

That didn't keep Teichmann and Milewski from trying to do their part even though it wasn't able to be done on the floor.

"They're the kind of guys who talk throughout game trying to help guys when they come off the floor," said Shelton. "They have done a real good job of trying to talk to guys during games and help them out."

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Michael Young has been the only player to start all 30 games this season and one of only five to play in every game.

It's been a different kind of battle for Young, who has been able to play but not with the lineup that he expected. It's been tough, he said, to play his last year without his two close friends on the floor with him.

"Frustrating would be the best word to describe it. We started out with a season with so much promise and it wasn't like we lost one guy at one certain point. It was one guy here and a few games later it was another. With those two being the first ones we lost, it was a big blow to start out the season."

Young was already expected to be one of the leaders but with the continual setbacks, he saw his role as that leader change significantly.

"I do my best to keep everyone positive," he said. "With the way things have gone, it's easy to make excuses. I feel like with me staying as positive as I can, it helps the others. Coach always preaches we can control our attitude and effort. We stress that no matter how many guys we've lost, we still have guys who can play hard and compete."

Though he won't reap the benefits next year, Young does see positives for the future with unexpected experience gained by many players who started the year out in more limited roles. As part of his leadership responsibilities, he sees it as his job to help get them ready for the future.

"I try to help them see the positive side of things and to learn from mistakes," said Young. "The biggest thing is encouraging guys. It's easy to get negative and point fingers when you're losing games."

"They've been thrown into the fire and had to learn trial-and-error. I just tell them to not worry about mistakes, learn from it and get better."

While Young is giving it his all in his typical fashion, it's also been tough for Teichmann and Milewski to watch the difficulties on the floor that they cannot help fix.

"The season started with such high expectations because we had the players to do that," Teichmann said. "Michael plays so hard and does everything he does to help us win. I know the losses have taken a toll on him."

"Being the one senior, that's not how you want to go out," added Milewski, "but he's still trying to make the best of it."

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For Teichmann, Milewski's injury helped him gain some perspective into his situation.

"Even though something can seem like a bad thing at first, there's always a positive spin to it. No matter how bad you have it," he said while gesturing toward Milewski, "someone's got it worse. And someone's been through it before. Be thankful for what you have, not what you don't."

He also hopes his teammates that will return next year have learned some lessons from what they all have fought through.

"It's not just an appreciation of winning," he said. "It's an appreciation of how fragile everything is and enjoying the moment while you're in it. It's taking your responsibility to the team off the court seriously, taking care of academics and body. It's having a better idea of what it takes to be successful because outside things can wipe that away."

Milewski and Young both made parallels between this event of this season and the events of life in general.

"You can't control everything that happens in your life," said Milewski. "Sports are just like circumstances in life, things aren't always going to go your way. It's how you react to situations that build your character and reveals who you are."

"Five or 10 years down the road, there'll be something I get out of this that I can use to help someone else," Young said. "It's learning the hard way that things don't always go the way you expect. Cliche as it sounds, life isn't always fair. You can't make excuses for what you don't have, you just have to make the best of what you do have."

Shelton has been impressed with how all three of them have handled their situations this year and still been leaders on and off the floor.

"Kyle decided pretty quick he wanted to play another year," he said "His mindset is being able to play next year. Even though he was geared up for his senior year [his career] wasn't over and I think that's made it a little easier."

As for Milewski and Young, Coach Shelton had some high praise to offer the other two's parents on their final home game.

"Like I told Michael's and Jonathan's parents on senior night, I've got two boys myself and if I could sign up right now that at their age, their attitudes would be like Michael and Jonathan's, I'd sign up for that right now."