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Senior night is emotional nearly every season because it is a time for fans to say goodbye to players who they have watched for four years. Still, there are some classes that are more special than others because of what the players have accomplished throughout their careers.

That is clearly the case with the five seniors who will be honored tonight by the West Virginia Mountaineers (19-8, 10-4 Big East) as part of Senior Night celebration in conjunction with their final home game of the season -- the basketball version of the Backyard Brawl against Pitt (21-4, 10-4).

This group of seniors -- coach John Beilein's first recruiting class -- has taken a program that was near rock bottom and carried it back to the top.

"It is tough for me to talk about seniors because you get so close to them, then one of them is your son," Beilein said of his seniors, one of whom is his son, guard Patrick Beilein. "I will need a lot of deep breaths to talk about this class. After five or six weeks, it was clear that this first class had the things I was looking for to build a program on. We have never given up on them, even though there have been some dark days and we won't give up on them until they tell us they can't play anymore.

"They've done everything we've asked of them as far as just hanging in there and giving us their best."

The Mountaineers' class of 2006 -- which along with Patrick Beilein, includes forwards Joe Herber and Mike Gansey, center Kevin Pittsnogle and guard J.D. Collins -- helped to restore the pride of the program.

When the players arrived on campus in 2002 along with coach Beilein -- Gansey did not arrive until 2003 and wasn't eligible to play until 2004 because he transferred from St. Bonaventure -- the Mountaineers had a struggling program. They were 8-20 the year before (1-15 in the Big East), causing Gale Catlett to resign.

Beilein was hired to rebuild the program and his first three recruits were Collins, Herber and his son. He then convinced Pittsnogle, who was a Catlett recruit, to honor his commitment to West Virginia.

The team finished 14-15 the first year and improved to 17-14 the next year. Then last season WVU went 24-11 and made a run to the NCAA tournament's Elite Eight. This class has a 74-46 record and will leave with two NCAA tournament berths and an NIT appearance its resume.

"I think that's what is amazing about this group of seniors," West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong said. "They came along at a time when there wasn't a lot to feel good about our basketball program and they have established a credibility with our fans, with people all over the country, with our alumni -- they've been role models for our other student-athletes as well as student-athletes of all ages.

"The class and effort with which they play with is something West Virginia will always appreciate and remember."

The five seniors -- four of whom start, while Beilein is the sixth man -- all take pride in what they've accomplished, but they say they will leave West Virginia with a bit of an empty feeling if they aren't able to have another successful run in the NCAA tournament.

"If you look back at how far we've come, it is special," Pittsnogle said. "We have a lot of things to be proud of, we've accomplished a lot. We put West Virginia back on the map, but it isn't over yet.

"As much as we've done, as far as we've come, we still want to continue on. We want to get to the Final Four and that would be a perfect ending for us all. I'm not going to say anything short of that is unacceptable, but we have always set high goals. That's been a big reason for our success."