Where to start? Are there any words at a time like this?
In fact, there are simultaneously many words and no words for this. Words always tend to fail us, though, no matter how hard we try with them. But that has never stopped me or anyone else doing this from trying before, so it’s time to have at it again.
Any of us who are lucky enough to be in the game in some way, shape or form won’t forget where we were late Thursday morning as a seismic series of announcements came out that changed so many things. One conference after another among the big boys announced that their tournament would be canceled due to concerns about the coronavirus. Most were set to play with only essential personnel and close family members – basically in mostly empty arenas. But they were set to play. The games were to go on and things seemed relatively normal.
Now, it’s all over. The season has come to an abrupt end, seemingly all in a flash.
I was at home, having taken a day off from my day job to watch games all day. Lots of diehards will do that in another week for the NCAA Tournament; for me, conference tournaments have always been every bit as important to March Madness. Having covered many of them, including in one-bid leagues where everything is on the line, I always look at them and think to myself, “This is college basketball.” The pinnacle of every season for me was covering the conference tournaments. Ironically, it was ten years ago today that I was in Vermont covering the America East championship game less than 24 hours after I was at Lehigh covering the Patriot League championship game, and I did not fly between sites.
Instead, the games barely got started. One by one, the cancellations came in, and by 2 p.m. only one conference had not canceled its tournament. After the first few announcements came, they started dropping like flies. One got started and was canceled at halftime, and the back story there does not speak well of those running the sport, but that’s another subject for another time.
At a time like this, we have to think of the young men who play this sport, as well as the young men and women impacted by this in other sports. Along the way on Thursday, more conferences suspended or canceled spring sports. For seniors, this is a real stinker of a way to go out, even when one takes time for a little perspective to understand that some things are bigger than sports and that for pragmatic reasons, the decisions made to cancel these tournaments are probably the best ones. In the moment, bereft of any thought of the reason behind it, it stinks.
The season abruptly ends with so many unanswered questions. Now, we can only speculate, which is great for sports talk radio but unsatisfying knowing that we would get to find out just how deep a run Dayton or San Diego State could make, or if a mid-major like Hofstra or East Tennessee State could knock somebody off, or if a team who wasn’t playing very well coming into the NCAA Tournament might make a run that few saw coming.
You feel for Dayton, who had a magical year, going undefeated in the Atlantic 10 and being leaps and bounds better than anyone else there. This is a team that could have won the national championship.
You feel for Hofstra, who won the CAA for the first time and was about to go to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly two decades and after some recent heartbreak in the CAA Tournament.
You feel for Rutgers and their fans as the program was set to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly three decades. During that time, the program was often a laughingstock, but they have gained much respectability under Steve Pikiell.
You feel for Penn State, another program that has struggled to get to the NCAA Tournament but was on their way there despite struggling down the stretch.
You feel for Baylor, who had a tremendous year even with a little slip late in the season. The Bears don’t get a chance to win it all like they were eminently capable of.
You feel for Vermont, who now doesn’t get to give Patrick Gym a proper send-off with one last America East championship game that was slated for Saturday. The university will open a new facility next season, so this was to be it. I’ll certainly miss Patrick Gym, remembering how even when the Catamounts weren’t the signature program in the conference like they are now, they would constantly pack the place and make it a tough place for visiting teams to play.
You feel for Merrimack, who had a historic season for a Division I newcomer and now won’t get to play in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament to cap it off.
Most of all, you feel for all of the kids who will never have the chance to compete one last time in the atmosphere of a conference or NCAA Tournament. They have been robbed of this opportunity. After one team won their conference tournament, I got a text message from an assistant coach who described the feeling and then described it as “the culmination of so much work.” It’s work that begins well before the season and goes on throughout the year. Coach after coach, player after player has talked about how so much goes into winning a championship. It almost feels like all of that work is for naught right now.
In the aftermath, we should all understand that it’s okay to express many of the sentiments we’ve seen by coaches, administrators and media colleagues. It’s okay to be disappointed by this. It’s okay to feel devastated for the kids, who matter the most in all of this and want so badly to continue playing. It’s okay to be distraught over such an abrupt end to the season, to not have the last conference tournaments, Selection Sunday and the games themselves, as well as One Shining Moment when it’s all done. This is the best month of the year in normal times because of all of this.
And as a final thought, if you see or hear someone express those sentiments, please default to the idea that they understand the decisions that have been made. We shouldn’t have to first point out that we support and understand the decisions made in order to express this. I don’t believe for a nanosecond that anyone expressing their dismay at not having these conference tournaments or the NCAA Tournament (or even the other postseason tournaments) doesn’t support or understand the decisions made. There’s no reason to think they don’t by default and then argue about it.
College sports, like all sports, are an amazing example for us. A group of people all come together to try to achieve the same goal. It happens in many settings, and it’s never easy, but the challenge is part of the journey, and sports is its own unique setting. This season has been quite the journey, and let’s value the journey as well as those who have been on it with us.
Tonight’s Menu
The games are done, but our content is not. Be on the lookout in the days ahead for some stories from the end of the season and much more.
