INFECTIOUS WINNING L
ast March, after EWU’s men’s basketball team won the Big Sky Conference regular season title, it seemed only a matter of time until the Eagles punched their ticket to their third NCAA Tournament berth. Then came the coronavirus, the Big Sky and NCAA tournament cancellations and a new reality for us all: social distancing, masks, lock-downs, sadness. But out of the Covid-19 chaos, the Eagles emerged with renewed resiliency in 2020-21, creating moments and memories that will last a lifetime. “Flying out of there going to the NCAA tournament for the first time in my head coaching career — but for the third time in Eastern
A BIG SKY TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP, AND A THIRD MARCH MADNESS APPEARANCE, CAP A COVID-PLAGUED SEASON TO REMEMBER.
history — it was an amazing feeling,” head coach Shantay Legans said in an interview shortly before he announced his departure for the University of Portland. The Covid-year campaign began with an original schedule offering potentially electrifying match-ups against powerhouses like the University of Southern California and Notre Dame, games intended to provide both much needed revenue guarantees for the program and once-in-a-lifetime experiences for the players. Unfortunately, the pandemic had other ideas, and these games never materialized. Replacement contests were promptly added at Oregon, Arizona, Nevada-Las Vegas and St. Mary’s, but the virus wasn’t finished. A
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Flying out of there going to the NCAA tournament for the first time in my head coaching career — but for the third time in Eastern history — it was an amazing feeling.
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