CHENEY, Wash. — Eastern Washington men's basketball returned back to Cheney from Boise, Idaho on Friday after both the Big Sky and NCAA Tournaments were cancelled on Thursday due to concerns of a coronavirus outbreak.
It has been a wild sequence for the team. On Wednesday it was announced March Madness would be played without fans. Early on Thursday, the Big Sky, along with every other conference in the country, cancelled its conference tournament.
Since there was no conference tournament, the Big Sky chose Eastern Washington as the team to represent the conference since the Eags won the Big Sky regular season title.
However, just hours later, the NCAA Tournament announced there would be no NCAA Tournament. It was a whirlwind of emotions that led to disappointment, but the team understands why the games shouldn't be played.
"There's a lot of feelings and disappointment because we had big plans for the Boise trip and what was going to come afterwards," senior forward Mason Peatling said. "But you know, it's pretty dire circumstances. Everyone has to make a couple of sacrifices to keep this under control, so we're more than happy to."