Although it had been eight months, it really seemed like yesterday that we were watching IU play in the first round of the Big Ten tourney. COVID had just become a widespread reality for the nation and all of us sat in amazement as the Nebraska coach looked half dead on the sidelines. Neither team shook hands as they walked off the court and the Huskers remained isolated in the locker room until it was confirmed that Fred Hoiberg only had influenza. Shortly afterward, the Big Ten cancelled the tournament and the NCAA followed suit by ending March Madness. We were definitely disappointed as IU had a legitimate chance of making the tournament after a four year drought.
Fast forward to today and the time between games just doesn't seem that long. IU had new players on their roster, but the look and the feel of those on the court was the same. It was strange to watch them play to an empty stadium, but overall nothing was too different. IU came out slow, missed a lot of shots, hurt in the guard position, but eventually turned it on and defeated a no name team easily. Regardless of the score, we were all just happy to see a return to Big Ten basketball. It provided twelve hours of games for Cameron to watch today and something to talk about besides the coronavirus. It also reminded me that soon this would all be a memory and something to tell our grandchildren about in years to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment