Presented by THE JAMES.
This Day In Sports…March 11, 2020, five years ago today:
It is historic. As in, infamously historic. It was a Wednesday, and it began with the declaration that the coronavirus had grown into a pandemic. Then, locally, Boise’s Treefort music festival was postponed. The dominoes kept falling, right through the early afternoon announcement that the NCAA Tournament—men’s and women’s—would be played without fans in the stands (and ultimately, we found out the following day, not at all). Then the NBA suspended its season that night when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for COVID-19.
From the Scott Slant that morning: “Your last chance in the near future to attend a live event in a major sport may be the men’s and women’s Big Sky Tournaments at CenturyLink Arena. They were still on as of this morning.” As it turned out, the Big Sky was the last event standing that night and did play, but it was cancelled the following morning. By the time the weekend arrived, virtually all sports activity in America had stopped.
How did we feel at the time? How about: “These past two days have been the darkest days in the history of sports.” We especially felt sorry for college hoops seniors, whose careers ended so suddenly. Here’s a sampling from my column the following day.
BOISE STATE MEN’S BASKETBALL
“There’s some consolation for Bronco men’s seniors Justinian Jessup, Alex Hobbs, RJ Williams, Marcus Dickinson and Robin Jorch. With the Mountain West Tournament played a week earlier than usual, at least they knew it might be over. Now it’s a sure thing. Jessup will retain the Mountain West career record for three-pointers. Utah State’s Sam Merrill won’t have a chance to catch him now (Jessup made 325 treys the past four seasons—Merrill 319). Hobbs and Williams ended their careers on high notes, with Hobbs putting up 21 points against San Diego State last Friday and Williams finishing with a fourth straight double-double. It would have been great to see Hobbs’ patented floater just one more time.”
BOISE STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
“It’s a devastating way for the Boise State women’s seniors to see it end. They had already been waiting more than a week for the Broncos’ NCAA Tournament draw following their fourth straight Mountain West Tournament championship. Among those seniors, Braydey Hodgins had just returned to her old self in the title game win over Fresno State. The Preseason MW Player of the Year scored 20 points, her first 20-point outing since February 1. Hodgins finishes her career with 1,150 points, while Riley Lupfer ends with 1,538 points and 350 three-pointers. Both players logged 128 total games as Broncos. Then there’s A’Shanti Coleman, who was just hitting her zenith as Mountain West Tournament MVP, and Jayde Christopher, with her jaw-dropping 270 assists this season.”
COLLEGE OF IDAHO MEN’S BASKETBALL
“College of Idaho coach Colby Blaine said on Idaho SportsTalk that his team isn’t going to get all wrapped up in claiming a national championship after the NAIA Division II Championships were cancelled. The Coyotes were the No. 1 seed, though. Three Idahoans are dealing with the stunning end as seniors: Centennial High grad Talon Pinckney, Rocky Mountain grad Nate Bruneel and Jake Bruner from Cottonwood. Pinckney scored 17 points in what turned out to be his final game Wednesday night, Bruneel led the Yotes in scoring this season with 13.4 points per game, and Bruner appeared in all 34 games for C of I as a spark off the bench, averaging 7.0 points per game.”
BOISE STATE PRO DAY
“John Molchon’s invitation to the NFL Combine last month was seen at the time as a nice bonus for Boise State, giving the Broncos four representatives in Indianapolis. Well, it’s turned out to be huge for Molchon (not to mention Curtis Weaver, Ezra Cleveland and John Hightower). NFL teams are scrapping plans to scout college pro days. Boise State’s is slated for April 2. It would have been Molchon’s only chance to impress NFL people had he not gone to the Combine. Former Bronco David Moa was not at the Combine, so pro day is (or would have been) a big deal to him.”
The fledgling Boise State baseball program wasn’t even mentioned that day. Little did we know that it would be gone forever.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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