A Year to Remember

In my latest posts, I have been talking about the production of the Texas State games aired on ESPN+ but in this post, I am going to shift gears and talk about the coronavirus and its effects on people. The coronavirus is a pandemic with over 52,000 confirmed cases and over 650 deaths in the United States alone. Sports organizations such as the NBA, MLB, and NCAA have canceled or suspended play in order to slow down the spread of the virus. This widespread virus has affected a vast number of people from all walks of life, not just from a health standpoint, which is the most important, but in other aspects. Some of these people are the workers that help produce the broadcast for ESPN+ and the athletes of Texas State University. Since the NCAA canceled the remaining games of the winter and spring sports this puts the student workers, like myself, out of work. With no games being played, this means no games to be broadcasted. As disappointing as it might be to the student workers, the men’s basketball team’s dreams came to a halt.

The men’s basketball team was on the path to possibly winning their first Sun Belt Championship and making their first appearance in the NCAA March Madness tournament since 1997. This was not to be the case, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

With the unexpected ending to a remarkable season the Texas State players, students, and the broadcasting crew got to experience one last outstanding game for the 2019 – 2020 season at Strahan Arena. On March 11, 2020, the second-largest attended basketball game in Texas State history took place. Approximately 6,308 loud Bobcat fans, clothed in white shirts, packed Strahan Arena to watch the men’s basketball team face off against the number 6th seed Appalachian State in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. After two solid halves of baseketball, the Bobcats cruised to a 85 – 68 victory. The next day, the NCAA made the decision to cancel the remaining basketball games and tournaments.

Seniors, Eric Terry (Left) and Nijal Pearson (Right)

My heart goes out to the seniors of the basketball team, Nijal Pearson and Eric Terry, as well as the seniors of the broadcasting team. Even though the season didn’t end as planned, the last game of the season will be one to be remembered by all Texas State Bobcats forever.