Last Big 12 Tournament remains ‘eerie’ experience for K-State men’s basketball team
As Bruce Weber triumphantly walked off the court at last year’s Big 12 Tournament following an opening round victory against TCU, a group of fans sitting in the front row extended their hands toward the Kansas State men’s basketball coach hoping to get a high five.
Weber usually would have obliged such a request, but in that moment he didn’t know how to react. Instead of embracing his supporters, he awkwardly waved in their direction and then locked his hands behind his back as he sauntered away. It was almost as if he was letting everyone in the arena know he wasn’t going to be slapping hands with strangers anytime soon.
That visual was a perfect illustration of the unknowns that came crashing down on college sports almost exactly one year ago and how much life changed after the Wildcats and Horned Frogs played what turned out to be the final Big 12 sporting event held under normal conditions (full fan capacity, no masks, no social distancing) before the coronavirus pandemic began.
“It was scary a little bit, because we didn’t know what was coming,” Weber said. “You were worried about the players. You were worried about the virus. We didn’t know anything about it ... It was eerie. It seems like just yesterday, but it’s been a year. I still have a lot of emotions and a lot of different thoughts about it.”
For those in attendance, the 2020 Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City will always be remembered as the sporting event when time stood still. The opening round began with fans in attendance, but the conference announced that teams would play in front of an empty arena from the quarterfinals on, prompting a loud chorus of boos inside the building that is now called T-Mobile Center.
Little did those fans know big changes were about to descend on them like a tornado.
As hours went by, the possibility of finishing the tournament in any capacity was suddenly in jeopardy. Other conferences began canceling their tournaments. And the NBA grew so concerned about COVID-19 that it suspended the remainder of its season while K-State and TCU were on the court that night.
“That’s when I remember thinking, ‘this thing may not make it through weekend,’” K-State athletic director Gene Taylor said. “I was getting so many notifications on my phone. Things were changing every five minutes.”
The Wildcats beat the Horned Frogs 53-49 behind some late heroics from Mike McGuirl, and the team was genuinely excited to see if it could build off that momentum the following day. But it was hard for players to celebrate when they didn’t know if the tournament was still on.
Weber tried to keep players focused by sticking to a normal schedule. The team had a late meal together after the game and the coaching staff did scouting work until 2 the following morning. But Weber had trouble falling asleep afterward, as his mind pondered the unknown.
That day was an even bigger whirlwind.
“Everything happened so fast,” McGuirl said. “The following morning we were having our scout meeting, but the vibes weren’t good. You could tell it was going to canceled. Once we heard the NBA shut down you knew our tournament wasn’t going to last much longer.”
Nobody wanted to call off the Big 12 Tournament, but when all of the other power conferences began canceling their events, the league followed suit. Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, at a hastily scheduled news conference that Thursday morning, announced that the event was off.
Looking back, Bowlsby now calls that meeting with reporters “surreal.” Taylor said the “stress and tension” that came beforehand “unbelievable” for the conference’s athletic directors.
The decision came late enough in the day that Texas and Texas Tech players were warming up on the court for the first quarterfinal game of the tournament when they were told to vacate the arena and go home.
K-State players found out soon after. Taylor informed the women’s basketball team that its tournament was off during a morning shoot-around. There were tears from both him and players. A few blocks away, executive associate athletic director of internal operations Casey Scott broke the news to the men’s team at their hotel.
By the end of the day, the NCAA Tournament had also been canceled.
It was hard to believe K-State was less than 24 hours removed from a “normal” victory at the Big 12 Tournament.
Initially, there was hope that the pandemic wouldn’t last long or interrupt other major sporting events. Taylor remembers thinking a month would go by and the Wildcats would be good to start spring football practice. But then COVID-19 swept across the country and college sports were completely shut down until the fall.
Taylor ended up having to inform several teams their season were over.
“Baseball was the hardest for me,” he said. “We had a group of seniors that felt they would be pretty good and had a lot of confidence. It was a dear-in-a-headlights thing when I told them ‘your season has been canceled.’ They didn’t know what questions to ask. I didn’t have answers for them.”
When sports eventually returned, things like COVID-19 testing, social distancing, masks and Zoom calls were the new normal.
That will once again be the case when the Wildcats return to the place where everything changed for them last year when they coincidentally play TCU in the opening game of the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday night at T-Mobile Center.
This time, fans won’t be close enough to the court to ask Weber for a high five.
“It’s weird, to be honest,” Weber said. “It was weird going through it last year with all the unknowns. We know more now, but I don’t think we’re out of it. We have our head above water, but we’ve gotta get out of the water. It’s still going to be a little ways.”