Jon Mark Beilue: 'Almost Like a Bad Accident'

WT feels COVID-19 impact, especially basketball teams

Photo: Tiana Parker, a senior, was one of three Lady Buffs whose playing career ended with the sports shutdown from the COVID-19 pandemic. Parker, who missed all of the last season with a knee injury, returned this year only to break her foot in January. After surgery and rehab, she was medically cleared to play for the postseason.

If they want to torture themselves a bit with “what ifs” and “might have beens,” West Texas A&M University men’s basketball coach Tom Brown and his players can spend snippets of this extra idle time to imagine what they could be doing right now.

Like being in Evansville, Ind., and playing in a national quarterfinal game on Thursday, getting ready for a semifinal on Saturday with the very real possibility of going to Atlanta for an April 5 date for the national championship.

Those opportunities come only to special teams and special times. And now…

“It’s just one of those things,” Brown said. “I was probably in the bargaining stage for a while, hoping they’d push it back a couple of weeks, maybe playing with no fans, but this was inevitable. Still, it’s like a punch in the gut. It’s really tough. These kids worked their whole life for this opportunity.”

For Coach Kristen Mattio and the WT Lady Buffs, their postseason challenge was more difficult. But they were at full strength finally, and in March, anything can happen.

That anything, as the world has discovered, includes a global COVID-19 pandemic. The country was put on pause on March 12 -- a rapid response to the coronavirus that was silently slithering from overseas throughout the United States.

It began on the night of March 11 with the cancellation of an NBA game between Phoenix and Oklahoma City just before tip-off.  The country’s sporting events, from high school to professional, then began to shut down like dominoes crashing into each other.

“It was so fast-moving. Things changed dramatically in 24 hours,” said WT Athletic Director Michael McBroom. “After that Wednesday, I knew we were on really shaky ground. At that point, I was just hoping for a delay. On Thursday morning, I let Tom and Kristen know to be prepared for a lot of different scenarios.”

The No. 3-ranked Buffs, with their sterling 32-1 record, were set to host the South Central Region at the First United Bank Center beginning March 14. The women, 27-6, were making the short drive to Lubbock Christian University for that same regional. Those tournaments were the first significant step to the Elite Eight national tournament.

By March 12, it was official. The last remnants of any basketball in the country were that day. WT’s eight-team regional basketball tournaments, scheduled to begin the following day, were canceled. All sports were.

The Lady Buffs had just finished an allotted 50-minute practice at LCU and had lunch. They had returned to the hotel when the team got the news. Mattio used a conference room, where they pulled up chairs in a circle to process what many knew was coming.

In that circle was 6-5 senior post Tiana Parker. She had missed all of last season with a knee injury. She broke her foot in January, had surgery, intensely rehabbed and was medically released to play in the Lone Star Conference tournament.

Mattio especially thanked her and the other two seniors, put the season in perspective, let other coaches and players talk and then boarded a bus back to Canyon. When they arrived, a group of fans were there to meet them.

“It was such an unknown feeling,” Mattio said. “A season never ends that way. You reach a point where you either lose and that’s it or you keep winning. It’s such a helpless feeling, nothing more, and it took a couple of days to get past that.

“It was obviously a hard break, but we need to put this is perspective. We all understand why we’re not playing the game and there’s a bigger picture than not playing basketball.”

*Photo: WT men's basketball coach Tom Brown was hoping for one more cutting down of the net at home with the South Central Region, and a cutting own of the net for a national championship cleared to play for the postseason.

Keeping things in perspective

Indeed, when hospitals in hard-hit areas are overwhelmed and supplies run out, when the infected cases and deaths multiply like the digits at a gas station, when there are layoffs and economic hardship, perspective is required.

No one, including those on either team, are comparing what they lost to what’s ultimately at stake. At the same time, it affects them personally, and processing that is not diminishing the pandemic at large and the real victims.

“It’s like someone broke into your house and you got something very valuable and they took it away,” Brown said. “You don’t know where it went. There’s nothing you can do. It’s over and you got to move on. It’s very unfortunate. Those are life lessons and something that’s a tough life lesson.”

Few WT students and employees are unaffected. Online-only classes are scheduled through the semester. There are modified work arrangements for employees. Commencement exercises in May have been postponed. So too the seasons for the spring sports have been canceled.

But look to Brown’s team for what might have been. It’s not being overly dramatic to say WT lost a legitimate chance to win a national championship. Brown was coach on two national title teams at Winona State in Minnesota, and has faced teams which won it all with the Buffs.

“No question, we had a chance to,” said Brown, whose teams have won 98 games since 2017, the most of any college men’s team in the country, regardless of division. “You have to be good. If not, you’ll eventually get exposed. We were very good. We had some weaknesses like all teams at every level. You have to play well and have a little luck on your side, and you have to have a great team. We had a great team.”  

The Buffs owned a school record winning percentage of .969, won 32 games by an average of 20 points, won 23 in a row heading into the South Central region where they are practically invincible at home.

Outstanding guard play in the NCAA tournament is a must. Likely no team in Division II had guards like the Buffs. Sophomores Qua Grant (20.7 ppg) and Joel Murray (19.9) could take over games. Jon’il Fugett only added to matchup problems on the perimeter.

“This is almost like a bad accident,” Brown said, “and it’s not your fault. But you still got injured and it’s still painful and you got to recover. But you got to enjoy what you have and appreciate what you have because you don’t know when it could be taken away.”

Both teams are relatively young. There are only five seniors combined on both. The two should be primed for another run in 2021. Brown is hopeful for an added layer of motivation. But they, like many coaches and teams across the country, could see things through a different lens when they return.

“As I move forward, I want to be sure we celebrate more through the season, celebrate the good times and the things we strive for and don’t save it for the banquet at the end of the season,” Mattio said.

“There’s a bigger picture outside of basketball, but we all need to value the moment. The bigger picture is more than basketball – it’s our life, our joy and peace. It’s really tough for a lot of people in this country right now. Even though games bring people together, we need to see the big picture. When we get back together, we can celebrate what we did this year, but we can also get well as a country and celebrate that too.”

Do you know of a student, faculty member, project, an alumnus or any other story idea for “WT: The Heart and Soul of the Texas Panhandle?” If so, email Jon Mark Beilue at jbeilue@wtamu.edu .

—WTAMU—