Flying High to Portland

The excitement for the NCAA tournament elevates this time each year.

For Gonzaga fans it can be a bit ho-hum knowing that win or lose in the WCC final the Bulldogs will still go to the big dance.

But the thing I respect is that winning the WCC is still the most important thing for them to accomplish.

Fans in Seattle are disappointed that a highly successful UW preseason went down the tube and struggles ensued throughout the rest of the season. The Huskies finished in 11th place two games behind 10th place WSU.

Cougar fans aren’t jumping for joy but at least they are optimistic that Coach Ernie Kent can bring in some talent and get WAZZU back into the post season tournaments in a season or two.

Huskie Coach Lorenzo Romar needs to get UW back on course or his days in Seattle may be numbered.

For fans and alums of EWU we can’t be more excited for the Eagles than what took place at the Big Sky conference tournament in Missoula, Montana last weekend.

The Eagles shared the regular season title with the Griz but the tiebreaker allowed Montana to host the Big Sky tournament.

EWU has been an interesting team this season and showed just how important solid recruiting and great coaching can lead to phenomenal things.

The Eagle football team played the very first game of the season in August and the basketball team tipped things off on Friday, November 14, at 8 a.m. hosting the very first game of the 2014-15 season.

The Eagles rallied in the second half to beat Texas Southern. Texas Southern was an NCAA team in 2014 and repeats in 2015.

Ten days later the Eagles traveled to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the Big 10 Hoosiers. Again the Eagles rallied late and upset IU which woke up a lot of people that maybe this EWU team was special. Indiana is also in the NCAA tournament.

Eastern battled injuries to key players this year but somehow won huge games ‘shorthanded’ during the conference season.

The Eagles rallied in several games coming back from 17 down to beat Idaho and rallied late on the road at Weber State winning in overtime. Montana and EWU ended the conference season at 14-4.

Leading the way for Eastern was Tyler Harvey the nation’s leading scorer. Not bad for a kid that went unrecruited.

Coach Jim Hayford was willing to give the kid a chance at Whitworth but when Hayford took the coaching job at EWU he asked Harvey if he would be a walk-on.

And oh what a walk-on he turned out to be. Yes, Harvey is now a scholarship player for the Eagles.

Hayford has recruited kids from Australia, Serbia, Ukraine, Germany, California and several from Spokane. And he is a very successful coach.

For anyone watching the Big Sky championship game on Saturday it looked a bit grim with about six minutes left to play.

Montana had an 11-point lead and the Eagles were struggling to make shots. That was about the time that Hayford called a timeout and reminded his charges just what they were playing for.

It worked.

Eastern pressured the Griz, forced some turnovers and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

The hometown Griz fans were stunned while the Eagles’ fans rejoiced. In those six minutes EWU outscored the Griz 21-6 and secured their second ever spot in the NCAA tournament.

I heard from a few people that complained about Hayford waiting so long to get his boys’ attention.

Playing three games in three days is not an easy task and I’m sure he was hoping his three-point shooters would show up.

But he may have waited for just the right time to press UM. An adrenaline rush kicked in and the momentum switched in a heartbeat.

The 69-65 Eagle win was the first time they had beaten the Griz in Big Sky tournament play.

This is the second time the Eagles will be in the NCAA tournament. At 26-8 this is their best season as a NCAA Division I team.

The last time they went was 2004.

That year the Eagles ran away with the title by four games and won their only two Big Sky tournament games in Cheney.

That year there were only eight teams in the league while this year there is a total of 12.

Hayford has made the Eagles relevant again. And the Eagles are flying high. Around 7:00 tonight the Eagles will battle the Georgetown Hoyas in Portland.

I only hope their high-powered offense gets going a lot sooner than with six minutes left in the game.

Go Eags!