The Eagles have landed

A season for the ages ended last week in Portland when the Georgetown Hoyas defeated the Eastern Washington Eagles.

Like many mid-major schools like EWU the Eagles got off to a pretty good start and with a few threes took an early lead over the much bigger Hoyas. Once Georgetown inflicted some brute force without the referees calling a few fouls the Eagles finesse game was halted for a long stretch of the first and second halves.

These things do take place in tournament games when referees from around the country may not call marginal fouls in order for the game to flow a bit freely and finish in a reasonable amount of time. EWU hadn’t played many if any teams with the size that Georgetown was able to throw at them.

The Eagles were down by ten at halftime and the lead would expand in the second half.

With about eight minutes left the Eagles started to bring full court pressure and would whittle a large Hoya lead to seven at one time. But the big boys from the Big East conference started hitting free throws at a more consistent clip and ended the Eagles season with a 10-point loss. The final two came on a needless dunk by a Hoya that may have shown their true sportsmanship.

Eastern had a great season and had to win a conference championship in order to make it to the ‘Big Dance’. They did that on the road in hostile Missoula, Montana. I think that was one of the greatest wins in EWU history because of how and where it took place. As an Eagle alum it is very gratifying to know that EWU is the Big Sky Champion in both football and men’s basketball. Yes it’s great to be an Eagle! And for all of you that graduated from EWU, or EWSC or EWCE or even Cheney Normal School this is good stuff and you should be proud of it.

There was a lot made out of the ‘prediction’ of a victory that Coach Jim Hayford made on the Jim Rome Show.

Would I have done it? Probably not but let’s face it I’m sure Hayford may have gotten wrapped up in the moment and told the world what he truly believed in, “I love my team!” What’s wrong with that?

So what’s next for the EWU Eagles? I’m sure first of all will Coach Jim Hayford become a hot commodity in the coaching ranks? If so would he leave the Cheney/Spokane community? I don’t know the answer to that one. My hope is that he has a lot of ties to this area that will keep him here. Hayford spent 10 successful years at Whitworth building a great program that has continued to have success even after he left.

This is Hayford’s fourth year with the Eagles and first conference championship. Eleven years ago Ray Giacoletti took EWU to the NCAA tournament and took over as the Utah Utes coach after the season ended. Two coaches later with varied success the EWU hierarchy decided to take the basketball program in a different direction with the highly successful Hayford and the investment has paid off.

EWU will also need to fill holes with the graduation of three seniors, Garrett Moon, Parker Kelly and Drew Brandon. It may be easier to fill positions than it will be to fill experience and leadership. After the Georgetown game ended Brandon was interviewed about his feelings and he talked about how difficult it was going to be to not play at EWU ever again. He also said that he wasn’t sure if he was going to take his jersey off, most likely because of the finality of that action.

Eastern has a lot of great young talent returning next season. One question mark is Tyler Harvey the nation’s leading scorer.

Harvey has a few options that will be facing him. He could declare for the NBA draft which I think would be a year too early. Since he will be graduating he could transfer without sitting out and play his final year ala Vernon Adams at a bigger program or he could return to Eastern where he was given his chance to play Division I basketball by one Jim Hayford.

I selfishly hope he returns because I would like to see him take the Eagles to another NCAA berth.

For this program to take off it needs to have consistency and success and good recruiting. And if they have a chance to win a game they need some size to combat the bullies from the east.

After a great showing in Portland albeit one that ended up on the short end of the scoreboard the Eagles have landed in Cheney with a resolve to improve in all facets of their game. There is a lot of excitement at EWU right now and a lot of hope for the future of Eagle basketball.

Go Eags!