Go Eags

Just to let you know I wasn’t ignoring the EWU Eagles basketball team. I’ve been following them and keeping track of their great season. I didn’t want to mention them when they were on a historic winning streak. But Saturday night their 18 game streak, 16 Big Sky victories, came to a halt at Idaho State in a loss to the Bengals. But the Eagles had already wrapped up the Big Sky championship and celebrated on their home court so the loss was just a reminder that there is still work to do, The Big Sky tournament starts in a few days and the Eagles want to also win that tournament and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Just two years ago the Eagles played Kansas in the first round of March Madness. The Eagles had a lead at halftime but would end of losing to the Jayhawks. But the basketball world woke up that day to see a hard working blue collar team that scared a blue blooded team and Coach Shantay Legans name became popular with coaching vacancies. The young, exciting coach would leave Cheney to become the head man for the Portland Pilots. He was accompanied by a couple of EWU players that decided to transfer to be with Legans.

Legans assistant coach David Riley was hired to be the Eagles’ next head coach. Players acknowledged that Riley was a great choice and they heaped praises on him as they put their names into the transfer portal and left the Cheney campus. The Groves brothers went to Oklahoma where they have had a couple of good seasons.

After last season several more players decided to transfer after an 18-16 season and just missing out on playing for the Big Sky championship by a game. So Riley had to find some new players to fill out his roster. He had to search the transfer portal for some players that would fit at EWU. Interestingly enough he put together a team that can hit the three and score a bunch of points.

To all of those transfers who hoped they were going to play in the Big Dance or any dance let’s just say that in order for their teams to make post season play they will have to win their conference tournament. EWU is guaranteed a spot in the NIT by winning the Big Sky regular season championship. And if they win the conference tournament they will be looking at a 14 seed in the NCAA tournament.

As an EWU alum and fan I didn’t think that the Eagles would have the type of season that they did. The transfers that left EWU could have won a conference championship with their talent alone if they had all ended up in the same place. I really have no idea how you cobble together a new team basically and then win the first 16 games in conference play and win the league championship.

David Riley is a shoo-in for conference coach of the year and several players will earn Big Sky accolades. EWU fans are still hoping that the Eagles can get another shot at a spot in the NCAA tournament and bring some valuable recognition to the school in Cheney.

On Saturday during the ESPN Game Day broadcast from Gonzaga there was a question asked about what team has the longest active winning streak in Division I basketball. Jay Bilas guessed Gonzaga. The answer was Eastern Washington University at 18 games. Unfortunately later on that day the streak came to an end but at least I wasn’t the one to jinx it. That honor goes to ESPN.

With success also comes the possibility that some bigger college basketball program with deeper pockets and nicer facilities will be calling and persuades Coach Riley that he could have greater success somewhere else and as a young coach he will certainly look at those options. Eastern won’t be able to keep him forever I know that. I hope he knows that he’s appreciated for his accomplishments because what he has done is pretty awesome. Go Eags!

— Dale Anderson is a sports columnist

from Ritzville. To contact him, email [email protected].