Brian Losness-Imagn Images
The Big Sky was one of the many college basketball conferences that called off their championship tournaments when it became clear COVID-19 was a threat that could no longer be ignored. It’s also decided to give the virus credit where credit is due by going out of its way to commemorate that development on the banner it uses to keep track of the teams that reigned supreme.
It has been five years to the day since the NCAA followed in the footsteps of the NBA by announcing it had decided to cancel March Madness and “all remaining winter and spring championships” as weeks of worry concerning the growing threat of COVID-19 officially reached the tipping point that forced most Americans to accept it was A Very Big Deal.
The Ivy League had already canceled its basketball tournament a couple of days before the decision became a fairly moot point, and the majority of the 31 conferences that comprise the Division I level were unable to finish theirs before the plug was pulled.
That included the Big Sky, which kicked off its 11-team men’s tournament at CenturyLink Arena in Boise on March 11th. Six of those squads played in the three games that were held that day, but the seven contests remaining on the schedule were ultimately never played (there were two teams left standing in the women’s tournament before it was called off).
Barring a very unexpected twist, all signs point to this year’s Big Sky tournament going off without a hitch, as the women’s teams at Montana State and Idaho will play each other for the crown on Wednesday afternoon before the guys at Northern Colorado and Montana face off for the right to punch their ticket to March Madness in the evening.
During Tuesday’s semifinal matchup between Northern Colorado and Montana State, ESPN cut to a banner in the rafters honoring the men’s teams that have won the Big Sky conference tournament, and COVID got its very own logo while being immortalized as the champion of 2020.
The Big Sky Conference anointed Covid as the champions of the 2020 conference basketball tournament and put it in the rafters pic.twitter.com/rfoToS5vGb
— Ham Sandwich (@BigSandwichGuy) March 12, 2025
Northern Colorado ultimately deprived the Bobcats of the chance to win it all for the fourth year in a row with a decisive 72-45 victory over the defending champs.