Around a year ago this time, we started experiencing the severe effects of COVID-19. Everyone began closing up shop and locking down to start the fight against COVID. Nobody knew what to expect and for how long to expect it. A confusing time to say the least. And one of the most whirlwind moments of the pandemic’s beginning in the realm of sports was — well the realm of sports grinding to a stop. Everyone’s season essentially thrown in the wood chipper like in that scene from Fargo. Never to be seen again. Now, things are starting to reverse. We’re opening up more and light might be in sight in this tunnel from Hell. So let’s take a look back at where we were on March 12 shall we?
Where Were They?
Men’s Basketball
Back then Andrew Nembhard was still at Florida, Keyontae Johnson hadn’t suffered a horrific health emergency, Colin Castleton was at Michigan and Tre Mann averaged five points and 17 minutes per game. Mike White’s squad was supposed to play a second round game of the SEC Tournament against Georgia that Thursday afternoon. They came to Nashville losers of three of their last five with a regular season finale featuring them blow a double-digit lead to the Kentucky Wildcats in Exactech Arena. A run in Nashvegas would certainly help improve the projected nine-seed’s standing come selection Sunday. Unfortunately, the Gators didn’t go dancing for the first time since White’s first year. Albeit, this time their play wasn’t the reason.
Football
One of four teams not in season before all Hell broke loose. Dan Mullen’s team was four days from starting spring practice. Imagine how Kyle Trask and Co. would’ve been with a full spring. Not to mention the defense. That whole team (along with every other school) could’ve looked different. After that day, we learned just how flexible college football schedules really were.
Gymnastics
On March 12, 2020, a question hung in the air. Other schools and conferences were canceling meets, doing things with no spectators – would the Gators? The next day would be senior night, one of the most important meets of the year, and the team had a promising outlook for postseason. But then came the call – first, no spectators, but then, outright cancellation. Later that day came the news that the NCAA would shut down all sports activities for two weeks, but head coach Jenny Rowland still had hope. Nationals wasn’t for another 6 weeks – the team had succeeded all season, and if the field had to be determined by ranking instead of regional competitions, the Gators would make it. So she continued to encourage the team to train from home, that they would come back stronger and ready to fight. Little did they know, they’d have to burn that fire within for much longer than just a few weeks.
Track and Field
Mouse Holloway’s group had NCAA Indoor Championships that weekend. They were already in New Mexico with nine men’s and seven women’s entrants. Three Gator men in Raymond Ekevwo (60m), Clayton Brown (Triple Jump) and Thomas Mardal (Weight Throw) awon individual SEC titles a few weeks prior to March 12. The Gators won the indoor national title in 2019 but had no opportunity to defend in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Women’s Basketball
Florida had a chance to make a postseason tournament for the first time since Amanda Butler took the Gators to the 2016 Women’s NCAA Tournament. They won 15 games! That was nearly double their total in 2018-2019. Cam Newbauer’s team fell in the SEC Tournament to LSU a week prior and were awaiting a possible WNIT invite. But, after Thursday, they’d never receive it.
Lacrosse
The tenth-ranked women’s lacrosse team (6-2) was halfway through its season before the shutdown. Led by preseason All-Americans Shannon Kavanaugh and Cara Trombetta, the Gators defeated No. 19 Navy just that Tuesday. Amanda O’Leary’s team was two days from a matchup with Brown, the first of five consecutive road games including No. 1 UNC and No. 13 Princeton and the beginning of conference play. Florida ranked third in the nation in clearing percentage (.922) and ninth in the nation in fewest turnovers per game (12.38). Their chances of a tenth straight regular season conference championship and seventh straight AAC Tournament title were dashed on that Thursday afternoon.
Swimming and Diving
Both men’s and women’s wrapped up NCAA Diving Zones one day prior to the shutdown. The women’s team finished second in SECs while men’s won its eighth straight conference title. Eleven swimmers, one relay alternate and one diver on the women’s team qualified for the 2020 NCAA Championships. For the men, thirteen swimmers earned invites along with earning spots for all five possible relays. The Gators were excelling all year but didn’t have a chance to do more damage on the highest stage of the season.
Tennis
Another set of teams that missed out on the postseason. Both just kicked off conference play with the men looking to build on their first place finish in 2019 while the women were trying improve on its 7-6 SEC record from the previous year. Bryan Shelton’s and Roland Thornqvist’s respective teams ended up sidelined just like everyone else with questions of what could’ve been.
Golf
The men’s team didn’t have another event for over a week but won its first Gators Invitational for the first since 2011 a week ago. Freshman Ricky Castillo earned Ben Hogan Award Golfer of the Month and SEC Player of the Week honors the previous week. The women’s team was coming off a win at the Gators Invitation too. It was their second straight win and third overall that season. Both teams were coming up on their respective SEC Championships before COVID cut their seasons short.
Softball
Tim Walton’s team was smack dab in the middle of its season before the shutdown happened. The 23-4 Gators ranked seventh in the nation and just defeated in-state rival Florida State in a Top 25 matchup that Wednesday. Florida was top 10 in the country in fielding percentage (3rd – 0.985), double plays per game (6th – 0.59), shutouts (8th – 9), walks (9th – 101) and win/loss percentage (9th – 0.852). Transfer Charla Echols was tearing it up with team leads in batting average, hits, home runs and runs batted in. The pitching staff’s sub-2.00 ERA showed it was capable of shutting teams down without the help of Kelly Barnhill. A fourth straight trip to Oklahoma City seemed likely for a well-performing Gators team at the beginning of SEC play. Unfortunately, fans wouldn’t see another game at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium for 11 months.
Baseball
Florida baseball was 16-1 at the time of the shutdown. Unfortunately, the Gators left the McKethan Stadium field for the final time after a loss to bitter rival, Florida State, the Tuesday before the cancellation of the season. The Gators were led by a starting rotation that included two juniors, Tommy Mace and Jack Leftwich and highly touted freshman Hunter Barco. The lineup featured talented veterans Austin Langworthy, Kirby McMullen, Brady Smith, Jud Fabian, Kendrick Calilao, and Jacob Young while adding talented freshmen Nathan Hickey and Josh Rivera, among others. It was a team hungry to rectify a down year one season prior — well at least a down year considering the standard Kevin O’Sullivan’s set. The Gators returned to the field in February with a roster nearly identical to last year’s at a new ballpark across campus as the nation’s unanimous No. 1 ranked team.
…
Like a lot of people I’m sure, I remember where I was March 12, 2020. I was at work producing Steve Russell’s Sportscene show. It was around that time the cancelations started rolling in. The ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament got nixed, then came all the other conference tournaments, the NBA was already off, the NHL then halted it’s season and the MLB was mulling a postponement. I remember seeing ACC Commissioner present a dejected Seminole team the ACC Champion trophy for their regular-season title on the floor of deserted Greensboro Coliseum.
There was already a little panic in me when all of that happened. However, at the time, I figured we’d still see some sports played with no fans. Until the final two shoes dropped. The NCAA called off March Madness along with all spring and summer championships. Plus, the spring sports season was on hold for the SEC. And, in the moments I heard those announcements, I realized the entire world and almost every facet of society was coming to a halt. It didn’t cause me anxiety when UF classes went online the day prior. We’d be online for two weeks but I still had the baseball beat to cover and figured, like others, we’d be right back in the swing come the end of March. That Thursday afternoon made it real for me. I didn’t know what to do. Here I was thinking about the SEC Tournament and covering Florida baseball’s SEC opener against Georgia then, in a matter of hours, it was all gone.
Now, this isn’t an attempt at exaggeration or anything. It was genuinely how I felt on that day. And, regardless of viewpoint, it had to be a pretty anxious time for others as well. But, a full year’s gone by now. It’s so weird how my friends and I were all saying “See you in two weeks” and it stretched into a whole other year. As far as I’m concerned it’s still March. March 379th, 2020 to be exact. One of these days we’ll turn the page to April or whatever month and get on with our lives. But, as far as sports go, let’s just enjoy what we have now. Because last year we had no idea when we’d see it again.