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It’s the beginning of April, which is generally the time of year when I start to come out of my post-basketball funk.

The state basketball playoffs are five weeks of bliss if you’re a basketball junkie.

It wraps up with those final two weekends - the first two weekends in March - with the state basketball tournaments in Oklahoma City (at least for Class 4A and below).

The A and B tournaments on that first weekend are an excellent primer for the marathon that is the 2A-3A-4A weekend that follows.

While I love it, it takes its toll.

Yes, it’s a privilege to actually get paid to sit courtside and cover state basketball, but it also makes for long days.

Ever sit through eight games in one day? Then go back for more the next day?

Yes, it’s basketball, but it’s also taxing.

So it generally takes me about two weekends to “recover.”

Normally this is the time of year when my recovery period is over and I’m ready to dive head first into the likes of baseball, tennis, golf, soccer, track and slowpitch softball.

As we all know, that’s not the case this year.

While we were able to play the small-school state tournaments and get our brackets set for the large schools, the ol’ coronavirus swooped in at the last minute and took the memories of that last weekend of basketball away from us.

What did it take away?

Let’s take a look...

We’ve already talked about it multiple times on these pages, but it’s worth mentioning again.

The Cashion boys team hadn’t even been to the area tournament since 1997.

That’s 23 seasons of not being able to get out of regionals.

While in this area I think we tend to take for granted how much of an accomplishment it is to reach area, it’s also tough to fathom that a program can go nearly two dozen years without making it.

But that was the scenario for Cashion. Not only did John

Not only did John Hardaway’s Wildcats break that hex, but they took it two steps further and got to state for the first time since 1996 and just the third time overall.

On the Thursday the Wildcats were to play Hooker in the Class 2A quarterfinal round, they had gone through most of their pre-departure routine.

They met in Hardaway’s classroom to go over some final details and even had a pep rally.

But they were all dressed up with nowhere to go.

It took a couple of weeks, but eventually they were told they would never play that state tournament game.

You have to feel awful for every single player and coach on the team.

Heck, for anyone associated with the team.

A dream two dozen years in the making was erased.

A kid like Jacob Woody, who’s been such a huge part of Cashion’s rise to prominence, never experienced state.

Alex Nabavi and TJ Roberts were pivotal players in Cashion’s run to the Class A football title game in the fall.

They were denied gold there, but were starters on the basketball team that was going to give them another crack at it.

But...no.

Cashion will be back. The Wildcats are loaded with talented underclassmen who will have them in the hunt to return to the state tournament in the coming years.

But that trio and Kaden LaFortune will never experience it.

That’s the part that will eat at Hardaway forever.

While happy for himself, Hardaway wanted to reach state for his players more than anything in the world.

He made it as a player. He’s made it as a coach.

He wanted his team to experience what he did as a Fairview Yellow Jacket in 1999.

But it wasn’t meant to be and that’s the hardest part of it all to accept...

Kingfisher was in the same boat as Cashion, but the Yellowjackets’ situation was a bit different.

While Cashion was breaking a years-long drought, Kingfisher has been at the peak of the Class 4A basketball world for the better part of four seasons.

The Jackets were making their fourth straight trip to state.

They won titles in 2017 and 2019.

They were runners-up in 2018.

They were No. 1 all year long.

And, despite losing to Bethany in the area final, most still had KHS pegged to win a second consecutive title.

Could they have done it?

Absolutely.

Would they have done it?

We’ll never know.

Before the loss to Bethany on the Friday night of area, the Jackets had won 47 straight games.

That’s one full season and the majority of another. The streak was one of the 10-best ever by a boys’ program in Oklahoma

The loss to Bethany took away an aura of invincibility many thought the Jackets had built up.

A closer look might have revealed it was a blessing in disguise.

The team had gone nearly 50 games without slipping up. For 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds, it can be tough to keep razor focus when you don’t have something to snap you back to reality.

That’s exactly what a loss can do.

It makes you mad. It motivates you.

It gives more credence to what coaches are telling you.

So the Jackets had that going for them going into state.

All that on top of being - likely - the best team in the state bracket.

Could the Jackets have added to their historic run?

Well, actually they already had with a 26-1 record to date.

But more hardware for the trophy case would have solidified it.

Instead, we’re forced to play the ‘what-if’ game, much like with Cashion (which, by the way, was 25-3 and ranked No. 2).

Like Cashion, Kingfisher has every opportunity to get back.

That happens when you return guys like Bijan Cortes, Matthew Stone, Jarret Birdwell, Maverick Rideour, Ian Daugherty, a host of other underclassmen who showed promise when their time to play arose and, let us not forget, a group of freshmen who didn’t lose a game this season (other than when they played a varsity tournament in Seiling).

But that’s little consolation to the likes of Aryan Haro, a senior guard who started for a good portion of the year and had embraced his role as a defensive stopper and the drawer of charges (he averaged drawing 1.2 charges per game and just 1.6 fouls).

Same goes for Harrison Themer. Heck, we’ll all probably be working for Harrison one day.

He’s a National Merit Scholar. Danged near perfect score on his ACT. National championships in FFA CDEs. Plays the guitar in front of the State Fair Arena crowd.

There’s nothing he can’t do.

Themer’s reputation as an excellent shooter, hard worker and excellent teammate were solidified this year.

He’s worked his tail off for years and finally put himself in position to be a major contributor on one of the best teams Kingfisher has ever produced.

But he never got the chance to put a bow on his career.

Outside of his sister beating him out for “Camper of the Day” at Kevin Durant’s basketball camp, that’s going to be one of the hardest truths for Harrison to deal with as he gets older.

And there’s nothing he could do about it.

Wes Hine wasn’t going to get any playing time at state.

The tallest Kingfisher Yellowjacket wasn’t even dressing out for the first three rounds of the playoffs.

However, the University of Northern Iowa football signee (offensive lineman) busted his tail every day in practice.

He worked hard, stayed in shape, probably did his footwork some good and was a fan favorite while being a part of something special. He would have done his

He would have done his part to earn a ring just as much as anyone he shared the bench with for a majority of the season.

He, too, was denied.

The list of broken hearts and shattered dreams is endless...not just in Cashion and Kingfisher, but statewide.

Heck, take Perry, for example.

The Maroons, if you’ll recall, played Kingfisher’s tails off in the championship game of the Wheat Capital Tournament in early January.

This is a program that plays in the shadow of the Perry wrestling.

Historically, there’s probably no program in Oklahoma that casts a bigger shadow.

But Perry this year made the basketball state tournament (Class 3A) for the first time in the program’s history.

It might be the last time the Maroons have a legiti mate shot for several more years...and they never got to experience it.

Yet another tragedy that lies in the wake of COVID-19.

The heartbreaking stories aren’t limited to basketall.

They’re not just limited to spring sports. There’s a plethora of

There’s a plethora of others who were affected.

Band and choir never got a chance to compete at state.

Speech and debate saw their regional and state competitions done away with.

While we’ll continue to tell the stories of athletes affected, we’ll also be featuring the students in those activities as well.

They, too, have put in hundreds upon hundreds of hours of work and practice only to be denied the opportunity to have it all pay off.