OSHKOSH, Wis. (NBC 26) — UW-Oshkosh will remain the reigning NCAA Division III men's basketball champion for at least another year.
Not because they won it again, but because the NCAA has canceled its winter sports tournaments for a second straight season.
Last year the tournament was called off as the pandemic first hit; this year because of a lack of participation across Division III.
UWO head coach Matt Lewis, who led the Titans to their first national championship in 2019, said he and his players were expecting this news, but it hit at a bad time: Wednesday night, right as the team was getting set to play its first game of the delayed season.
"Guys were in a locker room preparing for their first game in almost a year and the announcement came out so close to the game that we obviously weren't going to say anything to them," Lewis said. "So we lose, try to regroup, get on a bus and then you have to tell them there's no national tournament.
"So it was kind of a gut punch in a timing standpoint."
Just talked with @UWOCoachLewis about the @NCAADIII tournament being canceled (again) this year.
— Brandon Kinnard (@brandonkinnard) February 4, 2021
He said they were kind of expecting it, but the timing was a "gut-punch."
Also, @UWOMBB is still the reigning champ 🤷🏻♂️. Lewis: "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing." pic.twitter.com/6xYLf169zu
Lewis smiled at the idea that UWO will be the reigning champion for three years running, but isn't happy about how that accomplishment happened.
"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Lewis said. "Nobody's gone out and won the next one just because there hasn't been a tournament. I want to put everything out on the line and go play in another one."
The Titans will continue with their eight-game conference-only season, which began Wednesday night with a loss to UW-Platteville. Then they will play a conference tournament, but that will be the extent of their 2021 season.
